Geoff Hudson

[ ] = proposed editor's insertions
{ } = proposed editor's removals

Chapter 1

BELIEVERS ARE SUPERIOR TO ANGELS THROUGH THE SPIRIT

(1)In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways,

(2)but in these last days he has spoken to us by his [Son] {Spirit},
[whom he appointed heir of all things]
through whom he made the worlds.

(3)The [Son] {Spirit} is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his power.

After he had provided purification for [sins] {our spirits}, he sat {us} down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.

(4)So [he] {we} became as much superior to the angels as the [name] {Spirit} we have [inherited] {received} is superior to theirs.

(5)For TO WHICH OF THE ANGELS DID GOD EVER SAY, "You are my son; today I have become your Father”? (Ps.2.7)

Or again,

(continued at v.(13) – see notes)
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[“I will be his Father, and he will be my Son”? (2 Sam.7.14, 1 Chron.17.13)

(6)And again , when God brings his firstborn into the world, he says, “Let all God’s angels worship him.” (Deut.32.43 – Masoretic text)

(7)In speaking of angels he says, “He makes his angels winds, his servants flames of fire.” (Ps.104.4)

(8)But about the Son he says, “Your throne, O God, will last for ever and ever, and righteousness will be the sceptre of your kingdom.

(9)You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness; therefore God, your God, has set you above your companions by anointing you with the oil of joy.” (Ps.45.6,7)

(10)He also says, “In the beginning, O Lord, you laid the foundations of the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands.

(11)They will perish, but you remain; they will all wear out like a garment.

(12)You will roll them up like a robe; like a garment they will be changed. But you will remain the same and your years will never end.” (Ps.102.25-27) ]

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(Continued from v.(5))

(13)TO WHICH OF THE ANGELS DID GOD EVER SAY, “Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet”? (Ps.110:1)

(14)Are not all angels ministering spirits sent to serve those who [will inherit salvation] {receive the Spirit}?


Notes:
v.(2)The spirit speaks as the voice of God. The Spirit was involved in creation in agreement with Genesis 1:1.
V.(3)The Spirit is the “radiance” of God’s glory. The Spirit provides “purification”, here EXPLICITLY, not atonement nor justification.
v.(13) It is believers who are made to sit at the right hand of God (not Jesus) by virtue of the purification which the Spirit gave to their spirits. This is in agreement with the prophecy attributed to David – "the Lord says to my lord (meaning David himself), 'sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.' " (Ps.110:1).
v.(5)The “again” of v.5 refers to the repetition in v.13 of the phrase “to which of the angels did God ever say”. The intervening verses 6-12 about the “son” and the worship of him, were added later by a literalist editor.

Geoff

Geoff Hudson

Chapter 2

WE MUST TO PAY ATTENTION TO THE SPIRIT

(1)We must pay more careful attention, therefore, to [what] {the Spirit} we have heard, so that we do not drift away.

(2)For if the message spoken by angels was binding, and every violation and disobedience received its just punishment, how shall we escape if we ignore [such a great salvation] {the Spirit}?

This [salvation] {Spirit} which was [first announced] {preached} by the [Lord] {prophet John}, was confirmed to us [by those] who heard [him] {it}
(3)[God also testified to it]
by signs {and} wonders{.}

[,and various miracles, and gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will].

Notes:
v.(1) The editor’s nondescript “what” is the Spirit they have heard.
v.(2) The message spoken by angels agrees with the Spirit speaking. Both were heard.
v.(3) The writer was an eyewitness (possibly James) to the preaching of the prophet John. The editor’s “Lord” implies Jesus. The Spirit was confirmed to the eyewitnesses by the signs and wonders done by the Spirit through John. “Miracles” are a later exaggeration. Gifts of the Holy Spirit are a later church practice. “It” was the Spirit that was preached, not the “great salvation” that was “announced”.

Geoff

Toto

Could you explain why you are substituting Spirit for Son?

NOGO

The "Word of God" is personified in Hebrews as well as GJohn.

The Word created the world.
In the begining the Word was with God.
The Word was God's firstborn.
The Word descended to earth and was made flesh.
He descended unpon Jesus (GJohn - Jesus' baptism)
Jesus was the anointed of God through whom the Word would be spread. Jesus, by receiving the Word, also became the son of God.
Jesus passed on the Word of God to his disciples thanks to which they also became children of God.

Jesus was resurrected by the Word in him because the Word of God cannot remain in Hades.
He was the first to be resurrected by this process.
All believers will be resurrected if they have the Word of God in them. (GJohn)

The Word of God like Hermes and like all the angels was a messenger God. That is why Hebrews compares him to the angels and states that he is superior to the angels since God declared him to be His son.

Greg2003

What is your source for this interpretation? I would be interested to know.

NOGO

These are my own thoughts.

I recommend that you read GJohn skipping over the first chapter. Read it last. The reason for this is that interpretation of GJohn 1 has been discussed to death and nobody can really read it without a preconceived bias. Reading the rest of GJohn will get you into a proper frame of mind in order to interpret chapter 1.

Geoff Hudson

THE SPIRIT MAKES HIS BROTHERS PURE LIKE HIMSELF

(5)It is not to angels that he has subjected the [world] {spirits of men to the judgement}
to come, about which we are speaking.

(6)But there is a place where [someone] {the Spirit} has testified:

"What is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him?

(7)You made him a little lower than the angels;

you crowned him with glory and honour

(8)and put everything under his feet." (Ps.8:4-6)

[In putting everything under him, God left nothing that is not subject to him.]

Yet at present we do not see [everything] the spirit of deceit subject to him.

(9)But we see [Jesus] {the Spirit}
[who was made a little lower than the angels,]
now crowned with glory and honour, because he [suffered death] {came} so that
[by the grace of God]
he might [taste death] {BRING purification} for everyone.

(10)In BRINGING many sons to [glory] {purity} it was fitting that God, for whom and through whom everything exists, should make
[the author of their salvation]
{them} [perfect] {pure} through [suffering] {his Spirit}.

(11)Both the [one] {Spirit} who makes men [holy] {pure} and those who are made [holy] {pure} are of the same family.

So [Jesus] {the Spirit} is not ashamed to call them brothers.

(12)He says, "I will declare your name to my brothers; in the presence of the congregation I will sing your praises." (Ps.22:22)

(13)[And again, “I will put my trust in him.”] (Is.8:17)

And again he says, “Here am I, and the children God has given me.” (Is.8:18)

(14)Since the children have [flesh] {bodies} and [blood] {spirits}, he
[too shared] {entered} in their [humanity] {bodies}
so that by his [death] {POWER} he might

[destroy him who has the POWER over death – that is the devil and free]

{purify} those who [all their lives] were held in [slavery] {impurity} by their [fear of death] {spirit of deceit}.

(16)For surely it is not angels he [helps] {purifies}, but [Abraham’s] {Adam’s} descendants.

(17)For this reason [he] {his brothers} had to be made {pure} like [his brothers] {him} in every way, in order that [he] {they} might become
[a merciful and faithful high priest in service]
{acceptable} to God{.}

[, and that he might make atonement for the sins of the people.]

(18)Because he himself
[suffered when he was tempted]
{is pure}, he is able to [help] {purify} those who are [being tempted] {impure}.


Notes:
v.(5) “To come” evinces judgement. Judgement to come by the Spirit agrees with “how shall we escape” from the implied judgement of v.(2).
v.(6) The “son of man” is man, not Jesus.
v.(8) The only thing that man cannot control is his spirit of deceit which keeps him impure.
v.(9) The editor has Jesus being made “a little lower than the angels” so that he becomes human.
v.(16) Angels have no need for purification. Adam’s descendants are impure because they inherit Adam’s impure spirit.
v.(17) Hence, the Spirit’s brothers had to be made pure so that they would be acceptable to God. The editor moved “his brothers” to imply that Jesus had to be made human.

Geoff

Geoff Hudson

Chapter 3

THE SPIRIT IS GREATER THAN MOSES

(1)Therefore, [holy] {pure} brothers, who share in the heavenly calling, fix your thoughts on [Jesus] {the Spirit}, the [apostle and] HIGH PRIEST we confess.

(2)He [was] {is} faithful to [the one who appointed him] {us}, just as Moses was faithful
[in] {to} all God’s [house] {people}.

(3)[Jesus] {the Spirit} has been found worthy of greater honour than Moses, just as the [builder of a house] {creator} has greater honour than the [house] {creation} itself.

(4)For every [house] {creation} is [built] {made} by someone, but {the Spirit of} God is the [builder] {creator} of everything.

(5)Moses was faithful as a [servant] {prophet} [in] {TO} all God’s [house] {people}, testifying to what would be said in the future.

(6)But [Christ] {the Spirit} is faithful as a [son] {HIGH PRIEST} OVER God's [house] {people}.

And we are his [house] {people}, if we
[hold onto our courage] {OBEY}
[and the hope] {the Spirit}
of which we boast.

Notes:
v.(2) “Us” agrees with the writer addressing “the brothers” in v.(1).
v.(2,5,6) “God’s people” are the Jews and those who have received the Spirit.
v.(5) Prophets predict the future. Moses was a prophet TO all God’s people.
v.(6) “High priest” agrees with “high priest” in v.(1). The Spirit was a high priest OVER all God’s people.

Geoff

Geoff Hudson

Chapter 3

THE SPIRIT IS GREATER THAN MOSES (REVISION 1)

(1)Therefore, [holy] {pure} brothers, who share in the heavenly calling, fix your thoughts on [Jesus] {the Spirit}, the [apostle and] HIGH PRIEST we confess.

(2)He [was] {is} faithful to [the one who appointed him] {us}, just as Moses was faithful
[in] {to} all God’s [house] {people}.

(3)[Jesus] {the Spirit} has been found worthy of greater honour than Moses, just as the [builder] {leader} of a [house] {people} has greater honour than the [house] {people} itself.

(4)For every [house] {people} is [built] {led} by someone, but {the Spirit of} God is the [builder] {leader} of [everything] {every people}.

(5)Moses was faithful as a [servant] {prophet} [in] {TO} all God’s [house] {people}, testifying to what would be said in the future.

(6)But [Christ] {the Spirit} is faithful as a [son] {HIGH PRIEST} OVER God's [house] {people}.

And we are his [house] {people}, if we
[hold onto our courage] {OBEY}
[and the hope] {the Spirit}
of which we boast.

Notes:
v.(2) “Us” agrees with the writer addressing “the brothers” in v.(1).
v.(2,3,4,5,6) “God’s people” are the Jews and those who have received the Spirit. “People” seems to have the sense of tribe or race.
v.(5) Prophets predict the future. Moses was a prophet TO all God’s people.
v.(6) “High priest” agrees with “high priest” in v.(1). The Spirit was a high priest OVER all God’s people.

Geoff

Geoff Hudson

WARNING AGAINST DISOBEDIENCE

(7)So, as the holy SPIRIT says: "Today, if you HEAR HIS VOICE,

(8)do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion, during the time of testing in the desert,

(9)where your fathers tested and tried me and for forty years and saw what I did.

(10)That is why I was angry with that generation, and I said, 'Their hearts are always going astray, and they have not known my ways.'

(11)So I declared on oath in my anger, 'They shall never enter my rest.' "

(12)See to it, brothers, that none of you has a{n} [sinful] {impure}, [unbelieving heart] {spirit} that [turns away from] {DISOBEYS} the [living] {Spirit of} God.

(13)But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by [SIN’S DECEITFULNESS] {THE SPIRIT OF DECEIT}.

(14)We have come to share in [Christ] {the Spirit} if we [hold firmly] {OBEY} till the end the [confidence] {Spirit} we had at first.

(15)As [has just been] {the SPIRIT} said: "Today, if you HEAR HIS VOICE, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion."

(16)Who were they who HEARD and rebelled?

Were they not all those Moses led out of Egypt?

(17)And with whom was he angry for forty years?

Was it not with those who [SINNED] {DISOBEYED}, whose bodies fell in the desert?

(18)And to whom did God swear that they would never enter his rest if not to those who DISOBEYED?

(19)So we see that they were not able to enter, because of their [unbelief] {DISOBEDIENCE}.

Notes:
v.(7) “Spirit” is explicit. One hears the Spirit’s voice – also in v.(15).
v.(13) “Sins deceitfulness” in the extanct text is derived from Jewish idea of the “spirit of deceit”.
v.(17) “Disobeyed” agrees with the explicit “disobeyed” of v.(18).
v. (16) The Spirit spoke to the people who Moses led out of Egypt – they HEARD the Spirit and rebelled or disobeyed.
v.(19) “Disobedience” also agrees with the explicit “disobeyed” of v.(18).

Geoff