Christ As The Image Of God’s Person (Continued)

“Upholding all things by the word of his power” (Hebrews 1:3).

·      and

·         Conjunction that, once again  ties the prior section to the latter. ^[1]

·         But this particular word is not the “normal” conjunction used to join two phrases.

·         With this word, the accent goes to prior word;

·          a marker of close relationship

·         1 Corinthians 4:21

²¹ What do you want? Shall I come to you with a rod, or in love and a spirit of gentleness?

·         and then

·         Acts 2:37

³⁷ Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Men and brethren, what shall we do?”

·            Christ did not create the universe and then let it run on its own.

·         Christ not only created the universe but preserves it, too.

·         Christ preserves the universe in a very precise and effective manner as is testified by how the heavenly bodies move with great precision.

·         And this “Upholding” is done by His Word (“word of his power”).

·         The prophet’s own words are not powerful.

·         Power is only when he speaks God’s Word.

·      upholding

·         The root means “to carry or bring from one place to another,” then “to be laden,” which explains the old sense of “carrying or bringing forth” the fruit of the body, e.g.,

·         Both lit. and figuratively the basic sense carries with it the possibility of denoting many processes and this is realized in the many meanings of φέρω and compounds in Gk. literature.

·         It is a participle and is in the present tense - picturing ongoing action happening now…

·      all things

·         This is combined with the “Definite Article” and speaks of a specific set of “all things” ^[2]

·         The word itself, when combined with the article speaks of the whole, with the focus on totality

·         Matthew 18:32

³² Then his master, after he had called him, said to him, ‘You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you begged me.

·         Romans 9:17

¹⁷ For the Scripture says to the Pharaoh, “For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I may show My power in you, and that My name may be declared in all the earth.”

·         Mark 16:15

¹⁵ And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.

·      by the word

·         Not the main term used for word[3], which can speak of a number of abstract things.

·         This one speaks of a single unit used in discourse…

·         Matthew 27:14

¹⁴ But He answered him not one word, so that the governor marveled greatly.

·         It can also speak of a statement as it makes up a single unit of larger conversation:

·         Matthew 4:4 speaks not of every single individual word, but of all of the precepts and concepts in the Scripture:

⁴ But He answered and said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.’”

·         It can even speak of an event, a matter, or a thing

·         Matthew 18:16:

¹⁶ But if he will not hear, take with you one or two more, that ‘by the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established.’  

·         The “by” is implied by the case of the word - Dative.[4]

·         The Dative is the case that is regularly used for indirect objects and the objects of some prepositions.

·         The dative refers to the person or thing to which something is given or for whom something is done.

·         It is technically a Dative of “instrument” in this case.

·         That is, “the word” (of His power) is the instrument God uses to uphold all things.

·         This lends significance to the fact that “upholding” was a participle.

·         “The “word” used is an individual word, given in an ongoing fashion.

…and upholding all things by the word of His power…

·         God is doing this “upholding”, as we said, on a continual, ongoing basis.

·         It is not passive.

·         It is not something that He wound up and let Go. (the claims of Deists)

·         Nor is it something that is dependent upon itself (the claim of evolutionists, etc.)

·         In the midst of history the Son’s command holds the created order in existence ^[5]

·         Colossians 1:17

¹⁷ And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist.

·         2 Peter 3:4–7

⁴ and saying, “Where is the promise of His coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation.” ⁵ For this they willfully forget: that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of water and in the water, ⁶ by which the world that then existed perished, being flooded with water. ⁷ But the heavens and the earth which are now preserved by the same word, [the word that destroyed them before] are reserved for fire until the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men. preserving it from destruction until that day when His voice [Christ’s voice] will remove all but the unshakable kingdom of God and its heirs (12:26–28).

·      of His power,

·         “Ability”

·         “His” once  again refers back to God in verse one.

·         Power is specific - it is “the” power.

·         What is interesting here is that the writer specifies that it is His specific ability, not just - not just any old ability generic to men.

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^[1]       James Swanson, Dictionary of Biblical Languages With Semantic Domains : Greek (New Testament), electronic ed. (Oak Harbor: Logos Research Systems, Inc., 1997).

^[2]       Ibid.

[3]       Ibid.

[4]       Michael S. Heiser, Glossary of Morpho-Syntactic Database Terminology (Logos Bible Software, 2005; 2005).

^[5]       Luder G. Whitlock, R. C. Sproul, Bruce K. Waltke and Moisš Silva, Reformation Study Bible, the : Bringing the Light of the Reformation to Scripture : New King James Version (Nashville: T. Nelson, 1995). Heb 1:3.