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[RRD]

Hebrews 1:3 - "And He [Jesus] is the radiance of His [Yahweh's] glory." (NASB) "who [Jesus] being the effulgence of his [Yahweh's] glory." (ASV) "who [Jesus] being the brightness of His [Yahweh's] glory" (NKJV) "The Son reflects God's own glory." (NLT) "He [Jesus] is the reflection of God's glory." (NRSV) "He [Jesus] reflects the brightness of God's glory" (TEV) "His glory" refers back to "God" who is being spoken of in the verse one and two. (see also below) The claim is made that Hebrews 1:3 somehow means that Jesus is Yahweh.

Many translations render the Greek word apaugasma [Strong's Greek #541] as "radiance", and some by this translation would have Jesus as somehow being the exact same being as the Father, the only true God who sent Jesus. (John 17:1,3) However, Crosswalk's online Lexicon gives the first meaning of this word as "reflected brightness - a. of Christ in that he perfectly reflects the majesty of God," and the second meaning: "effulgence: a. shining forth, of a light coming from a luminous body (Vine) (b) out-raying (Vincent)" (Greek lexicon based on Thayer's and Smith's Bible Dictionary plus others)

Jesus is the efflulgence of God's glory, the shining forth of the glory of God is through Jesus, who is the image of God, thus this verse is further proof that Jesus is not God. (1 Corinthians 4:6; 2 Corinthians 4:4; Colossians 1:15; John 1:5,7) Jesus, neither as a human being or a spirit being, has ever disobeyed his God, never displeased his God, the God of Israel, and thus has never fallen short of his God's glory. -- Romans 3:23.

But Jesus is also the brightness of God's glory in a further way, which combined with his total obedience (unlike the prophets of old), makes the brightness of Yahweh in Jesus even more excelling. The prophets, of course, never had a glory with God before being born, which glory Jesus did have. (John 17:5) He had been especially taught by the only true God (John 8:28), his Father, who sent him into the world of mankind, far beyond anything that the prophets could know. This knowledge of heavenly things he speaks of in John 3:12,13. Thus the words he spoke was a further revealing of the brightness of Yahweh's glory.

Hebrews 1:1,2 tells us:

God, having in the past spoken to the fathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, has at the end of these days spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, through whom also he made the worlds.

Who is this God of whom Jesus radiates glory, and who speaks through Jesus? Deuteronomy 18:17-19 answers:

Yahweh said to me..., I will raise them up a prophet from among their brothers, like you; and I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I shall command him.

And thus Jesus said:

John 12:49 - For I spoke not from myself, but the Father who sent me, he gave me a commandment, what I should say, and what I should speak.

The God who spoke through the prophets and through Moses, is the same God who speaks through Jesus. Jesus is not Yahweh who speaks through Jesus. There is nothing in any of this that even hints that Jesus is one person of Yahweh, and "God" in Hebrews 1:1,2 is another person of Yahweh, rather just the opposite.
                           
God, by means of his holy spirit, reveals through the scriptures that Yahweh (Jehovah) is the only true God, the God and Father of the Lord Jesus. Jesus has One who is the Supreme Being over him; Jesus is not his Supreme Being whom he worships, prays to, and who sent him, and whose will he carried out in willful obedience. -- Deuteronomy 18:15-19; Matthew 4:4 (Deuteronomy 8:3; Luke 4:4); Matthew 4:7 (Deuteronomy 6:16); Matthew 4:10 (Exodus 20:3-5; 34:14; Deuteronomy 6:13,14; 10:20; Luke 4:8); Matthew 22:29-40; Matthew 26:42; Matthew 27:46; Mark 10:6 (Genesis 1:27; Genesis 2:7,20-23); Mark 14:36; 15:34; Luke 22:42; John 4:3; 5:30; 6:38; 17:1,3; 20:17; Romans 15:6; 2 Corinthians 1:3; 11:31; Ephesians 1:3,17; Hebrews 1:9; 10:7; 1 Peter 1:3; Revelation 2:7; 3:2,12.

Yahweh, the only true God who sent Jesus, and who spoke through Jesus, is indeed the God and Father of Jesus. Jesus is not Yahweh.

Yours in service of God and His Son,
Ronald
http://godandson.reslight.net/heb-1-1-10.html

[dreese]

Greetings,

Hebrews 1:3 in the Jerusalem Bible says of God's begetting his Son- 'the perfect copy of his nature'.
Here it suggests that God makes a Son who is like himself rather than the highest form of angel.
Reasoning- If God begat a perfect copy of himself and that was an angelic person then God would be angelic in nature. Rather God YHWH begets someone on his level, someone who can have 'all authority' placed on him, Mt.28:18+; John 5:26,27; 1Cor.15:27,28; Heb.1:2-4.

This would lend a different viewing of titles that are commonly placed on Jesus in a different light. 'Angel of the Lord' and 'Michael the Arch-Angel' can be seen as designations for roles assumed by the Son of God and not descriptions of his being or nature. Jesus is the - Protector of the Chosen People and the Leader of the Angels in Heaven and God's Chief Spokesman (the Word).

In Christ

dreese

Hebrews 1:3 - "And He [Jesus] is the radiance of His [Yahweh's] glory." (NASB) "who [Jesus] being the effulgence of his [Yahweh's] glory." (ASV) "who [Jesus] being the brightness of His [Yahweh's] glory" (NKJV) "The Son reflects God's own glory." (NLT) "He [Jesus] is the reflection of God's glory." (NRSV) "He [Jesus] reflects the brightness of God's glory" (TEV) "His glory" refers back to "God" who is being spoken of in the verse one and two. (see also below) The claim is made that Hebrews 1:3 somehow means that Jesus is Yahweh.

Many translations render the Greek word apaugasma [Strong's Greek #541] as "radiance", and some by this translation would have Jesus as somehow being the exact same being as the Father, the only true God who sent Jesus. (John 17:1,3) However, Crosswalk's online Lexicon gives the first meaning of this word as "reflected brightness - a. of Christ in that he perfectly reflects the majesty of God," and the second meaning: "effulgence: a. shining forth, of a light coming from a luminous body (Vine) (b) out-raying (Vincent)" (Greek lexicon based on Thayer's and Smith's Bible Dictionary plus others)

Jesus is the efflulgence of God's glory, the shining forth of the glory of God is through Jesus, who is the image of God, thus this verse is further proof that Jesus is not God. (1 Corinthians 4:6; 2 Corinthians 4:4; Colossians 1:15; John 1:5,7) Jesus, neither as a human being or a spirit being, has ever disobeyed his God, never displeased his God, the God of Israel, and thus has never fallen short of his God's glory. -- Romans 3:23.

But Jesus is also the brightness of God's glory in a further way, which combined with his total obedience (unlike the prophets of old), makes the brightness of Yahweh in Jesus even more excelling. The prophets, of course, never had a glory with God before being born, which glory Jesus did have. (John 17:5) He had been especially taught by the only true God (John 8:28), his Father, who sent him into the world of mankind, far beyond anything that the prophets could know. This knowledge of heavenly things he speaks of in John 3:12,13. Thus the words he spoke was a further revealing of the brightness of Yahweh's glory.

Hebrews 1:1,2 tells us:

God, having in the past spoken to the fathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, has at the end of these days spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, through whom also he made the worlds.

Who is this God of whom Jesus radiates glory, and who speaks through Jesus? Deuteronomy 18:17-19 answers:

Yahweh said to me..., I will raise them up a prophet from among their brothers, like you; and I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I shall command him.

And thus Jesus said:

John 12:49 - For I spoke not from myself, but the Father who sent me, he gave me a commandment, what I should say, and what I should speak.

The God who spoke through the prophets and through Moses, is the same God who speaks through Jesus. Jesus is not Yahweh who speaks through Jesus. There is nothing in any of this that even hints that Jesus is one person of Yahweh, and "God" in Hebrews 1:1,2 is another person of Yahweh, rather just the opposite.
                           
God, by means of his holy spirit, reveals through the scriptures that Yahweh (Jehovah) is the only true God, the God and Father of the Lord Jesus. Jesus has One who is the Supreme Being over him; Jesus is not his Supreme Being whom he worships, prays to, and who sent him, and whose will he carried out in willful obedience. -- Deuteronomy 18:15-19; Matthew 4:4 (Deuteronomy 8:3; Luke 4:4); Matthew 4:7 (Deuteronomy 6:16); Matthew 4:10 (Exodus 20:3-5; 34:14; Deuteronomy 6:13,14; 10:20; Luke 4:8); Matthew 22:29-40; Matthew 26:42; Matthew 27:46; Mark 10:6 (Genesis 1:27; Genesis 2:7,20-23); Mark 14:36; 15:34; Luke 22:42; John 4:3; 5:30; 6:38; 17:1,3; 20:17; Romans 15:6; 2 Corinthians 1:3; 11:31; Ephesians 1:3,17; Hebrews 1:9; 10:7; 1 Peter 1:3; Revelation 2:7; 3:2,12.

Yahweh, the only true God who sent Jesus, and who spoke through Jesus, is indeed the God and Father of Jesus. Jesus is not Yahweh.

Yours in service of God and His Son,
Ronald
http://godandson.reslight.net/heb-1-1-10.html

[RRD]

Greetings,

Hebrews 1:3 in the Jerusalem Bible says of God's begetting his Son- 'the perfect copy of his nature'.
Here it suggests that God makes a Son who is like himself rather than the highest form of angel.
Reasoning- If God begat a perfect copy of himself and that was an angelic person then God would be angelic in nature. Rather God YHWH begets someone on his level, someone who can have 'all authority' placed on him, Mt.28:18+; John 5:26,27; 1Cor.15:27,28; Heb.1:2-4.

Dreese,

I am not sure that I am understanding what you are saying. I know that trinitarians and others claim that Jesus' begettal by God means that he has to be God. Thus they reason that his being Son of God means that he is also the Most High Yahweh.

I have difficulty with the word "nature" as it is often used, since the words that are usually translated "nature" in the Bible do not mean the same thing. I am sure that the New Jerusalem renders the Hebrew word "hupostasews" as "nature" rather than "person" since it would tend to support the trinitarian dogma.
http://godandson.reslight.net/d-n.html

Of course, Hebrews 1:3 is not speaking of Jesus' original creation, but of who he is.

The word "begotten" in the Bible does not necessarily mean to be brought forth of the same substance. When Jesus was begotten of the holy spirit in the womb of Mary (Matthew 1:20), he was not begotten as a spirit being, but as a human being. If the theory of being begotten produces the same substance from which it was begotten be true, then Jesus as begotten in the womb of Mary was of the same substance as the holy spirit, and would not be flesh at all.
http://studies.reslight.net/bos.html

We know that Jesus was begotten/born/brought forth three times.

(1) as the firstborn creature. -- Colossians 1:15; Proverbs 8:22-25.
(2) of the holy spirit as a human. -- Matthew 1:20.
(3) from the dead when raised from the dead. -- Psalm 2:7; Acts 13:33; Colossians 1:18; Hebrews 1:5; 5:5.

Yes, it was not an angel that was given the high position and authority. Yahweh looked one step below the angels, to a human, Jesus (Hebrews 2:9), as the one to be highly exalted far above the angels. -- Philippians 2:7,8; Hebrews 1:4.

This would lend a different viewing of titles that are commonly placed on Jesus in a different light. 'Angel of the Lord' and 'Michael the Arch-Angel' can be seen as designations for roles assumed by the Son of God and not descriptions of his being or nature.

I am not sure that Jesus is ever referred to as an angel of Yahweh.
http://godandson.reslight.net/aoy.html

Paul gives two general classifications of living bodies (which he then speaks of differing kinds of glory in these two classifications): (1) heavenly, spiritual and (2) earthly, flesh, physical. (1 Corinthians 15:40) As such, Jehovah's body is spiritual, heavenly. Likewise, the body of Jesus before he came to the earth was spiritual, heavenly. Additionally, the angels are of spiritual substance. Both the body of Jesus (before he came to the earth) and his God as well as the angels had/have the same kind of substance: spirit. However, the authority and power had not been given to Jesus before he came to earth. It was given, appointed, to him, after he had been fully obedient up to the time of his baptism, at which time he, in effect, offered himself -- his glory as a human -- to be consumed in sacrifice. Up to his baptism, he had perfectly fulfilled the law. For the joy that Yahweh set before him, he endure all the suffering and painful death on the stauros. From that lowly state, he was highly exalted above all power and authority, so that in him now dwells the plenitude of might bodily. So it is only in his third begettal that he bodily received the highly exated power and authority.

I have given a brief summation without looking up all the scriptures. See:
http://hereafter.reslight.net/rm.html
http://studies.reslight.net/wb.html

Of course, Jesus is spoken of as an angel (Malachi 3:1), but it does not designate a sphere of being, but rather his being a messenger.

Jesus' being the archangel places him outside and above the ordinary class of angels. The word "archangel" (chief, or first angel) is similar to the word "architect" -- first, chief builder.  Although the architect is the "chief builder", he is still not of the ordinary class of construction workers who carry out the chief builder's plans. It is the same with Jesus as the archangel. Although this title makes him the "chief angel", it excludes him of the being of the ordinary class commonly referred to as "angels". Additionally, some say the the word architect means "chief over the builders", and thus, likewise, Jesus would be "chief over the angels".

http://godandson.reslight.net/michael.html

In service of Jesus,
Ronald