Friday, November 27, 2020

Church of England Critic of Trinitarianism from 1786 on Hebrews 13:8

  

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])

  

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; γὰρ αὐτὸς κύριος πάντων with similar ellipsis, “the same [Lord] is Lord of all,” Rom. 10:12; αὐτὸς κύριος, 1 Cor. 12:5 of Christ; cf. v. 6, 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)