Hebrews (Abingdon New Testament Commentaries) - Softcover

Pfitzner, Victor C.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0687057248 ISBN 13: 9780687057245

Verlag: Abingdon Press, 1997

Inhaltsangabe

Pfitzner interprets Hebrews as a passionate appeal directed by its author to a community that is in danger of surrendering the distinctiveness of its faith. Through an examination of its structure, rhetorical devices, and arguments, he shows Hebrews to be a splendid example of extended exhoration, with a recurring pattern of formal introduction, scriptural quotation, exposition, and appplication. By seeing the message of Hebrews as a "word exhortation" (13:22) to a community in crisis, Pfitzner is able to set its distinctive Christology firmly in its original social, historical, and cultural context.

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Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Victor C. Pfitzner is Professor of New Testament and Principal, Lutheran School of Theology, North Adelaide, South Australia.

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Abingdon New Testament Commentaries: Hebrews

By Victor C. Pfitzner

Abingdon Press

Copyright © 1997 Abingdon Press
All rights reserved.

ISBN: 978-0-687-05724-5

Contents

Foreword, 
Preface, 
List of Abbreviations, 
Introduction, 
Commentary, 
Select Bibliography, 
Index, 

CHAPTER 1

Commentary

God's Final Revelation in the Son (1:1–2:18)

The opening two chapters form a unified discourse. An opening statement (1:1-4) climaxes in the assertion of the Son's superiority over angels that is documented in a chain of scriptural quotations, framed by rhetorical questions (1:5, 13). The description of angels as serving those who receive salvation (1:14) provides the link to the exhortation not to neglect salvation (2:1-4). The following exposition deals with the Son's subjection under the angels (2:5-9), paving the way for the first major conclusion of the Letter that links the Son to his brothers and sisters (2:10-18). The opening of the section placed the Son with God; the conclusion identifies him with humanity.

The section's unity is served by its focus on the Son (1:2, 5; in 2:10-14), yet God is the prime subject as the author of past and final revelation (1:12a). The Son's glory is first described in terms of his relation to God (heir; exact imprint; right hand; 1:2b-3). It is God who testifies to the Son in Scripture (1:5-13), confirms the preaching of the gospel (2:4), and makes the Son lower than the angels (2:9-10).

The opening discourse is marked by contrasts: of past with final revelation (1:1-2; 2:2-3); of the Son with angels; of the preexistent and exalted Son with the subjected Son. The former is defined in terms of glory, power, honor (1:3; 2:9), God's majesty (1:3, 13), throne, scepter and power (1:8), and superiority and greater excellence (1:4). The latter is characterized as lower (2:9), flesh and blood (2:14), and as suffering fear of death, bondage, temptation, and death itself (2:9-10, 15, 18).

All contrasts serve to extol the exalted Son. The elevated language in 1:1-4, the citing of Scripture, the picture of angels as "ministering spirits" (see 1:14), the focus on the holy name that is to be adored and proclaimed (1:4; 2:12), and the picture of Christas representative of both God and humanity (2:10-18), make this opening a fitting prelude to the Letter as a call to worship.

The Thematic Statement (1:1-4)

The opening exordium (one sentence written in Greek) has striking literary features. The opening statement consists of two parallel lines, the first marked by alliteration. To show the effect we may paraphrase thus: In p lural ways God p reviously spoke to the p atriarchs by the p rophets.

More striking is the structure of the passage. Though the subject changes from God (vv. 1-2) to the Son (vv. 3-4), it has a concentric symmetry (see Lane 1991, 6-7):

A: God spoke to our ancestors by prophets ... to us by a Son (vv. 12a)

B: whom he appointed heir of all things (v. 2b)

C: through whom he also created the worlds (v. 2c)

C': as the reflection of God's glory and exact imprint of God's very being, he sustains all things by his powerful word (v. 3a, b)

B': when he had made purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high (v. 3c)

A': having become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs (v. 4).

The framing statements (A/A') outline the superiority of the Son over other agents of revelation (angels; prophets). Further framing statements (B/B') picture the royal status of the Son with allusions to the Letter's key psalms (Pss 2:8; 110:1). Core statements (C/C') speak of the divine Son as the Wisdom-agent of creation. Including the brief reference to "purification for sins" in B', the four central statements picture Christ as royal Son, divine Wisdom, and royal Priest.

The abrupt change of subject and rare vocabulary in verse 3a and 3b, the elevated language of verses 3-4, and the christological pattern of preexistence-humiliation-exaltation, reflected elsewhere in the New Testament (Phil 2:6-11; Col 1:15-20; 1 Tim 3:16; 1 Pet 3:18-22; see also Heb 5:8-10), have given rise to the suggestion that these two verses are based on an early credal hymn (see Attridge 1989, 41-42; Ellingworth 1993, 96-98). But much of the language is so typical of Hebrews that it is impossible to distill the exact form of an original hymn or creed.

* * *

A clear message results from reading verses 1-2a and 3c-4 as one statement: final revelation has come with the Son who suffered to purify us from sin, but is now exalted in heaven. The reference to the Son as medium of creation (v. 2c) is also clear, but do the statements that speak of the Son being appointed as heir (v. 2b) and as reflecting God's glory and being (v. 3a, b) refer to his preexistence or to his exaltation? And why do these verses climax with a comparison between the exalted Son and angels?

1-2a: Despite beginning with an elaborate contrast, the Letter connects past and present revelation. Past revelation was not defective; it was the penultimate, not the ultimate word from God. There is also continuity between the ancestors and the audience. The former are the patriarchs and all in Israel's history who received the word of promise and held to it in faith (Heb 11). Those in the past had nothing but the promise; the present generation has the promise realized as it hears God speaking the climactic word in Christ (see 11:39-40). The phrase "last days" recalls the prophetic vision of God's decisive intervention in Israel's history (Isa 2:2; Jer 23:20; 49:39) and the common Jewish and early Christian distinction between two ages of redemptive history. With the Son's coming, a new age has begun (Heb 9:26).

The contrast between communication "in many and various ways by the prophets" and revelation "by a Son" is made more striking by the brevity of the second phrase. Revelation through prophets was promissory in character; it was incomplete, not faulty. By contrast, God's ultimate word through the Son is unique and final. As in 7:23-24, the contrast is between the many and the one. The Old Testament speaks of many sons/children of God: Israel (Exod 4:22); angels (Gen 6:2); the king (Ps 2:7). "A Son" does not imply that he is one among many children (as in 2:10-14). The absence of the definite article draws attention to the generic difference between a Son and any other agent of revelation, especially angels (2:2).

4: Structural analysis has shown that verse 4 forms a closing bracket, with elements running parallel to verses 1-2a. The implied contrast between the excellent and more excellent in verse 1 now becomes explicit, with angels replacing the prophets as agents of revelation. The common motif of revelation is underlined by the mention of the "name" given to the exalted Son. Thus, the purpose of verse 4 is not to denigrate the angels. The rhetorical function of the comparison is to extol the Son. The suggestion that the author is rejecting a heretical Christology that viewed Christ as an angelic figure lacks any support from the rest of Hebrews (see Lane 1991, 8; Attridge 1989, 5152). Another proposal, that the author wishes to counteract the worship of angels, has to propose some connection between the Colossian heresy (see Col 2:18) and Hebrews. Yet the...

Details zur Ausgabe

• Verlag: Abingdon Press
• Erscheinungsdatum: 1997
• Sprache: Englisch
• ISBN 10: 0687057248
• ISBN 13: 9780687057245
• Einband: Taschenbuch
• Anzahl der Seiten: 220
• Kontakt zum Hersteller: Nicht verfügbar
• Verantwortliche Person: preigu; mail@preigu.de; ; Lengericher Landstr. 19; Osnabrück; 49078; Deutschland