Hebrews
An unknown author's masterpiece — the highest exaltation language in the NT intertwined with the deepest theology of Christ's suffering humanity.
Overview
Hebrews is one of the most theologically sophisticated documents in the New Testament, yet its author remains unknown. Origen famously said "only God knows" who wrote it. What we do know is that this author was a masterful rhetorician, deeply versed in Jewish Scripture (particularly the Greek Septuagint), and capable of holding together Christological claims that seem to pull in opposite directions.
The opening verses of Hebrews set the tone with some of the most exalted language about Jesus found anywhere in the NT: he is the "radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of his being," the one through whom God made the universe and who sustains all things by his powerful word. Yet the same letter describes Jesus as one who "learned obedience through what he suffered," was "made perfect" through suffering, and was appointed as high priest by God.
This interplay between exaltation and humiliation is not accidental — it is the theological engine of the letter. Hebrews argues that Jesus had to be both exalted (to be an effective mediator between God and humanity) and genuinely human (to sympathise with human weakness and offer himself as a sacrifice). How one understands the relationship between these two dimensions determines everything about one's reading of the letter's Christology.
Christological themes
- Radiance and representation — Hebrews 1:3 describes the Son as the apaugasma (radiance/reflection) of God's glory and the charakter (exact imprint) of God's being. This language, drawn from Jewish Wisdom traditions, implies the closest possible relationship to God — but does it mean the Son is God, or that the Son perfectly reveals God? The metaphors of radiance and imprint can be read either way.
- Superior to angels — The entire first chapter is an argument that the Son is superior to the angels, supported by a chain of OT quotations. Notably, one of these quotations (Psalm 45:6–7) appears to address the Son as "God" — yet in the same quotation, the Son has a God who anoints him. This internal tension is a microcosm of the Christological debate itself.
- Made lower for a little while — Hebrews 2:9 describes Jesus as "made for a little while lower than the angels" so that he might taste death for everyone. This temporary lowering implies a prior status — but whether that prior status is divine pre-existence or messianic pre-ordination is debated.
- Faithful high priest — Hebrews' most distinctive Christological contribution is its portrayal of Jesus as the perfect high priest — not of the Levitical order, but of the order of Melchizedek. This high priest is both appointed by God (5:5) and "made perfect" through suffering (2:10, 5:9). The language of being "made perfect" has troubled interpreters who hold a high Christology — how can one who is God be "perfected"?
- Learning obedience — Hebrews 5:8 states that "although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered." This language of learning and growth implies genuine human development, not merely the appearance of it. It suggests that the author understood Jesus's human experience as real and transformative, not as a divine being merely going through the motions.
Key passages
What scholars debate
The primary debate about Hebrews' Christology is whether the opening chapter's exalted language implies ontological deity or supreme agency. Scholars like Luke Timothy Johnson and Harold Attridge argue that the Wisdom-language of Hebrews 1:1–4 places the Son within the divine identity, functioning as God's own self-expression. Others, like James Dunn, argue that the author is working within the Jewish Wisdom tradition, where Wisdom is a personification of God's activity rather than a distinct divine person.
The relationship between the exalted Son of chapter 1 and the suffering, learning, "made perfect" Son of chapters 2 and 5 is another contested area. Orthodox Christology resolves this through the two-natures doctrine — the exaltation language refers to the divine nature, the humiliation language to the human nature. But scholars debate whether the author of Hebrews would have thought in those categories. The letter may instead reflect a narrative pattern: the Son was in a state of glory, entered into genuine human experience, and was subsequently re-exalted — a pattern closer to the Philippians hymn than to Chalcedonian Christology.