Hebrews 1:3, commentary and pictures

The Son is the outshining of the Father's glory and the exact image of His person, who upholds all things by His powerful word, and who by Himself cleansed humanity from sin and then took His seat at the right hand of the Majesty on high. The Father and the Son are two distinct personal beings, yet they are one in nature, character, purpose and glory, with the Son equal with God and standing supreme over angels and all powers. Through the Son the Father made the worlds, and by that same word He still sustains nature, guides the planets, gives harvests, and holds back darkness, the very hand that orders the universe being the hand nailed to the cross. He alone could purge sin, veiling His deity and laying aside His glory to become man, living without sin, bearing its curse and penalty on the cross, and rising as interceding High Priest and Advocate before God's throne. To see Him is to see the Father, for He clothes divinity with humanity to reveal God's love and law, refute false charges against God, and set before humanity the perfect Pattern to be copied until God's image is restored in the soul.

Words and Immediate Context

The verse describes the Son as the brightness or outshining of the Father's glory and the exact or express image of His person and being. It presents Him as upholding all things by the word of His power, as having by Himself purged or cleansed sins, and as having then sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high, which expresses His exalted authority. It also presents Him as a personal Saviour who came to the world and ascended to heaven, where He now intercedes for humanity before God. The surrounding statements join this to His place as God's Son and heir of all things, through whom God made the worlds, equal with the Father and exalted with a name and inheritance above the angels.

The phrase express image means perfection of character and not merely outward appearance, form or features. It means the representation of God's personality and character rather than God's essence, revealed through life and teachings. A few hold that it includes likeness alike in form and features together with perfection of character.

Its setting is that God, who in time past spoke to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days or last times spoken by His Son. That Son is appointed heir of all things and is the one by whom He made the worlds. Having by Himself purged sins and sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high, He was made so much better than the angels by inheriting a more excellent name.

Father and Son Together

The verse shows the Father and the Son to be two distinct individual persons and personalities, each having personal form, for God is a person and Christ is a person. The Son is appointed heir of all things and maker of the worlds, carrying the brightness of the Father's glory and the exact likeness of His person, sustaining all things by His powerful word, cleansing sins by Himself, and then sitting at the right hand of the Majesty on high. Joined with Hebrews 1:1-2, this shows that God who spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets has in these last days spoken by His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things and by whom He made the worlds. Nature is not God, for God is in nature and the voice of nature testifies of God, but nature only bears testimony of His power as His created work.

They are one in purpose and mind, and one in nature, character and purpose. The Son bears the full brightness of God's glory and the exact likeness of God's person, sharing divine excellence and greatness and being equal with God and with the Father in exalted position, authority and glory. He has received a name and inheritance above the angels as God's Son and heir of all things, through whom God made the worlds, upholding all things by His powerful word, purging sins by Himself, and sitting at God's right hand. The Father's counsels are opened to the Son, and the Son's word is to be obeyed as the Father's.

Their unity preserves distinct personality and is the pattern for unity among believers, without requiring them to conform to one another's individuality in a way that destroys it. Believers are to preserve their individual differences while remaining united, like distinct leaves nourished by one root. Christ's sacrifice provides atonement, through which words may be sanctified and characters purified.

The Father is invisible to mortal sight and cannot be described or represented by earthly things, but the Son makes the Father known as the full manifestation of the Godhead and the express image of the Father's person. The Son is the full Godhead made manifest in distinct personal identity and divine fullness, while the Father is the full Godhead bodily and invisible to mortal sight, rather than either being described through earthly comparisons. The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are distinct living persons, and the Spirit makes divine grace known to those who receive and believe in Christ.

Divine Majesty and Supremacy

Christ in this verse is set forth in divine excellence, greatness, majesty, perfection and fullness, existing in the form of God and equal with God, with all fullness and the fullness of the Godhead dwelling in Him bodily as the shining forth of God's glory and the exact representation of God's being. Though fully God, He veiled the display of Deity that commanded the homage and admiration of the universe, laying aside His glory and the form of God with its royal robe, crown and brightness to take the form and likeness of a human servant and become poor so that fallen humans might become rich. Clothed in humanity He came to suffer and die for sinners, bearing sin's curse in His body on the cross, and only His humiliation and obedience unto death could satisfy justice, remove the dishonor caused by sin, restore what humanity had lost, and make happiness, immortality, reconciliation to God and partaking of the divine nature available to all through the merits of His blood. The Father's love for fallen humanity is shown in giving this Son who humbled Himself even unto death on the cross.

He had been in the presence of the Father from the beginning before the angels were created, ever standing at God's right hand in unquestioned supremacy over the heavenly host. His authority there was mild and loving and had never been questioned, His commands were joy for the heavenly host to execute, and the Father's public conferring of special honor upon Him and endowing Him with unlimited power and command as equal with Himself did not take away any honor previously received. Understanding the opening chapters of Hebrews through prayerful study brings comfort and encouragement concerning God's personality as represented in Jesus Christ, the express image of His Father's person.

The surrounding verses present Him as God's Son and heir of all things, through whom God made the worlds, made so much better than the angels by inheriting a more excellent name, with an exalted position equal with the Father. As God's anointed Son and associate of the Sovereign of the universe, one with the eternal Father in nature and character and purpose and sharing His glory and counsels, He sustains all things by His powerful word while the Father made all heavenly beings through Him. He stands supreme over angels and over every throne and dominion and power, with a glorious high throne from the beginning as His sanctuary and a scepter of righteousness as His kingdom, with honor and majesty and strength and beauty around Him and mercy and truth before His face, while angels are only created ministers radiant with light from God's presence and sent to do His will. His presence is as the Father's own presence and His word is to be obeyed as readily as the Father's, for He commands the heavenly host and works with the Father in creating the earth and all living things in union with Him rather than acting alone, and He is therefore to be worshiped and served as Life-giver and not replaced by trust in man.

Lucifer coveted the honor and glory given to Christ and sought the position given to Him, since the angels could see in the Son a perfect representation of God. His self-exaltation and demand for equal authority with the Son of God, whose rule was full of blessing to all who came under it, led to his fall and expulsion from heaven, and God's purpose in exalting Christ in that position is what Lucifer and the disaffected angels opposed.

Creating and Upholding Worlds

The Father made the worlds and all heavenly beings through the Son, whom He appointed heir of all things and by whom He spoke in the last days as He once spoke to the fathers by the prophets. Christ is therefore the Creator who made the world and continually sustains it, the personal divine Son who carries the brightness of the Father's glory and the exact likeness of His person. He is one with the eternal Father in nature and character and purpose, sharing His glory and perfectly revealing who He is, exalted above the angels who are only created ministers radiant with light from God's presence and sent to do His will. His bringing as the firstbegotten into the world is His incarnation, in and through which the Father establishes the kingdom of heaven among men, and He is to be worshiped and served as Life-giver rather than replaced by trust in man.

He continually upholds all things by His powerful word, and nature has no independent power, for its existence and operations depend on God's continuing work through Christ. His infinite power both created and upholds the worlds, joining the created and finite to the Uncreated and Infinite through His mediatorial work. That work saves fallen humanity by opening a way back to allegiance to God, and it also safeguards the loyalty and purity of beings in worlds that have not fallen, preserving the order of the unseen worlds. God's power working through nature is not an impersonal force, for God is a personal being and humanity was made in His image, and though angels honor and obey Christ He remains tender and approachable, welcoming little children and deeply moved by the suffering of the people He came to save.

That sustaining word controls the elements and sustains the planets in their courses, the earth's yearly motion and harvests, and the growth of plants, leaves and flowers. It holds back the powers of darkness so that people have opportunity to form a character after the divine likeness, thereby establishing God's right to govern and enforce His moral law. His sustaining care extends from the unnumbered worlds to the smallest creature, watching over each person in every circumstance and noticing every tear and smile, so that trust in this care frees people from undue anxiety and brings rest of soul. The same divine power is joined with humble, tender care that stoops even to relieve a wounded or crippled bird, with nothing beneath His notice or beyond His ministry, and the same God who guides the planets and sustains the worlds formed humanity in His image and made people little less than the angels while they perform their duties on earth.

The hand that holds the universe in order is the hand that was nailed to the cross, for Christ who sustains all things came to earth as a man and is a personal Saviour who ascended and intercedes for humanity. The world He made and sustained had no room for Him, driving Him from place to place until His life-work was done. Though sinless and exalted by nature as the Son of God, the eternal Word, God Himself, He consented to become flesh and become one with the fallen race, descending step by step to the depths of man's woe to make expiation for the sins of the condemned perishing world. There He was betrayed and denied, mocked and taunted, crowned with thorns and made to bear insult, reproach, accusation and shameful abuse with the burden of the cross, setting His sustaining power beside His willing humiliation and suffering.

Purging Sin by Sacrifice

To have purged sins by himself means he alone cleansed humanity from sin by his blood, securing redemption and forgiveness through a voluntary, single-handed and sufficient sacrifice. The cleansing was his own act, not shared with another, and its sufficiency rests in that singleness.

Though fully God and rich in royal honor, position and power, he veiled the display of Deity, laid aside his glory, royal robe, crown and brightness, and took the form of a servant and of mortal man. He came to live among men on the sin-cursed earth in poverty without home, luxuries, houses or lands. Sinners could not have stood in his unveiled presence without being destroyed, so he clothed divinity with humanity that people might know their Creator without being consumed. As man he was mortal, yet as God he was the source of life, existing in the form of God and equal with God while becoming poor that fallen humans might become rich.

He humbled himself in obedience unto death on the cross, freely laying down his life and bearing the world's sins and their penalty so that humanity need not die eternally. He passed over the ground where Adam fell, bore the test Adam failed to endure, met temptation in every way people are tempted without the taint of sin as the second Adam, overcame every temptation, and thus redeemed Adam's disgraceful failure and fall. By bearing sin's curse, guilt, shame and penalty in his body he satisfied justice, removed the dishonor caused by sin, and made happiness and immortality available to all.

His spotless character, exalted office as commander of the heavenly host, and divine worth and authority alone made his life sufficient to ransom fallen humanity, where no angel could serve as an acceptable offering. Because he is without blemish and equal with God, with all fullness dwelling in him, his life alone can meet the claims of God's law, atone for sin, and raise humanity from its fallen state. Through the merits of his blood and the union of human and divine in him, forgiveness is granted to the repentant, fallen people are reconciled to God, and partaking of the divine nature is made possible.

He looked down on humanity as degraded, corrupt, wretched and seemingly hopeless, tainted with corruption, depraved, deformed, tending more to evil than to good and practicing hateful vices, a blot on creation with seemingly no room for love. While heavenly hosts regarded the world as undeserving of sympathy and angels marveled that he would undertake to save man in such lost condition, he saw its misery and undertook to save it lest souls perish unless an arm strong to deliver was reached forth. He bridged the separation caused by transgression, and when God gave his Son to counteract Satan's influence he gave himself to give help to lift people from the enemy's power, bearing insult, shame, mockery and at last the ignominious death on Calvary without swerving, that they might win back the moral image of God and become mighty with God.

As the final Messenger and Heir sent when God called for fruit in its season, after the earlier messengers were abused, he was instead lifted upon the cross of Calvary by the Jewish people. That parable warns against repeating impenitence that will meet the wrath of the Lamb, urging profit by the lesson to render fruit in its season. His divine glory gives redemption such importance that neglecting salvation and refusing Christ risks loss of eternal life. The great work accomplished through God's gift of his Son should therefore move men and women away from pleasure-seeking and frivolity, from drunkenness and stories of crime and wickedness, to place themselves where they can realize the meaning of the great salvation offered through Jesus Christ, which is eternal life to everyone who receives it.

Seated and Ministering on High

Having by himself cleansed sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, and that sitting expresses exalted authority and finished work. He is distinct from the Father yet bears the exact likeness of his person and the brightness of his glory, sustains all things by his powerful word, and, as Son and heir of all things through whom the worlds were made, holds a position equal with the Father with a name and inheritance above the angels and with the Father's counsels opened to him. The Father and Christ are one in purpose and mind but distinct in personality, and their unity is the pattern for unity among believers without destroying individuality. That great work accomplished through the gift of the Son should turn men and women from pleasure-seeking and frivolity, from drunkenness and stories of crime and wickedness, to realize the meaning of the great salvation in Christ, which is eternal life to everyone who receives it.

He came to the world as a personal Saviour and ascended to heaven as a personal Saviour, where he intercedes for humanity before God. God reveals himself personally through his Son, who lived on earth as a man and now ministers before God's throne on behalf of people as one like the Son of man, as high priest and head of an unchangeable priesthood and as Advocate. In becoming human he veiled the splendor of divinity so that people could know their Creator without being consumed, and that humble appearance in the temple veils the glory before which angels bow. The hand that holds the universe in order is the hand that was nailed to the cross.

Risen from the dead and seated at the Father's right hand, he has all power in heaven and on earth. He endured death's pain and conquered Satan on his own ground, breaking the power of death and removing death's terror for Christians, and in rising he brought some of the sleeping dead from their graves as trophies of his victory, a sample and assurance of the final resurrection of the righteous at his second coming. He ascended in glory to occupy his Father's throne and share the eternal throne and the glory he had before the world existed, receiving supreme honor as God and giving his gifts to all who claim them by faith, though the brightness and majesty of that ascension was veiled from human sight lest it overwhelm the disciples, who were to remember the glorified Redeemer and the character of his earthly life.

Now seated on the throne at the right hand of the Father, he is the Mighty Healer to be exalted above every human physician and made the center of attraction. Looking to him gives healing power, for he hears prayer for the sick and comforts and blesses sufferers, molding the mind with faith and hope and courage, and his life and grace alone can safely be brought to bear upon the human mind. Through him alone sinners can come to God just as they are, with no human mind or agent permitted to interpose between heavenly agencies and sufferers or to take control of another's mind, for he came to restore the moral image of God in man and to combat the powers of darkness and break Satan's controlling influence over human minds. Through the Son of God making that immense sacrifice to rescue fallen people, they may become heirs of the world and be exalted to his own right hand to possess the eternal inheritance of glory, whose value exceeds what human beings or angels can express, while those who reject the offer for earthly enjoyment will lose a share in his glory and the invitation will go to others.

Revealing the Father

God makes Himself known personally through His Son, for to see Christ is to see the Father. Christ represents the Father and is in the Father and the Father is in Him, so His words are not from Himself alone and His works, including miracles such as raising Lazarus, are done by the Father dwelling in Him. All that can be known of God for salvation is known as truth is in Jesus, in whom the glory of the divine attributes and character is seen and the light of the knowledge of the glory of God is seen in His face. He came from heaven as the Sent of God to make the Father known as the Way, the Truth, and the Life, and those who know Him by experimental faith know the Father also, while those who do not see the divine character in Him remain in the shadow of misrepresentation. He came to the world and ascended to heaven as a personal Saviour, where He now intercedes for humanity before God.

He alone was able to reveal the character of the Deity to mankind because He had been in the Father's presence from the beginning as the express image of the invisible God. No verbal description could reveal God; God Himself had to be revealed through a life of purity, perfect trust and submission to the divine will, and humiliation such as even the highest seraphim would shrink from. To do this He clothed His divinity with humanity and employed human faculties, for only by adopting them could He be comprehended by humanity and only humanity could reach humanity. He lived out the character of God through the human body prepared for Him, blessing the world by living out God's life in human flesh and thereby showing His power to unite humanity to divinity, holding the salvation of the world in His hands. The Son was thus sent to make the nature and attributes of the invisible God known in a way human beings could endure, as a clearer revelation than nature.

A perfect knowledge of God cannot be obtained apart from Him, but comes through accepting God's revelation in Christ who came as a personal Saviour, ascended as a personal Saviour, and will return personally as He ascended. Nature alone is imperfect under the curse and blight of sin and cannot reveal the nature and character of God in moral perfection, though it still speaks of a God behind nature and teaches truths about the skillful Creator and displays His creative power, skill, goodness, mercy, and love. Those who try to know God aside from Christ obtain only an imperfect knowledge that makes them idolaters exalting creation over its Creator, and they must become fools in their own estimation before they can become truly wise. To know God people must know Christ and become like Him, for a pure life through faith in Christ as personal Saviour brings a clearer and higher understanding of God, while one whose character is not Christlike cannot show God correctly to others even if preaching Christ.

What God is and where He is remains a mystery where silence is eloquence, so the verse sets the limit for thought about God. It declares a personal Father with glory and person perfectly reflected by a personal Christ, and is not to be made a subject of controversy or speculative discussion and science about the personality or essence of God, because such speaking disparages Him, leads astray, and confuses unsanctified minds. He came to reveal God as a personal Being, not as an essence pervading nature, for God has a personality just as Christ does. God's nature is not to be defined by human speculation or represented in figures; attention is directed to God as revealed through Christ's righteous character and to the way to heaven in simple plain truth.

He is the brightness of heaven, the light of the world, the Bright and Morning Star, the Sun of Righteousness, and the true Light lighting every man that comes into the world. God's light and wisdom were revealed in the person of His Son, through whom sinful, fallen people receive true understanding, with light shining through every word of Christ and reflecting glory upon the promises in prophecy and revealing the wisdom and mercy of God. His first advent dispelled the moral darkness and blindness caused by sin, and His practical teaching shed light on the prophecies. Because He is light He reveals darkness, with clearer light making the contrast between light and darkness more manifest, so that if the light were removed there would be nothing but darkness, while those who abide in Him do not walk in darkness but have the light of life. John the Baptist had a great mission higher than the prophets, but confined in prison he was not privileged to witness this fuller display of divine wisdom and power or to see how Christ's life, teachings, example, miracles, healings of the blind and sick, and raising of the dead illuminated the world with the clearest light ever given to fallen man.

His self-denying life made the Father's character of love, mercy, and truth visible, for He is equal with God in character yet clothed His divinity with humanity and came without outward display so people would recognize Him by His heavenly character revealed in His words and works. In Him God's thought is made audible and God's character is revealed as self-sacrificing love, showing that God continually serves His creatures by creating and upholding all things. He came to oppose opposing claims and reveal misrepresentation of God's character, showing people the law in the light of God's righteousness and making it possible for them, by beholding Him, to be changed into the divine image. His life and death also showed that obedience to God's commandments is the way to safety, life, and human exaltation, and knowing God through Him gives practical knowledge of truth in which heaven is joined to humanity. He represented God's personality and character, not God's essence, through His life and teachings as a living representation of God's law and heaven-born love.

His ministry as the world's light, empowered by the Holy Spirit, included preaching good news and bringing healing and freedom to represent God to humanity. He came to earth in perfect love yet lived humbly as a servant, with kindness and courtesy reaching people of every station. He blessed children, comforted the distressed, fed the hungry, healed the sick, and met human need, for He came to heal, not to crush.

Christ alone is the Father's exact representation in a standing no one else shares, exclusive and higher than any created likeness. Man was made to carry God's image in outward resemblance and in character, with a nature in harmony with the divine will, a mind able to grasp divine things, pure affections, and appetites and passions ruled by reason, holy and happy in reflecting God and obeying His will. The unfallen inhabitants of other worlds also bear His express image, noble, majestic and lovely, of all sizes, with countenances beaming with holy joy that shows the freedom and happiness of their place, through living in strict obedience to the commandments of God and not falling by disobedience like those on earth, and for that reason they are more lovely than those on earth.

He Himself is the pearl of great price in whom all the glory of the Father is gathered and the fullness of the Godhead dwells, so that the glory of the attributes of God is expressed in His character and every page of Scripture shines with His light. All that can satisfy the needs and longings of the human soul for this world and for the world to come is found in Him, whose righteousness is pure and flawless beyond any human improvement. He is the center of both the Old and New Testaments as Redeemer from the beginning, foreshadowed in the patriarchs, the law, and the sacrificial services, and revealed through His life, death, resurrection, and work through the Holy Spirit, with types fulfilled in Him. As manifested to the patriarchs, as symbolized in the sacrificial service, as portrayed in the law, and as revealed by the prophets He is the riches of the Old Testament, and as manifested in His life, His death, and His resurrection and by the Holy Spirit He is the treasure of the New Testament.

Call to Follow and Live

He is set before all as the Pattern of all righteousness, copying no human model but bringing from heaven the principles that guided Him. He lived the law as the perfect reflection of the Father, a spotless life of unstained purity to be prayed for as pattern, bearing patiently with Judas even to betrayal and suicide and dealing tenderly with Peter after his threefold denial with sorrowful regret and pardoning love. Human characters are to be conformed to His perfect character, with the image of God renewed in the soul by Him and God's moral image restored in fallen people. Through His grace and obedience to God's commandments people may be transformed in character, receive divine grace, grow in perfection, obey God's law, and develop a character stamped with and adorned with the divine image. His earthly life, in which He raised the fallen, gave hope to the hopeless, and guided the straying, is the pattern to copy, and He came as the great Teacher who educates those willing to learn and cares for each soul as a pitying Elder Brother giving grace to sincere workers.

Those who receive Him and are filled with His Spirit are to reveal Him in words and actions, becoming like Him in obedience, patience, love, kindness, and compassion. They manifest the Father's character and spirit by representing Christ in conduct and doing His works, so that their lives show the character of the unseen Father. They are to work to save sinners and restore those who err and are at fault by loving and patiently helping them, rather than destroy them, with kindness and compassion testifying to His presence within and able to awaken hope in others. He is full of grace and truth as the Light of the world who draws people to behold Him, and those who receive His light reflect His image and character, and only they will be judged worthy of everlasting life.

His incarnation was an act of self-sacrifice and His life was marked by continual self-denial, revealing the height of God's love and the great mystery of godliness. His followers are called to have His mind, for without self-denial and bearing the cross and living for God rather than self they cannot be His disciples. From all devising that would dishonor Him as Redeemer there must be a turning away in order to honor God. He gave Himself to a life of self-denial and poverty without luxuries, adornments, houses or lands, with nowhere to lay His head, and gave Himself as a sinless offering wounded for transgressions, bruised for iniquities, bearing the chastisement of peace and stripes for healing, becoming poor that humanity through His poverty might be made rich and paying the ransom for every son and daughter of Adam that they might return to God. All this He did to give evidence of His love, which calls for grateful love shown in unselfish use of means to bring souls to Him instead of contempt, selfish pleasure and diverted attention.

His continuing ministry and power direct people to Him as Guide, Preserver, and Governor and as their source of help and efficiency, rather than teaching them to depend on fallible human guidance or replacing trust in Him as Life-giver with trust in man. He is the sole channel through whom God's mercy reaches people and their prayers reach the Father, and disciples are to trust Him as they trust God on the evidence of His life and work. He was given to reveal God as He is, full of mercy and truth and representing the love of the Father, a sure representative for faith to grasp, proving God is not a cold and severe judge whom the mind cannot take hold upon. The great Ruler of the universe has a deep interest in every home to help, to bless, to cheer, and to strengthen, and therefore He is to be believed and loved and trusted. His sustaining care extends from unnumbered worlds to the smallest creature, with God watching over each person in every circumstance and noticing every tear and smile, and trust in this care frees people from undue anxiety and brings rest of soul.

The call to read Hebrews 1 to 4 directs attention to His identity and authority as God's Son and to His completed work of purging sin. Readers are urged to hold fast their confidence in Him, hear God's voice, and not turn away through unbelief. He is the final Messenger and Heir sent when God called for fruit in its season after earlier messengers were abused, and the Jewish people instead lifted Him upon the cross of Calvary, which is applied as a warning to render fruit in its season and not repeat impenitence that will meet the wrath of the Lamb. His power sustains all things and holds back the powers of darkness so that people have opportunity to form a character after the divine likeness. Those who profess to be His followers must place themselves under discipline to Him, reverently study the lessons He has given and obey them strictly. Through Him people may become heirs of the world and possess the eternal inheritance of glory whose value exceeds what human beings or angels can express, while those who reject this offer for earthly enjoyment will lose a share in His glory and the invitation will be extended to others.

Though the great Exemplar possessed heaven's brightness and glory, He was despised and rejected, and reproach and falsehood followed Him. God's dear Son came in human form while still being the express image of God, and He was not accepted. His chosen disciples likewise showed His life and spirit and suffered for their ministry. Those who carry the truth must take Him as Pattern and Helper, speaking the truth in love whether men hear or forbear and leaving the results with Him when reviled, opposed, and tempted to retaliate, since the truth is not accepted either because it involves a cross.