Who being the brightness of his glory, and the figure of his substance, and upholding all things by the word of his power, making purgation of sins, sitteth on the right hand of the majesty on high.

“This is the way, dear friends, in which we found our salvation, Jesus Christ, the high priest of our offerings, the protector and helper of our weakness. Through him we fix our gaze on the heights of heaven. In him we see mirrored God's pure and transcendent face. Through him the eyes of our hearts have been opened. Through him our foolish and darkened understanding springs up to the light. Through him the Master has willed that we should taste immortal knowledge. For, since "he reflects the glory of God," "he is as much superior to the angels as the name he has obtained is more excellent than theirs." For thus it is written: "He makes his angels winds, and his servants flames of fire." But of his Son this is what the Master said: "You are my son, today I have begotten you. Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage, and the ends of the earth your possession." And again he says to him, "Sit at my right hand till I make your enemies your footstool." Who are meant by "enemies"? Those who are wicked and resist his will.”

“Seeing, then, all things have an end, these two things are simultaneously set before us-death and life; and every one shall go unto his own place. For as there are two kinds of coins, the one of God, the other of the world, and each of these has its special character stamped upon it, [so is it also here.] The unbelieving are of this world; but the believing have, in love, the character of God the Father by Jesus Christ, by whom, if we are not in readiness to die into His passion, His life is not in us.”

“"Because," he answered, "God planted the vineyard, that is to say, He created the people, and gave them to His Son; and the Son appointed His angels over them to keep them; and He Himself purged away their sins, having suffered many trials and undergone many labours, for no one is able to dig without labour and toil. He Himself, then, having purged away the sins of the people, showed them the paths of life by giving them the law which He received from His Father. [You see," he said, "that He is the Lord of the people, having received all authority from His Father.]"”

“If He made all things freely, and by His own power, and arranged and finished them, and His will is the substance of all things, then He is discovered to be the one only God who created all things, who alone is Omnipotent, and who is the only Father rounding and forming all things, visible and invisible, such as may be perceived by our senses and such as cannot, heavenly and earthly, "by the word of His power;" and He has fitted and arranged all things by His wisdom, while He contains all things, but He Himself can be contained by no one: He is the Former, He the Builder, He the Discoverer, He the Creator, He the Lord of all; and there is no one besides Him, or above Him, neither has He any mother, as they falsely ascribe to Him; nor is there a second God, as Marcion has imagined; nor is there a Pleroma of thirty Aeons, which has been shown a vain supposition; nor is there any such being as Bythus or Proarche; nor are there a series of heavens; nor is there a virginal light, nor an unnameable Aeon, nor, in fact, any one of those things which are madly dreamt of by these, and by all the heretics. But there is one only God, the Creator-He who is above every Principality, and Power, and Dominion, and Virtue: He is Father, He is God, He the Founder, He the Maker, He the Creator, who made those things by Himself, that is, through His Word and His Wisdom-heaven and earth, and the seas, and all things that are in them: He is just; He is good; He it is who formed man, who planted paradise, who made the world, who gave rise to the flood, who saved Noah; He is the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, the God of the living: He it is whom the law proclaims, whom the prophets preach, whom Christ reveals, whom the apostles make known to us, and in whom the Church believes. He is the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ: through His Word, who is His Son, through Him He is revealed and manifested to all to whom He is revealed; for those [only] know Him to whom the Son has revealed Him. But the Son, eternally co-existing with the Father, from of old, yea, from the beginning, always reveals the Father to Angels, Archangels, Powers, Virtues, and all to whom He wills that God should be revealed.”

“For God the Father none ever saw, and lived. And accordingly it is agreed that the Son of God Himself spake to Moses, and said to the people, "Behold, I send mine angel before thy"-that is, the people's-"face, to guard thee on the march, and to introduce thee into the land which I have prepared thee: attend to him, and be not disobedient to him; for he hath not escaped thy notice, since my name is upon him.”

“The beloved generates love, and the light immaterial the light inaccessible. "This is my beloved Son," He who, being manifested on earth and yet unseparated from the Father's bosom, was manifested, and yet did not appear. For the appearing is a different thing, since in appearance the baptizer here is superior to the baptized. For this reason did the Father send down the Holy Spirit from heaven upon Him who was baptized. For as in the ark of Noah the love of God toward man is signified by the dove, so also now the Spirit, descending in the form of a dove, bearing as it were the fruit of the olive, rested on Him to whom the witness was borne. For what reason? That the faithfulness of the Father's voice might be made known, and that the prophetic utterance of a long time past might be ratified. And what utterance is this? "The voice of the Lord (is) on the waters, the God of glory thundered; the Lord (is) upon many waters." And what voice? "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." This is He who is named the son of Joseph, and (who is) according to the divine essence my Only-begotten. "This is my beloved Son"-He who is hungry, and yet maintains myriads; who is weary, and yet gives rest to the weary; who has not where to lay His head, and yet bears up all things in His hand; who suffers, and yet heals sufferings; who is smitten, and yet confers liberty on the world; who is pierced in the side, and yet repairs the side of Adam.”

“Thou art the circumscription, so to speak, of Him who cannot be circumscribed; the root of the most beautiful flower; the mother of the Creator; the nurse of the Nourisher; the circumference of Him who embraces all things; the upholder of Him who upholds all things by His word; the gate through which God appears in the flesh; the tongs of that cleansing coal; the bosom in small of that bosom which is all-containing; the fleece of wool, the mystery of which cannot be solved; the well of Bethlehem, that reservoir of life which David longed for, out of which the draught of immortality gushed forth; the mercy-seat from which God in human form was made known unto men; the spotless robe of Him who clothes Himself with light as with a garment.”

“When we speak of God the Father and God the Son, we do not speak of them as different, nor do we separate each: because the Father cannot exist without the Son, nor can the Son be separated from the Father, since the name of Father cannot be given without the Son, nor can the Son be begotten without the Father. Since, therefore, the Father makes the Son, and the Son the Father, they both have one mind, one spirit, one substance; but the former is as it were an overflowing fountain, the latter as a stream flowing forth from it: the former as the sun, the latter as it were a ray extended from the sun. And since He is both faithful to the Most High Father, and beloved by Him, He is not separated from Him; just as the stream is not separated from the fountain, nor the ray from the sun: for the water of the fountain is in the stream, and the light of the sun is in the ray: just as the voice cannot be separated from the mouth, nor the strength or hand from the body.”

“For he who denies that the brightness of the glory existed, takes away also the primitive light of which it is the brightness. And if the image of God was not always, it is clear also that He was not always, of which it is the image. Moreover, in saying that the character of the subsistence of God was not, He also is done away with who is perfectly expressed by it. That He is equally with the Father unchangeable and immutable, wanting in nothing, and the perfect Son, and like to the Father, we have learnt; in this alone is He inferior to the Father, that He is not unbegotten. For He is the very exact image of the Father, and in nothing differing from Him. For it is clear that He is the image fully containing all things by which the greatest similitude is declared, as the Lord Himself hath taught us, when He says, "My Father is greater than I." And according to this we believe that the Son is of the Father, always existing. "For He is the brightness of His glory, the express image of His Father's person." But let no one take that word always so as to raise suspicion that He is unbegotten, as they imagine who have their senses blinded.”

“As the apostle, writing to the Hebrews, says, "who being the brightness of his glory and the stamp of his nature," and David too in the eighty-ninth Psalm, "And the brightness of the Lord be upon us," and "in your light shall we see light." Who has so little sense as to doubt the eternity of the Son? For when did anyone see light without the brightness of its radiance, that one may say of the Son, "There was once when he was not," or "Before his generation he was not." And the words addressed to the Son in the hundred and forty-fourth Psalm, "Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom," forbid anyone to imagine any interval at all in which the Word did not exist.”

“Every grace is given by the Father through the Son, who also acts together with the Holy Spirit. There are not some graces that come from the Father and different graces from the Son and others again from the Holy Spirit. There is but one salvation, one giving of power, one faith; and yet there is one God the Father, our Lord, his only begotten Son, and one Holy Spirit, the Paraclete. Let us be content with this knowledge and not busy ourselves with questions about the divine nature or hypostasis. I would have spoken of that had it been contained in Scripture. Let us not venture where Scripture does not lead, for it suffices for our salvation to know that there is Father and Son and Holy Spirit.”

“The majesty of the Father is expressly imaged in the greatness of the power of the Son, that the one may be believed to be as great as the other is known to be. Again, as the radiance of light sheds its brilliance from the whole of the sun's disk … so too all the glory which the Father has is shed from its whole by means of the brightness that comes from it, that is, by the true Light. Even as the ray is of the sun—for there would be no ray if the sun were not—the sun is never conceived as existing by itself without the ray of brightness that is shed from it. So the apostle delivered to us the continuity and eternity of that existence which the Only Begotten has of the Father, calling the Son "the brightness of God's glory."”

“Then, using degrees of ascent, he uttered that which is far greater than all this, saying, "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." O! the wisdom of the Apostle! or rather, not the wisdom of Paul, but the grace of the Spirit is the thing to wonder at. For surely he uttered not these things of his own mind, nor in that way did he find his wisdom. (For whence could it be? From the knife, and the skins, or the workshop?) But it was from the working of God. For his own understanding did not give birth to these thoughts, which was then so mean and slender as in nowise to surpass the baser sort; (for how could it, seeing it spent itself wholly on bargains and skins?) but the grace of the Spirit shows forth its strength by whomsoever it will. For just as one, wishing to lead up a little child to some lofty place, reaching up even to the top of Heaven, does this gently and by degrees, leading him upwards by the steps from below, then when he has set him on high, and bidden him to gaze downwards, and sees him turning giddy and confused, and dizzy, taking hold of him, he leads him down to the lower stand, allowing him to take breath; then when he hath recovered it, leads him up again, and again brings him down; just so did the blessed Paul likewise, both with the Hebrews and everywhere, having learnt it from his Master. For even He also did so; sometimes He led His hearers up on high, and sometimes He brought them down, not allowing them to remain very long. See him, then, even here, by how many steps he led them up, and placed them near the very summit of religion, and then or ever they grow giddy, and are seized with dizziness, how he leads them again lower down, and allowing them to take breath, says, "He spake unto us by [His] Son," "whom He appointed Heir of all things." For the name of Son is so far common. For where a true [Son] it is understood of, He is above all: but however that may be, for the present he proves that He is from above. And see how he says it: "Whom He appointed," saith he, "heir of all things." The phrase, "He appointed Heir," is humble. Then he placed them on the higher step, adding, "by whom also He made the worlds." Then on a higher still, and after which there is no other, "who being the brightness of His glory, and the express image of His person." Truly he has led them to unapproachable light, to the very brightness itself. And before they are blinded see how he gently leads them down again, saying, "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." He does not simply say, "He sat down," but "after the purifying, He sat down," for he hath touched on the Incarnation, and his utterance is again lowly. Since then "He hath purged our sins," let us continue pure; and let us receive no stain, but preserve the beauty which He hath implanted in us, and His comeliness undefiled and pure, "not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing." (Eph. v. 27.) Even little sins are "a spot and a wrinkle," such a thing, I mean, as Reproach, Insult, Falsehood. Nay, rather not even are these small, but on the contrary very great: yea so great as to deprive a man even of the kingdom of Heaven. How? "He that calleth his brother fool, is in danger" (He saith) "of hellfire." (Matt. v. 22.) But if it be so with him who calls a man "fool," which seems to be the slightest of all things, and rather mere children's talk; what sentence of punishment will not he incur, who calleth him malignant and crafty and envious, and casteth at him ten thousand other reproaches? What more fearful than this?”

“Above, the Apostle showed the excellence of Christ as to the property of his origin, as to the majesty of his dominion, and as to the power of his operation; but here he shows his excellence as to the sublimity of glory and dignity. And this part is divided into two. For first he shows that Christ is fit for this dignity; second he sets down the dignity itself, where he says, he sits at the right hand. Now he shows the fitness from two things which render someone fit for something great: one is facility in administering, the other is industry and vigor in carrying out. First, therefore, he shows his facility; second, his vigor, where he says, making purgation of sins. Concerning the first, it must be known that three things are required which make for facility in administering some dignity. The first indeed is wisdom, lest he err in governing. Ecclesiastes 10:5: There is also an evil that I have seen under the sun, as it were an error proceeding from the face of the prince: a fool set in high dignity. Proverbs 8:15: By me kings reign. The second is nobility of lineage, lest he be despised in commanding. Proverbs, last chapter: Her husband is noble in the gates, when he sits with the senators of the land. The third is power of strength in carrying out. Ecclesiasticus 7:6: Seek not to be made a judge, unless thou have strength to break through iniquities. And as to these three things the Apostle shows in Christ the facility for the aforesaid dignity. First, because he is not only wise, but also is wisdom itself; hence he says, who being the splendor of glory. Second, because he is not only noble, but is nobility itself, because he is the figure of his substance. Third, because he is not only powerful, but is power itself, upholding all things by his word, etc. Now there are three things, as was said above, which make a man fit to attain a great dignity. The first is the brightness of wisdom. Proverbs 3:35: The wise shall possess glory. And therefore he shows the wisdom of Christ, saying, who being the splendor of glory. Here it must be considered that, according to Ambrose, glory is a bright knowledge together with praise, as it were a certain manifest knowledge which is had concerning someone's goodness. But, as is said in Matthew 19:17: None is good but God alone, and also Luke 18:19; hence he himself is goodness by antonomasia and by essence. But other good things are so by participation, and thus glory by antonomasia belongs to God alone. Isaiah 42:8: I will not give my glory to another. 1 Timothy 1:17: To the king of ages, immortal, invisible, to the only God, honor and glory. The knowledge, therefore, of the divine goodness is called glory in an excellent way and by antonomasia, that is, a bright knowledge together with praise of the divine goodness. This is had in some measure by man, because now I know in part, 1 Corinthians 13:12, but it is had more excellently by the angels, but perfectly by God alone. For no one has ever seen God, John 1:18 — this is true — nor do the angels see him comprehensively, but he alone comprehends himself. Therefore only the knowledge God has of himself is perfectly called glory, because he has a perfect and most clear knowledge of himself. Now since splendor is that which is first emitted from what shines, and wisdom is something that shines — Ecclesiasticus 8:1: the wisdom of a man shines in his countenance — hence it is that the first conception of wisdom is, as it were, a certain splendor. The Word of the Father, therefore, which is a certain concept of his intellect, is the splendor of the wisdom by which he knows himself. And therefore the Apostle calls the Son the splendor of glory, that is, of bright divine knowledge. In this he shows him to be not only wise, but wisdom begotten. Isaiah 62:1: until her just one go forth as splendor, etc. The second thing which makes a man fit for great dignity is nobility of lineage. And he shows this to be in Christ, because he says that he is the figure of his substance. For it is fitting that nobility be joined with wisdom in a prince. Deuteronomy 1:15: And I took out of your tribes wise and noble men, and appointed them princes, etc. Figure is here put for character, or image; as if he were to say: the image of the substance. It must be known, however, that although image implies likeness, not every likeness is an image. For whiteness on a wall is not the image of my whiteness, but an image and likeness in species. That, therefore, is properly said to be the image of something, which has the likeness of its species, or an expressed sign of the species. But among accidents, nothing is so much an expressed sign as figure is of species. Hence whoever describes the figure of an animal, describes its image. The Son, therefore, who is the image of the invisible God, Colossians 1:15, is properly called figure. But of what? Of his substance. For the image of something is manifold. Sometimes it is a sign representing the species while agreeing with it in nothing, as the image of a man on a wall, which in no way has the true species of a man. But sometimes it is assimilated to it in species, not only in representing, but also in being, as the son is the true image of the father. Genesis 5:3: Adam begot a son to his own image, that is, in the nature of the species. And therefore he adds of his substance, because, according to Augustine, the son is called the image of the father because he is of the same nature with him. He says, therefore, that he is the figure of the substance. But why does he not say that he is the figure of nature? Because it is possible that the nature of a species be multiplied to a multitude of individuals in things composed of matter and form. Hence the son of Socrates does not have the same nature numerically as his father. But substance is never multiplied. For the substance of the father is not one thing and that of the son another. Nor indeed is it divided according to diverse individuals. Because, therefore, the nature is one and the same in number in the Father and the Son of God, he therefore does not say of nature, which is divided, but of substance, which is indivisible. John 10:30: I and the Father are one. And chapter 14:10: I am in the Father, and the Father is in me. The third thing which makes a man fit is strength and power. Hence Ecclesiasticus 7:6: Seek not to be a judge, unless thou have strength to break through iniquities. And therefore he shows the power, when he says, and upholding all things by the word of his power. Now it is proper to princes and to the powerful to carry. Job 9:13: under whom they stoop that bear up the world. He therefore upholds. But it must be seen what he upholds, and how, or by what. As to the first, it must be known that that which of itself can neither stand nor walk needs to be carried. But every creature of itself can neither subsist nor operate. The first is evident, because when the cause is removed, the effect is removed; but God is the cause of every substance, since he is no less the cause of the substance of a thing as to its coming to be, than the house-builder is the cause of the house's coming to be; hence, just as at the absence of the house-builder the house's coming to be ceases, and at the absence of the sun the coming to be and the being of light in the air ceases, so at the withdrawal of the divine power the being, and the coming to be, and the subsisting of every creature ceases. He upholds, therefore, all things as to their being. He upholds also all things as to their operating, because, his influence being withdrawn, all the motion of the second causes ceases, since he himself is the first cause, and the first cause has more influence than the second. Job 38:6: upon what were its bases made fast. Thus, therefore, it is clear that he upholds all things. But by what does he uphold them? By the word of his power. For since the Apostle, speaking of the creation of things, had said that God made all things through the Son — since indeed he had said, by whom also he made the worlds — he through whom someone operates does not seem to operate by his own power, but by the power of him who operates through him; just as the bailiff, through whom the king acts, does not act by his own power. Therefore by this it seems that the Son does not operate by his own power. Therefore the Apostle says that he upholds by the word of his power, because, since the cause of being and of preserving is the same, when he says that the Son by his own power is the cause of preservation, he shows that he is also the cause of being. But is it not also by the power of the Father? Indeed, by his power too, because the power of both is the same. He operates, therefore, both by his own power, and by the power of the Father, because he has his own power from the Father. Yet the Apostle does not say by his own power, but by the word of his power, to show that, just as the Father produced all things through the Word — Psalm 32:9: he spoke, and they were made, etc., in which the greatest power of the Father is shown — so the Son made all things by the same Word, which is himself. And in this the Apostle shows the power of his might, because he has the same power as the Father, since he operates the same things and by the same means as the Father. But then there is a doubt: because the Father, when he speaks, produces the Word. Therefore the Son, when he speaks, would produce a word, and thus the word of the Father would be the word of the Son. And to this the Greeks say that just as the Son is the image of the Father, so the Holy Spirit is the image of the Son. And thus Basil expounds upholding by the word of his power, that is, by the Holy Spirit. For just as the Son is the word of the Father, so, as they say, the Holy Spirit is the word of the Son. And therefore the Son acts through him, just as the Father acts through the Son. Nevertheless, properly speaking, that alone is called a word which proceeds as a concept from the intellect, upon which it follows to proceed into a likeness of species. But the Holy Spirit, even if he is like, does not however have this from the mode of his procession, because he does not proceed as a concept from the intellect, but as love from the will. But the Gloss expounds by the word of his power otherwise, that is, by his command. But here there is still a doubt about what this word may be, because a man's command is either exterior, uttered by voice — and this cannot be said in divine matters, since nothing extrinsic to the divine nature, proceeding from the Son, exists by which all things might be upheld — or that command is interior, conceived in the heart; but this too cannot stand, because nothing is conceived in the mind of God except the eternal Word. Therefore this command, thus conceived in the mind of the Son, would be the eternal Word, and thus there would be two eternal words, which it is unlawful to say. Therefore to the argument it must be said, as Augustine expounds that text of John 12:48: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him, that is, I myself, who am the word of the Father, shall judge him. And likewise, in the matter proposed, by the word of his power, that is, by himself, who is the powerful word. By these three things, therefore, he shows three things about Christ. For by this, that he is the splendor, he shows his co-eternity with the Father. In creatures, splendor is coeval, but he is co-eternal. And this is against Arius. But when he says the image of the substance, he shows his consubstantiality. For since splendor is not of the same nature as that which shines, lest perhaps someone believe that he is not similar in nature, he says that he is the image, or figure, of the substance. But because the Son, even if he is of the same nature as the Father, yet if he were weak, would fall short of the power of the Father; therefore he adds, upholding all things by the word of his power. The Apostle, therefore, in these three things, commends Christ from three things, namely from co-eternity, from consubstantiality, and from equality of power. Then, when he says making purgation of sins, he shows the second thing which makes for the fitness of his dignity, namely the vigor and the industry which he had in acting. For it was a mark of great industry that what belonged to him from the nature by which he is God, he himself merited through the passion in the nature he assumed. Hence Philippians 2:8f.: he became obedient unto death; for which cause God also hath exalted him. To purge sins, therefore, although it belongs to him from the divine nature, yet it belongs to him also from the merit of the passion. Hence Ecclesiasticus 47:13: Christ purged away his sins, and exalted his horn for ever, etc. Matthew 1:21: For he shall save his people from their sins. It belongs also to Christ to purge, by reason of the divine nature, and by reason of the property of the Son. By reason of the divine nature, because guilt or sin is properly the evil of the rational creature. But this evil, or sin, cannot be repaired except through God. For sin consists in the will, but only God can move the will. Jeremiah 17:9f.: The heart of man is perverse and unsearchable, who shall know it? I am the Lord, etc. And the reason for this is that what is more immediate to the end is not reduced to that end except by the first agent cause. But the will is of the last end, namely for the enjoying of God; and therefore it is moved and reduced only by God. Since therefore Christ is true God, it is manifest that he can make purgation of sins. Isaiah 43:25: I am he who blot out your iniquities for my own sake, etc. Luke 2:7: Who can forgive sins, but God alone? But by reason of the property, it belongs also to Christ. For the evidence of this it must be known that in sin, first indeed there is a transgression of the eternal law and of the divine right, since every sin is iniquity, which is a transgression of the law. Isaiah 24:5: they have changed the right, they have broken the everlasting covenant. Since therefore the eternal law and the divine right are from the eternal Word, it is manifest that the purgation of sins belongs to Christ, insofar as he is the Word. Psalm 106:20: he sent his word, and healed them. Second, in sin there is the loss of the light of reason, and consequently of the wisdom of God in man, since this light is a certain participation of the divine wisdom. Baruch 3:28: and because they had not wisdom, therefore they perished. Proverbs 14:22: all they that work evil err. And according to the Philosopher, every evil man is ignorant. But the rectification unto the divine wisdom belongs to him who is the divine wisdom. But this is Christ. 1 Corinthians 1:23f.: we preach Christ, the power of God, and the wisdom of God. Wisdom 9:19: for by wisdom they were healed, whosoever have pleased thee, O Lord, from the beginning. Third, in sin there is the deformation of the likeness of God in man. Proverbs 15:7: the heart of fools shall be unlike. Hence it is said, Luke 15:13, of the prodigal son, that he went into a far country. Of the prodigal son, that he went into a far country. And therefore it belongs to this deformation to be rectified through the Son, who is the image of the Father. 1 Corinthians 15:49: as we have borne the image of the earthly, let us bear also the image of the heavenly. Fourth, the loss of the eternal inheritance, in sign of which man after sin was excluded from Paradise, Genesis 3:23. But the reparation of this properly belongs to the Son, who is the heir. Romans 8:17: if sons, also heirs. Galatians 4:4f.: God sent his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, that he might redeem them who were under the law, and that we might receive the adoption of sons of God. Thus, therefore, it is clear that it belongs to Christ to purge sins, both by reason of the human nature, and by reason of the divine. But how did he make the purgation of sins? This is clear from the following. For in sin, first there is a perversity of the will, by which man withdraws from the unchangeable good, and to rectify this, Christ furnished justifying grace. Romans 3:24: justified freely by his grace. Second, there is a stain left in the soul from the perversity of the will, and to wash this away he furnished his own blood. Apocalypse 1:5: he loved us, and washed us from sins, etc. Third, there is the guilt of punishment to which man is bound because of the fault, and to satisfy for this he offered himself as a sacrifice to God on the altar of the cross. Ephesians 5:2: Christ loved the Church, and delivered himself up for her, that he might sanctify her. Fourth, the servitude of the Devil, to which man is made subject by sinning, because he who commits sin is the servant of sin, and to snatch us from this, he redeemed us. Psalm 30:6: thou hast redeemed me, O Lord God of truth. Consequently, when he says he sits at the right hand, he subjoins the dignity itself, as if he were to say: it does not seem unfitting if he sits, etc. Because he himself is the splendor and the figure, and upholds all things, etc. Now in the word sitting three things are usually implied. One is the authority of the one sitting. Job 29:25: and when I sat as a king, with his army standing about him, etc. But in the divine court many stand by, since Daniel 7:10: thousands of thousands ministered to him, and ten thousand times a hundred thousand stood before him. But none is read to sit there, because all there are servants and ministers. Below, in the same: all are ministering spirits, sent to minister. But this one alone has royal dignity. Daniel 7:22: and he came even unto the ancient of days, and afterward it follows: and he gave him power, and honor, and a kingdom, etc. Matthew 25:31: when the Son of man shall come in his majesty, and all his angels with him, then shall he sit upon the seat of his majesty, and afterward it follows: then shall the king say to these, etc. The second is the stability of the one sitting. Luke, last chapter: sit ye in the city, etc. Daniel 7:14: his power is an everlasting power, etc.; and below, 13:8: Jesus Christ, yesterday and today, the same forever. Also, sometimes sitting implies humility, because one sitting is lower than those standing. Psalm 138:2: thou hast known my sitting down. And it is not taken in this way here, but in the first two ways. But against this, Acts 7:56: behold, I see the heavens opened, and Jesus standing, etc. And it must be said that sitting, and standing, and dispositions of this kind are said of God according to likeness. And therefore according to different aspects, he is said both to sit and to stand. Sitting indeed on account of immobility; but standing on account of usefulness for resisting strongly. Hence he stood as one ready to help Stephen, set in his agony. But the Apostle adds that he sits at the right hand. This, if it be referred to the divine nature, has the sense: at the right hand, that is, at the equality of the Father. But if to the human nature, the sense is: at the right hand, that is, in the more excellent goods of the Father. Mark, last chapter: he sits at the right hand of God. Psalm 109:1 and Matthew 22:44: the Lord said to my Lord: sit at my right hand. But among those who have assessors, some are greater simply, as a king or emperor; but some are not greater simply, but in a certain respect, as provosts, or bailiffs. But Christ does not sit at the right hand of some inferior judge, as of some provost, like a bailiff, but of one greater simply, because at the right hand of majesty. Majesty is properly the highest power. Isaiah 6:3: the whole earth was full of his majesty. Proverbs 25:27: he that is a searcher of majesty, shall be overwhelmed by glory. But Christ, even though he thus sits at the right hand of majesty, nevertheless himself also has majesty, because he has the same majesty as the Father. Matthew 25:31: when the Son of man shall come in his majesty. Luke 9:26: him shall the Son of man be ashamed of, when he shall come in his own majesty, and that of the Father. He says also not only of majesty, but also on high, that is, above every creature. Ecclesiasticus 24:7: I dwell in the highest places. Thus, therefore, he sits on high, because he is raised above every creature. Psalm 8:2: for thy magnificence is elevated above the heavens. And according to what Chrysostom says, the Apostle in this passage keeps the manner of one wishing to instruct a little child, who does not at once set before him the highest things, but leads him on little by little, now speaking of lofty matters, now setting forth the lowest; thus also he now sets forth divine things, when he says in the Son, now human things, when he says whom he appointed heir, etc. And so of the others, as is clear in the Gloss.”

“Who being the brightness of his glory,.... Or "of glory"; of God the Father, the God of glory, and who is glory itself; so called on account of his glorious nature and perfections and because of the glorious manifestations of them in his works of creation and providence, and in the various dispensations of his grace, and especially in his Son; and because he is the author of all glory, in the creatures, in the whole world, in Christ as man and Mediator, and in his own people. Now Christ is the "brightness" of this, as he is God; he has the same glorious nature and perfections, and the same glorious names, as Jehovah, the Lord of glory, &c. and the same glory, homage, and worship given him: the allusion is to the sun, and its beam or ray: so some render it "the ray of his glory"; and may lead us to observe, that the Father and the Son are of the same nature, as the sun and its ray; and that the one is not before the other, and yet distinct from each other, and cannot be divided or separated one from another: so the phrase , "the brightness of his glory", is used of the divine Being, in the Chaldee paraphrases (r); see the Apocrypha. "For she is the brightness of the everlasting light, the unspotted mirror of the power of God, and the image of his goodness.'' (Wisdom 7:26) And the express image of his person; this intends much the same as the other phrase; namely, equality and sameness of nature, and distinction of persons; for if the Father is God, Christ must be so too; and if he is a person, his Son must be so likewise, or he cannot be the express image and character of him; See Gill on Col 1:15. And upholding all things by the word of his power; the Syriac version renders it, "by the power of his word", to the same sense, only inverting the words. The Targumist on Ch2 2:6 uses a phrase very much like this, of God, whom the heaven of heavens cannot contain; because, adds he, , "he bears", or "sustains all things by the arm of his power"; and the words are to be understood not of the Father, upholding all things by his essential and powerful Word, his Son; but of the Son himself, who upholds all creatures he has made; bears up the pillars of the universe; preserves every creature in its being, and supports it, and supplies it with the necessaries of life; rules and governs all, and providentially orders and disposes of all things in the world, and that by his all powerful will; which makes it manifest, that he is truly and properly God, and a very fit person to be a priest, as follows: when he had by himself purged our sins; the Arabic and Ethiopic versions seem to refer this to God the Father, as if he, by Christ, made the expiation of sin, and then caused him to sit down at his right hand; but it belongs to the Son himself, who of himself, and by himself alone, and by the sacrifice of himself, made atonement for the sins of his people; which is meant by the purgation of them: he took their sins upon himself, and bore them, and removed them far away, and utterly abolished them, which the priests under the law could not do: and when he had so done, he sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high; by "Majesty" is meant God the Father, to whom majesty belongs; who is clothed with it, and which is before him: and his "right hand" designs his power, greatness, and glory, and is expressive of the high honour Christ, as man, is possessed of; for his sitting here denotes the glorious exaltation of him in human nature, after his sufferings, and death, and resurrection from the dead; and shows that he had done his work, and was accepted, and was now enjoying rest and ease, honour and glory, in which he will continue; and the place of his session, as well as of the habitation of God, at whose right hand he sits, is on high, in the highest heavens. (r) Targum in 2 Sam xxii. 13. & in Cant. v. 10.”

“The brightness of his glory - Απαυγασμα της δοξης The resplendent outbeaming of the essential glory of God. Hesychius interprets απαυγασμα by ᾑλιου φεγγος, the splendor of the sun. The same form of expression is used by an apocryphal writer, Wis. 7:26, where, speaking of the uncreated wisdom of God, he says: "For she is the splendor of eternal light, απαυγασμα γαρ εστι φωτος αΐδιου, and the unsullied mirror of the energy of God, and the image of his goodness." The word αυγασμα is that which has splendor in itself απαυγασμα is the splendor emitted from it; but the inherent splendor and the exhibited splendor are radically and essentially the same. The express image of his person - Χαρακτηρ της ὑποστασεως αυτου· The character or impression of his hypostasis or substance. It is supposed that these words expound the former; image expounding brightness, and person or substance, glory. The hypostasis of God is that which is essential to him as God; and the character or image is that by which all the likeness of the original becomes manifest, and is a perfect fac-simile of the whole. It is a metaphor taken from sealing; the die or seal leaving the full impression of its every part on the wax to which it is applied. From these words it is evident, 1. That the apostle states Jesus Christ to be of the same essence with the Father, as the απαυγασμα, or proceeding splendor, must be the same with the αυγασμα, or inherent splendor. 2. That Christ, though proceeding from the Father, is of the same essence; for if one αυγη, or splendor, produce another αυγη, or splendor, the produced splendor must be of the same essence with that which produces it. 3. That although Christ is thus of the same essence with the Father, yet he is a distinct person from the Father; as the splendor of the sun, though of the same essence, is distinct from the sun itself, though each is essential to the other; as the αυγασμα, or inherent splendor, cannot subsist without its απαυγασμα, or proceeding splendor, nor the proceeding splendor subsist without the inherent splendor from which it proceeds. 4. That Christ is eternal with the Father, as the proceeding splendor must necessarily be coexistent with the inherent splendor. If the one, therefore, be uncreated, the other is uncreated; if the one be eternal, the other is eternal. Upholding all things by the word of his power - This is an astonishing description of the infinitely energetic and all pervading power of God. He spake, and all things were created; he speaks, and all things are sustained. The Jewish writers frequently express the perfection of the Divine nature by the phrases, He bears all things, both above and below; He carries all his creatures; He bears his world; He bears all worlds by his power. The Hebrews, to whom this epistle was written, would, from this and other circumstances, fully understand that the apostle believed Jesus Christ to be truly and properly God. Purged our sins - There may be here some reference to the great transactions in the wilderness. 1. Moses, while in communion with God on the mount, was so impressed with the Divine glories that his face shone, so that the Israelites could not behold it. But Jesus is infinitely greater than Moses, for he is the splendor of God's glory; and, 2. Moses found the government of the Israelites such a burden that he altogether sank under it. His words, Num 11:12, are very remarkable: Have I conceived all this people? Have I begotten them, that thou shouldest say unto me, Carry them in thy Bosom - unto the land which thou swearest unto their fathers? But Christ not only carried all the Israelites, and all mankind; but he upholds All Things by the word of his power. 3. The Israelites murmured against Moses and against God, and provoked the heavy displeasure of the Most High; and would have been consumed had not Aaron made an atonement for them, by offering victims and incense. But Jesus not only makes an atonement for Israel, but for the whole world; not with the blood of bulls and goats, but with his own blood: hence it is said that he purged our sins δι' αὑτου, by himself his own body and life being the victim. It is very likely that the apostle had all these things in his eye when he wrote this verse; and takes occasion from them to show the infinite excellence of Jesus Christ when compared with Moses; and of his Gospel when compared with the law. And it is very likely that the Spirit of God, by whom he spoke, kept in view those maxims of the ancient Jews, concerning the Messiah, whom they represent as being infinitely greater than Abraham, the patriarchs, Moses, and the ministering angels. So Rabbi Tanchum, on Isa 52:13, Behold my servant shall deal prudently, says, זה מלך המשיח Zeh melek hammashiach, this is the King Messiah; and shall be exalted, and be extolled, and be very high. "He shall be exalted above Abraham, and shall be extolled beyond Moses, and shall be more sublime than the ministering angels." See the preface. The right hand of the Majesty on high - As it were associated with the supreme Majesty, in glory everlasting, and in the government of all things in time and in eternity; for the right hand is the place of the greatest eminence, Kg1 2:19. The king himself, in eastern countries, sits on the throne; the next to him in the kingdom, and the highest favourite, sits on his right hand; and the third greatest personage, on his left.”

“Who being the spendour, [3] or brightness of his glory, not as beams or rays are derived from a lightsome body, but by a necessary and eternal communication of the same substance, and of the whole light; in which sense the council of Nice[Nicaea] understood the eternal Son of God to be light of light. This partly helps us to conceive the eternal generation of the Son from the Father, because the brightness is at the same time with the sun, though all comparisons fall short of this mystery. (Witham) — We may here observe the two natures of Christ. As God, he is the Creator of all things; as man, he is constituted heir of the goods of God. Not content to possess the inheritance of his Father in his own person, he will have us as coheirs to share it also with him. May we so live as to hear one day that happy sentence: Come, ye blessed of my Father, &c. — And the figure of his substance. [4] In the Greek is the character of his substance; which might be translated, the express image. There are different ways by which a thing may be said to be a figure or image of another: here it is taken for such a representation of the substance of the Father, that though the Father and the Son be distinct persons, and the Son proceed from the Father, yet he is such a figure and image, as to have the same nature and substance with the Father, as the Catholic Church always believed and declared against the ancient heretics, and particularly against the Arians. Their words may be partly seen in Petavius, lib. ii. de Trin. chap. 11.; lib. iv. chap. 6.; lib. vi. chap. 6., being too prolix for these short notes. And this may be understood by the following words concerning the Son: and upholding or preserving all things by the word of his power. As he had said before, that all things were made by him, so all things are preserved by him, equally with the Father. See Colossians i. 16, 17. See also ver. 10. of this chapter, and the annotations on John i. 3. (Witham) — Figure. This does not exclude the reality. So Christ’s body in the eucharist, and his mystical death in the mass, though called a figure, image, or representation of Christ’s visible body and sacrifice upon the cross, yet may be and is the self-same substance. (Bristow) — Sitteth on the right hand of the majesty on high. This also may be taken to express the equality of the Son with the Father, if considered as God; but this sitting on the right hand of God , both here, in St. Mark, chap. xvi. and in the apostles’ creed, express what agrees with Christ, as our Redeemer, God made man by his incarnation, and who as man is made the head of his Church, the judge of the living and of the dead; and so St. Stephen said, (Acts vii.) I see the heavens open, and the Son of man standing at the right hand of God. (Witham)”

“Who being--by pre-existent and essential being. brightness of his glory--Greek, the effulgence of His glory. "Light of (from) light" [Nicene Creed]. "Who is so senseless as to doubt concerning the eternal being of the Son? For when has one seen light without effulgence?" [ATHANASIUS, Against Arius, Orations, 2]. "The sun is never seen without effulgence, nor the Father without the Son" [THEOPHYLACT]. It is because He is the brightness, &c., and because He upholds, &c., that He sat down on the right hand, &c. It was a return to His divine glory (Joh 6:62; Joh 17:5; compare Wisdom 7:25-26, where similar things are said of wisdom). express image--"impress." But veiled in the flesh. The Sun of God in glory beams Too bright for us to scan; But we can face the light that streams For the mild Son of man. (Co2 3:18) of his person--Greek, "of His substantial essence"; "hypostasis." upholding all things--Greek, "the universe." Compare Col 1:15, Col 1:17, Col 1:20, which enumerates the three facts in the same order as here. by the word--Therefore the Son of God is a Person; for He has the word [BENGEL]. His word is God's word (Heb 11:3). of his power--"The word" is the utterance which comes from His (the Son's) power, and gives expression to it. by himself--omitted in the oldest manuscripts. purged--Greek, "made purification of . . . sins," namely, in His atonement, which graciously covers the guilt of sin. "Our" is omitted in the oldest manuscripts. Sin was the great uncleanness in God's sight, of which He has effected the purgation by His sacrifice [ALFORD]. Our nature, as guilt-laden, could not, without our great High Priest's blood of atonement sprinkling the heavenly mercy seat, come into immediate contact with God. EBRARD says, "The mediation between man and God, who was present in the Most Holy Place, was revealed in three forms: (1) In sacrifices (typical propitiations for guilt); (2) In the priesthood (the agents of those sacrifices); (3) In the Levitical laws of purity (Levitical purity being attained by sacrifice positively, by avoidance of Levitical pollution negatively, the people being thus enabled to come into the presence of God without dying, Deu 5:26)" (Lev. 16:1-34). sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high--fulfilling Psa 110:1. This sitting of the Son at God's fight hand was by the act of the Father (Heb 8:1; Eph 1:20); it is never used of His pre-existing state co-equal with the Father, but always of His exalted state as Son of man after His sufferings, and as Mediator for man in the presence of God (Rom 8:34): a relation towards God and us about to come to an end when its object has been accomplished (Co1 15:28).”