2025/07/28
206. Issues Raised in the Letter to the Hebrews (Human Information)
At the end of Chapter 2 of the Letter to the Hebrews,
it says, "Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he
himself likewise partook of the same nature, that through death he might
destroy him who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all
those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong bondage" (Heb
2:14-15). To understand the writer's words above, we need to know the true
nature of "the devil." Devils and Satan are information, and when
taken in by people, they become human thoughts. The Book of Revelation says
that what is called the devil or Satan is "that ancient serpent"
(Rev 20:2), urging us to pay attention to the story of the first man and woman
in Genesis.
Information generated through human interactions is
highly compatible with human memory and easily forms human thoughts when taken
in. In this way, God's command, "You may freely eat
of every tree of the garden; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you
shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall die" (Gen 2:16-17), has been replaced by the human
thoughts: "We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden; but God
said, 'You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the
garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.'" (3:2-3). The
memory of God's words that the first man and woman had at the beginning of
Genesis has been overwritten.
Ignoring God's will, they acted on their human
thoughts, "You will not die. For God knows that when you eat of it your
eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil"
(Gen 3:4-5). And indeed, things turned out just as they had thought. They did
not die after eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and their
eyes were opened. However, with their eyes opened, they eventually came to
realise that their bodies, which were nothing but dust, would return to dust
(cf. 3:19). The words, "You shall die," meant that they would
know physical death and become subject to lifelong bondage through fear of
death. Viewing from the side of God, they are as good as dead. To free these
people, Jesus, the Son of God, became a human being. And he responded to Peter
with harsh words, "Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me; for
you are not on the side of God, but of men" (Mat 16:23), when Peter
rebuked him after he first revealed his suffering, death, and resurrection to
his disciples.
The Gospels record the events that occurred after
Jesus received baptism from John the Baptist and fasted for 40 days in the
wilderness, revealing how Jesus, the Son of God, confronted the human
information known as the devil or Satan. Jesus, who was about to begin his
public life, must have held God's plan entrusted to him by his Father in his
mind and was filled with determination to carry it out. However, after fasting,
Jesus got hungry, and a strange idea to command the stones to become loaves of
bread came to his mind, combining the thoughts of the Son of God with the
thoughts of a human being having lived as a man (cf. Mat 4:1). That is because
Jesus had a plan to institute the Eucharist, in which bread and wine would
become his body and blood through the Word, so that his words, "[H]e
who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up
at the last day" (Jn 6:54), would come true. Jesus distinguished human
thoughts from God's plan by answering, "It is written, 'Man shall not
live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.'"
(Mat 4:4).
Meanwhile, Jesus'
humanity, which had already exceeded the limits of physical endurance,
experienced a hallucination. He stood on the edge of the temple roof. His idea,
"If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down" (Mat 4:6),
that has come to his mind seems to make us recall the deriding words of those
who saw Jesus crucified on the cross, "You who would destroy the temple
and build it in three days, save yourself! If you are the Son of God, come down
from the cross" (27:40). As a human being with a physical body, Jesus
had to face his own death with the same feelings as those who had been slaves
all their lives because of their fear of death. However, Jesus distinguished
his thoughts, which were based on God's plan, from human thoughts, saying,
"Again it is written, 'You shall not tempt the Lord your God.'"
(4:7).
The hallucination continues. Jesus is taken to a very
high mountain and sees all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. An idea
arises in his mind, "All these I will give you, if you will fall down
and worship me" (Mat 4:9). In this case, the suggestive form "if
you are the Son of God" is not used. That is because Jesus, the Son of
God, had memories of people who had fallen to their knees before these words,
given themselves over to all kinds of idolatry, and perished. That idea was
human information, kept separate in Jesus' memory. Jesus called it by name and
treated it as completely foreign, saying, "Begone, Satan! for it is
written, `You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve.'"
(4:10). Then the human information left him. The Gospel says, "angels
came and ministered to him" (4:11). Peace has come.
Jesus' experience in the wilderness is a powerful help
to us, as it is written in the Letter to the Hebrews, "For because he
himself has suffered and been tempted, he is able to help those who are tempted"
(Heb 2:18). Jesus dealt with the human thoughts that arose within him by
responding with the words of God. That was because he had retained the words of
the Old Testament. However, Jesus' name is not found in the Old Testament. At
the time when the systematic New Testament had not yet been established,
believers, who lived with the Holy Spirit sent in the name of Jesus, needed a
practical and concrete method of retaining Jesus' words so that they could
follow Jesus' example in the wilderness. The absence of such a method was the
second issue that affected the Church community, following on from the first
issue mentioned in the previous article.
Maria K. M.
