1:5 For to which of the angels did God 8 ever say, “You are my son! Today I have fathered you”? 9 And in another place 10 he says, 11 “I will be his father and he will be my son.” 12
1 tn The Greek puts an emphasis on the quality of God’s final revelation. As such, it is more than an indefinite notion (“a son”) though less than a definite one (“the son”), for this final revelation is not just through any son of God, nor is the emphasis specifically on the person himself. Rather, the focus here is on the nature of the vehicle of God’s revelation: He is no mere spokesman (or prophet) for God, nor is he merely a heavenly messenger (or angel); instead, this final revelation comes through one who is intimately acquainted with the heavenly Father in a way that only a family member could be. There is, however, no exact equivalent in English (“in son” is hardly good English style).
sn The phrase in a son is the fulcrum of Heb 1:1-4. It concludes the contrast of God’s old and new revelation and introduces a series of seven descriptions of the Son. These descriptions show why he is the ultimate revelation of God.
2 tn Grk “the ages.” The temporal (ages) came to be used of the spatial (what exists in those time periods). See Heb 11:3 for the same usage.
3 tn Grk “who being…and sustaining.” Heb 1:1-4 form one skillfully composed sentence in Greek, but it must be broken into shorter segments to correspond to contemporary English usage, which does not allow for sentences of this length and complexity.
4 tn Grk “by the word of his power.”
5 sn An allusion to Ps 110:1, quoted often in Hebrews.
6 tn Grk “having become.” This is part of the same sentence that extends from v. 1 through v. 4 in the Greek text.
7 tn Most modern English translations attempt to make the comparison somewhat smoother by treating “name” as if it were the subject of the second element: “as the name he has inherited is superior to theirs” (cf. NAB, NIV, NRSV, CEV). However, the Son is the subject of both the first and second elements: “he became so far better”; “he has inherited a name.” The present translation maintains this parallelism even though it results in a somewhat more awkward rendering.
sn This comparison is somewhat awkward to express in English, but it reflects an important element in the argument of Hebrews: the superiority of Jesus Christ.
8 tn Grk “he”; the referent (God) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
9 tn Grk “I have begotten you.”
sn A quotation from Ps 2:7.
10 tn Grk “And again,” quoting another OT passage.
11 tn The words “he says” are not in the Greek text but are supplied to make a complete English sentence. In the Greek text this is a continuation of the previous sentence, but English does not normally employ such long and complex sentences.
12 tn Grk “I will be a father to him and he will be a son to me.”
sn A quotation from 2 Sam 7:14 (cf. 1 Chr 17:13).