Christ the Character of God

First offering:

Hebrews.1:3

“. . . who is the radiance of His glory and the divine character of the nature of Him, bringing all things into His existence through the word of His power according to Him who made Himself an atonement for our sins made against Him, having sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, . . ." (mast)

Hebrews 1:3 (Byz)

3 ὃς ὢν ἀπαύγασμα τῆς δόξης καὶ χαρακτὴρ τῆς ὑποστάσεως αὐτοῦ, φέρων τε τὰ πάντα τῷ ῥήματι τῆς δυνάμεως [αὐτοῦ, διʼ [ἑαυτοῦ] καθαρισμὸν ποιησάμενος τῶν ἁμαρτιῶν [ἡμῶν]], ἐκάθισεν ἐν δεξιᾷ τῆς μεγαλωσύνης ἐν ὑψηλοῖς,

Hebrews 1:3 (SBLGNT)

3 ὃς ὢν ἀπαύγασμα τῆς δόξης καὶ χαρακτὴρ τῆς ὑποστάσεως αὐτοῦ, φέρων τε τὰ πάντα τῷ ῥήματι τῆς δυνάμεως, [[διʼ] αὑτοῦ [] καθαρισμὸν [] τῶν ἁμαρτιῶν [ποιησάμενος]] ἐκάθισεν ἐν δεξιᾷ τῆς μεγαλωσύνης ἐν ὑψηλοῖς,

Heb.1:3 (mast)

ος ων απαυγασμα της δοξης και χαρακτηρ της υποστασεως αυτου φερων τε τα παντα τω ρηματι της δυναμεως αυτου [δι] εαυτου [καθαρισμον] των αμαρτιων ποιησαμενος [ημων] εκαθισεν εν δεξια της μεγαλωσυνης εν υψηλοις (mast)

who is radiance-of the glory and character-of the nature of him-carrying in-both-all things-the word of his power-according to-himself-purification-our sins-making himself-unto us

Hebrews.1:3

“. . . who is the radiance of His glory and the divine character of the nature of Him, bringing all things into His existence through the word of His power according to Him who made Himself an atonement for our sins made against Him, having sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, . . . (mast)

The progression of the reflexive pronoun in conjunction with the middle voice of the action of the verb poiesamenos and its descriptive katharismon bounce off each other to describe the work of the Father and the Son in justifying the existence of the creation (in the Godhead) by the demonstration of Christ’s existence in the flesh but perfected for glorification (1Tim.3:16). Therefore there is again no reason to find no use of both pronouns reflexive (heautou) and personal (hautou) preserved distinctively between both manuscript traditions. The middle voice of poiesamenos is reflexive of both Christ, who has made himself (singular) the atonement, and of our sin committed against him (singular), as the adjective katharismon divides the reflexive pronoun between (both/te) ‘our sins’ and the verb in the consummation of the regular first personal pronoun “Him” according to the singular middle voice of poiesamenos with Christ as the singular active agent (2Cor.5:21). Therefore the Father and Christ actively justify sinners as our active sins are imputed to Christ’s passive obedience to bear them but not apart from his own willingness to offer himself as the atonement for those sins (Isa.53:3-12; Rom.1:22-25; Jn.1:14; Isa.9:6-7; Heb.7:11, 19, 28; 9:11; 10:1, 14; 11:40).  

But it is Christ’s “character” [χαρακτηρ] (charakter) that is the image of the expression or stamp of this “dawn of reflection” [απαυγασμα] according to the divine nature of God [της υποστασεως] (hypostaseos). The divine nature of Christ’s “character” is the substance put under his union to the body of the flesh. This nature did not change when the Word became flesh. Christ did not empty himself of the perfection of his union to the Godhead (Phil.2:5-7). But by becoming flesh and “bringing us forth” by the incorruptible nature of this Word (Logos) (1Pet.1:22-24), he carried us into the existence of God through his death and resurrection, not just in the mind of God from before the foundation of the world, but through the Spirit, according to a new creation in time and space (Rhema), to enter a dominion without the consequence of time because of God’s self-existence, making us not merely souls formerly carried about by evil spirits but soul and spirit of the Father by one Spirit of holiness (James 1:17-18; Heb.4:12; 12:3, 9-10, 22-23; 1Cor.15:36; 2Pet.1:2-4; Eph.4:4-6), carrying in the (sanctified) rhema into the logos as one new creation according to one new man (Eph.2:14-18; Rev.21:22-27; 2Cor.5:17-19).   

The next hurdle is the preposition di [δι], which is also conjoined reflexively to the antecedent of the verb that marks off the active agent of the power [ων] behind the rhemati (word), neutered from the reflection of the representative pronoun hos [ος ] relative to God (the Almighty Father) previously in verse 1. This grammatically demonstrates the distinctiveness of the persons not in Spirit but in the soul between the Father and the Son but maintains the singular hypostatic union in Christ as one divine substance according to the character of the Father demonstrated in the flesh (Jn.14:6-12; Col.1:15-20; 2:9-10). This is the substance that Adam lost by himself but regained immediately by the promise of Christ (Heb.4:12; 1Cor.15:21-23, 36, 42-45; Ps.51:11; Gen.3:6-11, 14-15, 21-24).