Chapter 9 The reconsideration of Hebrews 1:8, 10-12

 

Chapter 9

The reconsideration of Hebrews 1:8, 10-12

 

A textual critic wrote that in Acts 16:7 would be four textual variations:

 

For example, in Acts 16:7 would be four textual variations:

1. πνεῦμα Ἰησοῦ Spirit of Jesus: Papyrus p74, p72, Codex Sinaiticus (א), Codex Vaticanus (B), Codex Alexandrinus (A), corrected Ephraemi Rescriptus (C), Codex Bezae Cantabrigiensis (D), Cyrill of Alexandria, Vulgate Latin, Syriac, and Ethiopic versions

 

2. The Spirit of the Lord: Bohairic Coptic and original Ephraemi Rescriptus)

 

3. the Holy Spirit

 

4. πνεῦμα Spirit: (Textus Receptus, Byzantine Lectionary, Efrem the Syriac, Chrisostom).

 

Why so many textual variations and for what reason? It is not strange? According to the context of the Bible, the right version is "the spirit" as in Acts 5:9, Acts 8:39, means an angel of God guides them as in Acts 8:29, Acts 10:19, Acts 11:12, Acts 16: 9. The spirit of Jesus is unique in all the Bible, we meet this only in Acts 16:7, and this is not the genuine version.

 

Some is now trying to minimize this facts and even to reduce the number of variants. When we read again some sources, some uncomfortable information disappeared in the meantime. This is how somebody protect some doctrines from antiquity until today.

 

The most interesting thing is in the Vatican Codex. In a marginal note, some scribe wrote on page 1512, next to Hebrews 1: 3, an interesting thing "Fool and knave, leave the old reading and don't change it!" - "ἀμαθέστατε καὶ κακέ, ἄφες τὸν παλαιόν, μὴ μεταποίει" which may suggest that unauthorized correcting was a recognized problem in scriptoriums. Could anyone get so upset if it was just a word change? No. It might have been more serious.

 

Therefore, we must be careful because Hebrews 1:8 is quoting Psalm 45:6.

 

So let's see how the text sounds there:

JPS Tanakh 1917

Thy throne given of God is for ever and ever; A sceptre of equity is the sceptre of thy kingdom.

 

This verse is even clearer when we see the following context in verse 7:

JPS Tanakh 1917

Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated wickedness; Therefore God, thy God, hath anointed thee With the oil of gladness above thy fellows.

 

What then is the explanation for the inconsistency with the text of Hebrews 1:8? Wasn't this text edited by the Gnostic trinitarian copyists who later copied the manuscripts? This is very possible. 

 

So it is very possible that in the original of Hebrews 1:8 written in the first century there was also this ancient form, the original one:

"But of the Son He says, Thy throne given of God is for ever and ever'"  

Even so, it remains open that why Jesus is the Creator:

10 and, 'Thou didst found the earth at the beginning, O Lord, and the heavens are the work at thy hands; 11 they will perish, but thou remainest, they will all be worn out like a garment, 12 thou wilt roll them up like a mantle and they win be changed, but thou art the same, and thy years will never fail.'

 

Open yes, but not sure. Why? Because if we read the original of the Psalm 102:25-27 in the context, we learn that this text is addressed to the Father, not to the Son:

JPS Tanakh 1917 Psalm 102

1A Prayer of the afflicted, when he fainteth, and poureth out his complaint before the LORD.
2O LORD, hear my prayer,
And let my cry come unto Thee.
3Hide not Thy face from me in the day of my distress;
Incline Thine ear unto me;
In the day when I call answer me speedily.
4For my days are consumed like smoke,
And my bones are burned as a hearth.
5My heart is smitten like grass, and withered;
For I forget to eat my bread.
6By reason of the voice of my sighing
My bones cleave to my flesh.
7I am like a pelican of the wilderness;
I am become as an owl of the waste places.
8I watch, and am become
Like a sparrow that is alone upon the housetop.
9Mine enemies taunt me all the day;
They that are mad against me do curse by me.
10For I have eaten ashes like bread,
And mingled my drink with weeping,
11Because of Thine indignation and Thy wrath;
For Thou hast taken me up, and cast me away.
12My days are like a lengthening shadow;
And I am withered like grass.
13But Thou, O LORD, sittest enthroned for ever;
And Thy name is unto all generations.
14Thou wilt arise, and have compassion upon Zion;
For it is time to be gracious unto her, for the appointed time is come.
15For Thy servants take pleasure in her stones,
And love her dust.
16So the nations will fear the name of the LORD,
And all the kings of the earth Thy glory;
17When the LORD hath built up Zion,
When He hath appeared in His glory;
18When He hath regarded the prayer of the destitute,
And hath not despised their prayer.
19This shall be written for the generation to come;
And a people which shall be created shall praise the LORD.
20For He hath looked down from the height of His sanctuary;
From heaven did the LORD behold the earth;
21To hear the groaning of the prisoner;
To loose those that are appointed to death;
22That men may tell of the name of the LORD in Zion,
And His praise in Jerusalem;
23When the peoples are gathered together,
And the kingdoms, to serve the LORD.
24He weakened my strength in the way;
He shortened my days.
25I say: ‘O my God, take me not away in the midst of my days,
Thou whose years endure throughout all generations.
26Of old Thou didst lay the foundation of the earth;
And the heavens are the work of Thy hands.
27They shall perish, but Thou shalt endure;
Yea, all of them shall wax old like a garment;
As a vesture shalt Thou change them, and they shall pass away;
28But Thou art the selfsame,
And Thy years shall have no end.
29The children of Thy servants shall dwell securely,
And their seed shall be established before Thee.’

 
If the trinitarians do not agree that it is addressed to the Father, please tell us by what method they distinguish, when a text is addressed to the Father and when to the Messianic Son. The Jewish rabbis never believed that the Messiah would be the Creator of the Heaven and Earth.

Therefore, based on the firm testimonies of the Old Testament and the warnings of Christian writers from the 1st to the 4th centuries, as well as confirmations from the resources of the historical researchers, we can try the following reconstruction of the original text of the Hebrews chapter 1 from the first century, eliminating the inconsistency that many didn't notice.

 

The Gnostic proto-trinitarians would have eliminated a connecting phrase, possible this "from God” to „O God” to give this understanding „But to the Son: Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: a sceptre of justice is the sceptre of thy kingdom.” But originally, the text in Hebrews 1:8 did not exist in this way, but similar to „But of the Son He says, Thy throne given of God is for ever and ever.”

 

After this the Gnostic proto-trinitarians added a text that does not exist in the original Hebrews chapter 1:

"'Thou didst found the earth at the beginning, O Lord, and the heavens are the work at thy hands; 11 they will perish, but thou remainest, they will all be worn out like a garment, 12 thou wilt roll them up like a mantle and they win be changed, but thou art the same, and thy years will never fail.'

 

So the answer to the question "Why is Jesus called "God" in Hebrews 1: 8 and Creator in Hebrews 1:10?" is: "We were fooled!" There were no such ideas in the original Epistle to the Hebrews!

It all comes down to the zeal of some to impose their ideas, shamelessly falsifying the Holy Scriptures.

 

These problems have troubled may, and some lost their faith, rejecting Jesus and returning to Judaism. They noticed that someone really wanted to juggle. The argument that the Son is the one invoked here in Psalm 102:25-27, even if the context makes no such difference, could not be accepted.

 

They are right. We are witnessing a crude and fanciful attempt to manipulate the text of the Epistle to the Hebrews, in order to identify the Son with God, the Creator himself.

 

In the following we will present some texts on which the uncertainty of the correct rendering or of a correct understanding hovers.