Hebrews

Title: To the Hebrews

The letter, which we call Hebrews, is often associated with being written to the Hebrew people because it is filled with references to Israel’s history and religion and does not reference Gentile or pagan practices.

Author

We do not know. There is no author claim within the letter, and the styling does not fit any known author particularly well.

The Writer does include himself among those who have received confirmation of Christ’s message from others. Meaning the author did not receive the message directly from Christ.

Hebrews 2:3 CSB

how will we escape if we neglect such a great salvation? This salvation had its beginning when it was spoken of by the Lord, and it was confirmed to us by those who heard him.

So a commonly held belief that the writer was Paul falls out the window. Paul received his teachings directly from Jesus.

Galatians 1:12 CSB

For I did not receive it from a human source and I was not taught it, but it came by a revelation of Jesus Christ.

Diving deeper into the mystery surrounding the author brings us to another fascinating discovery:

The author cites what we call the Old Testament using Greek Old Testament (LXX), rather than the Hebrew.

So who ultimately wrote the Letter to the Hebrews?

The Holy Spirit, through inspired man.

2 Peter 1:21 CSB

because no prophecy ever came by the will of man; instead, men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.

Date of writing

As we go through Hebrews you will catch present tense wordage.

Hebrews 5:1–4 CSB

For every high priest taken from among men is appointed in matters pertaining to God for the people, to offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins. He is able to deal gently with those who are ignorant and are going astray, since he is also clothed with weakness. Because of this, he must make an offering for his own sins as well as for the people. No one takes this honor on himself; instead, a person is called by God, just as Aaron was.

Notice the wordage IS found through this an other places. This is present tense.

This means that this letter was written while the Levitical priesthood and sacrificial system were still in operation.

The Temple was destroyed by General Titus Vespasian in A.D. 70, thus ending the ability to have the sacrificial system.

This tells us that the dating is pre Temple destruction.

Further information we are given in the text allows us to narrow the dating even more.

Hebrews 13:23 CSB

Be aware that our brother Timothy has been released. If he comes soon enough, he will be with me when I see you.

Timothy, yes that Timothy, was released from prison. This happened somewhere between AD 62-66.

And we know that the author references the persecution becoming severe.

We know that the severe persecution is later, but before AD 70. So this letter was written somewhere between AD 67-69.

This is actually part of the fun of Scholarly Bible Research. it can be like a game of Clue. Trying to piece all the torn pages together to read a message. It is a lot of work, but in the end it is worth it because it further imparts in our minds that the Bible is 1 grand story!

Background and Setting

We have already acknowledged that the intended primary audience of this letter were those who were Hebrew. Of course there is also the reality that the Christian faith was flourishing, spreading, and persecution was coming to a climax.

Around Chapter 10 the realization comes that this letter was written when persecution was getting rough. The author reflects back on times when the persecution was only taunts and verbal.

So we know that the author is preparing the audience for the very real coming time of difficulties.

When things get real hard, especially during persecution, it is not uncommon to see people want peace at any cost. They will even consider, or actually, cast aside any identification with Christ.

As we will see when we dive into Hebrews, there is even a section which talks about how Christ is ABOVE every angel. This would only be included if there was talk about demoting Christ from God’s son to a mere angel.

This is something that occured with the Qumran community of Messianic Jews living near the Dead Sea. This group left society as a whole, established a religious community, and included the worship of angels in their flavor of reformed Judaism. They even lifted the angel Michael to a higher status than the coming Messiah.

Perhaps the Religious leaders of the time, the Pharisees and Sadducees were willing to make a compromise with the Followers of The Way in this regard.

Regardless, the author addresses this potential compromise.

The intended audience was not a new congregation. They had been around a while, perhaps even long enough to be a second generation kind of church.

Hebrews 5:12 CSB

Although by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the basic principles of God’s revelation again. You need milk, not solid food.

But we also know they were not of those who were close to Jerusalem, and had never seen Christ personally. So they were likely an outlying group: Egypt, Italy, Asia Minor, Greece. With Greece or Asia Minot making the most sense in my mind, as the Author uses the Greek OT as the quote source.

So how would this realization that the intended audience must not be in Jerusalem, but rather far away, be affected by the destruction of the temple.

Simple: The Jews receiving this letter had practiced the Levitical sacrifices in some form, perhaps even the annual travel to the temple in Jerusalem. Jews living in exile had substituted the local synagogue for the temple, but still felt a deep attraction to the temple worship.

There was clearly an understanding of temple worship and levitical priesthood, because the author emphasizes the superiority of Christ over it, as well as His once and for all sacrifice over the repeated imperfect Levitical Sacrifices.

Themes

Theologically the Letter to the Hebrews is attached to the Book of Leviticus.

An understanding of the book of Leviticus is essential to interpreting Hebrews.

Israel’s sin had continually interrupted God’s fellowship with His chosen and covenant people, Israel. Therefore, He graciously and sovereignly established a system of sacrifices that symbolically represented the inner repentance of sinners and His divine forgiveness. However, the need for sacrifices never ended because the people and priests continued to sin. The need of all humankind was for a perfect priest and a perfect sacrifice that would once and for all actually remove sin. God’s provision for that perfect priest and sacrifice in Christ is the central message of Hebrews.

John MacArthur, Hebrews: Christ—Perfect Sacrifice, Perfect Priest, MacArthur Bible Studies (Nashville, TN: W Publishing Group, 2001), 3.

So what we have is a compare and contrast in Hebrews. There is the reference and understanding of the imperfect and incomplete provisions of the Old Covenant which was given to Moses; and the New Covenant that comes through Christ. The Old is what it is: imperfect and incomplete, requiring continual sacrifices for people, including the Levitical Priests, who continue to sin. The New is offered by the Perfect High Priest, God’s only Son, our Lord and Savior, The Promised Messiah, Jesus Christ!

As we go through Hebrews you will notice a Theme of Better

Better hope, testament, promise, sacrifice, substance, country, resurrection.

Those who have their hope in Jesus have a better, a new heavenly home, worship a heavenly Savior, have a heavenly calling, receive a heavenly gift, citizens of a heavenly country, look forward to a heavenly jerusalem, and have their names written in heaven.

There is also NEW and Better access. Previously the people of Israel had to go to the High Priest to bring their concerns before the Lord. Now the believer has immediate, unhindered and direct access to the throne of the Father.

Hebrews 4:16 CSB

Therefore, let us approach the throne of grace with boldness, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in time of need.

Exhortations designed to stir the readers into action are found throughout the text. Those exhortations are given in the form of six warnings:

1. Warning against drifting from “the things we have heard” (2:1–4)

2. Warning against disbelieving the “voice” of God (3:7–14)

3. Warning against degenerating from “the elementary principles of Christ” (5:11–6:20)

4. Warning against despising “the knowledge of the truth” (10:26–39)

5. Warning against devaluing “the grace of God” (12:15–17)

6. Warning against departing from Him “who speaks” (12:25–29)

Another significant aspect of this epistle is its clear exposition of selected Old Testament passages. The writer was clearly a skilled expositor of the Word of God. His example is instructive for preachers and teachers:

1:1 and 2:4

Exposition of verses from Psalms; 2 Samuel 7; Deuteronomy 32

2:5 and 18

Exposition of Psalm 8:4, 6

3:1 and 4:13

Exposition of Psalm 95:7, 11

4:14 and 7:28

Exposition of Psalm 110:4

8:1 and 10:18

Exposition of Jeremiah 31:31, 34

10:32 and 12:3

Exposition of Habakkuk 2:3–4

12:4 and 13

Exposition of Proverbs 3:11–12

12:18 and 29

Exposition of Exodus 19; 20

John MacArthur, Hebrews: Christ—Perfect Sacrifice, Perfect Priest, MacArthur Bible Studies (Nashville, TN: W Publishing Group, 2001), 4.