Hebrews 1 Footnotes

1:10 Some have claimed that if God “established the earth,” as this verse states, it must not move. But that is false. As the writer of Hebrews maintained that Christ is superior to the angels, he used Ps 102:25 and the metaphor of a foundation to describe Christ’s founding of the earth. Like other biblical writers, the author of Hebrews described things as they appeared to him.

1:11 Skeptics wrongly see a contradiction between this verse, which says that the earth will perish, and Ps 78:69 and Ec 1:4, which say that it will last forever. However, in Ec 1:3 the Teacher discussed the futility and vanity of humanity’s endeavors: “What does a person gain for all his efforts that he labors at under the sun?” The author continued this theme in Ec 1:4, where he viewed the earth entirely from a human perspective. In the course of life he saw the earth as abiding forever because that was how it seemed to him. Ps 78:69 was written from a similar standpoint. This verse in Hebrews, however, is different. Like 2Pt 3:10, it teaches that the earth will indeed perish before the new heavens and a new earth are made (see 2Pt 3:13).