INTRODUCTION TO HEBREWS

INTRODUCTION TO Hebrews At the beginning of every concentrated study, it is important to ask certain questions: Who wrote this specific book or letter? To whom was it written? What historical occasion provoked its writing? What is the general theme? With this general overview, the content of the book will be easier to understand. The Author Who wrote Hebrews? In fact, we don’t know for sure. Unlike most of the other New Testament epistles, the author does not state his name. Historically, the letter has been attributed to Paul, but the style of Hebrews is different from Paul’s thirteen other letters in the New Testament. Others have suggested Clement of Rome, Barnabas, Luke, Apollos, and Priscilla. Besides Paul, Barnabas and Apollos seem to be the most credible choices. In my estimation (and this is only personal conjecture), Paul is the most likely author. Though the style of Hebrews is different from Paul’s other letters, the theological content and the logical argument is strikingly similar. Furthermore, in2 Thessalonians 3:17-18, Paul identifies his special signature- “the token in every epistle” -in terms of the benediction “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.” Interestingly,Hebrews 13:25closes with this benediction. Also, the book closes with the salutation “They of Italy salute you”.{Hebrews 13:24} If the book was written in the early A.D. 60’s, as most scholars believe, this would coincide with Paul’s second imprisonment in Rome (Italy).

Potential hurdles to a Pauline authorship include the following arguments: (1) Why did the author begin with “God,” {Hebrews 1:1} when Paul always started his letters with “Paul, a servant of God...”? ( 2) This is an epistle to Jews (i.e. Hebrews), but Paul was the apostle to the Gentiles. (3) The epistle was written in Hellenistic Greek; if Paul was the author, why did he not address his Jewish brethren in their natural language of Hebrew? In the light of Paul’s passionate love and desire for his own Jewish brethren, however, these questions may be answered. This is the man who said, “I could wish myself accursed from Christ, for my brethren’s sake, my kinsmen according to the flesh,” {Romans 9:3} and “My heart’s desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved...” {Romans 10:1} He desperately wanted to preach the gospel to his fellow Israelites, but God had chosen him to bear the name of Christ to the Gentiles. Submissive to God’s will, Paul journeyed extensively throughout the Mediterranean world, preaching to “the Greek and the Barbarian.” {Romans 1:14} He never lost his passion, though, for the Jews. When he received word of the poverty of the Jerusalem saints, he organized a relief effort among the Gentile churches for the Jewish Christians. {Acts 11:29;Acts 24:17;Romans 15:26;1 Corinthians 16:12;2 Corinthians 9:1;Galatians 2:9-10} It is not inconsistent with his passion for the welfare of his fellow Hebrews, then, that he would address through his pen those whom God did not allow him to address with his lips.

It is possible, therefore, that Hebrews starts with “God”instead of “Paul,” because Paul had no recognized authority among the Jewish Christians, certainly not like Peter and John. He was, after all, sent to the Gentiles. The writer starts with “God,” moreover, because the letter is written in the style of a sermon. Paul’s other letters were didactic, but Hebrews is a “Jewish homily i.e. sermon”. The tone of this sermon is pastoral and serious. This is no mere literary essay or theoretical treatise. A spirit of zeal and urgency, like a pastor preaching to his flock, pervades the entire letter. This is certainly in keeping with Paul’s passion for his countrymen. If he wrote it from Rome, furthermore, then Luke, his resident physician, could have easily been his penman, as he was in other epistles. This may account for the fact that the epistle was written in Greek.

Granted, this is all speculative and vague. But the writer clearly had a pastoral love for the spiritual welfare of these Jewish Christians and a thorough knowledge of the Old Testament and the implications of the ceremonial law. Paul certainly fits this description. Because of the mystery that enshrouds it, however, it is important to avoid dogmatism. The Readers To whom was the book written? Obviously, as the name implies, it was written to Jews. More specifically, the letter is addressed to Jewish Christians, i.e. Jews who have been converted to Christianity. The gospel, you may remember, began in Jerusalem. From there, it spread to Judea, then Samaria, then to the farthest reaches of the Mediterranean world. {Acts 1:8} The earliest converts, consequently, were Jewish. After the stoning of Stephen, the Jewish Christians were dispersed from their central location in Jerusalem throughout the entire land of Palestine. {Acts 8:1-6} It was to these Jewish Christians of the Dispersion, therefore, still living in a predominately Jewish environment, that Hebrews is addressed. The letter was no doubt written prior to A.D. 70, when Jerusalem was destroyed and the temple sacrifices ceased, for the writer speaks of the levitical sacrifices in the present tense, indicating that temple worship had not yet ceased. Other features, coupled with this fact, place the time of writing in the 60’s. The Historical Occasion

Why, then, was the letter written? The answer to this question provides the key to unlocking the general theme and message of Hebrews. It is apparent that a very serious crisis threatens the purity of the early church. A situation has arisen in which these Jewish Christians were considering a compromise of their faith and the abandonment of the gospel. Living in Palestine, a Jewish environment, they were subjected to daily indignities, public abuse, the plundering of their property, imprisonment, and the prospect of martyrdom from their countrymen. Why were they persecuted with such hostility? Because these Jewish Christians were regarded as traitors to their ancestral religion. Many of them lost their jobs, their families, their reputation, and their material possessions. Perhaps this cultural antagonism toward those who had broken from the traces of Judaism by confessing faith in Jesus Christ as Lord was largely responsible for the terrible poverty of the mother-church in Jerusalem. The Hebrews, in other words, were socially ostracized. {Hebrews 10:32-34;Hebrews 12:4;Hebrews 13:13-14}

Under the relentless pressure of persecution, they were tempted to recant and withdraw from their new profession of faith. They were ready to surrender on the battlefield. The pressures were just too great.

Some had already gone back. They were called the lapseis, because they had lapsed into their former religion in order to purchase ease and comfort. It is likely that this ultimate compromise and renunciation of their profession of faith is the basis of the severe warnings inHebrews 6:1-20} Some had forsaken the public assembly of the house of God. {Hebrews 10:25} Most were discouraged and fearful, and were beginning to weaken beneath the assault. {Hebrews 12:12-13}

Hebrews is written, consequently, to persuade them to resist the strong temptation to surrender and to persevere in faith. Perseverance is one of the key words of the book. In fact, the writer terms the letter, inHebrews 13:22, a “word of exhortation.” Interestingly, the word “exhortation”implies a double concept of both “warning”and “encouragement.” This letter includes at least five strong warnings about the danger of apostasy. “You can’t leave the superior and return to the inferior,” the author says, “without incurring the judgment of God.” As a faithful pastor, however, the writer balances his stern warnings with gentle encouragements. “Your High Priest can be touched with the feeling of your infirmities,” he reminds them. Warning, to arouse them from the lethargy of fear, and encouragement, to incite them to persevere in the race of faith, are beautifully blended in Hebrews.

Theme

Key words in the book include the words “better”(as he reminds them of the superior blessings of the New Covenant to the Old) and “once”(as he reminds them of the fulfillment of the Jewish religion in the once for all sacrifice of Jesus Christ). The theme of the book is The Supremacy of Jesus Christ. The entire Old Testament, says the writer, pointed forward to One who is Prophet, Priest, and King, {Hebrews 1:1-3} Jesus Christ. Jesus is superior to the angels, the prophets, the sacrifices, and the entire old order. By encouraging them to re-evaluate their blessings and to consider the Lord Jesus Christ who was set down at the right hand of God, and by warning them of the danger of sinning against the light of knowledge, the writer urges them to endure to the finish line. What a relevant message for us today!