Hebrews 1:2,3 - The Case for God's Body

A Test Case for God's Material Body: Hebrews 1:2-3

Research by Kerry A. Shirts

The Bible clearly teaches that God has a physical body. With serious proof-texting, many come to the conclusion that God is a spirit and hence without a physical body. New Research has shown that the scripture used for this has been misapplied. We believe that Hebrews 1:2-3 is one of the most clear, powerful and straight forward for showing that God is embodied with a divine body, with a human shape.

First it might help us to look into various Bible translations of this verse and get the overall impression of various translators and then look into the Greek meanings of words.

Edgar Goodspeed translates: [Jesus is a] "reflection of God's glory, and the representation of his being."[1]

The New American Bible: "This Son is the reflection of that Father's glory, the exact representation of the Father's being."[2]

The Reader's Bible: ""....being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person."[3]

"The Holy Bible [from the Latin]: ""...Son who is the radiance of his Father's splendor, and the full expression of his being."[4]

The Moffatt Translation: "He reflecting God's bright glory and stamped with GOd's own character."[5]

The New English Bible: "The Son who is the effulgence of God's splendor and the stamp of God's very being."[6]

The New Schofield Reference Bible: "Who being the brightness of his glory and the express image of his person."[7]

New Jerusalem Bible: " He is the radiant light of God's glory and the perfect copy of his nature."[8]

Concordia Self Study Bible: "The Son is the radiance of God's glory, and the exact representation of his being."[9]

The translations help us see how various translators have tried to convey the Greek of Hebrews 1:3. Two literal translations from the Greek may help us out also.

"who being the shining splendor of His glory, and the express image of His essence."[10]

"He is the reflection of God's glory and the exact imprint of God's very being."[11]

The Greek word "Charakter" means "express image" refering to a tool for stamping or engraving or making an impression on coins, stamps, etc. The idea conveyed is of an exact representation or reproduction. The scripture at Hebrews 1:3 is the most powerful for demonstrating what God is like. The point to keep in mind is that this verse is talking about the resurrected Christ. Christ in his resurrection took up his body and ascended to heaven (Acts 1:11). It is Christ who is the exact representation of God's glory, and of God's person. The God here is His [Christ's] Father. So, Christ ascending with his body in the resurrection is exactly like his Father who is in Heaven. Christ has a body, so does his Father. As some commentators have noted, "exact representation of his being. Jesus is not merely an image or reflection of God. Because the Son himself is God, he is absolutely authentic representation of God's being."[12] The New Interpreter's Bible notes that the idea of bearing the stamp of God's nature, of which Christ obviously does here, "suggeswts a faithful, and indeed a detailed, reproduction of the nature of God...if you want to know God, look long at Jesus (cf. John 14:6-7). There the character of God is faithfully traced."[13] It seems obvious that Jesus shows us the kind of being of God, as well as what his substance is, for God definitely has substance! The New Jerusalem Bible notes say that both the reflection of God's glory and Jesus' being in God's express image, are expressing "both the identity of nature between Father and Son, and the distinction of person... He [Christ] is also the replica of the Father's substance..."[14] Since the substance of Jesus is clearly flesh and bones, then the substance of the Father is flesh and bones. The scripture is quite clear on that! The Wycliffe Bible Commentary puts it this way: "The shining forth to the world of the very character of God in Jesus Christ. He is the essential being of God."[15] Matthew Henry is even clearer in his comments. "He is the only begotten Son of God, and as such he must have the same nature...Jesus Christ in his person is God manifest in the flesh. The person of the Son is the true image and character of the person of the Father."[16] Adam Clarke, likewise noted this remarkable doctrine. "The hypostasis of God is that which is essential to Him as God; and the "character" or image is that by which all the likeness of the original becomes manifest, and is a perfect facsimile of the whole."[17]

Because of the astonishing parallels between the Hebrew Bible's view of God's glory and God's human appearance to the Old Testament prophets, A. F. Segal asks if Paul's Christianity stems from the Hebrew conceptions of God as human. One of the scriptures which supports this is Hebrews 1:3.[18] M. Hengel's reflections are quite stirring inrelation to this idea expressed in Hebrews 1:3. He claims that Hebrews is not merely trying to make Jesus a superhuman wielder of power, but rather Hebrews is a summing up of God's final revelation.[19] The truly poignant aspect that Hengel notes is that this very Son of God, the being who is higher than the angels and is completely bound to God, this Jesus "is portrayed at the same time in his full humanity."[20] Note this! Jesus in his humanity is also the exact replica, or the "express image" of God, the Heavenly Father. This the LDS have always maintained and we have often wondered at the vehemence against our doctrine that God is our personal God, and Jesus is our personal Savior, and the two are both embodied as Hebrews 1:3 clearly notes, and as various Bible translators and commentators have elaborated upon through the years.

Endnotes

1. "The Bible: An American Translation," translated Edgar Goodspeed, University of Chicago Press, 1931.

2. "New American Bible," Catholic Biblical Association of America, J. Kennedy & Sons, 1970.

3. "The Reader's Bible," Oxford University Press, 1951.

4. "The Holy Bible," translated from the Latin, authorized by the Hierarchy of England & Wales, Sheed & Ward Inc., 1956. The notes saying the Greek word "Hypostasis" which is translated from Latin as "substance." The Greek theologians translated the word as "Person."

5. "The Holy Bible," translated by Moffatt, Harper & Bros., 1950.

6. "New English Bible," Oxford University Press, 1961.

7. "New Schofield Reference Bible," 1967.

8. "New Jerusalem Bible," Doubleday & Co., 1966.

9. "Concordia Self-Study Bible," NIV, Robert G. Hoerder, ed., Concordia Publishing House, 1986.

10 Jay P. Green, Sr., ed., "Pocket Interlinear New Testament," based on the Greek underlying the King James Version as reconstructed by F.H.A. Scrivener in 1894, Baker Book House, 1990.

11 J.D. Douglas, ed., Robert K. Brown, Philip W. Comfort, translators, "The New Greek-English Interlinear New Testament," based on the Novum Testamentum Graece, 26th edition, Tyndale House Publishers, 1990.

12."Concordia Bible, above note 9, p. 1876, note.

13. "New Interpreter's Bible," 12 vols., Abingdon Press, 1955, vol. 11, p. 601.

14. "New Jerusalem Bible," p. 373, note c, in the New Testament section.

15. "The Wycliffe Bible Commentary," Charles F. Pfeiffer, ed., The Southwestern Company, Moody Bible Institute of CHicago, 1962, pp. 1408f.

16. "The Bethany Parallel Commentary on the New Testament," Marshall, Morgan, and Scott, Ltd., 1960, p. 1278.

17. "Ibid."

18. A. F. Segal, "Conversion and Messianism," in James H. Charlesworth, ed., "The Messiah," Fortress Press, 1992, p. 334.

19. M. Hengel, "Christological Titles in Early Christianity," in Charlesworth, "Ibid.," p. 436.

20. Hengel, p. 439.