Source: Richard Bauckham, Jesus and the God of Israel: God Crucified and Other Essays on the New Testament’s Christology of Divine Identity (Paternoster, 2008), 232–253.
Jesus in the letter to Hebrews.wav
This podcast focuses on the Christology of the Letter to the Hebrews, arguing that it presents Jesus as sharing in the unique divine identity of God as understood in Second Temple Judaism. This means applying to Jesus the defining characteristics of God, such as being the sole Creator and Ruler of all things and being fully eternal. Hebrews achieves this through sophisticated theological exegesis of Old Testament texts, particularly Psalm 110, demonstrating how Jesus fulfills roles like the eternal high priest by possessing God's indestructible life and sitting on the cosmic throne. The podcast emphasizes that Jesus is presented as both truly divine and truly human, participating in God's unique identity while also sharing human experience.
1. Christology of Divine Identity:
This is presented as the fundamental model for understanding New Testament Christology, including that of the Letter to the Hebrews. This model posits that Jesus is understood as being included within the unique identity of the one God of Israel, as comprehended within Second Temple Judaism. It suggests that various New Testament documents share this underlying model, even with variations in specific features. The crucial aspect of this approach is focusing on who God is in Jewish monotheistic faith, defined by unique characteristics, rather than solely on the abstract concept of divine nature, although nature can be a subordinate element within the broader notion of identity. This framework is offered as a way to move beyond perceived limitations or misleading alternatives like purely "functional" or solely "ontological" Christologies. The argument is that certain divine "functions" are so integral to God's identity that for Jesus to perform them while retaining monotheism, he must belong to the identity of the one God; Jesus cannot merely act as God without being God.
2. Key Features of God's Unique Identity:
The source outlines the defining characteristics of God's uniqueness within Jewish monotheism. These features are the ways in which God is distinguished from all other reality. These include God being the sole Creator of all things (everything else is created by God), the sole sovereign Ruler over all things (all others are subject to God's rule), and God being known through a specific narrative identity (defined by God's interactions with creation, nations, and Israel). Furthermore, God is characterized by the promise to achieve eschatological rule, at which time all creatures will acknowledge YHWH's sole deity. The name YHWH itself names God in this unique identity, and God alone is the proper object of worship, as worship is seen as an acknowledgement of God's sole deity. Finally, God alone is fully eternal, meaning self-existent from past to future eternity. This attribute of full eternity is metaphysical but is seen as virtually entailed by God being the sole Creator and Ruler, as everything else exists and perdures only by God's will. This concept of divine eternity was also a point of convergence with Hellenistic philosophical language about deity, which Jewish writers sometimes employed.
3. Structure of Jesus' Identity in Hebrews:
The Letter to the Hebrews attributes three main categories of identity to Jesus Christ: Son, Lord, and High Priest. A central argument is that each of these categories requires Jesus to simultaneously share the unique identity of God and share human identity with humanity. In essence, Hebrews portrays Jesus as both truly God and truly human, being like his Father in every respect and like humans in every respect. The category of Son is described as the most fundamental, representing Jesus' eternal sharing in the unique identity of God. However, sonship also characterizes Jesus' human solidarity, as his mission involved bringing many human sons and daughters to glory. Thus, sonship in Hebrews is both a category exclusive to Jesus' unique relationship with the Father and a category of relationship to the Father that he shares with those he redeems through his incarnation. As the eternal Son, Jesus is destined for the roles of eschatological ruler (Lord) and high priest, roles for which his unique divine sonship qualifies him, but which also necessitate his full humanity.
4. Significance of Angels in Hebrews Chapters 1 and 2:
Angels play a prominent role in the initial chapters of Hebrews, functioning as markers of ontological status. The author first uses texts like Psalm 110:1 to demonstrate that the exalted Christ is significantly superior to the angels. Then, drawing on Psalm 8, the author shows that, prior to his exaltation, Christ was temporarily made lower than the angels during his incarnation. This imagery of height is used in a Jewish cosmological sense to indicate status and identity; the cosmic throne of God, high above the heavens and the angels within them, signifies God's transcendence over all creation. When the exalted Christ shares God's throne, he attains God's superiority to the angels, a status also indicated by his acquisition of the unique divine name. Conversely, becoming human meant descending below the angels, sharing the humble and mortal condition of earthly creatures. Therefore, angels in Hebrews function as measures of ontological status: being above the angels means being God, transcending creation, while being below them means being human, sharing the common earthly identity. This highlights Jesus' dual identity as both transcendent God and incarnate human.
5. The Full Divinity of the Lord in Hebrews 1:5-14:
This section of Hebrews employs a catena (chain) of seven scriptural texts, primarily from Psalms and 2 Samuel, to establish and expound the full deity of the Son. This catena is a sophisticated example of theological exegesis through text selection and juxtaposition. The texts are presented to demonstrate Jesus' superiority to the angels by highlighting aspects of his identity and role that are proper to God alone. The texts, related to Jesus' messianic rule, link traditional Davidic messianism with the cosmic rule of God, referencing God's sovereignty in creation and rule. They explicitly or implicitly evoke the cosmic throne of God. Crucially, the catena makes clear that the exalted Lord Jesus shares the divine identity in the key respects of creation of all things and sovereignty over all things. Furthermore, his superiority to angels is shown not only through his sonship but also by demonstrating that he created the angels, they are his servants, and they worship him, relating him to angels precisely as God is related. One text, Psalm 102, is used to attribute full eternity—past, present, and future—to the Son, distinguishing him from all created things, including angels, which are created and transient.