Seven Statements about the Son: Radiance of the Glory of God

In this post, we’re moving on the the third of the seven statements about the Son made by the writer in Hebrews 1:2b-3. Christ, the writer tells us, is the radiance of the glory of God. Athanasius used this statement in his fight against the Arian heresy because he said that it showed that Christ was co-eternal with God the Father. Just what exactly does it mean that Christ “is the radiance of the glory of God,” and how did this help Athanasius prove that Christ was without beginning in the same way that the Father is without beginning?

• The Radiance
  
  The word translated radiance can be understood in two ways. It can refer to the shining forth of brightness like the rays of the sun shine forth from the sun; or it can refer to the reflecting of brightness like a mirror reflects light.
   
  The Message takes the word in this second way, saying that the “Son perfectly mirrors God.” A few commentaries interpret it this way, too, explaining that the Son reflects God’s glory. Most translations and commentaries, however, seem to understand radiance in the first way—that Christ shines forth with God’s glory. Commonly, the word effulgence, which means “the quality of being bright and sending out rays of light,” is used to describe this sort of radiance. God’s glory is in Christ, we might say, and he beams it outward. One way to express this idea might be to say that Christ expresses the glory of God to us in the same way that the brightness of the sun shows forth the sun itself.
   
  As you can probably tell from how much space I’ve given to explaining the second way of understanding radiance, this is the meaning that I think is the most likely. But either way, the statements tell us that we see the glory of God in the Son.
   
• The Glory of God
  The phrase “the glory of God” is almost synonymous with God himself in all his majesty. All of what God is, taken together, is the glory of God.  Wherever God is present, his glory is present, too; and God’s glory is inseparable from God.
  
  We are told in Colossians 2:9 that “the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily” in Christ, and I’d think that the phrase “the whole fullness of deity” used in this verse is very close to the idea of the glory of God. In Colossians 2:9, then, we have the fullness of deity dwelling in Christ; in this statement from Hebrews 1, it’s God’s glory (or his majesty) radiating or reflecting from Christ.  If the the first statement from Colossians is a claim of deity for Christ, so is our statement from Hebrews.

To summarize, we can understand the statement that Christ is the radiance of the glory of God to mean that God’s majesty (or his deity) shines forth in Christ. It is another way of saying that he is God.

 

This is the way Athanasius understood it, too, and he argued for Christ’s full and eternal deity from this statement in ATHANASIUS, Against Arius:

But these men dare to separate them, and to say that He is alien from the substance and eternity of the Father; and impiously to represent Him as changeable, not perceiving, that by speaking thus, they make Him to be, not one with the Father, but one with created things. Who does not see, that the brightness cannot be separated from the light, but that it is by nature proper to it, and co-existent with it, and is not produced after it?

According to Athanasius, this statement in Hebrews showed that Christ is of the same nature as God; that he is eternal in the same way God is; that he is both inseparable from God, and yet distinct from him.

 

So what does the statement that Christ is the radiance of the glory of God mean for us?

• Just like the previous statement in this series, this one is also a strong affirmation of Christ’s deity and co-eternality with the Father, and should be useful as biblical evidence for the full eternal deity of Christ
• That Christ is the radiance of the glory of God compels us to worship him.
• Because of this statement, you can sing Shine, Jesus, Shine guilt-free, since it is not without at least one morsel of theological meat: Jesus does indeed shine with the Father’s glory, and that tell us some important things about him. 

Can you think of other things to add to the list of what this statement means for us?  How do you understand the word “radiance” in this statement? Anything else you’d like to add or discuss is welcome, too. 

Sunday's Hymn: Reader's Choice

This week’s hymn is the favorite of Juanita of Jam and Books and Ruthie Cuiabana, and it also receives special mention from Lisa Johnson of Thoughts from the Tea House. It’s a hymn from Francis Ridley Havergal, who is, in my opinion, one of the 19th century’s best hymn writers.

Like a River Glorius

 

Like a river glorious, is God’s perfect peace,
Over all victorious, in its bright increase;
Perfect, yet it floweth, fuller every day,
Perfect, yet it groweth, deeper all the way.

Refrain

Stayed upon Jehovah, hearts are fully blest
Finding, as He promised, perfect peace and rest.

Hidden in the hollow of His blessed hand,
Never foe can follow, never traitor stand;
Not a surge of worry, not a shade of care,
Not a blast of hurry touch the spirit there.

Every joy or trial falleth from above,
Traced upon our dial by the Sun of Love;
We may trust Him fully all for us to do.
They who trust Him wholly find Him wholly true.

Here’s a quote from on peace with God from one of Frances Havergal’s personal letters.

We have peace with God … It is yours already, purchased for you, made for you, sealed for you, pledged to you – by the word of the Father and the precious blood of Jesus.

Listen to this hymn: Piano or male voice.

 

Other hymns, worship songs, etc. posted today:

• Blessed Quietness at The Happy Wonderer
• Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing at IMD 2.0
  
• Beyond the Sunset at Above the Clouds
• The Benefits Divine at The Thirsty Theologian.
  
• Thou, Whose Almighty Word at John Dekker’s Journal
• Breathe on Me, Breath of God at Seasonings of the Heart
• Author of Life Divine at joythruChrist
• The Collect for Trinity Sunday at Magic Statistics
• A few quotes from Fanny Crosby at Thoughts from the Teahouse.
• John of Blogotional prays for his father, who is not doing well after last week’s car accident. Update: John’s father passed away yesterday.
  

Have you posted a hymn this Sunday and I missed it? Let me know by leaving a link in the comments or by emailing me at the address in the sidebar and I’ll add your post to the list. If you’d like to see your favorite hymn featured as a Reader’s Choice hymn, go here and leave a comment. Just tell me your favorite hymn and a little bit about why you like it and I’ll feature your hymn when your turn comes.

Saturday's Old Photo

Yesterday would have been my 32nd wedding anniversary. I should probably be posting a wedding picture, but then I’d have to find one and scan it, and I’m just too tired to take that project on right now. This one that’s already in oldest son’s photo gallery will have to do.

 

This was taken about 4 months after we got married, and it was at a wedding, just not our wedding. In this autumn wedding, I was a bridesmaid for my friend Jo-Ann. When we drove down to Pine City, Minnesota on Friday night, the trees were in full fall colour. Overnight on Saturday, the wind started to blow, and when we drove home on Sunday morning there was not a leaf left on any of the trees.

 

Those were the days when a Minnesota bride could choose a pattern and material and count on all her bridesmaids being able to whip out their own bridesmaid’s dress. You can’t see from this photo, but the fabric was a sheer voile type, and the dress was fully lined. I wore it for several more years whenever I needed something a little formal, so it wasn’t one of those bridesmaid’s dresses that never gets worn again. 

 

At this point in our marriage, we’d already had the only knocked-down, dragged-out fight we ever had—the nasty one over whether Gerald Ford or Ronald Reagan should be the Republican nominee in 1976. Once we got that earth-shaking matter settled, resolving all the other issues that came up was a piece of cake in comparison.