“YOUR THRONE , O GOD”

Answer:

            As you have correctly observed, various Bible versions indeed differ in their renditions of Hebrews 1:8. For our readers to notice the difference, let us quote the verse from two different versions of the Bible:

            “But of the Son He says, ‘Thy throne, o god, is forever and ever’, …” (NNNNkkkNew American Standard Bible)

            “But of the Son he says, ‘God is your throne forever and ever!’  …”   (Goodspeed

Translation)

            The New American Standard Bible’s rendition exemplifies those translations of Hebrews 1:8 in which it appears as though the son were addressed “O God” by the Father, whereas that of the Goodspeed Translation typifies those Bible versions where it has no indication that the Father called the Son is God, but states instead that the throne of the Son is God. One Bible version even combines the two differing translations and renders Hebrews 1:8 this way:

            “But of the Son he says, ‘Your throne, O God, is {Or [God is your throne]} forever and ever’  …”  (New Revised Standard Version)

            One thing that explains the disparity in various Bible translations is the fact that the Bible has been translated into several languages, that in the process, some alternations have been made resulting from, among others, the idiosyncrasy of languages, differences in shades of meaning, and dissimilarity in interpretation by different translators as well as their theological bias. It cannot be denied that many Bible versions are done by people or groups of people with their own beliefs that subjectively influenced their versions, thereby producing translations with tainted, if not twisted, meaning.

            So how, then, are we to know particular translation of the Bible to use, for example, in a particular verse? Apostle Paul states the guiding principle we should employ thus:

            “These things we also speak, not in words which man’s wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual.”  (I Cor. 2:13, New King James Version)

            Because spiritual things should be compared with spiritual truths, there must be no contradiction among verses of the Bible. As a rule therefore in determining which rendition of a particular verse expresses the truth, a verse should not be in opposition to any other verse of the Bible because God, in whose will and guidance the Bible was written, is not the author of confusion (I Cor. 14:33).

            It is for this reason that the Church of Christ believes that any translation of Hebrews 1:8 that puts it in such a way that Christ is being acknowledge as God by the Father is unquestionably erroneous because such rendition categorically contradicts the following statements of the Father Himself:

            “Acknowledge that I alone am God and that there is no one else like me.” (Isa. 46.9, Today’s English Version)

            “…  And you are my witnesses! Is there a God besides me? There is no Rock; I know not any.” (Isa. 44:8, Revised Standard Version)

            “…  I am the only God. Besides me there is no other god; there never was and never will be.”  (Isa. 43:10, TEV)

            Lest people suppose that there is one God in heaven but there is another on earth, the Bible further adds:

            “Therefore know this day, and consider it in your heart, that the lord Himself  is God in heaven above and in the earth beneath; there is no other.” (Deut. 4:39, NKJV)

            But what does it mean that “God is [the Son’s] throne”? The answer is found in Psalms 45:6, the very verse in the Old Testament that is quoted in Hebrews 1:8:

            “Your throne is from God, for ever and ever, the sceptre of your kingship a sceptre of justice.”  (New Jerusalem Bible, emphasis ours)

            Clearly then, that God is the throne of the Son denotes that the Son’s throne is from God. Is it also taught in the New Testament that the throne or authority that the Son holds comes from no other than the Almighty God who is the Father? Yes, it is. In fact, Christ Himself taught this when He declared:

            “… ‘All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth’.” (Matt. 28:18, NKJV)

            “All things have been delivered to Me by My Father, …” (Matt. 11:27, Ibid.)

            Contrary therefore to the belief of some authors, nowhere in the Bible, not even in Hebrews 1:8, does the Father acknowledge the Son as “God”. What the Holy Scriptures openly teach regarding the issue is that the Son Jesus Christ, who is mistaken by some to be God, is introduced in the same epistle to Hebrews as “man” (Heb. 7:24, King James Version), and that He unmistakably acknowledge the Father, not Himself, as the “only true God”:

            “Father, the time has come for you to bring glory to your Son, in order that he may bring glory to you … Eternal life is to know you, the only true God, and to know Jesus Christ, the one you sent.” (John 17:1, 3, Contemporary English Version)