Let’s say it’s the around the year 65 A.D. and you are part of a church that is experiencing problems from both the inside and the outside. Those problems are to do with a number of situations. Firstly, the church has lost some of its enthusiasm. This is a second generation of folk who don’t quite have the fire of their forbearers. People are not involved like they used to be. Then there are those who teach things in a different way than those who originally gave the gospel message.
And on top of all that there’s a lot of pressure to give up on the Christian faith. A lot of folk are highly suspicious of this new Christian sect and feel they could be a threat to society. Others are suggesting that it needs to be more “Judaistic” in its rituals and practices.
Such would be a likely scenario for the setting of the book of Hebrews.
Imagine that somebody in the midst of this situation, someone who had been with the church from its outset, has been taking notes when the big preachers had come to town. Paul, Apollos, Timothy and others may have visited this church and made a profound impression on it’s past. Much of their teaching has remained within the church. Some amazing sermons and studies have been absorbed.
So there’s a problem.
How to set this church community back on track?
The solution. Rather than dumbing down the faith let’s lift up some of that teaching and some of those lessons. Let’s dig deep into the Old Testament and discover our place in the purpose of God. Let’s proclaim the uniqueness of Jesus Christ. Let us speak of faith in such a way as to encourage this church in danger of losing their way to get back on track.
Whomsoever the author or compiler of the book of Hebrews may have been, the purpose of the book is to recall the listener (or reader) to authentic faith by recounting some of the teachings that had first inspired them and then through theological reflection, consolidate the church in the faith they had received.
It’s theologically a meaty book. Indeed one of the contrasts it makes is between teaching that is like babies milk and teaching that is like solid food. It wasn’t for the new convert or the person who was an outsider. ‘The Dummies Guide’ would have to be written by somebody else. Hebrews is along the lines of a manual for those wanting to go deeper!
Whilst it’s my opinion that the work reflects a number of voices in the early Christian community, historically other theories have been put forward as to whom wrote it.
Issues of Authorship
Traditionally (and still some hold to the view today) the book was said to have written by Paul. The problem with that idea is that whilst Hebrew’s reads in English as though it could have been written by Paul, in Greek a different story appears. If Paul did write the whole book then in parts of it he wrote it in a style very unlike the way he wrote in all his other works, which makes people suspect that he was either indulging in a huge chunk of plagiarism, or maybe it wasn't him. So very early on in Christian history some rejected the Pauline view and suggested that Luke or Timothy or later in history that Apollos was the writer. Other candidates have included Barnabas, Silas and Priscilla.
Author F.F Bruce suggests, “the epistle to the Hebrews is anonymous’ and was ‘probably written shortly before AD70 to a community of Jewish Christians in Italy” (P5). One Church Father, Origen, made a famous comment around 1800 years ago when he wrote “who wrote the letter to the Hebrews only God knows for certain”.
Some date it as quite a late composition, because it’s doctrinal content is well developed; but others date it much earlier. A letter by a bishop Clement of Rome (dated around 95 AD) to the church in Corinth paraphrases key passages from Chapter One of Hebrews. So at least parts of it must have been written by then.
Whenever it was written and by whomsoever, the instructions and the exhortations of the letter reveal a person well educated in Greek rhetoric as well as in Judaism, (especially the Hellenistic Judaism formed by the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Old Testament).
It appears, as does much of the New Testament, to have been designed to be ‘heard’ as much as read and contains reflections that could well have come from different speakers only to be later collated into one volume by some unknown editor. Such is a view of authorship that makes the most sense to myself. There are distinct sections in the book that appear to be reflecting different voices. Yet, as a whole, the different sections seem to have been placed together, as though by an editorial hand.
The discourses reflect apostolic teaching. This was important, because for a book to appear in the Christian canon, apostolic authorship had to be established. Maybe that's why some early church Father's were anxious to claim that Paul wrote it. It may well indeed contain some words and ideas that originated with Paul, but there appears to be other hands at work as well.
SUMMARY
Hebrews begins with a well crafted prelude that takes in its stride the great drama of salvation that is the core of the Good News about Jesus Christ.
From Chapter 1:5 through to chapter 11 the author develops a series of arguments that speak of how Christ is greater than those who have gone before Him, be they angels in the spiritual realms or priests and prophets on the earth. The character of Melchizedek is introduced as an illustration of Christ’s greatness.
Two key bible passages lay behind the author’s exegesis of the role of Melchizedek, Psalm 110 and Genesis 14:17-20. Jesus is pictured as having a superior ministry to any who have gone before Him, as superior as the New Covenant was to the Old.
Having outlined the superiority of Christ Chapter 11 deals with how to apply this teaching to our lives and the importance of faith is underscored by numerous examples... In the light of their witness, in Chapter 12 the author encourages the hearer to ‘run with perseverance the race that is set before them’.
The closing chapters offer general instruction for Christian living and appeal for prayer before a final blessing and a few closing greetings. The author’s argument is interspersed with 5 sections of warnings that outline consequences of disobedience.
The Outline of Hebrews
A: The Prologue (1:1-4)
B: Section 1: The Greatness of Christ
He Is Greater Than the Angels (1:5-2:18)
He Is Greater Than Moses (3:1-4:13)
The Superiority of His Ministry (4:14-5:10)
His Position in Heaven (4:14)
His Empathy (4:15-16)
His Priestly Order (5:1-10)
The Need for Solid Teaching (5:11- 6:12)
Abraham and Promises (6:13-6:20)
The Mysterious Melchizedek (7)
Melchizedek, King and Priest (1-3)
Melchizedek Is Superior to Levites (4-10)
A New Priesthood (11-19)
Confirmed by God's Oath (20-25)
Christ, Our Eternal High Priest (26-28)
The Superior Ministry of Christ (8:1-13)
The Superiority of the New Covenant (9:1-10:18)
C: Section 2: So what does it all mean? How is this applied?
The Exhortation to Endure (10:19-39)
The Primacy of Faith (11)
The Motivation for Endurance (12:1-29)
D: Concluding Exhortations (Chapter 13)
5 warnings in the letter to the Hebrews
WARNING 1: In chapter 1 we are warned that if Jesus is the greatest messenger of God (greater than any angel) we should listen more to what He has to say than to any other persons words.
WARNING 2: In Chapter 3 we are warned that if Jesus promises us a Kingdom (described as the ‘Rest of God’) we should be sure that we don’t fail to enter the things of that kingdom through unbelief.
WARNING 3: In chapter 5 we are warned that if we wanted our faith to be a living, growing thing then we have to move from babyhood to maturity and feed on solid spiritual meat.
WARNING 4: In chapter 10 we are warned of the danger of apostasy and that to treat our faith lightly was playing with fire.
WARNING 5 In chapter 12 the warning is; “Don't refuse to listen'. When God speaks people were expected to pay attention. To fail to do so can be costly!
These warnings can be phrased as questions.
1. Whose words do we consider carry the most authority? Jesus or some other?
2. Whose promises do we really believe in? Those of God or those of worldly philosophy?
3. How serious are we are about developing a mature faith? Are we content to remain shallow?
4. How deeply held are our Christian convictions? Are they cast aside when seen as inconvenient?
5. How much attention do we pay to God's Word? Are there times we prefer not to listen?
So we've had an overview, but now... let’s make a start!
A: THE PROLOGUE
You are familiar I’m sure with the opening words of Abraham Lincolns’ Gettysburg Address. “Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation or any nation so conceived and so dedicated can long endure.”
In a similar tone the Book of Hebrews paints a picture that roots its message in a situation of struggle. Not a civil war but the struggle of God’s redemption and prophetic proclamation, a struggle that had reached a culmination in the coming of Jesus Christ as the reveal-er of God’s ways.
Hebrews 1:1-4 “In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days He has spoken to us by his Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, and through whom He made the universe.
The Son is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of His being, sustaining all things by His powerful word. After He had provided purification for sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven. So He became as much superior to the angels as the name He has inherited is superior to theirs.”
The prologue is significant not just for its theological depth, but also for its style. William Barclay in his commentary on Hebrews writes;
“This is the most sonorous piece of Greek in the whole New Testament. It is a passage that any classical Greek orator would have been proud to write. The writer of Hebrews has brought to it every artifice of word and rhythm that the beautiful and flexible Greek language could provide.
In Greek the two adverbs which we have translated ‘at many times’ and in ‘various ways’ are single words, ‘polumera’s and ‘polutropos’.’ PoIu-‘ in such a combination means ‘many’ and it was a habit of the great Greek orators, like Demosthenes, the greatest of them all, to weave such sonorous words into the first paragraph of a speech.
The writer to the Hebrews felt that, since he was going to speak of the supreme revelation of God to men, he must clothe his thought in the noblest language that it was possible to find.” (William Barclay ‘Letter to the Hebrews’ P11 ‘Westminster Press’)
In terms of theology this prologue features such a kaleidoscope of New Testament themes that it’s difficult to pick out any single one.
It begins with the whole history of salvation, a theme that is returned to later in the letter. Then the author uses the enigmatic phrase, “In these last days” signifying not ‘last days’ as in ‘the final countdown’, but in the sense of a new age having dawned since Christ had come into the world.
“He has spoken to us by a son” reflects the famous John 3:16 passage, ‘For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son,” but it’s taken one step further in bringing into play thoughts about inheritance and position. “heir of all things”... and then that thought is taken up a further notch, with ideas reminiscent of the prologue to John’s Gospel. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God.All things came into being by Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. (John 1:1-4 NAS)
Paul’s teaching about the pre-existent Christ seems reflected in the phrase “through whom he made the universe”. We read in Colossians 1:15-17 -And He is the image of the invisible God, the first-born of all creation. For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities-- all things have been created by Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.
Statements about the Son’s unity with the Father and how the Fathers Glory was reflected through the Son would later become wrestled with by the early Church Fathers who formulated some of the great Christian Creeds (such as the Nicene Creed) but here the author squeezes them into a few words “The Son is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of His being, sustaining all things by His powerful word”.
Compare that to the Nicene Creed; “We believe... in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, begotten of the Father before all worlds, God of God, Light of Light, Very God of Very God, begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father by whom all things were made.”
The great drama of salvation and redemption, Christ’s death upon the Cross and it’s meaning, His resurrection and Ascension, themes that occupy the major portion of all four gospels are stated; “After He had provided purification for sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven”.
Finally we are led into the next section... reflections on angels... as the prologue concludes “So He became as much superior to the angels as the name He has inherited is superior to theirs”
It truly is a spectacular opening paragraph in terms of literary content and theological scope. Whomsoever the author was, and wherever they may have obtained their material, it’s an opening shot that surely would have grabbed the original readers (or hearers) attention. Hopefully having grabbed your attention… we can dig deeper next time! There are many parallels between the Church addressed to in Hebrews and our own.
We are not first generation believers. Generally speaking… in historic denominations people are not involved like they used to be. There are those all around us who teach things in a different way than we are used to experiencing it. How do we sift through the different beliefs and emphasis?
As society becomes increasingly secular there’s a lot of pressure to give up on the Christian faith. The actions of those who use religion as a political tool, scandals in high places and low places within religious establishments, the simple fact that we are often too busy and too distracted to focus on faith… all this can unsettle us and cause us to question what we believe.
The remedy suggested by Hebrews is … whatever you do, don’t dumb it down. Instead dig deep. Establish the connection between the faith you experience with that of those who have come before you, particularly the faith of those in the Old Testament. Think about some of the tricky subjects. Make the connections between where you are now and how God has worked throughout history. Consider angels and principalities and powers. Take a trip down some theological avenues that your preacher doesn’t normally take you.
Over the next few weeks, God willing… that’s where we’ll be heading!