Thoughts on Hebrews 1:3

“Upholding all things by the word of His power” (Heb. 1:3)

In Hebrews 1:3 we find this phrase. The phrase is a Hebraic expression of His powerful word.^[1] It is a dative of means, indicating how the Son upholds the universe. It speaks of how He is upholding all things. It is of interest that the word Rhema is used here not the Logos. Allen states two reasons for this: (1) It is used by the Hebrew preacher is strictly of God speaking. (2) It emphases in not so much on content, but on the expression or action itself. It is the act of utterance.^[2] This reinforces the idea of God speaking progressively and unquestionably as asserted by the preacher in his opening comments.

The word upholding^[3] here has the idea of maintaining. He is the glue that holds all things together (cf. Colossians 1:17). However here it speaks of God’s active providence, which is His holy, wise, and powerful preserving and governing all His creatures and their actions.^[4] (cf. Neb. 9:6-7; Job 12:7-10; Psa. 104:27-32). As such, it is a part of God’s common grace to benefit all men. Brock says:

The Son keeps everything in the universe in running order. His power keeps the universe in good shape. This is seen in the word upholding, which refers to the Lord in maintaining all the laws of the universe which govern the planets, starts, and galaxies.^[5] 

This is to the benefit of all creatures and creation. Christ governs and guides all things in the universe to their consummation or goal.^[6] Or as Bruce points out, Christ “carries all things forward to their appointed course.”^[7] If the Greek word is to be taken as dynamic, it seems to me this phrase is tied to the idea of His being the agent of creation, in that He made the worlds-ages or time-space continuum (1:2). In this phrase, Christ is viewed as the sustaining guide upholding the course of this world. Allen holds to dynamic sustaining of God stating: “He is ‘carrying along’ or guiding it towards its intended goal, rather than merely passively supporting creation as if it were a burden.”^[8] The preacher is maintaining an eschatological perspective of God’s sustaining power.

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[1]  Paul Ellingworth, NIGTC: HEBREWS, 101.

[2]  David L Allen, NAC: HEBREWS, 123.

[3]  ferwn has a basic dynamic meaning to bring, lead, or drive; in the transitive sense it has the idea of bearing or enduring. Cf. K. Weiss, “ferw “ TDNT, 9:56-59. David; Allen identifies five possible meanings, see HEBREWS, 121. However only 2 are possible in this context: to bear up, sustain or to bear along, guide. He says both meanings are likely [122].

[4]  J. Oliver Buswell, SYSTEMATIC THEOLOGY OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION, 4 Volumes in One, [Grand Rapids MI, Zondervan, 1962], 1;170.

[5]  R.C. Brock, HEBREWS: VERSE BY VERSE, [publish by the author 2005],8.

[6]  David MacLeod, “The Finality of Christ,” 223.  Cf. Philip Edgcumbe Hughes, HEBREWS, 46.

[7]  F.F. Bruce, NICNT: THE EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS, [Grand Rapids MI, Eerdmans, 1964], 6.

[8] David L Allen, NAC: HEBREWS, 122.