A Salvation-Historical Interpretation of “Through Whom He Made the Ages” in Hebrews 1:2c
(avg. read time: 7–13 mins.)
In another case of epitomizing my published work, here I will be epitomizing my first article in Novum Testamentum:
K. R. Harriman, “‘Through Whom He Made the Ages’: A Salvation-Historical Interpretation of Heb 1:2c,” NovT 61 (2019): 423–39.
The roots of this article come from when I was preparing to be a teaching intern for a Hebrews class at Asbury with Dr. Ruth Anne Reese. The result of my notes turned out to be a sort of mini-commentary, which, if God is willing, I will share here at some point late next year. This preparation involved translating the whole book. Naturally, since our text is the second verse of the book, it did not take long for me to notice something peculiar. The term αἰών, from which we derive “eon,” is almost universally rendered in a spatial sense to refer to God creating the “worlds” or “universe” (since the form in Heb 1:2 is plural). The vast majority of scholars and a near unanimity of Bible translations accept this spatial sense as a translation of what is at least a primarily temporal word. In fact, in my multi-lingual survey, the only exceptions I could find were one French translation (BJ) and three English translations (JUB, NJB, and YLT).
I argue, with a minority of scholars, that the term is properly rendered “ages,” and, in going beyond these scholars, I argue that the sense the term carries in this context is one of salvation history. I make this argument on the basis of lexical-historical, broad contextual, and immediate contextual evidence.
Lexical-Historical Evidence
The Greek god Aion was associated with time as expressed in terms of an “age” or “eternity.” In classical Greek αἰών often referred to “life” or the span of a lifetime (Homer, Il. 5.685; 16.453; Thucydides, Hist. 1.70.8; Euripides, Andr. 1215; Hec. 757; Isocrates, Archid. 109; Sophocles, Trach. 2, 34; Oed. col. 1736; Demosthenes, Cor. 200; Herodotus, Hist. 1.32.5; 7.46.4). By the time of Plato, the term itself could function as a reference to eternity or to the ages (Plato, Tim. 37d; 38a; 38c; Diodorus Siculus Bib. hist. 1.1.5; Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Ant. rom. 7.55.6). Of course, these sources show several constructions that continue to appear in Greek writings and inscriptions into the first century of the Common Era and beyond that accentuate the temporal referent, such as διά + αἰών, ἀπό + αἰών, ἕως + αἰών, εἰς + αἰών, εἰς + article + αἰών, πρός + article + αἰών, πᾶς + αἰών, ἅπας + αἰών, or in some cases with modifiers following αἰών such as διαμονή, all of which generally have some meaning akin to “forever,” “in perpetuity,” or “to everlasting.” Even without these constructions, none of the inscriptions listed in a search of the Packard Humanities Institute database of Greek inscriptions provide a clear instance of a spatial sense of αἰών (for a few examples, see SEG 27:29; Miletos 455; IGLSyr 3,1 801). The closest possible instance appears in IG XIV:1563, a Roman Christian inscription that refers to τὸν μέλλοντα αἰῶνα μὴ κληρονομήσῃ, which seems to be comparable to a text like Heb 6:5, which I discuss below. Likewise, neither Philo, nor Josephus, nor any Second Temple text supports such a meaning of αἰών (Philo, Alleg. Interp. 3.25, 199; Sacrifices 47, 76; Migration 125; Dreams 2.36; Josephus, Ant. 2.175; 3.56; 7.211; 18.287; J.W. 6.434; 1 En. 14:5; 25:3; 106:11; Sib. Or. 1.195; 3.767; 5.91; 7.11, 101; 8.36, 311; T.Reub. 6:12; T.Jos. 19:12).
Likewise, there is not a clear case in the LXX or the NT outside of Hebrews that demonstrates a spatial meaning at this time as some kind of stable category. The oft-cited comparison of Exod 15:18 is not clearly a reference to God as king of the spatial world but as king of the ages forever (cf. 1 Tim 1:17; Sir 36:17; Philo, Planting 47, 51; 1 En. 9:4; 27:3; 1 Clem 35:3; 55:6; 61:2). Wisdom 13:9 may be the only possible example of a primarily spatial sense for αἰών, but even here it is not clear. It may still be possible to translate the term as “the world of this age/the present” in order to retain the primarily temporal sense that governs practically every other use of the term, as seems appropriate in Wis 14:6 and 18:4. But again, that is the only instance for which one could make a probable case in the LXX.
As for the NT outside of Hebrews, every case in which the term could be translated “world” is more likely to have a temporal sense (if nothing else, if the options are equally probable on all other fronts, the typical sense should be preferred). Paul describes the devil as the god of this age (2 Cor 4:4; cf. 1 Cor 2:8), which is notably in contrast to the description of God as the King of the ages (1 Tim 1:17; cf. Exod 15:18). There are those who are rich in the present age (1 Tim 6:17) and one Demas who is in love with the present age/world (2 Tim 4:10). In none of these cases does there seem to be a primarily spatial reference with the use of αἰών.
Finally, and this will begin leading us into broad contextual considerations, the other uses of the term in Hebrews attest to a temporal meaning. Some of the uses are clearly marked as temporal because the term appears in a construction associated with perpetuity or everlastingness (εἰς + article + αἰών: 1:8; 5:6; 6:20; 7:17, 21, 24, 28; 13:8, 21). That leaves the following uses, given here with the entire verses:
1:2: ἐπ’ ἐσχάτου τῶν ἡμερῶν τούτων ἐλάλησεν ἡμῖν ἐν υἱῷ, ὃν ἔθηκεν κληρονόμον πάντων, δι’ οὗ καὶ ἐποίησεν τοὺς αἰῶνας
6:5: καὶ καλὸν γευσαμένους θεοῦ ῥῆμα δυνάμεις τε μέλλοντος αἰῶνος
9:26: ἐπεὶ ἔδει αὐτὸν πολλάκις παθεῖν ἀπὸ καταβολῆς κόσμου· νυνὶ δὲ ἅπαξ ἐπὶ συντελείᾳ τῶν αἰώνων εἰς ἀθέτησιν [τῆς] ἁμαρτίας διὰ τῆς θυσίας αὐτοῦ πεφανέρωται
11:3: Πίστει νοοῦμεν κατηρτίσθαι τοὺς αἰῶνας ῥήματι θεοῦ, εἰς τὸ μὴ ἐκ φαινομένων τὸ βλεπόμενον γεγονέναι
11:3, the other proposed spatial use of the term, is similar to 1:2 in definiteness, gender, case, and number, as well as in being the object of a verb (albeit distinct verbs with distinct pictures of agency), but it seems that 9:26 illustrates well that the distinct sense of αἰών in Hebrews is temporal. The author seems to reserve κόσμος for the created world per se (4:3; 9:26; 10:5; 11:7, 38) and καταβολῆς κόσμου (4:3; 9:26) for the event of creation in its primarily spatial sense.
Broad Contextual Evidence
I have identified four features of Hebrews that provide evidence from the broad context to support a salvation-historical reading of Heb 1:2c. First, there are several aspects of Hebrews that indicate its eschatological framework. This appears in the emphasis on Jesus’s exaltation which is an eschatological event that has already taken place but also implies the hope for the kingdom that has yet to be consummated (1:3, 13; 2:5–9; 7:26; 8:1; 10:12–13; 12:2, 25–29). It also manifests in the promise of the coming age (2:5–18), in which humans will fulfill the purpose for which God created them according to Ps 8. We also see it in the image of new creation that is the promise of God’s rest that has yet to be entered into (3:7–4:11). At the denouement of the work, the author notes that God will yet consummate the hopes of the faithful throughout history by bringing them to the city with foundations (that is, the future Zion: 11:8–16; 12:18–29; 13:10–16). Eschatology is also featured in the foundational teachings of Heb 6:2 through the references to the resurrection of the dead and the everlasting judgment.
Second, this framework especially influences how our author interprets Scripture. The author refers to the institutions of the old covenant, especially the tabernacle, as ὑπόδειγμα (“pattern”) and σκιά (“shadow”) of the heavenly things to come (8:5; 9:23; 10:1). Likewise, the author uses the speech of God to Moses regarding the tabernacle in Exod 25:40 and fastens on to the notion that the tabernacle was based on the τύπος, the model—rather the source of the model—of the heavenly tabernacle. In other words, they are the lesser realities that point to the fuller ones in their form and function, and this was by God’s design according to the Exodus text and the argument of the author of Hebrews. Their insufficiency and imperfection are the “built-in” features of models and foreshadows, since they were never meant to be the final realities of the new covenant (8:6–13; 9:11–15; 10:1–18; cf. 6:13–20; 7:21–22, 25–28). The author also demonstrates this logic with the language of superior fulfillment and obsolescence with the term κρείττων, which occurs more often in Hebrews (fourteen times) than all other NT texts combined, often in reference to the superiority of the new covenant and its eschatological realities in comparison to the old covenant or earlier times of salvation history (1:4; 7:19, 22; 8:6 [twice]; 9:23; 11:16, 35, 40; 12:24; cf. 6:9; 7:7; 10:34). Likewise, Hebrews uses the language of obsolescence or “making old” as God has acted in a new way to fulfill better promises that makes the former way obsolete (8:13; cf. 7:18; 9:26).
Third, our author narrates salvation history in such a way that he places Jesus at the climax of this history. Aside from the interpretations of Scripture noted above, this feature is most evident in 2:5–18; 7–10; and 11:1–12:3. The first text demonstrates this claim with the citation of Ps 8, the argument that Jesus is the fulfillment of it, and the connection of Jesus’s incarnation to the covenant with Abraham and God’s plan of salvation. The second text demonstrates such a framework through typological argument, the citation of the promise of the new covenant (Jer 31:31–34), and the explanation for how Jesus fulfills God’s plan of salvation in ways that the institutions of the old covenant could not. The third text illustrates such history more directly as a history of faith that finds its climax and completion in the pioneer and completer of faith that is Jesus Christ. All of these texts rest on the assumption that God is the unifier of salvation history, the one who has been the common object of faith for all of that history, while Jesus serves as the climax of that history appointed by the unifier.
Fourth, and related to what we have already observed, the way the author uses the term αἰών elsewhere indicates that this salvation-historical reading is the most likely one. We can see this in how the temporal construction of εἰς + article + αἰών appears in references to Scripture fulfilled in Christ’s everlasting priestly reign (1:8; 5:6; 7:17, 21), Christ’s priesthood (6:20; 7:24), his “completion” (7:28, referring to his resurrection to an indestructible life), his unchangeability (13:8), and God’s glory (13:21). Hebrews 6:5 conveys an inaugurated eschatology in using the modifying participle μέλλοντος, which is eschatologically significant elsewhere in Hebrews as a reference to qualities of the time and world that is coming (1:14; 2:5; 13:14; cf. 10:27) or as a reference to what was previously anticipated of a future time (8:5; 10:1; 11:20). Hebrews 9:26 refers to the “denouement” of the ages, the resolution of the grand story at which everything is brought together (hence the συν element in συντελείᾳ). Finally, Heb 11:3, the other text often thought to use this word with the sense of “world,” refers to what comes to be by taking place in the world as emerging from the invisible; namely, the plan and action of God, signified here by the word of God that orders or arranges the ages. This would also fit with the rest of the chapter, which concerns the action of faith not so much in terms of that which is invisible by nature but in terms of that which is expected yet invisible because it has not yet happened.
Immediate Contextual Evidence
While I think the broad contextual evidence is quite strongly in favor of this interpretation of Heb 1:2c, and that this is itself a strong indication of what this statement in the prologue is doing—since the prologue is meant to anticipate the contents of the rest of the book—we still must consider how such an interpretation fits with the more immediate context of Heb 1:1–4. We can see here how the author sets up the eschatological framework from the beginning through the reference to “these last days” and to the reference to God speaking by a Son where he had previously spoken through prophets. This logic is similar to the parable of the wicked tenants (Matt 21:33–46 // Mark 12:1–12 // Luke 20:9–19), as well as other texts such as John 1:14–18; 5:39–47; Gal 4:1–7; and 2 Pet 1:16–21. In all cases, the Son is the climactic messenger and enactor of the message, the executor of God’s will. For these reasons and others, the aim of the Christology in Hebrews is ultimately to point back to God through the mediator and executor who is Christ. Christ’s actions are ultimately God’s actions with and through him. God has thus appointed Christ as heir of all things, which is another resonance with the parable of the wicked tenants (Matt 21:38 // Mark 12:7 // Luke 20:14).
Not only were all things to be the Son’s inheritance, but the Son is the one through whom God made the αἰῶνας. In accordance with the preceding text, the broader context, and the lexical-historical evidence, it is most likely that this means that God made the ages through the Son. Through this same Son he brought the salvation history of the ages to its climax in the last days precisely because it was through this Son that God made the ages (cf. Acts 2:17; 1 Cor 10:11; Eph 3:9–12; 2 Tim 3:1; Titus 1:2–3; Jas 5:3; 1 Pet 1:20; 2 Pet 3:3; 1 John 2:18; Jude 18). While this action is naturally associated with creation (Gen 1:1, 7, 16, 21, 25, 27), the emphasis in this text is not so much on creating the world in its spatial dimension but on how time and the history of events designated therein is under the control of the one who created it. Furthermore, the statement signifies that the Creator has guided salvation history to this point and will continue to guide it to its consummation.
The note that the Son upholds all things by the word of his power is a way of bringing both creational and salvation-historical points together; the message here is that the Son sustains the existence of the world by the same word God used to create it initially (Gen 1). This statement also indicates the accomplishment of God’s purpose in making the ages, so that the Son should make purification for sins by his self-sacrifice and be raised from the dead in order to sit at the right hand of the Majesty on high, thereby showing himself to be the radiance of God’s glory and the exact imprint of his being. That this is the purpose for which God made the ages through the Son is indicated at several points throughout Hebrews, as noted previously (and in more detail in the article). Therefore, it makes sense to see Heb 1:2c as a declaration about God’s making of salvation history through the Son because the author sees the imprint of the Son throughout history, as especially indicated in the history of faith that builds towards the climax of Jesus (11:1–12:3). It is through the Son that God’s purpose for history was designed, made, and ultimately fulfilled.