Apostolic Antiquity

“in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world.”

“in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world.”

Trinitarians use this primarily to show that the term Son does not just refer to the incarnation but rather that the Son preexisted His incarnation in flesh. Not only only does this verse seem to imply that the Son created the world but also that the Son is a distinct person from the Father, or so it seems. Firstly we know that scripture doesn’t just allude to the fact that the term Son of God as applied to Jesus is a term in relation to the virgin birth at bethlehem but it is actually explicit Luke 1:35 says:

 “And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.”

Jesus would not be called the Son of God because of His pre-existent identity as a divine person but rather because His Father who caused the virgin conception was God Himself. The word “therefore” or “dio” in the Greek simply means because of, for which cause, or on account of. If then “Son” is a term that deals with the manifestation of God in flesh through the virgin birth what are we to make of Hebrews 1:2 which seems to imply that the Son pre-existed His incarnation? 

Firstly the preceding verse reads:

“God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets,”

Verse two goes on to tell us that now God speaks to us by His Son. Contextually this is about the transition from Old Covenant to the New Covenant. This can help us to better understand the verse and what message it might be trying to convey. The Greek word for “world” here is “aion” which literally means ages. The word aion always has something to do in relation to time not merely a physical dynamic. To say that this verse is talking about the Son creating the physical universe would be to give the word aion a completely different meaning. Some might point to Matthew 13:40 which also translates the word aion as world:

“The enemy that sowed them is the devil; the harvest  is the end of the world; and the reapers are the angels.”

The context however not only allows for but seems more likely that the proper translation of the word would be age or ages. Therefore Hebrews 1:2 better reads:

“Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the ages;”Now what exactly does it mean that God created these “ages” or periods of time through the Son? Remember that the passage in context is talking about the transition from Old to New Testament. The verse is essentially saying that without the revelation of the Son neither the Old Covenant nor the New Covenant could have existed because they both find their purpose in Him. The Old Covenant points to the Son and the New Covenant fulfills the Old by revealing the Son. The Old Covenant was built upon the fact that the Son wouldcome and die for the sins of the world and the New Covenant was built upon the fact that the Son did come and die for the sins of the world. God created these covenants but He could not have done it without the Son in mind even if the Son had not already come therefore God created these ages through the revelation of the Son of God.