Hypostasis — A Word Study (part 2)
When dealing with the opening text of Hebrews, it is tempting to just quickly gloss over it because it appears on the surface to validate our theological formulas regarding the relationship between Jesus Christ and his father. However, if we look deeper there is a great deal of power with this introduction. The first two verses firmly present Christ as the telos that is the end of the scriptural narrative.
Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. — Heb. 1:1–2
These first verses underscore Paul’s teaching in Romans 10:4, which explains Christ’s role as being the end of the law and the bringer of rest, the meaning of which will be explicated throughout the remainder of Hebrews. It is from this vantage point, establishing Christ as the end of the scriptural narrative, that we are provided with the next few verses highlighting Christ’s unique role.
He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his hypostasis, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs. —Heb. 1:3–4
The introduction to a literary work is often reflective of the main thesis of that said work. That being said, when we are attempting to decode the value of hypostasis in this verse, we need to do so within the framework of how it was used previously in scripture and how it relates to the rest of Hebrews. At first glance, it is fascinating that there are two words connoting weightiness alongside hypostasis. The first is doxa referring to the glory. The Hebraic concept of glory in the Hebrew word kabod literally refers to its weight. In this sense, it expresses the same kind of weight that a statue would have. In the ancient world, gods were not only depicted by statues, they were present in the statue. Because the deity of scripture does not have a statue, this glory is presented in aniconic ways whether it be the cloud leading the Israelites in the wilderness of Sinai, or within the words of the scriptures themselves. It is also fascinating that coupled with this, is the mention that he upholds, pheron, all things with the power, dynamis, of his utterances, rimata. This essentially illustrates the point that was previously made. The glory of God is radiated by his Son who carries all things by the power of his utterances, which contextually refers to God’s instruction. In this sense, the use of hypostasis is potent here especially in its most basic rendering as something standing underneath, as a sediment or support. In other words, it’s presenting Christ in similar terms to that of a statute in which the deity dwells. This sense can be seen in other Pauline literature, namely Colossians 2:9.
For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, and you have been filled in him, who is the head of all rule and authority.
The statue-esque imagery employed by the author of Hebrews is solidified in his use of the Greek word charakter to refer to the Son being the imprint of his hypostasis. While this word is the basis of the English word character, its use in the original Greek is different from how it is used in English. The verbal form from this root is charasso meaning to engrave or to sharpen. Another noun that comes from the same root is charagma which is used in the Bible to refer to graven images. There is a relevant example of this usage from Paul’s encounter with the Athenian philosophers in Acts 17:29.
Being then God’s offspring, we ought not to think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed (charagmati) by the art and imagination of man.
This concept is central to the Pauline narrative, that being that the deity of scripture is not to be bound to temples or statues made by the hands of men. Such a rule is uttered by Paul himself in this same interaction with the Athenians:
The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything. — Acts. 17:24–25
This concept is also firmly based in the Old Testament scriptures. One famous example is from Isaiah 66:1 which is quoted by Stephen in his famous monologue in Acts 7:
Heaven is my throne and the earth is my footstool. What kind of house will you build for me, says the Lord, or what is the place of my rest? Did not my hand make all these things?
A parallel passage is found in Psalm 127:1a,
Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain.
This becomes critical to understand when dealing with the epistle to the Hebrews because the entire letter is essentially dismantling the temple and making all of its services, including its priesthood, void. It does this by establishing Jesus Christ as the new David discussed in the psalms. One of the most powerful moments from the psalms is its own dismantling of the temple and the Aaronic priesthood with the establishment of the new David as the messianic king and the priest in the order of Melchizedek.
The Lord says to my Lord “Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool.” The Lord sends forth from Zion your mighty scepter. Rule in the midst of your enemies! Your people will offer themselves freely on the day of your power in holy garments; from the womb of the morning, the dew of your youth will be yours. The Lord has sworn and will not change his mind,“You are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.” The Lord is at your right hand; he will shatter kings on the day of his wrath. He will execute judgment among the nations filling them with corpses;
he will shatter chiefs over the wide earth. He will drink from the brook by the way; therefore he will lift up his head. — Ps. 110
In explaining the difference between the Melchizedek priesthood and the Aaronic priesthood, the Apostle writes:
For this Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of the Most High God, met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings and blessed him, and to him Abraham apportioned a tenth part of everything. He is first, by translation of his name, king of righteousness, and then he is also king of Salem, that is, king of peace. He is without father or mother or genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but resembling the Son of God he continues a priest forever. Now if perfection had been attainable through the Levitical priesthood (for under it the people received the law), what further need would there have been for another priest to arise after the order of Melchizedek, rather than one named after the order of Aaron? For when there is a change in the priesthood, there is necessarily a change in the law as well. For the one of whom these things are spoken belonged to another tribe, from which no one has ever served at the altar. For it is evident that our Lord was descended from Judah, and in connection with that tribe Moses said nothing about priests.For on the one hand, a former commandment is set aside because of its weakness and uselessness (for the law made nothing perfect); but on the other hand, a better hope is introduced, through which we draw near to God. This makes Jesus the guarantor of a better covenant. The former priests were many in number, because they were prevented by death from continuing in office, but he holds his priesthood permanently, because he continues forever. Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them. For it was indeed fitting that we should have such a high priest, holy, innocent, unstained, separated from sinners, and exalted above the heavens. He has no need, like those high priests, to offer sacrifices daily, first for his own sins and then for those of the people, since he did this once for all when he offered up himself. For the law appoints men in their weakness as high priests, but the word of the oath, which came later than the law, appoints a Son who has been made perfect forever. — Heb. 7:1–3, 11–14, 18–19
The importance of Christ’s priesthood as a perpetuity cannot be overstated because it renders any temple service totally void. Christ, as high priest, does all of the work of the temple, including providing himself as the temple sacrifice once and for all. The only participation required is obedience to him. After dismantling the priesthood of the temple, the Apostle proceeds to dismantle the temple itself by making it clear that this eschatological temple is heavenly and not built by human hands.
But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent (not made with hands, that is, not of this creation) he entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption. For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer, sanctify for the purification of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God. — Heb. 9:11–14
Having laid this out, the Apostle then reinforces the importance of one’s behavior lest his audience should fail to do the work of the Gospel. If the Gospel is not heeded, the sacrifice initiated in the heavenly temple will be voided and the offenders will be condemned on the day of judgment.
For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a fearful expectation of judgment, and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries. — Heb. 10:26–27
Having gone through the context, it is clear that Christ is the graven image of God’s hypostasis in the sense that he covers every activity of the heavenly temple. Compare this with the use of hypostasis in Ezekiel 43:11 where the totality of the eschatological temple is described in terms of hypostasis, which could be a key to understanding why the author used it in Hebrews. Given Jesus’ role as high priest, and therefore the one mediator between God and man, he becomes the center of worship instead of the Herodian temple in Jerusalem. His role as the temple is also reminiscent of the language of John. That being said, scripture balances this elevated image of Jesus with that of the lowly, needy neighbor who is the image of Christ on Earth. Therefore, to participate in this temple service is precisely to do that work, and not merely acknowledge Jesus’ sacrifice or believe in him mentally.
Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. Do not be led away by diverse and strange teachings, for it is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace, not by foods, which have not benefited those devoted to them. We have an altar from which those who serve the tent have no right to eat. For the bodies of those animals whose blood is brought into the holy places by the high priest as a sacrifice for sin are burned outside the camp. So Jesus also suffered outside the gate in order to sanctify the people through his own blood. Therefore let us go to him outside the camp and bear the reproach he endured. For here we have no lasting city, but we seek the city that is to come. Through him then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name.Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God. — Heb. 13:8–16
The connection between fidelity, or pistis, to the Gospel and this heavenly temple gives context to the other occurrences of hypostasis in Hebrews.
Therefore, holy brothers, you who share in a heavenly calling, consider Jesus, the apostle and high priest of our confession, who was faithful to him who appointed him, just as Moses also was faithful in all God’s house. For Jesus has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses — as much more glory as the builder of a house has more honor than the house itself. (For every house is built by someone, but the builder of all things is God.) Now Moses was faithful in all God’s house as a servant, to testify to the things that were to be spoken later, but Christ is faithful over God’s house as a son. And we are his house, if indeed we hold fast our confidence (parresia) and our boasting in our hope. Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. For we have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original confidence (hypostaseos) firm to the end. — Heb. 3:1–6, 12–14
Now faith is the assurance (hypostasis) of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. For by it the people of old received their commendation. By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible. — Heb. 11:1
It is faith, or fidelity to the Gospel teaching, that allows the faithful to participate in the sacrifice of Christ as the entirety of temple service and receive the forgiveness thereof. Finally, this image of Christ as the image of God’s invisible temple is solidified in the majestic words of John the Evangelist in Revelation 21:22–27. Here, instead of being the charakter, he is similarly described as the lamp.
And I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb. And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb. By its light will the nations walk, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it, and its gates will never be shut by day — and there will be no night there. They will bring into it the glory and the honor of the nations. But nothing unclean will ever enter it, nor anyone who does what is detestable or false, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s book of life.
This image of Christ as the lamp and as the temple is also featured in the prologue to the Gospel of John. The key to the prologue that is often missed in translation, is the clever use of the word eskenosen to describe Christ dwelling among his people. This word literally means to pitch a tent, and therefore act as the tabernacle which predated the temple but served a similar function.
The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. And the Word became flesh and dwelt (eskenosen) among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. — Jn. 1:9–14
It is important to note that the New Testament emphatically stops short of equating Christ with God the Father. He is the tent of meeting, not the presence itself. He is the engraving, not the hypostasis of the divine itself. He is the lamp which contains the light, not the light itself. He is the tabernacle that contains the word of God, not the word itself. There is no mention of divine ousia uniting Jesus Christ with his Father and the hypostasis, or the presence of the temple, spoken of is not his but God’s.
Christians today have the difficult task of shedding these theological developments that have shaped our thought for the past seventeen hundred years. We are conditioned by our respective confessions to start with doctrine and then read scripture through that lens rather than the other way around. We rely on carefully contrived doctrine as our hypostasis lest we be thrown before the unfiltered words of a God who does not speak English, but biblical Hebrew, and who is not our pal but our judge. Human beings also have a distaste for the unknown, which is a problem for students of the Bible because the text deliberately blinds us. It takes away the icons and the idols that we see with our eyes, and it takes away the temple we experience. We can’t see God depicted before our eyes nor are we allowed to access him with our thoughts. The only sensory mechanism scripture permits us to use is our hearing. We are to be blind, not deaf. We have to hear the statutes of God through the examples that the various stories provide therein. There are no footnotes and no additions. No commentary is allowed. There is simply one God, one Hebrew language, one story, and one book. That must be our hypostasis. Let us learn from the endless and tiring debates of the past, and cease debating altogether. Instead of debating, let’s simply hear scripture together with our opponents. I am reminded of the peculiar choice of the Orthodox Church to pair Titus 3:9 with the commemoration of the fathers of the Council of Chalcedon.
But avoid foolish controversies, genealogies, dissensions, and quarrels about the law, for they are unprofitable and worthless. As for a person who stirs up division, after warning him once and then twice, have nothing more to do with him, knowing that such a person is warped and sinful; he is self-condemned. — Tit. 3:9
Someone could say it’s just a coincidence, but I’d like to think it’s intentional. And incredibly clever at that. But regardless, it hardly matters. The sentiment is all the same. Let us continue to have open ears for scripture’s admonishment and correction, and focus on our behavior now for the sake of the next generation. Glory be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, forever and ever. Amen.