Context
The special Christian remembrance of Good Friday and the celebration of Easter Sunday are less than three weeks away.
Several Lenten daily meditations and related spiritual content are readily available to guide and support biblical reflections as we move towards this Holy Weekend in the calendar.
Perhaps you are among those Christians who draw on these Lenten resources for inspiration and spiritual nourishment during this time.
During Lent, the focus is inexorably on the Person and Ministry of Jesus Christ. The entire New Testament provides a rich diversity of early Christian interpretations of the person and activity of Jesus Christ. As followers of Jesus, we continue to be guided by their respective invitations, challenges, and encouragements.
As a personal and small service to these Lenten offerings, I will provide a four-part overview of the New Testament writing which we know as the Letter to the Hebrews (hereafter ‘Hebrews’). This Christian document is a rightly heralded as a masterpiece. No other New Testament book gives us such a glorious, splendid, powerful and compelling witness to Jesus of Nazareth as both the Christ and Lord. The writer, in exquisite language, imagery and symbolism, points us to the One who is superior, more excellent, and the pioneer and embodiment of a better way. As we shall see, the writer claims that in Jesus we have the dawn and reality of a new covenant with God. He is superior as a Son, a prophet, a high priest, and a mediator of this new covenant.
Hebrews is probably the least understood book in the entire New Testament. One reason is because the writing is full of Old Testament/Hebrew Bible Jewish images, symbols, rituals and stories which are usually less familiar to Christians. Yet, there is no book which is more worth the effort to understand. And no one making the effort to read and understand the writing will remain untouched, unmoved, and quite the same again.
In Hebrews, we step from the camp of Israel through the gate of the Tabernacle; we walk through the courtyard past the bronze altar of burnt offering and the ceremonial basin in which the priests (were to) wash their hands and feet; we enter through the doorway into the Sanctuary, and then proceed through the Holy Place into the Holy of Holies itself, past the torn curtain into the very throne-room of God. There we are engulfed by the Shekinah glory of God.
In our four-part overview of Hebrews, I invite you to join me as we embark on a short journey together that I hope will feed your mind, body, soul, and spirit in the days leading up to Easter weekend.
Introduction
No true Jew living within the 1st century would easily have given up their Jewish belief and practices unless they were absolutely convinced of the validity and supremacy of an alternative faith.
Indeed:
Nothing but the revelation of something higher and more glorious could ever wean the (Hebrew Christians) from [their] devotion to the national religion. (Sir Robert Anderson)
The writer to the Hebrews, in a masterly showpiece of Greek (the original language in which the letter was written), digs deep into the Jewish writings (TaNaK = Torah, Prophets and Writings), and does so with amazing skill, insight and inspiration. He directs himself in a developed argument addressed to the particular situation of the Hebrew Christians, and portrays throughout the superiority and excellence of Jesus Christ and the new covenant over that of the Jewish faith under the old covenant.
The writer to the Hebrews is convinced that above all, God has spoken by His Son:
Hebrews 1:1-4
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
God Has Spoken by His Son
1 Long ago God spoke to our ancestors in many and various ways by the prophets, 2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by a Son,[a] whom he appointed heir of all things, through whom he also created the worlds. 3 He is the reflection of God’s glory and the exact imprint of God’s very being, and he sustains[b] all things by his powerful word. When he had made purification for[c] sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, 4 having become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs.
To quote New Testament scholar and commentator on The Epistle to the Hebrews, F.F. Bruce:
The author [of Hebrews} was a second-generation Christian, well versed in the study of the Septuagint [the earliest extant Greek translation of the Old Testament], which he interpreted according to a creative exegetical principle. He had copious vocabulary and was master of the fine rhetorical style, completely different from Paul’s; we might well describe him as “a learned man,…mighty in the scriptures.” He was a Hellenist who inherited the outlook of the Hellenists described in Acts 6 – 8; 11:19ff., the associates of Stephen and Philip, pioneers in the Gentile mission. (1964:xlii)
A brief word about authorship and dating of Hebrews
The identity of the author is unknown, though a number of possibilities have been offered, none with any complete certainty or surety. Let’s offer only a brief word on these matters, citing only three of these possibilities.
Paul
Several factors are adduced to prove Pauline authorship for Hebrews. For example, the concluding greeting in Hebrews references Timothy (13:23), a known and close companion of Paul. There are also certain doctrinal parallels between Paul’s known writings and Hebrews. However, both the style and the language used in the original Greek of Hebrews are quite different from those of the other Pauline letters. Some have proposed that the versatile apostle may have adapted his style and language so as to make it appropriate to his theme and purpose. Some have even suggested that Paul wrote it in Hebrew and that it was translated into Greek by Luke. But the experts are unconvinced.
Apollos
Martin Luther (1483-1546), the German priest, theologian and reformer, thought that this eloquent and learned man, born at Alexandria and well-versed in the Scriptures could have been the author. While none of the Church Fathers attributed the letter to Apollos, the person who wrote Hebrews was certainly someone like Apollis in thought and background (cf. Acts 18:24,25,28; 1 Corinthians 1:12; 3:4).
Barnabas
We have no definite knowledge that Barnabas wrote a letter. Three factors, however, make him a possible candidate as the author of Hebrews. Firstly, he was a Levite and therefore thoroughly acquainted with the temple procedure, widely described in Hebrews (Acts 4:36). Secondly, he was a native of Cyprus. The people of Cyprus were famous for the excellence of the Greek they spoke; and Hebrews is written in the best Greek in the New Testament. Thirdly, Barnabas is called “son of exhortation/encouragement” (Acts 4:36) and Hebrews is called “a word of exhortation/encouragement” (13:22).
So, although the case for Pauline authorship seems stronger than is generally conceded, it is wisest to refer to the author as “the Writer to the Hebrews.”
As with the question of authorship, so the date of the letter remains uncertain. Internal evidence from the letter suggests that the Jewish Temple is still standing in Jerusalem when the letter is written, making this a pre-70 A.D. writing. The writer refers to the ordinances as though they are still taking place (Hebrews 10:11-14). He could hardly have failed to refer to the destruction of the Sanctuary if this had already occurred (cf. 8:13). Notwithstanding, a pre-70 date is not the only possibility.
Although this conclusion [for a pre-70 date] cannot be definitely ruled out, it is not demanded, for both Jewish and Christian authors write about temple sacrifice after the cultus had ceased. In any case, Hebrews is not referring to the Jerusalem cultus, since the argument in the treatise is developed from references to the tent [tabernacle] shrine of Exodus. (Introduction, The Letter to the Hebrews, New Revised Standard Version]
The situation of the Hebrew Christian church
This is a matter of far greater importance for understanding Hebrews. What is apparent is that the Hebrew Christians addressed in this letter had been Christians for some time. F.F. Bruce, as we have mentioned earlier, describes the author and so also the audience he addresses as “second-generation Christians.” The letter also supports this in a reference to the first-generation leaders in the Christian movement:
Remember your leaders, those who spoke the word of God to you; consider the outcome of their way of life, and imitate their faith. (Hebrews 13:7)
The letter also assumes that these Hebrew Christians ought to have grown to reasonable Christian maturity by now. However, particular circumstances within their situation had blinded their understanding of Christianity and had kept them as infants in the faith. (5:11-14). These Christians were now in danger of turning from their faith in Christ and going back to Judaism with all the trappings of the old covenant.
Let us describe some of these circumstances:
Firstly, fellow orthodox Jews had become hostile towards the Hebrew Christians. Consequently, they were being harshly persecuted for their beliefs.
Hebrews 10:32-38
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
32 But recall those earlier days when, after you had been enlightened, you endured a hard struggle with sufferings, 33 sometimes being publicly exposed to insults and afflictions and sometimes becoming partners with those so treated. 34 For you had compassion for those who were in prison, and you cheerfully accepted the plundering of your possessions, knowing that you yourselves possessed something better and more lasting.
The persecutions took the form of great ridicule, verbal and physical abuse, and loss of property, though fell short of martyrdom: “In your struggle against sine you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood” (Heb. 13:4).
Secondly, if we are to assume a pre-70 dating for Hebrews, then we may assume that the Jews had excluded the Hebrew Christians from attending the temple, and partaking in the priestly sacrifices and the law. Christianity had none of the external ritual and religious observances which these Hebrew Christians had formerly being accustomed to. Many Jews had willingly died for their faith in the past. The record of faith in that grand chapter of Hebrews 11 bears clear witness to this. Christianity had undoubtedly brought a radical change in the religious life of the Hebrew Christians which had caused them to be spurned by their former Jewish kinsfolk. These new circumstances caused some among the Hebrew Christians to begin questioning the authenticity of their Christian faith.
Thirdly, and following on from the above, there was the emerging call within the Christian church for all Jewish Christians to break completely with Judaism. The letter to the Hebrews reinforces this call when it strongly urges the Hebrew Christians to identify fully with Jesus Christ alone:
Hebrews 13:13
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
13 Let us then go to him outside the camp and bear the abuse he endured.
Fourthly, these Hebrew Christians had believed that the Jewish nation would repent of their former sin of rejecting Jesus as Messiah, in light of what they believed was His imminent return. However, the Jews as a nation persisted in their rejection of Jesus Christ and Christianity. They continued as before in their religious beliefs and practices. Time had gone by and still Jesus did not return. The Hebrew Christians were finding it difficult to believe and accept that the Jewish nation as a whole could possibly reject the Messiah. They were puzzled at the thought of a long-held religious tradition (Judaism) now being replaced completely by a new one (Christianity). Greater Judaism was rejecting Jesus as Messiah. All this brought a crisis of faith for the Hebrew Christians, captured in these words of New Testament commentator, Thomas Hewitt:
They were thus face to face with a serious dilemma which had arisen because they had neither fully broken from Judaism nor fully embraced Christianity (1960:40)
The Superiority of Jesus Christ – God’s final, glorious Revelation of Himself
The writer to the Hebrews repeats the word ‘better’ frequently when he describes the person, office and ministry of Jesus in comparison with the old Jewish covenant.
Hebrews 8:6
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
6 But Jesus[a] has now obtained a more excellent ministry, and to that degree he is the mediator of a better covenant, which has been enacted on the basis of better promises.
The descriptive words (in the original Greek text) – διαφορωτέρας (diaphorōteras) for ‘superior’ or ‘more excellent,’ and κρείττονός (kreittonos) for ‘better’ are closely juxtaposed as in other passages in the letter. These emphasise that they are virtually synonymous and express the same truth, namely the superiority of the revelation in Jesus Christ. The writer also states elsewhere: “accordingly, Jesus has become the guarantee of a better covenant” (Heb. 7.22), a verse we will come back to in Part 3.
Conclusion
It is clear, from what we have described so far, that the writer to the Hebrews wishes to convince his readers, undergoing a crisis of faith, of the superiority of Jesus Christ and the new covenant which He has inaugurated.
This revelation alone could ever hope to draw the Hebrew Christians away from their historical and dogged commitment to their Jewish religion under the old covenant.
By way of a summary of Part 1, let us quote once again from F.F. Bruce (1964:xxx):
The addressees appear, then, to have been a group of Jewish Christians who had never seen or heard Jesus in person, but learned of Him (as the writer of the epistle also did) from some who had themselves listened to him (Heb.2:3f.). Since their conversion they had been exposed to persecution – particularly at one stage shortly after the beginning of their Christian career (10:32ff.) – but while they had had to endure public abuse, imprisonment and looting of their property, they had not yet been called to die for their faith (12.4). They had given practical evidence of their faith by serving their fellow Christians and especially by caring for those of their number who suffered most in the time of persecution (6:10; 10:34). Yet their Christian development had been arrested; instead of pressing ahead they were inclined to come to a full stop in their spiritual progress, if not indeed to slip back to a stage which they had left (5:11ff.). Very probably they were reluctant to sever their last ties with a religion which enjoyed the protection of Roman law and face the risks of irrevocable commitment to the Christian way. The writer, who has known them, or known about them, for a considerable time, and feels a pastoral concern for their welfare, warns them against falling back, for this may result in falling away from their Christian faith altogether; he encourages them with the assurance that they have everything to lose if they fall back, but everything to gain if they press on (2:1ff.; 3:12ff.; 6:4ff.; 10:26ff. 12:15ff.)
Reflection and Journalling Exercise
Make time to read the Letter to the Hebrews. Note what strikes you most on a first reading.
Reread the letter and this time note how many times the following words are used:
Jesus
Better, superior, or excellent
Therefore
Let us
Faith
Faithful
High priest
Covenant
What are the main themes in the letter?
What do we know about the situation in the Hebrew Christian community to which the letter is addressed? (Should you be interested, consult some of the references cited below or others for more information. Note your discoveries and learnings.
How do you respond to the title above: “Witness to the Perfect God-Man, Jesus of Nazareth”? Is this a fitting description, from what we have already suggested in Part 1?
References (Part 1)
The Holy Bible, New Revised Standard Version (choose any preferred version of your own)
Bruce, F.F. 1964. The Epistle to the Hebrews. The New International Commentary on The New Testament. Grand Rapids, Michigan: William B Eerdmans
Hewitt, T. 1960. The Epistle to the Hebrews. An Introduction and Commentary. The Tyndale New Testament Commentaries. England: Tyndale
Wuest, K.S. 1947. Wuest’s Word Studies – Hebrews in the Greek New Testament for the English Reader. Grand Rapids, Michigan: William B. Eerdmans
Thank you for making time to read Part 1 in this series of four substacks on the Letter to the Hebrews. Kindly share with those who may be interested.
Look out for Part 2: The Superiority of Jesus Christ – as Son, Prophet, and High Priest as we further explore The Letter to the Hebrews during this Lenten period.
Blessings!