Christ is and what He did and does, and not upon what He taught: with both His prophetic work falls into the background. Both again rise to the thought of the glorified Christ through the work of Christ on earth. But in this respect the writer to the Hebrews forms a link between St Paul and St John. He dwells upon the eternal nature and unchangeable work of the Son before he treats of His historic work; while for St John even the sufferings of Christ are a form of His glory.
But though there is a remarkable agreement in idea between the teaching of the Epistle on the Person of Christ and that of St Paul's (later) Epistles (Phil. 2:5-11; Eph. 1:3-14; Col. 1:15-20), even where the thoughts approach most nearly to coincidence, there still remain significant differences of phraseology: e.g.,
Heb 1:3
ajpauvgasma carakthvr
. Col 1:15 (2 Cor. 4:4)
eijkwvn
.
id
.
fevrwn ta; pavnta tw'/ rJhvm. th'" dun. aujtou'
. Col 1:17
ta; p. ejn aujtw'/ sunevsthken
. Heb 1:2
klhronovmon pavntwn
. Col 1:16
ta; pavnta eij" aujto;n e[ktistai
. Heb 1:6
oJ prwtovtoko"
. Col 1:15
prwtovtoko" pavsh" ktivsew"
. Col 1:18
prwtovtoko" ejk tw'n nekrw'n
. Heb 2:17
w[feilen kata; pavnta toi'" ajdelfoi'" oJmoiwqh'nai
. Phil 2:7
ejn oJmoiwvmati ajnqrwvpwn
Compare also the use of Ps. 8 in 2:6 ff. with the use of it in 1 Cor. 15:27; Phil. 3:21 (Eph. 1:22).
It is also of importance to observe that the writer of the Epistle does not use St Paul's images of Christ as the Second Adam (1 Cor. 15:22, 45), and the Head of the Church (Eph. 1:22; 4:15 f.; Col. 1:18), though he does dwell on the fellowship between the One Son and the many sons (Heb. 2:10 ff.; comp. 10:5 ff.); nor does he offer the thought of the Christian as dead and risen with Christ. On the other hand St Paul does not speak of Christ's work as High-priest, nor does he set forth the discipline of His human life as bringing to men the assurance of prevailing sympathy.
It follows also from the prominence which the writer gives to the priestly work of Christ that he represents the Lord as more active in His Passion than St Paul does. Even on the Cross he shews Christ as working rather than as suffering. Christ in St Paul is regarded predominantly as the Victim, in the Epistle to the Hebrews as the Priest even more than the Victim. In this point again the Epistle comes near to the gospel of St John, in which Christ on the Cross is seen in sovereign majesty.
There is, it may be added, no trace in the Epistle of the Dualistic views which find a place in the Pastoral Epistles (1 Tim. 4:3 ff.; Tit. 1:15); nor of the Docetism which is met by St John (1 John 4:2 f.; 2 John 7).
Compare Additional Note on Heb. 1:4,
On the Divine Names in the Epistle.
A PERSONAL EPILOGUE: 13
The thirteenth chapter is a kind of appendix to the Epistle, like Rom. 15, 16. The first twelve chapters form a complete treatise; and now for the first time distinct personal traits appear. A difference of style corresponds with the difference of subject; but the central portion brings back with fresh power