Hebrews 1:8 : O God Or The God?

 

By Bro. Nathan

"But to the Son He says: “Your throne, O God, is forever and ever; A scepter of righteousness is the scepter of Your kingdom. You have loved righteousness and hated lawlessness; Therefore God, Your God, has anointed You With the oil of gladness more than Your companions.”" (Heb. 1:8) NKJV

Often ay inaargue ng mga Unitarians at Arians gaya ng INC at JW na hindi daw dapat ito i-translate as "O God"/"O Dios" but instead daw ay dapat "the God" or "God is your throne" (NWT) simply because na nasa isang nominative case daw ang Greek na ο Θεός (o Theos) at na merong article na "ο" equivalent to "the" but however ay isang doubtful na translation". Ang Greek ng verse sa Nestle Aland 28 reads :

πρὸς δὲ τὸν υἱόν, Ὁ θρόνος σου, ὁ θεός, εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα τοῦ αἰῶνος, καὶ ἡ ῥάβδος τῆς εὐθύτητος ῥάβδος τῆς βασιλείας σου. ἠγάπησας δικαιοσύνην καὶ ἐμίσησας ἀνομίαν: διὰ τοῦτο ἔχρισέν σε ὁ θεός, ὁ θεός σου, ἔλαιον ἀγαλλιάσεως παρὰ τοὺς μετόχους σου: καί, Σὺ κατ' ἀρχάς, κύριε, τὴν γῆν ἐθεμελίωσας, καὶ ἔργα τῶν χειρῶν σού εἰσιν οἱ οὐρανοί: (NA28)

First, nagsisismula ang verse with πρὸς δὲ τὸν υἱόν (pros de ton uion) na nagrerefer sa Son, wherein sa context at binigyan dito ng contrast si Jesus Christ at ang mga Angels — then the passage continues with the sentence Ὁ θρόνος σου (o Thronos sou), na which again clearly refers to the Son. Sa Nestle Aland 28 (NA28) ay hindi nagshift from the variant na σου to αὐτοῦ as the better reading. 

If titingnan natin yung Hebrew wherein naderive yung Hebrews 1:8-9 uses the nominative vocatively since Isa itong quotation Mula sa Lxx (Ps. 45:6-7 Lxx), ang אֱ֭לֹהִים dito is in vocative which literally reads :

"כִּסְאֲךָ֣ אֱ֭לֹהִים עֹולָ֣ם וָ עֶ֑ד שֵׁ֥בֶט מִ֝ישֹׁ֗ר שֵׁ֣בֶט מַלְכוּתֶֽךָ ׃ אָהַ֣בְתָּ צֶּדֶק֮ וַ תִּשְׂנָ֫א רֶ֥שַׁע עַל ־כֵּ֤ן ׀ מְשָׁחֲךָ֡ אֱלֹהִ֣ים אֱ֭לֹהֶיךָ שֶׁ֥מֶן שָׂשֹׂ֗ון מֵֽ חֲבֵרֶֽיךָ 

׃ (Ps. 45:6-7) BHS

If σου is read, there is no difficulty in taking "ο Θεός" as vocative.

"The context makes it clear that God is speaking to his Son, Thus God the Father addresses his Son as “God.” This is the TR NU reading, where O THEOS must be understood as a vocative. The variant reading allows for two different renderings, the most unusual of which is noted above as a second option for the variant (“God is your throne etc.). But such reading violates the natural sense of the Greek and obscures Christ’s deity. God calls his Son “God” and then declares that his throne is everlasting because of his righteousness." (Philip Wesley Comfort New Testament Text And Commentary p. 695)

“The author introduces two citations (vss. 8–12*), indicating that they are both addressed to the Son. The first is from Ps 45(44):7–8*, which was originally composed as a wedding song (epithalamium) for an Israelite king, wherein the monarch’s majesty is praised in hyperbolic language. The original import of the first clause of this psalm is disputed. Although it may have involved an address to the king as god, it is more likely to be construed as a predication, in parallelism with the following verse, to be rendered “your throne is (a throne) of God, eternal.” The LXX rendering is ambiguous, since the form used for “God” is nominative. It is, however, possible, even in classical Greek, to use the nominative for the vocative, and in the LXX and the New Testament this usage is common. That Jewish exegetes regularly understood the text as an address is clear, both from the Targum and from the revision of the LXX by Aquila. The author of Hebrews stands in this exegetical tradition and takes the psalm as an address to the Son as God. Although such explicit recognitions of the divinity of Christ are rare, they do appear in other early Christian writings. The author’s understanding of the psalm may have been influenced by his high Christology with its sapiential roots, since Philo can refer to the Logos, one of the divine “powers,” as a “God.” For our author, then, Christ, as divine, is seen to have an eternal reign unlike the transitory angels A Commentary on the Epistle to the Hebrews (Hermeneia: A Critical and Historical Commentary on the Bible) by Harold W. Attridge