Sermon Tone Analysis

! *Introduction to Hebrews*

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1     God, after He aspoke long ago to the fathers in bthe prophets in many portions and cin many ways,

 2     1ain these last days bhas spoken to us 2in cHis Son, whom He appointed dheir of all things, ethrough whom also He made the 3fworld.

3     1And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact arepresentation of His nature, and 2bupholds all things by the word of His power.

When He had made cpurification of sins, He dsat down at the right hand of the eMajesty on high,

\\ I have titled this study of the book of Hebrews,

 

“The Incomparability of Jesus Christ.”

Jesus Christ is superior to and preeminent over everyone and everything.

→    The first three verses provide a fitting introduction.

But before we look at these, we need some background as a foundation for our study.

Studying Hebrews is a thrilling adventure.

Part of that adventure is due to the difficulty of the book.

It is a book that has many, many deep truths that are difficult to grasp and that demand diligent and faithful study.

There are things here that are beyond understanding apart from complete reliance on God’s Spirit and sincere commitment to understand His Word.

It’s been said, that you cannot understand the book of Hebrews unless you understand the book of Leviticus, because the book of Hebrews is based upon the principles of the Levitical priesthood.

But don’t worry about your lack of understanding of Leviticus.

By the time we get through Hebrews, you should have a pretty good grasp of Leviticus as well.

It would be a definite advantage, however, if, on your own, you began to familiarize yourself with Leviticus.

→    It contains the ceremonial symbols for which Hebrews presents the realities.

*Authorship*

This epistle was written by an unknown author.

Some say it was by Paul, some say by Apollos, some say by Peter, some say by this, that, or another person.

Due to differences in style, vocabulary, and pattern of personal reference in the epistles known to be his, I do not believe it was written by Paul.

In fact, only one of the many commentators think Paul did.

We know it was written by a believer, under inspiration, to a suffering, persecuted group of Jews somewhere in the East, outside of Israel.

As to the exact human authorship, I stand with one of the great teachers of the early church by the name of

 

→    Origen, who said simply, “No one knows.”

How fitting, since the book’s purpose is to exalt Christ.

Throughout this study we will refer to the fact that it was written, as was all Scripture, by the Holy Spirit—whom we do know.

*Audience*

There are no references to Gentiles in the book.

Problems between Gentiles and Jews in the church are not mentioned or reflected here, indicating almost certainly that the congregation being addressed was strictly Jewish.

To these suffering Jewish believers—and some unbelievers—are revealed the merits of the Lord Jesus Christ and the New Covenant, in contrast to the Old Covenant, under which they had so long lived and worshiped.

We do not know the exact location of this group of Hebrews.

They were perhaps somewhere near Greece.

→    We do know that this community had been evangelized by apostles and prophets (2:3-4).

By prophets, of course, is meant New Testament prophets (Eph.

2:20).

Evidently this church had been founded fairly soon after Christ’s ascension.

By the time the letter was written, a small congregation of believers already existed there.

→    Also addressed in the letter are unbelievers, who evidently were a part of this Jewish community.

Unlike many Jews in Palestine, these had never had opportunity to meet Jesus.

Anything they may have known about Him was secondhand (Heb.

2:3-4).

They of course had no New Testament writings, as such, as a testimony, for it had not yet been brought together.

Whatever they knew of Christ and His gospel they knew from believing neighbors, or perhaps directly from the mouth of an apostle or prophet.

The letter had to have been written after Christ’s ascension, which was about a.d. 30, and before the destruction of Jerusalem in a.d.

70, since the Temple must still have been standing.

Many believe it was probably written close to 70, perhaps as early as 65.

We know that there were not any apostolic missionaries from Jerusalem until at least seven years after the church there had been founded.

Likely it was some time later that they would have reached this Jewish community, perhaps many miles away.

And, after they had been reached, the believers would had to have had a certain amount of time to have been taught, as reflected in the letter itself.

For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you have need again for some one to teach you the elementary principles of the oracles of God, and you have come to need milk and not solid food.

(5:12)

→    He says, in other words, “You’ve had enough time to become mature, but you are not.”

→    We must understand that three basic groups of people are in view throughout this epistle.

If one does not keep these groups in mind, the book becomes very confusing.

If, for example, as some have said, it was written exclusively to Christians, extreme problems arise in interpreting a number of passages which could hardly apply to believers.

And because it so frequently addresses believers, it could not have been written primarily to unbelievers either.

So it must have been written to include both.

In fact three basic groups in this Jewish community are addressed.

Here is the critical basis for understanding the epistle; and here is where people often get mixed up, especially in interpreting chapters 6 and 10.

Group I: Hebrew Christians

First of all, there was in this Jewish community a congregation of true believers in the Lord Jesus Christ.

They had come out of Judaism, in which they had been born and raised.

Now they were born again.

They had received Jesus Christ as their personal Messiah and Savior.

They had become His followers.

The frequent result was tremendous hostility from their own people—ostracism from their families, persecution and suffering of many sorts, though not yet martyrdom (10:32-34; 12:4).

They suffered greatly, persecuted not only by their fellow Jews, but also perhaps by Gentiles.

They should have anticipated as much and have been mature enough to deal with it.

But they had not and they were not.

They lacked full confidence in the gospel, and consequently in their Lord.

They were in danger of going back into the standards and patterns of Judaism—not of losing their salvation but of confusing the gospel with Jewish ceremony and legalism and of thereby weakening their faith and testimony.

They could not bring themselves to accept the clear-cut distinction between the gospel, the New Covenant in Christ, and the forms, ceremonies, patterns, and methods of Judaism.

They were still hung up, for example, on the Temple ritual and worship.

That is why the Spirit talks to them so much about the new priesthood and the new Temple and the new sacrifice and the new sanctuary, all of which are better than the old ones.

They had gone beyond Judaism in receiving Jesus Christ but, understandably, they were tempted to hang on to many of the Judaistic habits that had been so much a part of their lives.

When their friends and their countrymen began to persecute them in earnest, the pressure led them to hold even tighter to some of the old Jewish traditions.

They felt they had to keep a foothold in their old and familiar relationships.

It was hard to make a clean break.

With all that pressure, together with their weak faith and spiritual ignorance, they were in great danger of mixing the new with the old.

They were in great danger of coming up with a ritualistic, ceremonial, legalistic Christianity.

They were a whole congregation of “weaker brothers” (cf.

Rom.

14:2; 1 Cor.

8:9),

who were still calling “unclean” what the Lord had sanctified (Mark 7:19; Acts 10:15; Rom.

14:12; 1 Tim.

4:1-5).

→    The Holy Spirit directed this letter to them to strengthen their faith in the New Covenant, to show them that they did not need the old Temple (which in a few years would be completely destroyed by Titus Vespasian anyway, showing that God had brought an end to that economy; cf.

Luke 21:5-6).

They did not need the old Aaronic-Levitical priesthood.

They did not need the old day-in, day-out, day-in, day-out sacrifices.

They did not need the ceremonies.

They had a new and better covenant with a new and better priesthood, a new and better sanctuary, and a new and better sacrifice.

→    The pictures and symbols were to give way to the reality.

The book of Hebrews was written to give confidence to these floundering believers.

The Lord was speaking to Christians and telling them to hold to the better covenant and the better priesthood, and not go back into the patterns of Judaism, either to that priesthood or to that assemblage.

They must steadfastly and exclusively live in, and live out, their new relationship in Christ.

Group I: Hebrew Christians

Group II: Hebrew Non-Christians Who Were Intellectually Convinced

We have all met people who have heard the truth of Jesus Christ and who are intellectually convinced that He is indeed who He claimed to be, and yet are not willing to make a commitment of faith in Him.

In the group of Hebrews to whom this epistle was written, there were such non-Christians, as there are in many groups today.

It is likely that every church group since Pentecost has had people in it who have been convinced that Jesus is the Christ but who have never committed themselves to Him.