Thomas Aquinas Commentary Hebrews 1:3

"who being the effulgence of his glory, and the very image of his substance, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had made purification of sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high;" — Hebrews 1:3 (ASV)

Having shown Christ’s greatness concerning His unique origin, the majesty of His dominion, and the power of His activity, the Apostle now shows His greatness concerning the sublimity of His glory and dignity.

This argument is divided into two parts. In the first, the Apostle shows that Christ is worthy of His dignity. In the second, he discloses what this dignity is. He shows that Christ is worthy for two reasons: one is the ease with which He acts, and the other is His diligence and effort in acting. He first describes this ease, and secondly, His effort.

Regarding the first point, it should be noted that three things are required for a high office to be administered with ease. The first is wisdom, to avoid mistakes in governing, for as Scripture says, There is 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 (Ecclesiastes 10:15), and, Through me kings reign (Proverbs 8:15). Secondly, a person must be of noble stock, so that his commands are not scorned: Her husband is honorable in the gates, when he sits among the senators of the land (Proverbs 31:33). The third requirement is power in acting: Seek not to be made a judge, unless you have strength enough to eradicate iniquities .

These are the three marks the Apostle uses to show that Christ is worthy of His dignity. First, He is not only wise but is Wisdom itself; therefore, the Apostle says He reflects the glory of God. Secondly, He is not only noble but is nobility itself, because He bears the very stamp of God's substance. Thirdly, He is not only powerful but is power itself, upholding all things by His word of power. These three things make a person worthy to possess great dignity.

The first mark is the clarity of wisdom: The wise shall possess glory (Proverbs 3:35). Hence, the Apostle shows Christ’s wisdom when he says He reflects the glory of God. Here it should be noted that according to Ambrose, “Glory is fame accompanied by praise,” meaning the public knowledge of someone’s goodness. But as it says in Luke 18:19, No one is good but God alone. God is good essentially and by His very nature, while other things are good by participation. Therefore, God alone is good in the highest sense: My glory I give to no other (Isaiah 42:8); To the king of ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory for ever and ever (1 Timothy 1:17).

Therefore, knowledge of God’s goodness is called glory in the most excellent sense, meaning a clear knowledge of the divine goodness accompanied by praise. Humans possess such knowledge to a certain degree—I know now in part (1 Corinthians 13:12)—but only God possesses it perfectly: No one has ever seen God (John 1:18). Indeed, not even the angels, but God alone, comprehends it. Therefore, only God’s knowledge of Himself is glory in the full sense, because He has perfect and clearest knowledge of Himself.

Splendor is what is first emitted by a bright object, and His wisdom is something bright: The wisdom of a man shines in his countenance (Ecclesiastes 8:1). It follows that the first conception of wisdom is like a splendor. Therefore, the Word of the Father, which is a concept of His intellect, is the splendor and wisdom by which He knows Himself. That is why the Apostle calls the Son the splendor of glory—that is, of the clear divine knowledge. In this way, he identifies Him not only as wise but as begotten wisdom: I will not rest till her just one comes forth as brightness, and her savior be lighted as a lamp (Isaiah 62:1).

The second mark that makes a person worthy of great dignity is noble birth, which the Apostle shows is in Christ, because He is the very stamp of God's substance. It is proper that a prince possess nobility along with wisdom: And I took out of your tribes men over fifties and over tens, who might teach you all things (Deuteronomy 1:15). The word “stamp” (or “figure”) here is used to denote a mark or an image, as if to say, the image of His substance.

It should be noted that although an image implies a likeness, not every likeness is an image. For example, the whiteness on a canvas is not my whiteness, but an image is a likeness in species. Therefore, something is properly called an image of someone if it bears a likeness to his species or is an expressed sign of that species. Among accidents, none is such an expressed sign of a species as a thing’s figure. Hence, one who draws the figure of an animal draws its image. Therefore, the Son, Who is the image of the invisible God (Colossians 1:15), is properly called the figure, or stamp.

But the stamp of what? Of His substance. There are many kinds of images. Sometimes an image is a sign representing the species but not agreeing with it in being, like the image of a man on canvas, which in no sense possesses the true species of man. Other times, it is similar to it in species not only in representation but also in being, as a son is the true image of his father: Adam begot a son in his own image (Genesis 5:3), that is, in the nature of his species. Therefore, the Apostle adds, of His substance, because according to Augustine, a son is called the image of the father because he is of the same nature as he. He says, therefore, that He is the stamp of His substance.

But why does he not say that He is the stamp of His nature? Because it is possible for the nature of a species to be multiplied according to the number of individuals composed of matter and form. Hence, the son of Socrates does not have the same numerical nature as his father. But the substance is never multiplied, for the substance of the Father is not distinct from the substance of the Son, since substance is not divided among different individuals. Therefore, because there is one and the same numerical nature in the Father and in the Son of God, he does not say “the stamp of His nature,” but of His substance, which is indivisible: I and the Father are one (John 10:30); I in the Father and the Father in me (John 14:10).

The third factor that makes a person worthy is strength. Hence, it is stated in Sirach 7:6: Seek not to be made a judge, unless you have strength enough to eradicate iniquities. The Apostle shows this strength when he says, upholding all things by His word of power. For it is proper for princes and potentates to uphold: Under whom they stoop that bear up the world (Job 9:13). Therefore, He upholds.

But what does He uphold, and by what means? Regarding the first question, it should be noted that anything that cannot stand or move by itself needs to be upheld. No creature can subsist or act on its own. This is clear because when the cause is removed, the effect is removed. God is the cause of all subsistence; He is no less the cause of a thing’s continuance in existence than a builder is the cause of a house’s coming into existence. Just as the house stops being built when the builder ceases to act, and just as the air ceases to be illuminated when the sun no longer shines, so too, when the divine power is removed, the being and substance of every creature are removed. Therefore, He upholds all things in their existence and in their activity. When the divine influence is removed, all the activities of secondary causes are removed, because He is the first cause, and the first cause does more than the second: Upon what are its bases grounded? (Job 38:6).

But by what means does He support them? By His word of power. The Apostle, when speaking of creation, said that God made all things through the Son: by whom also He made the world. Since that through which a thing acts might seem to act not by its own power but by the power of another—as a bailiff acts through the king—the Apostle clarifies that the Son acts by His own power. Hence, he says, He upholds all things by His word of power. Since the cause of existence and of conservation are the same, when he says that the Son is the cause of conservation, he is showing that He is also the cause of existence.

But is it not also by the Father’s power? It is, because the power of both is identical. The Son works, therefore, both by His own power and by the Father’s power, because His power comes from the Father. Yet the Apostle does not say, “by His power,” but by His word of power, to show that just as the Father produced all things by the Word—He spoke and they were made: He commanded and they were created (Psalms 32:8)—so the Son, by the same Word that He is, made all things. By these words, therefore, the Apostle shows the strength of His power, because He has the same power as the Father.

A question arises here: when the Father speaks, He produces a Word. When the Word speaks, should He not also produce a word? If so, the Word of the Father would be the word of the Son. The Greeks answer this by saying that just as the Son is the image of the Father, so the Holy Spirit is the image of the Son. This is how Basil explains the phrase, supporting all things by His word of power—that is, by the Holy Spirit. For just as the Son is the Word of the Father, they say, so the Holy Spirit is the Word of the Son. Consequently, the Son acts through Him just as the Father acts through the Son. Yet, properly speaking, an utterance is not called a word unless it proceeds as something conceived by the intellect in a likeness of species. The Holy Spirit, even though He is like the Son, is not like Him by reason of His procession, because He does not proceed as a concept from an intellect, but as Love from the will.

A question still remains about that Word. What is it? A human command is either expressed externally by a sound, which has no place in the Godhead, or it is conceived inwardly in the heart. But even that cannot be, because nothing is conceived in God’s mind but the eternal Word. Consequently, there would be two eternal Words, which is blasphemous to say. Therefore, the answer, as Augustine says when explaining John 12:48 (The word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day), is that Christ means, “I myself, Who am the Word of the Father, shall judge him.” Similarly, the phrase, by the word of His power, means “by Himself, Who is the powerful Word.”

Consequently, by these three characteristics, the Apostle shows three things about Christ. By the fact that He is the brightness, he shows His co-eternity with the Father, for splendor is co-eternal with its source. This is against Arius. When he says, the image of His substance, he shows the consubstantiality of the Son with the Father. Since splendor is not of the same nature as the thing from which it shines, he adds that the Son is the image or figure of His substance, so that no one would suppose He is not similar in nature. But because the Son, even though He is of the same nature as the Father, would be lacking if He were weak, the Apostle adds, supporting all things by the word of His power. Therefore, the Apostle commends Christ on three points: co-eternity, consubstantiality, and equality of power.

Next, he shows the second trait that makes one worthy of great dignity: effort and diligence in acting. For it was a display of great diligence to merit for His assumed human nature, through suffering, that which He already possessed by His divine nature. Hence it is stated in Philippians 2:8, He became obedient unto death, even to the death of the cross: for which cause God also exalted him. Therefore, purifying from sin, though it belongs to Him by virtue of His divine nature, also belongs to Him by the merit of His Passion. As Sirach 47:13 says, The Lord took away his sins and exalted his horn forever; and, He will save his people from their sins (Matthew 1:21).

It belongs to Christ to cleanse from sin both by reason of His divine nature and by reason of His special status as the Son. It belongs to Him by His divine nature because guilt, or sin, is an evil unique to the rational creature, and only God can repair such an evil. Sin lies in the will, which God alone can move: The heart is perverse above all things, and unsearchable; who can know it? I am the Lord who searches the heart and proves the reins (Jeremiah 17:9). The reason for this is that only the first cause can bring something to its ultimate end. The will is concerned with the ultimate end, because it is made for enjoying God; therefore, it is moved by God alone. Since Christ is true God, it is obvious that He can cause purification from sins: Who can forgive sins but God alone? (Luke 5:21).

But by appropriation, cleansing from sin also belongs to Christ. To understand this, it should be noted that sin involves several things:

1. A transgression of the eternal law and of God’s rights, since all sin is an iniquity that transgresses the law: They have transgressed the law, they have changed the ordinance, they have broken the everlasting covenant (Isaiah 24:5). Therefore, since the eternal law and divine right stem from the eternal Word, it is clear that cleansing from sins is Christ’s prerogative, inasmuch as He is the Word: He sent his Word and healed them (Psalms 107:20).
2. A loss of the light of reason and, consequently, of God’s wisdom in humanity, since such a light is a participation in divine wisdom: And because they had not wisdom, they perished in their folly ; They err that work evil (Proverbs 14:22). Furthermore, according to the Philosopher, all evil is ignorance. Therefore, setting things right according to divine wisdom belongs to the One who is divine Wisdom. This is Christ: We preach Christ, the power of God and the wisdom of God (1 Corinthians 1:24); For by wisdom they were healed .
3. A deformity of the likeness of God in humanity: The heart of fools shall be unlike (Proverbs 15:13). Therefore, it belongs to the Son to correct this deformity, because He is the image of the Father: Therefore, as we have born the image of the earthly, let us bear also the image of the heavenly (1 Corinthians 15:49).
4. A loss of the eternal inheritance, the sign of which was humanity’s expulsion from Paradise: God sent his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, that he might redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons (Galatians 4:4).

Therefore, it is obvious that it belongs to Christ to purge sins, both by reason of His human nature and by reason of the divine.

But how did He accomplish this purgation? It is clear from the following points.

1. In sin there is a perversity of will by which a person withdraws from the unchangeable good. To correct this, Christ bestowed sanctifying grace: Justified freely by his grace (Romans 3:24).
2. There is in the soul a stain left by this perversity of the will. To remove this stain, He gave His blood: He loved us and washed us from our sins in his blood (Revelation 1:5).
3. There is a debt of punishment that a person must pay. To satisfy this debt, He offered Himself as a victim on the altar of the cross: Christ loved the Church and gave himself for it in order to sanctify it (Ephesians 5:25).
4. There is slavery under the devil, to whom humanity subjected itself by sin, because whoever commits sin is the servant of sin (John 8:34). To save us from this slavery, He redeemed us: You have redeemed me, O Lord, the God of truth (Psalms 31:5).

Then, the Apostle describes His dignity. It is as if to say: It does not seem improper for Him to sit at the right hand of majesty, because He is the splendor, the stamp, and the upholder of all things. In the word “sit,” three things are usually implied. One is the authority of the one seated: When I sat as a king with the army standing about him (Job 29:25). In the divine court there are many who serve, for Daniel 7:10 says, Thousands of thousands ministered to him and ten thousand times a hundred thousand stood before him. But no one is described as sitting there, because all present are servants and ministers: Are they not all ministering spirits, sent to minister for them? (Hebrews 1:14). He alone has royal dignity: And he came even to the ancient of days: and he gave him power and glory and a kingdom (Daniel 7:13); When the Son of man shall come in his majesty and all the angels with him, then shall he sit upon the seat of his majesty (Matthew 25:31). Then he continues, Then shall the king say to them that shall be on his right hand: ‘Come, you blessed of my father’ (Matthew 25:34).

The second implication is the stability of the one sitting: Stay you in the city till you be endued with power from on high (Luke 24:49); His power is an everlasting power (Daniel 7:14); Jesus Christ, yesterday and today and the same for ever (Hebrews 13:8). Sitting can sometimes imply humility, because the person seated is below those who stand: You have known my sitting down (Psalms 138:2). But that is not the sense in which it is taken here; rather, it is taken in the first two senses.

On the other hand, it says in Acts 7:55, I see the heavens opened and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God. The answer is that sitting, standing, and all such postures are said of God metaphorically. Consequently, there are various reasons why He is said to be standing and sitting. He is seated because of His immortality, but standing because that posture is best for resisting firmly. Hence, He stood as though prepared to help Stephen in his agony.

The Apostle continues that He sits at the right hand. If this is referred to the divine nature, the sense is this: at the right hand means on a par with the Father. But if it is referred to the human nature, the sense is at the right hand, meaning in the more excellent goods of the Father: He sits on the right hand of God (Mark 16:19); The Lord said to my Lord, sit thou on my right hand (Psalms 110:1). Among those who have assistants, some are simply greater, like a king and emperor; others are not absolutely greater, but only in some sense, like overseers and bailiffs. But Christ is not seated at the right of any of His inferior judges, as though He were a bailiff, but at the right of one who is absolutely great, because He sits at the right hand of majesty. Christ, even though He is seated at the right hand of majesty, has a majesty of His own, because He has the same majesty as the Father: When the Son of man comes in his majesty (Matthew 25:31); Of him the Son of man shall be ashamed, when he comes in his majesty and that of the Father (Luke 9:26).

But he does not say of His majesty alone, but on high, meaning above every creature: I dwell in the highest places . Therefore, He sits on high because He is raised above all creatures: For your magnificence is elevated above the heavens (Psalms 8:2). According to Chrysostom, the Apostle is speaking here in the manner of one who is teaching a child, who cannot bear to have everything proposed at once but must be led gradually, now saying difficult things, now proposing easy things. So here, he says divine things when he says, “by a Son,” and human things when he says, whom he has appointed heir of all things.