Canter Bridge

The biblical tradition is rightly jealous of the incomparability of YHWH. Nothing gets up the dander of, say, a prophet like Isaiah as the notion that other gods are made of the same stuff as YHWH. ‘Made’, in fact, is the operative term. YHWH is the unmade Maker. The Hebrew Bible does not deny that other powers, even majestic ones, inhabit what one might call heavenly places beside YHWH. In fact, the matter is fairly taken for granted.

What is inadmissible is not the existence of other lords (shall we call them that?), but rather the notion that they should in any way exist and govern in competition with YHWH. He is not so much alone in the sense that a systematic monotheism might be understood to affirm as he is incomparable and unchallenged in a universe that he has made and in which his majesty brooks no competition.

It’s not difficult to see why the earliest followers of Jesus would have some profound reflection before them as they contemplated their powerful experience with Jesus in the light of their unquestioned conviction that YHWH is incomparable and entirely unique.

The first chapter of the book of Hebrews elevates a number of passages from the Hebrew Scriptures in order to configure a workable solution to this unsolicited dilemma. The writer is at pains to underscore the continuity that joins YHWH’s previous self-disclosure to his revelation ‘in these final days’ in Jesus Christ:

Long ago God spoke to our ancestors in many and various ways by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by a Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, through whom he also created the worlds. He is the reflection of God’s glory and the exact imprint of God’s very being, and he sustains all things by his powerful word. When he had made purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs.

It is important that one not pass too lightly over the reference to ‘the angels’. Surely the blond-headed, fat-cheeked cherubs of medieval art are not in view. Rather this seems to be the way of Second Temple Judaism and the articulators of an early Christian theology when speaking of those majestic, unseen powers that are not YHWH and never will be.

Jesus, we are told, is far superior to these. If one must choose, he is far more on the side of YHWH than on the side of his most majestic created associates in heavenly places. Jesus, we read further, is not on the side of created things but is actually the agent by whom YHWH created all things.

Christology, the human articulation of an understanding of Jesus, is in the making in these pages. It will not prove to be a simple task. With what is in view, it would be counterproductive, perhaps even a game-stopper, to expect it should be.