Hebrews: Introduction to Hebrews - Study #1
Hebrews
Introduction to Hebrews
Study #1
Sunday, March 4th 2007
Last week we finished the book of II Timothy
· We were in the place of timothy in receiving that letter
· And in the place of Paul in understanding it
· Today we move forward
· We will begin in a new book today, staying in the NT.
When the time comes to move forward to another book of scripture to go through with the body…
· I do not take that lightly.
· I realize, perhaps as much as anyone, the importance of being Spirit Lead
· Not only in my life as an individual,
o but in my role as the shepherd of this flock.
· I say this because I want you all to have an understanding of how we come to go through books of the bible
· I do not ant you thinking that I pull names from a hate
· But that rather much thought and prayer goes into their choosing.
As I prayed as to where to go next…
· I just waited on the Lord
· I prayed for leading into a book of study
· And I prayed for a reason why, or a focus of what that study would be any why
· And that, as it came, this would be clear.
In this case it was very clear to me…
· And it was also clear to me that when it was revealed to me…
· That I need to wait
· Why? Mainly for to reasons.
· One: We needed to finish a direction and focus that we were currently going through
· And secondly, so that the Lord could deal with me individually
o To prepare me for this study
· And allow me time to rest in God, as He moved me to know and understand this book
· And have a true desire to teach it.
· And this is exactly what has happened.
As I studied this book over the last few months…
· As I researched its history and content
· I understood better the context, the focus and direction of the book
· And in doing so, I better understood the book itself,…
· And more importantly, the impact that it could have on us as a church.
Today, we will begin to look into the book of Hebrews.
· I know that this book is truly a giant in theology
· I find that it is an oft quoted book…
· But a rarely studied one in today’s church.
· I find that because of some of the historical problems created by this book, and its interpretations…
· That it has been avoided by many writers and commentators
· Most especially early in Christianity’s first few centuries of existence.
· I find it treated as the proverbial ‘red-headed step child’ of nt scripture
· A blessing and a curse.
· Well, I wanted to know why
· And I want you to know why
To some this talk of Hebrews being secondary or even avoided
· But the book of Hebrews has caused some dissention in the early church
· And it was much debated
· While early original autograph copies exists that date back to as early as AD 200
· That’s within about 150 years of Christ, and about 100 years of its original writing
· Because it is different
· Because it is controversial
· Because it cannot be pinned on the name of one man
· For its good or evil…
· It is problematic.
While there is little debate that the words contained in Hebrews are the divinely inspired words of God…
· There has been much debate as to who wrote it
· And this alone, seems to be the cause of the problems.
· Hebrews holds all of the requirements for canonical scripture to be accepted
· Apostolic succession of acceptance
· References and quotes from OT canonical scripture
· In active use of the early church,
· And It does not refute other doctrine already accepted by the early church
But Hebrews has 2 problems…
1. I is controversial because it does not have a self proclaimed author that can be therefore identified and authenticated
2. It introduces controversial ideas that make some uncomfortable.
a. We’ll come back to these and address them in detail a bit later.
What I want to do first is to share with you why we find ourselves in Hebrews.
· Here is the reason God has revealed to me that we are studying Hebrews
· Our society is just garbage
· And we as Christians stand out n the crowd
· We may have polls that say we are the majority
· But in fact and in spirit, we are not
· We are the minority in this nation
· Most especially in this state
· And we had better get used to it
Secularism rules
· This we saw the passing in the state senate a bill that recognizes and gives legal rights to ‘domestic partnerships’
· This means that not only homosexual couples living together will have the many of the same legal rights as those heterosexual couples who are married…
· But also, heterosexual couples simply ‘living together’….
· The biblical world view is considered passé
· And those who strive to live a life in such a way are now branded intolerant.
Because of this, it is easy for us to comfort each other as we should…
· To seek to shelter ourselves, amongst ourselves…
· While it may help us to keep our solidarity as Christians intact…
· It can easily lead us to become recluse of the world
· And then we loose touch with it, when in fact we are to be reaching it.
This very thing happened to the Jews
The Jews had a rich heritage as God’s chosen people…
· And they blew it!
· Why?
· Not because they did not love God
· Not because they did not desire to be chosen of God.
· Not because they weren’t religious or even believers themselves…
· But because they did not understand what their heritage really was!
Their heritage was to be a light for Jesus Christ!
· Their heritage, going back to Abraham, was to bring freedom to the world in the name of Jesus Christ
· And to show the world that a people,
· Who become a nation…
· Founded on the love of the Creator God
· Can make a difference for the whole world
· As an example of what God can do for those people that love Him.
As I was typing these notes I received and email
· The email was an announcement for the coming of David Barton to Tacoma this month
· I know it may seem superficial and inconsequential to some
· But I say this as a sign from the Lord
· Confirmation that it was time to start our study in Hebrews
Why?
· Because as Americans, we parallel the Hebrews in this way
· We have a rich heritage as being a nation that loves God
o As did the Hebrews of Paul’s day
· Our nation was founded on Judeo/Christian ethics
o The Hebrew nation began Judeo/Christian ethics
· Our nation was founded because people wanted please and follow God
o The Hebrew nation was founded by God to show the world how it pleases God to love and serve, and please and follow Him
· Our nation was founded simply because they loved God!
o The Hebrew nation was founded to show how much God loves us!
· The people that founded our nation loved and feared God so much they crossed and ocean to prove.
· The Hebrews loved and feared God so much they cross a sea to prove it.
But there is more to make comparison to.
· While the above list helps to show the comparisons of the reasons why or how these two nations were born and then thrived…
· There are equally compelling comparisons to their collapse, and rejection of God.
The Hebrew nation had such a wonderful beginning
· As did the United States
· The Hebrews, knowing that their success was based solidly on their relationship with the Almighty…
· Knowing exactly how they began…
· Knowing How blessed they were, and why…
· Knowing that they had been feared by those who opposed them…
· Knowing that they were a light to the world…
· Began slowly, ever so slowly, generation by generation…
· To turn their backs on God
· And hen they did
· They failed
And why did this happen?
· How did he Hebrews becomes so complacent?
· Because they neglected to teach their children the ways of the Lord…
· And because they did not honor their heritage…
· Or even seek to understand it.
· Complacency ruled the day
· And complacency destroyed the Hebrew nation
· And its destroying America
· This is why I feel we are called to the book of Hebrews
So why was this book so controversial?
· Why has their been so much discussion about it?
· Getting back to those two reasons we mentioned earlier
1. No self proclaimed author
2. And controversial thoughts and teachings
· Let’s look at each of these now.
If there is no self proclaimed author…
· Well, this would be correct
· There is no one that claims authorship within the book of Hebrews
· This has caused substantial debate
· Many suggestions have been offered
· Some have said Clement of Rome was the author
o But yet he wrote of it, and did not claim it.
· Martin Luther proclaims Apollos as he author
o But there is no evidence of such other than literary, which is the only reason he does not ascribed to Paul in the first place
· Some have forwarded Barnabas’ and Luke’s names
o Yet again, the evidence is literary.
It is generally considered not only acceptable, but probable
· To assume that Paul is in fact the author
· There are only two reasons why people say he is not.
o One: he did not sign it as he has all his other epistles
o Secondly: he uses different style of writing, and different words.
· Seriously, these are the only 2 arguments against Pauline authorship.
So this begs us to ask the next 2 logical questions
· If Paul is in fact the author, why not claim to be so,
o like he has all other letters?
· And…
· If Paul is the author, why is it written in such a different style…
o …with an obvious difference in literary prose and use of the modern language of the day?
· These questions can not only be easily addressed…
· But they also form a nice segue from the end of II Timothy to hear in Hebrews.
· These two questions can be answered together
· As the apparent and somewhat easy to understand reasons blend into one.
In the end of II Timothy…
· We read this in II Timothy 4:17:
17 But the Lord stood with me and strengthened me, so that the message might be preached fully through me, and that all the Gentiles might hear.
· Paul was in fact the God ordained apostle to the gentiles
· It took until this note at the end of the last epistle that Paul would pen…
· To admit out loud to his full calling as he apostle to the gentiles.
· We know from Paul’s writing that his heart was simply to always follow the Lord.
· There is no question that he lived to serve Christ
· But the book of Acts makes it clear, that his heart was also closely tied to reaching HIS people, the Jews.
Paul was often persecuted
· But if persecution was ever guaranteed, it was before the Jews!
· In Acts 9 the Jews plotted to kill him.
· In Acts 21, same thing…
· The next time is in Acts 23
· In Acts 24 they tried to kill him there as well…
o the same group, a second time…
· And they called him a dissident,
· The ‘ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes’…
· In Acts 13 the Jews even stirred he women up against Paul
· And so many more probably not specifically recorded.
So if Paul, the apostle to the gentiles…
· Who has such a bad reputation with the Jews…
· Who is a traitor in the eyes of the Jews…
· Were to write a treatise to his people the Jews, in order that they might be saved…
· Do you honestly think that any Jew would even look at the parchment or open the book?
· Not s single one
· His reputation with the Jews proceeded him as a traitor…
· And it sealed his fate in ever trying to reach them.
To address the second issue,
· That of literary style and prose being so dramatically different than those earlier epistles Paul wrote…
· Well yes they are.
· And in beautiful ways, using some wonderful phrases and words to get his point across to the Jews.
This epistle ends like a letter…
· Like Paul's other writings…
· But it does not begin like one
· And if you want to change things up in order to not be identified as the author…
· The opening of the letter, which in Paul’s day contained the authors personal greeting…
· Would be the first thing you’d ant to make different!
· And because he is addressing a specific group, the style is different throughout.
· Why? Easy. To be found attractive to the target reader, the Jews, whom he’d never addressed before in a letter.
And his vocabulary is different
· Again, dealing with a different target audience, why not.
· And this vocabulary is sometimes just inspiring…
· Creating his whole gospel for the salvation of the Jews through Jesus Christ…
· He wrested the entire argument against the backdrop of the Old Testament
· Something that he Jews would understand
· And he makes the argument poignantly and firmly
He often uses the words…
· Eternal …
o Driving home the importance of this decision…
· Heaven or heavens …
o In order to show the results of a right relationship with God
o And the sufficiency of Christ
· The word that means better…
o To show the superiority of Christianity over that of the OC and Judaism.
· The phrase ‘let us’…
o To show the unity of Christ
o And the fact that while he once was one of them,
o they can all be part of Christ, forever
· and he reminds us of seldom used, yet great words like propitiation.
As far as the issue of controversial statements
· There are several in Hebrews hat bring ire from some
o Most especially Calvinists
· Because Paul addresses the idea, or thought, that one can turn his back on God and leave the faith.
o That it is possible for a true believer to become apostate.
· And the possibility that form some people, repentance may come too late,
o or may not be heard at all.
· We’ll address these issues of course as they come up in the scripture.
Paul shares with his Jewish audience 5 warnings…
· Warnings that the Jews will need to address to reach salvation...
· The discrediting of salvation by grace through faith
· Disbelief in the sufficiency of god
· Discrediting Jesus Himself
· The despising they had for the Holy Spirit
· And the consequences of ignoring the summons of God
In closing I want to remind us of the comparison between the Hebrew nation, and our nation here in the US
· Unquestionably, both began as favored nations of God.
· Why? Not because we were good, and did only good things
· Not because we never made mistakes or had our share of personal and corporate sin
· But because we loved God!
· So he blessed and protected us.
But the Hebrews forgot their heritage
· Because they did not care for it any longer…
· They no longer shared about it or taught their children abut their heritage
· They either lost it completely…
o Or in order to have some semblance of community…
· They changed it, and morphed it into something that was ‘sellable’ to the people…
· They changed it into something hat could be, and here’s a good word for you… ‘tolerated’ by the masses
The Hebrews grew in their love for the Lord…
· And in their development as a people of God
· But then their Christian development ceased to progress.
· Then it came to a complete halt
· There was no Christian growth
· And then it digressed
Hopefully, the reading of Hebrews for us will remind us…
· Not to become like the Hebrew nation
· Not to become a nation of complacent ‘tollerators’ of the evils and filth of debauchery of this secular nation we live in.
· Not to become a nation that neglects it’s true heritage, only to replace it with a revisionist history of lies and the idolatry of gods and self.
· Let us stand up for our heritage and for what is right in the eyes of God..
· As we move ever forward in our growth as individual Christians…
· And as a church body…
As believers, just as Paul was attempting to teach the Jews…
· We are all brothers and sisters.
· We can celebrate this fellowship in communion.
II Timothy 4:17