God’s Definitive Revelation

The magnificent opening verses of this passage provide an immediate expression of the author’s theological perspective: he moves from past revelation to definitive revelation, from God’s word to the OT “fathers” to his final word through his Son, Jesus Christ. He gives first his doctrine of Christ in order to set the tone for the entire book. The introductory christological prologue in these verses is thus similar to the prologue of the Fourth Gospel (John 1:1–18) in its function as well as in its christocentric theology. The author, however, does not want to present such an exalted Christology without first indicating that God’s word spoken in his Son is continuous with, and not alien to, what has preceded. What God has done in Christ is the climax of what he ha…