12. Through Whom He also makes the eons; Hebrews 1:2

At the last of these days, He speaks to us in [the] Son, Whom He appoints Enjoyer of the allotment of all, through Whom He also makes the eons…
Heb.1:2

Most common translations read at the end of the above verse: through Whom He also made the world. If this translation were correct, its content would differ little from what we have seen earlier, namely that God made the world through His word (which later became flesh).

But here too, the well-known translations fall rather short.

1. This is not a matter of ‘the world’ (Gr. kosmos) singular, but of ‘the eons’. So a different word and, moreover, in the plural.
2. The verb used here is not ‘to create’, but ‘to make’.
3. Finally, we observe that ‘make’ is not used in the present perfect tense (> has made), nor in the present tense (> is making). In Greek, the aorist is used here, which literally means ‘without horizon’, so that the verb form itself conveys no indication of time. We therefore read in Hebrews 1:2 that God “makes the eons” through the Son (regardless of when). Only the fact is stated. Because the context and what follows point to the coming eras in which the Son will reign (1:8; 2:5), the thought here is that God is making the future eons through the Son—that is, He will shape and govern them. He will reign in the coming eons. It is the coming eons that God will make and form through His Son.

Delen: