God Has Spoken (Intro + Heb 1:1-2a)

God Has Spoken (Hebrews 1:1-2a) I. Background to Hebrews A. Sometimes I might call this a letter, sometimes a sermon 1. BTW, the term for what kind (category) of literature it is, we call genre (Bible – poetry, history, letter) – This book in the NT ends like a letter but reads like a sermon. (it’s grouped with the other epistles of the NT) 2. But it does affect how you read it b/c of what your expectation is of gaining from it. – illust. When you pick up a book… [bring samples – need Narnia book and Life of Pi] – The point is, you come to the text with certain expectations. I believe this to be a sermonized letter. (or perhaps more appropriately a sermon letterized – like the author wrote in such a way knowing that it would be read aloud, thus preached to his audience) B. What external evidence or information do we have about the letter? (well… um… er… not much) – but don’t be shocked, this is ultimately the case with all our biblical texts (Who wrote it, Who’d they writ it to, and Why’d they write it?) 1. Who wrote it? a. With epistles, we usually get this straight from the text bc it was traditionally included in the greeting. The recipients too. (This is most obvious in Paul’s letters. Ex. Galatians 1:1-5) b. Hebrews’ author doesn’t identify himself. (Primary evidence against Pauline authorship, not to mention linguistic differences and thematic emphasis on the priestly nature of Jesus’ ministry.) – other best suggestions include Paul’s associates who also would have personally known Timothy (13:23) and other Italian believers (13:24), like Priscilla and Aquila – think Rome, the center Roman imperial authority, not spaghetti or pizza.  Suggestions are people like Luke (but only if he translated into Greek a version Paul had written in Hebrew – creative, but unsubstantiated), or perhaps Barnabas, or Apollos. c. BEST way to handle this – anonymous authorship. Speculating can be entertaining for linguistic nerds who love the Bible, but not fruitful. (BTW, that reminds us that the Holy Spirit used human instruments, including their language and personality, but God himself is the author of the Scriptures.) = Unknown human author. d. BUT we can still glean some helpful facts ABOUT the unknown author – four things: (George Guthrie) “The author of Hebrews was a dynamic preacher (impressive rhetorical skills). […] was knowledgeable of the Old Testament and its interpretation. […] was highly educated. (highly stylized use of language and argumentation) […] was a committed minister of Jesus Christ and deeply concerned about the spiritual state of the group of believers he addressed.” 2. Who’d they (specifically) write it to? (We don’t know that either. Dah!) a. Traditionally has been labeled as “epistle to the Hebrews.” But that title isn’t sacred bc it isn’t inspired. (We should only treat as sacred that which is actually sacred.) – I don’t think we can assume from the text that the audience was only Jewish (possibly primarily Jews and proselytes to Judaism, now having believed in Christ), but if some Gentiles are included, they likely would have been those associated with the synagogue enough to understand the levitical priesthood and sacrificial system (heavy emphasis in this great sermon on the intercession of Jesus as our Great High Priest); also a healthy working knowledge of the OT. There’s further indication that these are 2nd generation Christians (which might prove helpful to us in making application for our own purposes). b. Scripture-saturated believers… where? Not sure. Best guess – in and around Rome. (but also might have been from Rome to… anywhere else) 3. Why’d the author pen this sermon? a. Whoever and wherever these believers are, this anonymous speaker knows them and has heard of what they are going through.  They seem to be facing, as one commentator notes (Paul Ellingworth in PT O’Brien), some factors that threaten their endurance in the Christian faith: The passive danger of growing weary of the long and difficult process of “making progress along the road of Christian discipleship.” The active danger of rebelling against God and the truth he has revealed in His Son, “an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God” (3:12). Finally there seem to be growing external pressures on the audience (persecution), making continuance in the true way of Jesus Christ far less attractive and much more difficult. (perhaps tempting some to revert back to more traditional Judaism, a religion recognized by the state) b. If we’re right in thinking that this letter was penned btwn AD 60-70, persecution, particularly in Rome, would have been on the rise, especially in mid to late 60s under Nero (not 1960s… that would be persecution by the American hippie movement )… the 60s persecution continued through the Jewish-Roman wars and resulted in the destruction of Jerusalem, AD 70 (which came after Nero’s death in 68, but this complete devastation of the temple isn’t mentioned in Hebrews, so probably before it). 4. Theme (the purposeful common thread that holds the epistle together) a. There is an overall force of direction, but the author switches back and forth between exposition and exhortation (theological instruction, and practical application to Christianity as a way of life) – Exposition (instruction on the person of Christ and the work of Christ, esp. his priesthood) and exhortation (motivating the recipients to respond) b. The combination of exposition and exhortation leads us to something along these lines as the author’s main aim: Endure in faith, holding fast to the knowledge that Jesus is better by far. – He is God’s fullest revelation, higher than the angels, better than Moses, serving even now as our ultimate High Priest. Therefore he offers a better covenant, because he was a complete sacrifice, the true and only way to meet God. So Christ’s followers are repeatedly warned not to neglect this truth and “fall away” but to enter into God’s true rest, being challenged to hold fast and endure in genuine faith, which shows itself in perseverance to the end and in accompanying Christian behaviors. If endure in faith, one day we will enter God’s rest. c. Similar to recognizing a theme, we prefer to be able to explain the overall structure of the letter. – Usually in expressing the arrangement of NT epistles, there are simply minor differences in how the scholar or preacher words divisions or headings in an outline. (You know, we like memorable ways of saying things – alliteration, rhyme, parallel sentences or content, and so on.) But Hebrews has us stumped in terms of how to neatly explain its form. There is genuine variance in trying to describe the structural skeleton underneath the muscle of sophisticated argumentation and skin of polished language. (Which apparently you would appreciate more as a Greek scholar as opposed to reading it in our translations – C’est la vie. Thx Bill Mounce and others for telling us it is so.) d. So rather than try to give you an outline of the book, let me tell you the one illustration I read in preparation that was helpful to me, and might be to you as well. (If not, no biggie. Just set it back down.) – Thinking of Hebrews like a sermon, picture the author as carefully making his way along to build his point, in general moving from information to application, but interjecting application along the way to be sure his hearers are following the reason for this important discourse. 5. Subtle factors that might make Hebrews a challenging task: a. Uncertain setting – but that is unlikely to affect our interpretation b. Complex argumentation with interruptions of the flow with exhortation – we’ll make every effort to shift with the author and maintain a close connection to the overall thrust of the letter c. Frequent quotation and allusion to the OT – we’ve got a complete text of the Bible, we can follow along  d. Difficult theological explanation of uncomfortable references to “falling away” – Kept in context of the theology of the N.T., and in the purpose and flow of the author’s argument, this too can be rightly understood and applied 6. While taking it in pieces, don’t let the full force of it be lost on you. – Intended to be a letter or sermon read aloud, probably in one sitting. (I’ll do my best to help with that, but I’m a flawed thinker and communicator. – Why doesn’t anyone seem shocked? – You can also help this by reading through the entire book in one sitting several times during out study through Hebrews.) II. (RE-Read Hebrews 1:1-2a) God has spoken – ‘God… has spoken to us by his Son’ is the principal clause. (Everything else in 1-4 grows from or points to that main clause - 1-4 is a single sentence in the Greek text.)  “Hebrews begins by powerfully proclaiming the decisive nature of God’s saving action in and through Christ.” (O’Brien) A. God is, and God has revealed himself (key underlying assumption) 1. Through his creation – our scripture reading this morning was from Rom. 1:18-25 2. By his recorded scriptures – (in this text) “to our fathers by the prophets” (Moses and David too, not just the ones we’ve labeled as major and minor in our OT canon) a. God’s revelation in the OT was partial and progressive. “at many times and in many ways” b. “long ago… but in these last days” – (Jesus became the complete and final revelation…)  (Steve Cole) “So in Christ there is both continuity and contrast. The continuity is that God spoke through the prophets and God spoke through Christ. But the contrast is, the prophets were many and fragmentary; Christ was one and complete.” 3. (With completeness and finality) By his Son B. Christianity IS relationship to God in Christ. – Theology is “the foundation for Christian practice.” (Guthrie) – 1. The Bible (the whole Bible) is nothing if not relevant. (Reading the Bible Christologically) 2. “If we are not using the Bible to come to know Jesus Christ in a deeper, more personal way, we are not using it correctly.” (Cole)