There are a number of controversies surrounding the biblical teaching that Jesus “sat down at the right hand of God” after His ascension into heaven. For example, it was a pivotal doctrine during the Reformation. Zwingli and Luther argued over the proper meaning and administration of the Lord’s Supper although, contrary to what some argue today, they were not that far apart. At the Colloquy of Marburg in 1529, they had developed fifteen articles of agreement between the Lutheran and Reformed understanding of the Lord’s Supper. By the end of the discussion, they had agreed on fourteen of the fifteen articles and, on the fifteenth article, they had agreed on five out of six points. At issue in this last point was whether “the true body and blood of Christ are bodily present in the bread and wine” (Alister E. McGrath, Reformation Thought: An Introduction, 3rd ed., p. 190). The disagreement over this sixth point was the “deal breaker” which led to the division between the Lutheran and Reformed churches.

This “deal breaker” revolved around the understanding of two biblical phrases: “seated at the right hand of God” and “this is my body.” Zwingli argued that Christ, after His ascension, was “seated at the right hand of God the Father Almighty” and was now literally located — body and soul — at that right hand. Because He could not be in two places at the same time, His statement “This is my body” must be understood as a figure of speech. It was not possible for Him to be both physically at the right hand of God and physically present all over Europe during communion with each congregation. On the contrary, Luther countered that the statement “at the right hand of God” was to be understood as a figure of speech, because there is not literal place that can be called “the right hand of God.” It is not a “physical” location where Christ now “sits,” but represents the power of God by which Jesus reigns as the Governor of the Universe. His promise to give us His “body and blood” is therefore to be taken literally, and we are to recognize that Jesus is bodily present at communion “by, with, and under” the elements of bread and wine wherever and whenever that communion is held.

There have been other controversies over the years in the debate of when, where, and how it is that Jesus is at the “right hand of God,” but the dispute between Zwingli and Luther serves as a good cautionary tale for us as we look at the doctrine of the Apostles’ Creed which theologians call the “session of Christ.” It demonstrates the need to understand what is meant by the “right hand of God” as well as what is meant by “being seated.” In the following brief look at this article, we will see that both of these concepts — “the right hand of God” and “sitting” — are metaphors representing certain truths about God and about the glory and continuing work of Christ. We will see how this doctrine of the creed relates to our comfort and to our lives as confessing Christians. Although brief, this explanation gives a focused discussion on the attributes of God’s power, dignity, and blessings and how Christ, as our Redeemer and Lord, exercises these attributes to the glory of God and our good.

“The Right Hand of God”⤒🔗

God is Spirit. He does not have a body of any kind, much less eyes, ears, nose, arms, legs, or hands. Although He can do what eyes do without eyes, ears do without ears, arms do without arms, He has none of these body parts literally. There is no “physical” hand of any kind, right or left, that can be attributed to Him and so there is no “place” at which or by which anyone could sit. When the term “hand” or “right hand” is ascribed to God in pages of the Bible, there is the need to understand the terms as a figure of speech. As we look at the way in which “right hand” in particular is used in Scripture, we see at least three senses where the phrase is used to teach us certain concepts that are nevertheless “really true” about God. They derive from everyday life and, even though God has no literal “hand,” we can understand from the kinds of things the human “hand” is used for, to learn these truths about God.

The first and primary metaphor for the “hand” is that of “power.” This corresponds to the common way we use “hand” as a shortcut for activity or strength. We talk about having or being a “hired hand” or, when we wish to demonstrate that something has been accomplished by ourselves, it is done “by my own hand.”

This is much the same as we find in Scripture. Joshua tells the Israelites that the purpose of setting up the twelve stones near Gilgal was “so that all the peoples of the earth may know that the hand of the LORD is mighty” (Joshua 4:24). The phrase “right hand” is used also to designate that power. After God saves them from the Egyptians, the Israelites sang,

Your right hand, O Lord, glorious in power, your right hand, O Lord, shatters the enemy.Exodus 15:6

The Psalms speak about the “right hand” on several occasions, usually to designate the power to save or deliver from troubles.

Now I know that the LORD saves his anointed; he will answer him from his holy heaven with the saving might of his right hand. Psalm 20:6

My soul clings to you; your right hand upholds me.Psalm 63:8

Why do you hold back your hand, your right hand? Take it from the fold of your garment and destroy them! Psalm 74:11

You have a mighty arm; strong is your hand, high your right hand. Psalm 89:13

The sense of “power” is the primary attribute that Christ assigns to the figure as well. He tells the high priest of Israel “from now on you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power” (Matthew 26:64 — “power of God” Luke 22:69). The “right hand of God” is clearly used in Scripture to designate the absolute power of God to accomplish whatever task there is. It is a power to save and to sustain, and it is the power by which He governs all things both in heaven and on earth.

There is a second sense for the phrase “right hand;” it means honor in the sight of others. When Bathsheba came into Solomon’s presence, she was given a place on the “right of” his throne as a gesture of the honor he had for her (1 Kings 2:19 — although she wittingly or unwittingly misused that honor). David prophesied concerning the Messiah of God that

The LORD said to my Lord, Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool.Psalm 110

It is for this reason that Jesus “sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high” (Hebrews 1:3). “To which of the angels” has God ever given such a place of honor? The expected answer is: none.

Later in the book of Hebrews we at told that “we have such a high priest, one who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven, a minister in the holy places, in the true tent that the Lord set up, not man” (Hebrews 8:1-2). By the phrases “Majesty on high” and “Majesty in heaven,” we are to understand that Jesus is with the Father not only in power, but in all His sovereign glory and dignity, a glory and dignity that is “in heaven,” a glory and dignity which comes from the Lord of glory and not from man. It is a place of highest honor.

A third sense of the “right hand” is that of blessings and benefits.

In Your presence there is fullness of joy; at Your right hand are pleasures forevermore. Psalm 16:11

It is with the “right hand” that Israel blesses Ephraim, to the consternation of Joseph (Genesis 48:13-18). This sense of blessing defines the goal to which Jesus looked during all His work and suffering while on this earth. It was that joy He had with the Father before the foundations of the earth. “Looking to Jesus,” we are told, “the founder and finisher of our faith,” we are to recognize that it was “for the joy that was set before Him (He) endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God” (Hebrews 12:2). It is the joy which He had before His incarnation and was always before Him as a goal, a fullness of joy that is “at the right hand of the Father Almighty.”

How do We Understand “Is Seated”?←⤒🔗

“To sit” in the Scriptures often means simply to “sit down” in much the same way as we use the term. However, just as “right hand” is a metaphor, so also “sitting” in Scripture does not always mean that physical or literal act of being “seated” in one spot. It is also used to signify being in an undisturbed state where one can “think about things” without fear of being harmed. When the “swords are beat into plowshares” and “spears into pruning hooks” then “they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree” (Micah 4:3-4). This is a proverbial phrase for security and enjoyment in uninterrupted thought.

“To sit” is also used to specify a meeting of some sort, where individuals are gathered for a purpose of mutual interest. “Elisha was sitting in his house, and the elders were sitting with him” (2 Kings 6:32). This could have been a prayer meeting or the elders were there consulting Elisha about a matter; it does not say. However, the phrase “sitting in his house” is to be understood not as the simple activity of “sitting” — as opposed to standing or milling around — but sitting for a definite purpose (compare this with Proverbs 31:23 — “sits among the elders of the land”). Tamar is told to “sit as a widow in your father’s house,” which means to remain or dwell (Genesis 38:11 — and most translations read “remain” or “dwell” rather than “sit”). Moreover, one is not to “sit in the seat of scoffers” (Psalm 1:1), which certainly entails more than resting one’s feet.

With respect to Christ, it could well mean contemplation or dwelling. He most assuredly deserves such a state. However, the Scriptures teach that Christ is still very much active on our behalf, and the term “sitting” is used in the creed to designate the entirety of that activity over the past two thousand years. Christ “sitting at the right hand of God” is best understood, therefore, in the same way we would understand Elisha and the elders or the individual in Proverbs.

The theological and technical term for His “being seated” or “sitting” is called “session,” and the activity that Christ is engaged in is called the “session of Christ.” (The term “session” itself is derived from the Latin, and simply means “sitting.”) When applied to “doing” something, it has a larger significance and is used to designate the authority by which a person or group of people act. In law, for example, a court is not official until the judge “sits down,” at which time the court is “in session” and the judge is ready to hear and decide a case. Everything that happens after he “sits” down is the “official” action of the court and is recorded as such.

When the Congress of the United States meets for official decision making, they are “in session.” This is also how we speak of the judicatories of the church: a Consistory or Classis or Synod. When the members or delegates are met together, they are “seated in the bar of the house” and are therefore “in session” and ready to consider the matters that have been brought before them. It is in this sense, no doubt, that Elisha and the elders were “sitting in his house.”

To be “in session” or “seated” means to assume the position of authority and to exercise those duties and responsibilities that are particular to the institution for which or in whose behalf one “is seated.” For a judge, it is matters of law; for the Congress, it is matters of legislation; for the Consistory, Classis, and Synod, it is matters of the church.

For Jesus, it means to be above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come.Ephesians 1:21

When He is in session “all things (are) under his feet” (Ephesians 1:22).

Putting the Two Together←⤒🔗

We need now to put the two figures together: “at the right hand of God” and “sitting.” The “right hand of God” denotes the power, dominion, majesty, glory, and blessings of God the Father Almighty. When Christ is “in session” (“sitting”), He is both enjoying and exercising that power, dominion, majesty, glory, and blessing.

Fundamentally, “being seated at the right hand of God the Father Almighty” means that Jesus Christ has the same and equal power with the Father. As Ursinus points out, this is not an addition to the glory of Christ, but a manifestation of the deity of Christ which had been hidden or had “concealed itself,” as it were, by the lowly and humble circumstances of His birth, life, suffering, and death. As the eternal Son of God, He has been at the “right hand of the Father” from all eternity and, as such, has always been equal in power and glory with the Father. He deserves the same worship and praise as the Father. However, the necessities of our miserable condition required that He “humble Himself” and “take upon Himself the nature of man” and be “obedient unto death, even death on the cross.”

But to look upon Him only in His humiliation does not give us the entire picture of Who He is and what He is to us. We need to have, as it were, the whole of His person in perspective, in order that we clearly see the greatness of our Redeemer. To be at the “right hand of God” is the manifestation of Him as the “radiance of the glory of God,” as the “express image or transcript of God’s person.” Having made “purification for our sins,” His human nature is now received into heaven and He is clearly shown to us as the One by whom and for whom all things were made. Peter points out in his letter that Jesus has “gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers having been subjected to Him” (1 Peter 3:22). It is Jesus Christ who “upholds the universe by the word of His power” (Hebrews 1:3).

Secondly, “sitting at the right hand” does not mean that Christ is idle in heaven. It is as the “King of kings and Lord of lords” that Christ exercises His power in various ways. He continues to be true and righteous man; so He continues not only King, but our Chief Prophet and Priest as well.

As our Chief Prophet, “being therefore exalted at the right hand of God,” Peter preached, “and having received the promise of the Holy Spirit, He has poured out this that you yourselves are seeing and hearing” (Acts 2:33). The Spirit “takes of the things of Christ” and applies them to us. It is Christ who has given to the church “some apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers” (Ephesians 4:11). He has never given up but continues to be the primary Teacher of the church.

As our Priest, He made sacrifice for our sins “once for all” and continues to make intercession for us. He has “died — more than that, who is raised — Who is at the right hand of God, Who indeed is interceding for us” (Romans 8:34).

We have such a high priest, we are taught in Hebrews, One Who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven.Hebrews 8:1

When ordered to cease teaching in the “Name,” Peter replies that “God has exalted Him at His right hand as Leader and Savior” (Acts 5:31). Jesus continues to teach His people, intercede for His people, and is the Head of everything “to the church.”

Finally, though not directly related to the article in the creed, the Scriptures indicate that Jesus, being “seated at the right hand of God,” is the goal of our lives — individually and corporately. As individuals, each of us is to look “to Jesus, the founder and finisher of our faith” (Hebrews 12:2). It is by looking to Him that our own souls are humbled and we recognize that in Him and from Him alone we receive the beginning and the end of our salvation. And, as Paul teaches, we are “more and more conformed to His image.”

Too often we look to ourselves, our own effort, our own strength, and fail miserably and are miserable because of it. Our faith does not simply begin with Jesus; it ends with Him as well. Corporately, as a body, we need to accept what Paul tells us in Colossians, that “if then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth” (Colossians 3:1–2). As a people, we are a spiritual entity — a temple for the habitation of the Holy Spirit. And we are a spiritual kingdom, moving toward a spiritual end. We look for a better country, a better life, and eternal glory. That Christ is Who He is and has received the power, honor, dignity, and majesty to which He is entitled, these things should pull us forward toward our “heavenly home” which is the goal toward which we labor.

Knowing these things, we should have the prayer for each other and each of our churches that Paul had for the church at Ephesus:

having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which He has called you, what are the riches of His glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His great might that He worked in Christ when He raised him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places.Ephesians 1:2-5