The Letter to the Hebrews. Jon C. Laansma

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This leaves mediator (8:6; 9:15; 12:24; cf. Gal 3:19–20; 1 Tim 2:5–6), which overlaps with his role as the guarantee of the better covenant (7:22).17 In particular the term mediator seems to be used of his priestly role in the inauguration of the new covenant after the pattern of Moses (9:15–22, which 8:6 anticipates and 12:24 reprises), but even in 9:15–22 this is one fabric with his self-offering as the event to which the Day of Atonement and other sacrifices witnessed and also with his on-going mediation (7:25). Moreover, insofar as 8:6 serves as a kind of reverse outline for the whole of 8:7—10:18, the words “the covenant he mediates is better” are a stand in for the whole of 9:1—10:10. There are reasons to think that the identity of “mediator” was a loaded one, having received some shaping in the church’s confession (cf. 1 Tim 2:5–6) and indicating the Son’s qualification as both divine and human in the work of revealing God and achieving atonement as reconciliation. The traditional concept of a mediator could have shaped the way in which Christ as priest was to be presented in broad terms, though the preacher chose to make limited explicit use of the word and to concentrate its force on the covenant inauguration—which, again, is of one fabric with the rest of what is involved in Christ’s self-offering.

      To reiterate the point about the way in which the history of the shadows and patterns and the history of Jesus have to be taken into account: In Israel’s history there was a drawn out sequence of exodus, wanderings, Sinai, preparations for the tabernacle, inauguration through Moses, implementation through Aaron with the Day of Atonement at the center. In Jesus’ history all this happens in a stroke and in a way that resists assigning discrete effects to separate stages of his work. Therefore the true Day of Atonement is achieved in Christ by the very same self-offering that inaugurates the covenant history within which (by the logic of the patterns) the Day of Atonement would be observed. That he is mediator is expressly stated in Hebrews to highlight his role as inaugurator, the one who brings all these things into effect, but this is said only with the understanding that the inaugurating sacrifice is also the cleansing sacrifice that qualifies the people for entrance. Obviously—and this is contextually warranted—he is mediator in the latter sense also.

      It can be asked why Hebrews does not content itself with the already-established idea of Christ as an offering but, uniquely, goes on to name Jesus as our high priest. No doubt an expositional mindset encountering Ps 110:4 is part of the answer, but it is not likely the image would have been pursued beyond an intuition unless it proved fruitful on many levels and also comported with the person and work of the Son as already confessed. The idea of priestly representation and intercession is potent in itself, but it also brings in its wake the much larger treatment of the systems and the covenants within the history of God and his word, culminating in the announced gospel.

      As for the question of deity and humanity as such, neither can be taken for granted. Moderns may take humanity as a starting point and debate whether deity is applicable, but in the history of christology it has frequently been the other way around. In Hebrews we can note the way in which the Son can be addressed as God outright (1:8) and without so much as pausing for reaction. We can then note the rhetorical effort to assert full humanity and we might wonder if the deity of the Son was a given and his full humanity was in question and in need of reinforcement. This latter seems closer to the mark if either of these identities was needing buttressing, but it is more likely that neither was really a bone of contention as such. What was needed was a deepening of both emphases—along with other aspects of their confession—in the interest of the teaching about the great salvation.

But moderns do in fact balk at this point of deity for a variety of reasons so it is worth noting the ways in which Hebrews expresses this. Firstly, it must be said that we do not subscribe to the absurd theory that the writer could not have thought a thought unless it can be documented elsewhere in his world. That he did not have the capacity to think coherently, to foresee what he was going to say or remember what he had already said, or that he did not understand the implications of his words are all theories that are in need of demonstration. That said, Hebrews’ affirmation of the Son’s deity is there in the text by the ascription of status and roles that were unmistakably those of deity in antiquity (positioned above the angels; eternity; creator).18 It is there in the angelic worship accorded him. It is there through the employment of language and traditions that apostolic teachings had already developed to confess this identity (wisdom; descent-ascent of Phil 2:6–11; pre-incarnation existence and incarnation; sinlessness; Ps 110:1; Ps 2:7). It is there through particular analogies that cast the Son in God’s role (3:4; possibly 9:16–17). It is there in calling him God outright (1:8) and applying OT texts about God or YHWH to the Son (1:6–12). It is there by placing him alongside God and the Spirit in the lead roles of salvation. It is there by the divine, eternal, complete, world-ending effects that are claimed for his salvation. It is there by the very logic of his priestly and mediatorial role. It is there by the fact that the items we just listed are not present like fragments clumsily appropriated but uncomprehended. They are harmoniously present within a coherent story. Efforts to resist this conclusion must necessarily and always do resort to a divide-and-conquer strategy. Even though it leaves the hard work for the later ecumenical efforts of the church to sort out, it must be said: Hebrews witnesses to Jesus’ divine identity in distinction from the Father. As we have already said, this perspective on the Son who is Jesus is so firm and full that we are caused to marvel at the equally strong assertions of his full humanity. But human he is.

      As for his deity and humanity in his activity, there has always been a tradition of assigning certain roles or activities to either his deity or his humanity. It is not to pass judgment against all such readings to observe that Hebrews itself is more inclined to assign the Son’s work to his full identity: the Son’s work is carried out as the Son—as God-man—from his incarnation (an act of obedience in his role as our representative, an act that is uniquely his prerogative as the one who can chose to accept his body) to his exaltation (taking a place which properly belongs to God, not merely an exalted human; but doing so as one of us). The same must be said of the atoning work that spans these points. Likewise, his life won through resurrection is somehow improperly separated from (even if it might be distinguished from) his eternality by nature. The comparison with Melchizedek that launches 7:1–28 characterizes him as “without father or mother or genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life” suggesting that the “indestructible [endless] life” of 7:16 is somehow owing to something intrinsically indestructible as much as it is to what is shown to be and won as indestructible in the resurrection (cf. John 10:18).

      In the Son both God and the chosen seed of Abraham keep covenant, as was fitting and necessary. In him, and as the Son, God takes responsibility for his creation and works salvation, as he alone was able (Isa 59:16; 63:5). He does so as the one who created all things for himself, acting in faithfulness to his handiwork and with transcendent power. He does so as the one whose saving work is his speech and whose speech is the act of salvation, communicated by the Spirit in the word of the gospel. He does so by giving us himself, who alone is life. Yet he does so as one of us, so that by sharing in him, the heir of all things, we receive the promised inheritance.

      Jesus and the Old Testament Witness

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