Hebrews 1 & The Trinity
Why Would Trinitarians Use These Verses to Prove Their Beliefs?
I was watching a video of a trinitarian who pulled up the verses Hebrews 1:1-2 which I found odd. He mentioned it as if it proved that Jesus was the Creator (God). But that’s the opposite of what it says. I will show one translation and then discuss another.
Hebrews 1:1 On many past occasions and in many different ways, God spoke to our fathers through the prophets. 2 But in these last days He has spoken to us by His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, and through whom He made the universe.
ALL CAPS BIBLE
First the original Greek version of the New Testament was in all caps. This means a translator decided to capitalize letters or not. The translator likely believes the word “Son” should be capitalized because Jesus is special.
He was special, and he was described as the “only begotten” of God at one point. But then God begat other children, us. We are all begotten of God. And, perhaps the translator thought that Jesus was God, so that’s why “Son” should be capitalized. But that’s not what the writer actually wrote.
“In These Last Days”
The first problem with using this verse to say Jesus is the creator of the world is that it says plainly that God didn’t speak through the son in the Old Testament days. Many Trinitarians like to say the Angel of YHWH (the LORD) was Jesus speaking to people. But this verse flatly refutes that. It says God only started talking through his son in these last days (during Christ’s ministry). That necessarily means God never talked through his son before.
God Made What Through Jesus?
Trinitarians may use this verse 2 to try to say that Jesus helped in the creation of the world (like at the beginning of time).
Hebrews 1:1 On many past occasions and in many different ways, God spoke to our fathers through the prophets. 2 But in these last days He has spoken to us by His son, whom He appointed heir of all things, and through whom He made the
universeage.
The last word is Strong’s Greek 165 aión, or eon, or age. The meaning is “an age, a cycle (of time), especially of the present age as contrasted with the future age, and of one of a series of ages stretching to infinity.”
When you re-read the verse everything starts to make sense. “In the past” (the old ages/cycle of time) God spoke through the prophets, now in these last days (the current age/cycle of time) God spoke through his son, through which he made the current age.
There is a coherent though process in this sentence now.
To attempt to say that the writer was talking about how “God spoke through the prophets,” and now he speaks through the son “through whom he created the world” leads one to assume the writer has now gone wildly off-topic. Why would the writer be writing that God speaks through prophets and a son and all of a sudden be talking about the creation of the world?
Trinitarians like to cherry pick things out of context to try to use them as “proof” texts for the trinity. They make the verses around them go off-topic a lot. If you still believe in the trinity and actually want to study it out, the writer going off topic to promote the trinity is a good tell that your understand is not correct. It happens in Philippians 2 as well.
Does God Need to Inherit a Name Greater than Angels?
Hebrews chapter 1 continues: “2 But in these last days He has spoken to us by His son, whom He appointed heir of all things, and through whom He made the universe age. 3 Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high; 4 Being made so much better than the angels, as he hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they.”
If Jesus is YHWH, why on earth would he be an heir? Why would he have to inherit a name greater than the angels? Name means reputation and your characteristics. Jesus got a more excellent reputation by his actions as a human through following God’s instructions. This implies that Jesus was not greater than the angels before he inherited this new name/reputation. YHWH does not need to inherit a reputation greater than angels, He created the angels. He was always greater than they were.
The trinity belief causes people to read into the text things that are not there, and that makes them lose the point the author is trying to make. If you think the author is writing to prove Jesus is God, you’re completely missing the point of how the new age was created to be different than the old age, and how Christ inherited something that we can inherit as well.
I don’t actually believe the Book of Hebrews writer was inspired by God. I think that the author was someone around that time period who seems a bit like Paul, not believing that we can fulfil the law as Christ did. But, whether or not it should be accepted as canon is a moot point here. The writer wasn’t a trinitarian and it’s laughable that someone would use those verses to try to prove Christ was talking to people in the OT or that he is the creator of the universe/world.
If you want to study this book of Hebrews and the trinity out a bit more, you can check out The Trinity Delusion’s videos on the topic. Here’s some good ones.