Hebrews 1:3 Smith's Literal Translation
Who being the brightness of glory, and the figure of his foundation, and bearing all things by the word of his power, having made by himself the purification of our sins, he sat down on the right hand of the Majesty among the highest ones;
The Greek corresponding to "bearing all things by the word of his power", φέρων τε τὰ πάντα τῷ ῥήματι τῆς δυνάμεως, has been translated in many different ways.
For example, in addition to the above "bearing all things by the word of his power," we have
ESV - he upholds the universe by the word of his power
NIV - sustaining all things by his powerful word.
Literal Emphasis Translation - carrying all by the word of the power through Himself,
Young's Literal Translation - bearing up also the all things by the saying of his might
What's really interesting to me is the accusative noun or direct object, τὰ πάντα (all things), is connected to the dative noun or indirect object, τῷ ῥήματι (the word/saying), without any preposition to govern the relationship, yet uniformly τῷ ῥήματι (the word/saying) is interpreted as an instrumental dative.
Why is this? Why does it seem be universally ruled out that τῷ ῥήματι (the word/saying) could be interpreted as some other type of dative such as a locative dative or a dative of reference?
In other words why can't Jesus, instead of bearing all things (The universe? Heaven and Earth? Everything that he experiences?) by means of the word/saying of his power, in fact, bear all things that are found in the word/saying of his power? Or why couldn't he not bear all things in reference to the word/saying of his power?
Instead of saying Jesus is holding together every physical molecule and nonphysical matter by the word/saying of his power the Hebrew writer would be communicating that Jesus has fulfilled within himself everything the scripture has to say regarding his power/authority having had made by himself the purification of our sins when he sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high.
Am I missing something or is translating τῷ ῥήματι (the word/saying) as a dative of reference or a locative dative a legitimate interpretative option even though it seems universally interpreted as an instrumental dative by all translations shown on biblehub.com for this verse?
