Pfitzner interprets Hebrews as a passionate appeal directed by its author to a community that is in danger of surrendering the distinctiveness of its faith. Through an examination of its structure, rhetorical devices, and arguments, he shows Hebrews to be a splendid example of extended exhortation, with a recurring pattern of formal introduction, scriptural quotation, exposition, and application. By seeing the message of Hebrews as a "word exhortation" (13:22) to a community in crisis, Pfitzner is able to set its distinctive Christology firmly in its original social, historical, and cultural context. Victor C. Pfitzner is Professor of New Testament and Principal, Lutheran School of Theology, North Adelaide, South Australia. Abingdon New Testament Commentaries: Hebrews By Victor C. Pfitzner Abingdon Press Copyright © 1997 Abingdon Press All rights reserved. ISBN: 978-0-687-05724-5 Contents Foreword, Preface, List of Abbreviations, Introduction, Commentary, Select Bibliography, Index, CHAPTER 1 Commentary God's Final Revelation in the Son (1:1–2:18) The opening two chapters form a unified discourse. An opening statement (1:1-4) climaxes in the assertion of the Son's superiority over angels that is documented in a chain of scriptural quotations, framed by rhetorical questions (1:5, 13). The description of angels as serving those who receive salvation (1:14) provides the link to the exhortation not to neglect salvation (2:1-4). The following exposition deals with the Son's subjection under the angels (2:5-9), paving the way for the first major conclusion of the Letter that links the Son to his brothers and sisters (2:10-18). The opening of the section placed the Son with God; the conclusion identifies him with humanity. The section's unity is served by its focus on the Son (1:2, 5; in 2:10-14), yet God is the prime subject as the author of past and final revelation (1:12 a ). The Son's glory is first described in terms of his relation to God (heir; exact imprint; right hand; 1:2 b -3). It is God who testifies to the Son in Scripture (1:5-13), confirms the preaching of the gospel (2:4), and makes the Son lower than the angels (2:9-10). The opening discourse is marked by contrasts: of past with final revelation (1:1-2; 2:2-3); of the Son with angels; of the preexistent and exalted Son with the subjected Son. The former is defined in terms of glory, power, honor (1:3; 2:9), God's majesty (1:3, 13), throne, scepter and power (1:8), and superiority and greater excellence (1:4). The latter is characterized as lower (2:9), flesh and blood (2:14), and as suffering fear of death, bondage, temptation, and death itself (2:9-10, 15, 18). All contrasts serve to extol the exalted Son. The elevated language in 1:1-4, the citing of Scripture, the picture of angels as "ministering spirits" (see 1:14), the focus on the holy name that is to be adored and proclaimed (1:4; 2:12), and the picture of Christas representative of both God and humanity (2:10-18), make this opening a fitting prelude to the Letter as a call to worship. The Thematic Statement (1:1-4) The opening exordium (one sentence written in Greek) has striking literary features. The opening statement consists of two parallel lines, the first marked by alliteration. To show the effect we may paraphrase thus: In p lural ways God p reviously spoke to the p atriarchs by the p rophets. More striking is the structure of the passage. Though the subject changes from God (vv. 1-2) to the Son (vv. 3-4), it has a concentric symmetry (see Lane 1991, 6-7): A: God spoke to our ancestors by prophets ... to us by a Son (vv. 12 a ) B: whom he appointed heir of all things (v. 2 b ) C: through whom he also created the worlds (v. 2 c ) C': as the reflection of God's glory and exact imprint of God's very being, he sustains all things by his powerful word (v. 3 a, b ) B': when he had made purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high (v. 3 c ) A': having become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs (v. 4). The framing statements (A/A') outline the superiority of the Son over other agents of revelation (angels; prophets). Further framing statements (B/B') picture the royal status of the Son with allusions to the Letter's key psalms (Pss 2:8; 110:1). Core statements (C/C') speak of the divine Son as the Wisdom-agent of creation. Including the brief reference to "purification for sins" in B', the four central statements picture Christ as royal Son, divine Wisdom, and royal Priest. The abrupt change of subject and rare vocabulary in verse 3 a and 3 b, the elevated language of verses 3-4, and the christological pattern of preexistence-humiliation-exaltation, reflected elsewhere in the New Testament (Phil 2:6-11; Col 1:15-20; 1 Tim 3:16; 1 Pet 3:18-22; see also Heb 5:8-10), have given rise to the suggestion that these two verses are based on an early credal