Sam Shamoun
Muslim-turned apostate-turned Muslim again (1, 2, 3, 4) Ibn Anwar has written an article in order to teach Christians a thing or two about logic and exegesis.
The neophyte wants Christians to understand that appealing to Hebrews 1:8 will not help them establish that Jesus is God in nature. Here is the text in question, including verse 9 for context:
鈥淏ut of the Son He says, 鈥Your throne, O God, is forever and ever, the scepter of uprightness is the scepter of Your kingdom. You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness; therefore God, Your God, has anointed You with the oil of gladness beyond Your companions.鈥欌 Hebrews 1:8-9
In this passage, the inspired author cites Psalm 45:6-7 to establish that Christ reigns forever as God:
鈥淵our throne, O God, is forever and ever; A scepter of uprightness is the scepter of Your kingdom. You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness; Therefore God, Your God, has anointed You With the oil of joy above Your fellows.鈥
The Muslim greenhorn appeals to places in the Holy Bible where certain individuals such as Moses and Satan are called G/god and who (in the case of Moses) are even said to have prophets!
Since we have already responded to these assertions in the following articles and rebuttals:
We will, therefore, not be responding to this neophyte鈥檚 abuse and misuse of these passages in this particular reply.
What we want to do here is to focus on the greenhorn鈥檚 attempt of undermining the testimony of Hebrews 1:8 to the Deity of Christ by highlighting the fact that the Psalm which Hebrews quotes from was initially composed to celebrate the marriage of an unnamed Israelite king.
The neophyte cites several sources which confirm that the king that is mentioned in Psalm 45 is not a divine being but a human representative of Yahweh. He then concludes his article by saying that,
鈥淭he Biblical scholar Artur[sic] Weiser hit the nail on the head by clearly stating that there is an explicit insurmountable distinction made between the king who is addressed as 鈥楪od鈥 in verse six and the Most High, God in verse seven. This means that because this verse is applied to Jesus he is the human king that is anointed who is not the Most High and Supreme God. The title is merely symbolic of the king鈥檚 function as God鈥檚 representative. It does not make him literally God in any way.鈥
Needless to say, there are several glaring problems with this greenhorn鈥檚 attempt of undermining the Deity of Christ.
In the first place, we are not aware of any informed Christian who thinks that the mere use of elohim for the king in this specific Psalm implies that this particular ruler was God in essence. Rather, as many Christian scholars would agree, the king is being addressed as elohim because he sits on Yahweh鈥檚 earthly throne in Israel as Yahweh鈥檚 divinely appointed representative. As such, the king was empowered by Yahweh鈥檚 Spirit and invested with his divine authority to rule the people on his behalf.
Israel鈥檚 ruler was also expected to exemplify some of Yahweh鈥檚 own characteristics such as righteousness, holiness, fearlessness, courage, boldness, love, compassion etc.
鈥淥f all my sons (for the LORD has given me many sons), He has chosen my son Solomon to sit on the throne of the kingdom of the LORD over Israel. He said to me, 鈥榊our son Solomon is the one who shall build My house and My courts; for I have chosen him to be a son to Me, and I will be a father to him. I will establish his kingdom forever if he resolutely performs My commandments and My ordinances, as is done now.鈥欌 1 Chronicles 28:5-7
鈥溾 And they made Solomon the son of David king a second time, and they anointed him as ruler for the LORD and Zadok as priest. Then Solomon sat on the throne of the LORD as king instead of David his father; and he prospered, and all Israel obeyed him. All the officials, the mighty men, and also all the sons of King David pledged allegiance to King Solomon. The LORD highly exalted Solomon in the sight of all Israel, and bestowed on him royal majesty which had not been on any king before him in Israel. 1 Chronicles 29:22-25
鈥淏lessed be the LORD your God who delighted in you, setting you on His throne as king for the LORD your God; because your God loved Israel establishing them forever, therefore He made you king over them, to do justice and righteousness.鈥 2 Chronicles 9:8
In other words, the appointed king was functioning as God since he stood in the place of God as his representative to the people, ruled them with his authority, and was expected to exhibit some of Yahweh鈥檚 own qualities and characteristics.
As noted evangelical NT scholar Murray J. Harris explains:
鈥溾 In whatever sense the king was divine, it was not an actual or intrinsic divinity that he possessed. Nor was the king regarded as an incarnation of Deity. Rather, he was 鈥榊ahweh's anointed,鈥 in the sense that he served as Yahweh's deputy on earth, exercising a delegated yet sovereign authority. And as anointed leader of God's chosen people, the king was, by the gracious divine will, God鈥檚 adopted son (2 Sam. 7:14; Ps. 2:7; 89:27-28 [Engl. vv. 26-27]). Yet, in accounting for this unique application of the title to a king, one must reckon with more than simply the king鈥檚 divine election and his unique role in standing in loco dei. The king may exceptionally be addressed as 鈥楪od鈥 also because, endowed with the Spirit of Yahweh, he exhibits certain divine characteristics. In Psalm 45 鈥榞lory and majesty鈥 are ascribed to him (vv. 4-5a), as they are to God (e.g., Ps. 96:6); he is a defender and lover of truth and right (vv. 5b, 8a), just as God is (Ps. 33:5; 99:4; Isa. 61:8); he judges with equity (v. 7b), as God does (Ps. 67:5 [Engl. v. 4]; 99:4); just as God鈥檚 rule is eternal (Ps. 10:16; 93:2; 145:13), so is the dynasty to which the Davidic king belongs (v. 7a). Some weight must be given to the influence of the exuberant style of an oriental court (cf. v. 2: 鈥榤y heart is bubbling over鈥). Psalm 45 is noteworthy for its superlatives in its description of the qualities and achievements of the king (vv. 3-8); elohim is not the only instance of hyperbolic language in the poem (see especially vv. 3, 6, 8). But verse 7 remains distinctive in that here 鈥榯he royal compliments suddenly blossom into divine honors.鈥 With that said, it should also be emphasized that an occupant of the Davidic throne represented a dynasty with which God had made an eternal covenant (2 Sam. 7:13, 16) and from which God鈥檚 ideal vicegerent would come, so that these 鈥榙ivine honors鈥 should not be explained simply as verbal extravagance. A king of David鈥檚 line could be addressed as elohim because he foreshadowed the coming one who would perfectly realize the dynastic ideal, a godlike ruler who would embody all the ideals described in the psalm.
鈥淭he psalmist鈥檚 exuberance is tempered, however, by his theological propriety. It has been suggested above that the insertion of eloheyka after elohim in verse 8 may reflect the poet鈥檚 awareness of extraordinary use of elohim in verse 7. He forestalls misunderstanding by indicating that the king is not elohim without qualification. Yahweh is the king's 鈥楪od.鈥 Such an explanation doesn鈥檛 rule out the possibility that the poet is also stressing the intimate and unique relationship that exists between the king and Yahweh, although eloheyka is also used in reference to individual prophets (e.g., 1 Kings 17:12; see de Fraine 268-76)鈥︹ (Harris, Jesus as God: The New Testament Use Theos in Reference to Jesus [Baker Book House, Grand Rapids, MI: First paperback edition, 1998], VIII. The Throne of God (Psalm 45:7-8), C. Objections to the Traditional Interpretation, 4. Theological, pp. 200-201; bold emphasis ours)
Second, it doesn鈥檛 follow that just because the inspired author of Hebrews quoted Psalm 45 to describe Christ鈥檚 reign that this somehow automatically means that he believed that Jesus was nothing more than a mere human being who functioned as God in the same way that the kings of Israel did. The writer could have quoted these verses from the Psalter to show that the words used to describe God鈥檚 anointed rulers apply even more so to Christ since these kings merely foreshadowed the Person and work of the Messiah.
It, therefore, remains for us to analyze the Christology of Hebrews in order to determine whether the author used this particular text because he thought that Christ was no different in essence than the other anointed kings which prefigured him. Or did he employ this specific passage to show that Jesus is much greater than any creature since he happens to be in nature what these other rulers were in function only, i.e. unlike the others who reigned Christ possesses the fullness of Deity intrinsically.
This leads us to the third error in the greenhorn鈥檚 reasoning. Had this neophyte simply taken the time to carefully study the context of Hebrews 1:8 he would have discovered that the inspired author depicts Jesus as sharing in the unique rule of God over all creation, receives the worship which only God is supposed to receive, performs the deeds which only God is able to perform, and possesses the very nature of God.
The Rule of God
After Jesus鈥 death and resurrection,
鈥淏ut we do see Him who was made for a little while lower than the angels, namely, Jesus, because of the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, so that by the grace of God He might taste death for everyone.鈥 Hebrews 2:9
鈥淣ow the God of peace, who brought up from the dead the great Shepherd of the sheep through the blood of the eternal covenant, even Jesus our Lord, equip you in every good thing to do His will, working in us that which is pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen.鈥 Hebrews 13:20-21
He ascended to sit down on the throne at the right side of God:
鈥溾 When He had made purification of sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high (en hypselois),鈥 Hebrews 1:3b
鈥淣ow the main point in what has been said is this: we have such a high priest, who has taken His seat at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens, a minister in the sanctuary and in the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, not man.鈥 Hebrews 8:1-2
The author describes Jesus鈥 enthronement in the same way that the OT prophets spoke of Yahweh鈥檚 exaltation over creation.
For instance, it is Yahweh who is enthroned on high above the nations:
鈥The LORD is high above all nations; His glory is above the heavens. Who is like the LORD our God, Who is enthroned on high (LXX 鈥 en hypselois), Who humbles Himself to behold The things that are in heaven and in the earth?鈥 Psalm 113:4-6
It is also Yahweh who rules over the creation from his throne in the heavenly temple:
鈥The LORD is in His holy temple; the LORD鈥橲 throne is in heaven; His eyes behold, His eyelids test the sons of men.鈥 Psalm 11:4
鈥The LORD has established His throne in the heavens, And His sovereignty rules over all. Bless the LORD, you His angels, Mighty in strength, who perform His word, Obeying the voice of His word! Bless the LORD, all you His hosts, You who serve Him, doing His will.鈥 Psalm 103:19-21
This basically means that Jesus is a co-occupant of God鈥檚 heavenly throne and therefore shares in God鈥檚 exclusive rule over the entire creation!
But that鈥檚 not all. Keep in mind that according to Hebrews, the earthly tabernacle was modeled after the heavenly one. The reason why this is significant is that there was a section within the earthly tabernacle called 鈥渢he Holy of Holies鈥 or 鈥渢he Most Holy Place.鈥 In it was placed the mercy seat which represented God鈥檚 throne. Since this was fashioned after the heavenly archetype this implies that there is also a Most Holy Place in heaven, and that God鈥檚 throne is located there.
Also keep in mind that there weren鈥檛 two mercy seats in the earthly tabernacle, but only one, which therefore means we should expect to learn that there is also only one such seat in the heavenly prototype.
Hebrews also tells us that Jesus actually ascended into the Most Holy Place and entered into God the Father鈥檚 very own presence where he now intercedes for all believers:
鈥淣ow even the first covenant had regulations of divine worship and the earthly sanctuary. For there was a tabernacle prepared, the outer one, in which were the lampstand and the table and the sacred bread; this is called the holy place. Behind the second veil there was a tabernacle which is called the Holy of Holies, having a golden altar of incense and the ark of the covenant covered on all sides with gold, in which was a golden jar holding the manna, and Aaron鈥檚 rod which budded, and the tables of the covenant; and above it were the cherubim of glory overshadowing the mercy seat; but of these things we cannot now speak in detail. Now when these things have been so prepared, the priests are continually entering the outer tabernacle performing the divine worship, but into the second, only the high priest enters once a year, not without taking blood, which he offers for himself and for the sins of the people committed in ignorance. The Holy Spirit is signifying this, that the way into the holy place has not yet been disclosed while the outer tabernacle is still standing, which is a symbol for the present time鈥 But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things to come, He entered through the greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this creation; and not through the blood of goats and calves, but through His own blood, He entered the holy place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption鈥 Therefore it was necessary for the copies of the things in the heavens to be cleansed with these, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. For Christ did not enter a holy place made with hands, a mere copy of the true one, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us; nor was it that He would offer Himself often, as the high priest enters the holy place year by year with blood that is not his own.鈥 Hebrews 9:1-9a, 11-12, 23-25
And:
鈥淭his hope we have as an anchor of the soul, a hope both sure and steadfast and one which enters within the veil, where Jesus has entered as a forerunner for us, having become a high priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.鈥 Hebrews 6:19-20 鈥 cf. 10:19-22
This means that according to Hebrews Jesus has actually taken his seat in the Most Holy Place next to the Father on the same divine throne! As the following Evangelical scholars explain:
2. Jesus鈥 exaltation is described in the same spatial terms reserved for expressing the exalted location of God鈥檚 throne. God 鈥渟eated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the age to come鈥 (Eph. 1:20-21). Jesus 鈥渁scended far above all the heavens鈥 (Eph. 4:10); he is 鈥渆xalted above the heavens鈥 (Heb. 7:26; cf. 4:14). God 鈥highly exalted him鈥 with the name 鈥above every name鈥 (Phil. 2:9). Jesus 鈥渟at down at the right hand of the Majesty on high鈥 (Heb. 1:3). He is not only 鈥渁bove鈥 name, he is 鈥渇ar above鈥 every power that can be named. He is not only in heaven, he is 鈥渇ar above all the heavens.鈥 Jesus is as high up as he can go!
The prevailing imagery of the heavenly court was of a single throne, high above the rest of the throne room (note Isa. 6:1), in which God sat, surrounded by his servants, all standing below him and at attention, ready to carry out his orders鈥 From this position, God rules over all creation, both angelic and human, in heaven and on earth. The New Testament REPEATEDLY describes Jesus as having ascended to the very highest point in all existence. He is 鈥渙ver all鈥 (Rom. 9:5; cf. Eph. 4:6).
The combination of these two points alone鈥揓esus鈥 exercise of universal rule over all creation, and the exaltation of Jesus鈥 position far above all creation鈥搃s enough to establish him in the place that in the Old Testament and ancient Judaism belonged to God ALONE. As Bauckham observes, 鈥淕od鈥檚 servants may be said, by his permission, to rule some things, as earthly rulers do, but ONLY God rules over all things from a throne exalted above all things.鈥
Jesus is utterly unique in this shared position. NO ONE else shares God鈥檚 throne and rules over all creation. This is because 鈥渉e with whom God shares his throne MUST BE EQUAL WITH God.鈥 And he who is equal with God must be approached accordingly. (Robert M. Bowman Jr. & J. Ed Komoszewski, Putting Jesus in His Place: The Case for the Deity of Christ [Kregel Publications, Grand Rapids, MI 2007], 21. Jesus Takes His Seat, p. 256; capital emphasis ours)
And:
4. The New Testament reveals that Jesus actually sits on God鈥檚 own throne. That Jesus sits with God on his divine throne is stated explicitly and unambiguously in some places in the New Testament鈥 The book of Hebrews repeatedly describes Jesus as occupying this exalted position. In its introductory affirmations about Jesus, it says that he 鈥he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high鈥 (Heb. 1:3). Later, the author says that Jesus 鈥渟at down at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven鈥 (8:1 NIV) and that he 鈥渉as taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God鈥 (12:2). Grammatically, the language here could be taken to mean that Jesus鈥 seat is somewhere to the right of God鈥檚 throne and therefore is a separate or different throne, but such an understanding fails to account for the imagery of the throne in the heavenly sanctuary (Heb. 8:1-2). The imagery is drawn from the furnishings of the Holy of Holies, where the only place to sit is on the throne of God represented by the ark of the covenant. The meaning here, then, is that Jesus is seated at God鈥檚 right on God鈥檚 very own throne鈥搕hat is, that Jesus exercises the universal, royal rule over all creation that is God鈥檚 prerogative. [Martin] Hengel suggests that it would be better to translate Hebrews 12:2 鈥渁t the right hand of God on his throne.鈥9 (Ibid, pp. 257-258; comments within brackets ours)
8. Hengel, Studies in Early Christianity, 189.
9. Ibid., 142; similarly 149: 鈥淥ne must interpret the sitting at the right hand in relation to Christ as 鈥榦n the right side of the throne鈥,鈥 that is, the resurrected Christ sat to the right beside God himself on the 鈥榯hrone of glory.鈥欌 (Ibid, p. 361)
To say that such a teaching is simply mind-boggling would be a wild understatement. Bowman and Komoszewski show why this is a truly amazing assertion for any Jew to make about himself or in reference to another Jew. Commenting on Jesus鈥 response to the high priest鈥檚 question whether he was God鈥檚 Son (cf. Mark 14:61-64; Matthew 26:63-66; Luke 22:66-71), the authors write that:
鈥淎 careful examination of Psalm 110:1, and Jesus鈥 application of it (in conjunction with Daniel 7:13) to himself, reveals how remarkable Jesus鈥 claim was and why it seemed to the Sanhedrin to be blasphemous. It was one thing to enter God鈥檚 presence and yet another to sit in it. But to sit at God鈥檚 right side was another matter altogether. In the religious culture and milieu of Jesus鈥 day, to claim to sit at God鈥檚 right hand was tantamount to claiming equality with God鈥
鈥淛esus, then, was claiming the right to go directly into God鈥檚 鈥榯hrone room鈥 and sit at his side. The temerity of such a claim for any mere human would be astonishing to the Jews of Jesus鈥 day. The priests of the Sanhedrin, to whom Jesus made this claim, could not, as a rule, even go into the inner sanctum of the temple, known as the Holy of Holies. Many of them probably had never been inside it. The Holy of Holies could be entered only on a specific day in specific ways by one specific person. Failure to follow the instructions exactly resulted in death. On the Day of Atonement, the high priest entered the Holy of Holies, carrying the blood of a bull as offering for personal purification and the blood of a ram as offering for atonement for the people. This was followed by a change of garments and ritual washings (Lev. 16). In other words, one entered into God鈥檚 presence in the temple cautiously.
鈥淚f entrance requirements to the earthly Holy of Holies were so strict, we can imagine what the Sanhedrin priests would have thought about Jesus claiming to have the right to enter God鈥檚 heavenly presence. After all, the earthly temple was, according to Josephus, viewed as a model of the heavenly one. Worse still, though, Jesus was claiming that he was going to enter PERMANENTLY into the heavenly Holy of Holies AND SIT DOWN. Jesus might as well have claimed that he owned the place! Indeed, this is what his statement amounted to. As Darrel Bock has put it, Jesus鈥 claim 鈥榳ould be worse, in the leadership鈥檚 view, than claiming the right to be able to walk into the Holy of Holies in the temple and live there!鈥欌 (Ibid, Part 5: the Best Seat In The House: Jesus Shares the Seat of God鈥檚 Throne, 20. God鈥檚 Right-Hand Man, pp. 244-245; bold and capital emphasis ours)
Now this in itself shows just how vastly superior Christ is to the other Israelite and Judean kings since their thrones were located in Jerusalem or Samaria, whereas Jesus鈥 throne is in heaven which is the place where God himself rules from!
The Worship Due to God
Hebrews goes on to show that angels, who are spirits that God created to serve, are commanded to worship the Son:
鈥淎nd again, when He brings the Firstborn into the world, he says, 鈥Let all God鈥檚 angels worship Him (Kai proskynesatosan auto pantes angeloi theou).鈥 Of the angels He says, 鈥楬e makes his angels winds, and his ministers a flame of fire.鈥欌 Hebrews 1:6-7
What makes this rather remarkable is that the author has actually taken OT texts, which speak of angels being commanded to worship Yahweh, and applied them to Christ!
According to Biblical scholars, Hebrews may have been quoting from either the Greek version of Deuteronomy 32:43 or Psalm 97:7. However, it really doesn鈥檛 matter which verse the writer had in mind since both texts refer to the command given to angels to worship God:
鈥淩ejoice, ye heavens, with him, and let all the angels of God worship him (kai proskynesatosan auto pantes angeloi theou); rejoice ye Gentiles, with his people, and let all the sons of God strengthen themselves in him; for he will avenge the blood of his sons, and he will render vengeance, and recompense justice to his enemies, and will reward them that hate him; and the Lord shall purge the land of his people.鈥 Deuteronomy 32:43 LXX
鈥淟et all that worship graven images be ashamed, who boast of their idols; worship him, all you his angels鈥 For you are Lord most high over all the earth; you are greatly exalted above all gods.鈥 Psalm 96[Eng. 97]:7, 9 LXX
For the writer to apply this OT command to the worship which the angels must give to the Son shows that he not only believed that Jesus receives the worship due to God, but also thought that Jesus is God in the flesh.
This now leads me to my next point which I will pick up in the second part of my rebuttal.