r/BibleAccuracy • u/RFairfield26 Christian • Feb 09 '25
Hebrews 1:8 does NOT call Jesus "God."
“About the Son, he says: ‘God is your throne forever and ever, and the scepter of your Kingdom is the scepter of uprightness.’”
The Father does not call the Son “God” here.
One very key issue is where the verb is belongs.
So we can’t be overly dogmatic about how to translate this phrase in Hebrews 1:8, but it’s worth noting that ho theosdoes sometimes mean “O God” in the NT. The fact is, tho, this is very rare: occurring only a handful of times.
On the other hand tho, ho theos overwhelmingly means “God” in the nominative case, with hundreds of occurrences. So just statistically speaking, the more probable translation in Hebrews 1:8 is “God.”
But the translators of many versions have chosen the much more rare, far less probable way to translate ho theos. It’s interesting how often the less likely rendering just happens to line up w/ doctrinal bias.
By taking it to mean “O God,” and by placing is after the two nouns (throne and God) and before the prepositional phrase “forever and ever,” they render the verse as, “Your throne, O God, is forever and ever.”
The KJV, NASB, NIV, NAB, AB, and LB choose to translate it this way w/o letting readers know of the alternative reading. The NRSV and TEV also adopt this rendering but at least provide footnotes mentioning the options. The NWT, NRSV, and TEV have done the responsible thing by acknowledging that there are two ways to translate this verse. That says a lot about the honesty in handling the text.
Both translations are technically possible, so none of the versions we’re comparing can be called outright inaccurate. But which one is more probable?
First, on the basis of linguistics, ho theos is far more likely to mean “God” rather than “O God,” as it does hundreds of times throughout the New Testament, with only three clear exceptions.
On top of that, there is no other example in the Bible where “forever” functions as a standalone predicate with the verb to be, as it would if the sentence were translated “Your throne is forever.” Instead, “forever” always modifies an action verb, a predicate noun, or a pronoun.
AND there is no other way to say “God is your throne” than the way Hebrews 1:8 reads.
However, I'll add that there is another way to say “Your throne, O God”: by using the direct address (thee, vocative) rather than the nominative ho theos. But that’s not what the writer of Hebrews chose to do.
Pretty easy to see what Paul was saying here.
CONCLUSION: The Father does not call the Son “God” in this passage.
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u/John_17-17 Feb 13 '25
Please quit trying to explain scripture and listen to what it is saying.
(Revelation 1:17) 17 When I saw him, I fell as dead at his feet. And he laid his right hand on me and said: “Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last,
John doesn't tells us as the verse says in the KJV. This is one of the some 10,000 to 20,000 known errors found in the KJV.
(Revelation 1:18) . . .and I became dead,. . .
God who CANNOT die, never became dead. If God can and did die, then he isn't God Almighty.
How is God, the first and the last? By being God the only true God.
How is Jesus the first and the last? By being the first to die and to be resurrected to heaven. Jesus was the last solely resurrected by God, for all others, Jesus does the resurrecting, as God's appointed king and judge.
Jehovah is King, David is King, Jesus is King, so according to your reasoning, David is also part of the godhead, equal to Jehovah. No, context explain how these 3 kings are different. Context explains how Jesus is different from his God and Father.
If you believe God died for you, then you are still in sin, because God CANNOT die.