HEBREWS
Author:
Unknown. Some scholars believe that the apostle Paul wrote this letter. Some have suggested others as the possible author – Apollos, Silas, Barnabas, etc. The author does not make himself known in the letter, and the Bible does not inform us who he was in any other place, so we conclude that we cannot now know and do not need to know who wrote it. It is enough to know that it was written by divine inspiration and that God caused it to be included among the books of the Bible.
Date:
Sometime shortly before 70 AD when the Roman army came to Jerusalem and destroyed the city and the temple and exiled all the remaining Jews.
Themes:
The greatness of the Lord Jesus Christ and the greatness of the New Covenant which He made. The writer shows clearly that in every way the New Covenant is better than the Old Covenant God made with Israel through Moses. Some Jewish Christians, being persecuted because of their faith in Christ, were tempted to abandon the teachings about Christ they had received and to go back to the old ways. Therefore the writer not only shows the greatness of the New Covenant but also gives 5 very severe warnings to those who were possibly thinking of turning away from it. Another leading theme of this letter is announced in the first two verses and in Heb 12:25: God has spoken, not merely through His prophets, but through His own Son, and everyone should listen and obey. Two of the key words in this letter are “better” (Heb 1:4; 7:19, 22; 8:6; 9:23; 10:34; 11:16, 35, 40; 12:24) and “faith”. The Bible’s great chapter on faith is in this letter (chapter 11).
Contents:
Christ is greater than the angels 1:1—2:18
He is God’s Son, heir of all things,
and He took part in the world’s creation 1:2,5
He is God’s radiance, God’s image 1:3
He upholds all things with His power 1:3
He alone has dealt with the problem of sin 1:3
He has sat down in the place of all power and authority 1:3,13
He is worshipped by angels 1:6
He is called God and His throne is eternal 1:7-9
He is the eternal Creator 1:10-12
None of the above facts is true of angels 1:13-14
THE FIRST WARNING: Do not neglect salvation 2:1-4
Christ, not angels, will rule the world to come 2:5
Christ, for a little while, was made lower than the angels,
but now is again exalted above them 2:6-9
Christ was made lower than the angels,
not for their sake, but for men 2:10-18
Christ is greater than Moses and Joshua 3:1—4:16
Moses was a servant in the house,
but Christ was the one who built the house 3:2-6
THE SECOND WARNING: Do not be disobedient
or unbelieving 3:7—4:2
Joshua could not give the people true rest,
but Christ does 4:3-16
Christ is the great High Priest through
whom we can approach God’s throne of grace 4:14-16
Christ’s priesthood is greater than Aaron’s 5:1—8:5
The duties of Old Covenant priests 5:1-3
The necessity for God’s call 5:4-6
Priesthood in the order of Melchizedek 5:6-10
THIRD WARNING: Do not fall away 5:11—6:8
The writer’s confidence 6:9-12
God’s faithfulness to His promises 6:13-20
Melchizedek, Abraham, and Levi 7:1-10
As High Priest Christ is like Melchizedek 7:11-17
The Old Covenant priesthood was weak,
and could not do what needed to be done 7:18-19
Christ became High Priest though God’s promise 7:20-22
Christ’s priesthood is eternal 7:23-25
Christ is the High Priest who meets people’s real needs 7:26-28
Christ serves in heaven in the true tabernacle 8:1-5
The New Covenant is greater than the Old Covenant 8:6—10:22
Christ is the Mediator of the New Covenant 8:6
The New Covenant comes with better promises 8:6
The New Covenant does what the Old could not do 8:7-13
Old Covenant priests worked in the literal tabernacle 9:1-10
Christ’s work is in the spiritual, heavenly tabernacle 9:11-28
Christ’s one sacrifice did what innumerable
Old Covenant sacrifices could never do 10:1-18
Eternal perfection comes by the New Covenant 10:14
The new and living way 10:19-22
New Covenant duties 10:23-25
FOURTH WARNING: Do not reject the New Covenant
and continue in sin 10:26-31
The experience of the Jewish Christians and the
necessity of persevering in faith 10:32-39
Faith: what it is and what it does 11:1-40
Exhortation and instruction in the light of the
previous chapter 12:1-17
Run the race free of entanglements 12:1
Keep the eyes looking at Jesus and consider Him 12:2-3
Patiently endure God’s discipline 12:5-13
Follow peace and holiness 12:14
Do not miss the grace of God as Esau did 12:15-17
Illustrating the difference between the Old
Covenant and the New 12:18-24
FIFTH WARNING: Do not refuse to listen to God
who has given the New Covenant 12:25-29
Closing exhortations 13:1-22
A great promise and the proper response 13:5-6
Jesus is always the same 13:8
Meeting with Jesus outside the camp 13:10-14
Three offerings pleasing to God 13:15-16
God at work for us and in us 13:20-21
Closing remarks 13:22-25