14
identical to "the elementary doctrine of Christ" (6:1). Moreover, the six elements described in
6:24 are a further elaboration of the elementary doctrine of Christ in 6:1a. Furthermore, the
characteristics of the apostates mentioned in 6:46 have to do with the rejection of Christ. More
specifically, by the author's use of the two participial clauses in 6:6--the crucifying again of the
Son of God and the putting of him to open shame--the author intends the readers to understand
that the phrase "having tasted the good word of God" in 6:5 has Christological implications. For
this reason rejecting the word of God may be equated to rejecting the salvific work of Christ.
Thus it may be concluded that, for the author of Hebrews, having God or God's words as the
object of faith is equivalent to having Jesus as the object of faith.
In summary, the above analysis shows the evidence that faith in Hebrews is not removed
from Christ; it has Jesus as the object of faith as in the Pauline epistles. The author's expressions
of "the word of God" and "faith toward God" are equivalent to "faith in Christ." In this sense,
faith in Hebrews is Christologically oriented.
The meaning of
aj
rchgov
"
and
teleiwthv
"
(12:2)
The Christological orientation of faith in Hebrews can be shown from the use of the terms
aj
rchgov
"
and teleiwthv
"
in 12:2. The word aj
rchgov
"
in the LXX and non-biblical literature has
basically two different meanings: (1) leader or ruler; (2) originator, founder, or pioneer (i.e., one
who begins something as first in a series to give the impetus).
43
Understanding aj
rchgov
"
as the
former sense leads to the conclusion that Jesus is the model of faith; but taking it in the latter
sense, to the conclusion that Jesus is the object of faith.
Hamm argues that aj
rchgov
"
in 12:2, with the racing image of the context, denotes Jesus as
the "leader" as in 2:10. In other words, Jesus is the leader because he is the forerunner as stated in
6:20. For this reason he contends that Jesus is portrayed as the model or the exemplar of our