Does Hebrews 1:6 refer to Christ’s first or second advent?
This text is from a letter written by David Gooding in 1987.
In Hebrews 1:5, the words 'and again' serve simply to introduce a second quotation from the Old Testament. In Hebrews 1:6, because of the word 'again' in the sentence, it is possible to translate the sentence in two different ways:
Taking the word 'again' closely with the verb 'brings in': 'and when he brings the firstborn into the world again [or the second time] . . .' In this case, the reference will be to the second advent.
Taking the word 'again' as simply introducing another Old Testament quotation, as in Hebrews 1:5: 'And when, again, he brings the firstborn into the world . . .' or, as in the AV, 'And again, when he bringeth in . . .'.
The famous scholar Westcott argued strongly for 1, and the RV has it so. But most modern scholars and translations prefer 2.
Where scholars disagree, the informed layman has the right to make up his own mind. Something will depend, of course, on what he thinks the Old Testament context of the quotation is referring to. Here again, there is a difficulty. It used to be thought that the quotation was taken from the Greek translation of Psalm 97:7; but it is more likely that it comes from a non-Masoretic Hebrew text of Deuteronomy 32:43, which has at the end of the verse the additional clause, 'And let all the angels of the Lord worship him'. But when you have decided which of these passages the quotation is taken from, you must then decide whether the passage concerned is referring to the first or second advent.
