Jesus Christ the same
yesterday, and to day, and for ever. (Heb 13:8)
One 18th century critic of the
Trinity wrote the following about Heb 13:8:
Heb xiii 8 Jesus
Christ, the same Yesterday, and Today, and for ever
That the Person of
Christ is the same, yesterday and today, and for ever, may be admitted as true,
but that is not the meaning of this particular verse, for the Apostle is here
speaking not of the Person, but the Doctrine of Christ. Be pleased to read what
goes before, and follows after Remember them which have the Rule over you, who
have spoken unto you the Word of God, while Faith follow, considering the End
of their conversation Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and today, and for ever.
Be not carried away with divers and strange doctrines, that is, adhere
stedfastly to the faith of the Apostles, and be not perplexed with Doctrines
brought in by other teachers, arising after them. For Jesus Christ is the same
Saviour, and his Gospel the same Gospel to them at first, and to you now, and
to all Generations that are to come hereafter. To preach Christ according to
many Passages of the New Testament, signifies to preach the Doctrine of Christ.
It is farther urged in Proof of Christ's supreme Godhead, that such works are
ascribed to him in Scripture, as are peculiar to the Great God of Heaven and
Earth, namely, Creation and Preservation. (The Doctrine of the Athanasian
Creed Analyzed and Refuted; By a Member of the Church of England to which are
added, Benjamin Ben Mordecai’s Queries Respecting that Doctrine [Newry,
1786], 47)
One should compare the above with the
following from two modern Evangelical Protestant commentators:
v 8
is not to be interpreted as an acclamation of Jesus' timeless ontological
immutability, corresponding to the assertion that the Son remains ὁ αὐτός,
"the same," in 1:10–12 (as asserted by H. Montefiore, 242; P. R.
Jones, RevExp 82 [1985] 400; cf. Grässer, Glaube, 23; Buchanan, 233). The
reference is rather to the immutability of the gospel message proclaimed by the
deceased leaders in the recent past (see Michel, 490 and n. 2; P. E. Hughes,
570–71). Although the preachers change, the preaching must remain the same. The
unchangeableness of the revelation is a consequence of the transcendent dignity
of Jesus Christ, the originator of the preaching (2:3) (so Thurén, Lobopfer,
183). (William L. Lane, Hebrews 9-13 [Word Biblical Commentary 47B])
Ὁ αὐτός* belongs with the previous phrase, which would
otherwise be virtually meaningless; it is understood to be repeated with the
following words. The use of this term as a noun, and without comparison,
recalls 1:12 = Ps. 102(LXX 101):27, which is applied to Christ. Cf. αὐτός, reverentially of
Christ, 2:14; ὁ γὰρ αὐτὸς κύριος πάντων with similar ellipsis, “the same [Lord] is Lord of
all,” Rom. 10:12; ὁ αὐτὸς κύριος, 1 Cor. 12:5 of Christ; cf. v. 6, ὁ αὐτὸς θεός. The meaning recalls the theme of “abiding” (μένω, vv. 1, 14),
especially that of Christ as “high priest for ever,” → 7:3, though the precise
phrase εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας*, here emphatic by its separation from the rest of
the verse (Mt. 6:13 v.l.; Lk. 1:33,
55; Rom. 1:25; 9:5; 11:36; 2 Cor. 11:31), does not occur elsewhere in Hebrews;
cf. the fuller form in v. 21; the plural is used for a singular (MHT 3.25). (Paul Ellingworth, The
Epistle to the Hebrews: A Commentary on the Greek Text [New International
Greek Testament Commentary; Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans, 1993], 705)