Pe'ah — The Corner of the Field
Hebrews 1:3 — The Image Is Not the One It Images
A stamp carries the seal's likeness, but it is not the seal.
Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high;
Hebrews 1:3
Trinitarian teaching reads this verse as proof that the Son shares the very being of God. “Person” is taken to mean a person of the godhead. The Greek word is hypostasis (G5287), being or substance, the same word Hebrews uses in 3:14 (“confidence”) and 11:1 (“substance”). It does not mean a person in a godhead.
Read the two key words. “Brightness” is apaugasma (G541), radiance, the light that shines out from a source. Yahuah is the light; the Son is the one who bears and shows it. “Express image” is charakter (G5481), the stamp pressed into wax or metal by a seal. The stamp carries the exact likeness of the seal, but it is not the seal. Man was made in the image of God (Genesis 1:27), and the Son is that image fulfilled (2 Corinthians 4:4; Colossians 1:15). The verse ends with the Son seated “on the right hand of the Majesty on high.” One sits beside the other. Two are in view, not one.
Verses: Hebrews 1:3 · Hebrews 3:14 · Hebrews 11:1 · Genesis 1:27 · 2 Corinthians 4:4 · Colossians 1:15
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