HEBREWS: Lesson 1 - Introduction & Background

VIDEO REVIEW

Today we began our study of the book of Hebrews. This is a tremendous book. It is a difficult book. It is a book that has many, many deep truths, difficult to understand lest we be diligent and faithful in our study (both in class and in your personal study). If we'll open our hearts to hear how the author of Hebrews urgently exhorted his original audience, we'll see how crucial it is that we stand strong in our faith, no matter what opposition we may face.

Can you imagine how tempting it would be to compromise what you believe to protect yourself, your spouse, your children and closest friends from serious harm? How could we possibly encourage fellow believers in these conditions? This was the challenge that faced the author of the book of Hebrews. He wrote to a group of Christians who had suffered in the past and were now threatened with even more suffering. They’d done well years ago, but the author of Hebrews feared that they might now turn away from Christ to avoid further persecution.

NOTE: Christian persecution is not only a thing of the past. As the map below shows, the persecution of Christians is happening today (Ref: Open Doors - World Watch List - Serving persecuted Christians worldwide: www.opendoorsusa.org).

The lesson today focused on five essential elements that will provide the needed perspective for our better understanding of Hebrews. We looked at who wrote the book, when it was written, to whom it was written, what style was it written, and the central themes of the book. Having an understanding of the background behind this amazing book will help tremendously as we unpack the 13 chapters.

One of my references stated that he had an Old Testament professor who said that you cannot understand the book of Hebrews unless you first understand the book of Leviticus, because the book of Hebrews is based upon the principles of the Levitical priesthood. So this week I decided to read the book of Leviticus. After reading the entire 27 chapters of Leviticus (thanks to The Word Of Promise app), I better understand what the professor was talking about. Only after a thorough and complete reading of Leviticus do I now, like never before, understand the power of what Jesus did on the Cross. As we will see, the superiority of Jesus is the foundation of the book of Hebrews.

WHO WROTE THE BOOK OF HEBREWS?

By the end of the patristic period (Apostolic Age to the end of New Testament times) the majority of influential interpreters in the eastern and western church came to recognize Hebrews as part of the Canon. And they generally agreed that the apostle Paul was the author.

Throughout the medieval period, most leading scholars continued to believe that Paul wrote Hebrews. But during the Reformation, Protestant Reformers questioned many ecclesiastical traditions, including the traditional view of Pauline authorship. Martin Luther suggested that Apollos was the author. John Calvin didn't suggest an alternative, but he insisted that the book could not have come from Paul.

Today, the majority of interpreters reject Pauline authorship for three reasons:
1. It was Paul’s practice to name himself in his epistles. He was deeply concerned that forgeries had spread under his name (2 Thessalonians 2:2)
2. The book of Hebrews emphasizes subjects that don't receive much, if any, attention in Paul's letters. For instance, the author of Hebrews mentioned Melchizedek three times. He drew attention to the Old Testament tabernacle. And he dealt at length with Christ as the high priest. Taken together, these themes distinguish the book of Hebrews from books that we know were written by Paul.
3. The strongest reason for doubting Pauline authorship is the way the writer of Hebrews distanced himself from the first generation of Jesus' followers (Hebrews 2:3). The author's admission that he received his Christian faith secondarily contrasts with passages like Galatians 1:1, 11 and 12, and 1 Corinthians 11:23 where Paul insisted that he received the gospel directly from Jesus.

WHEN WAS THE BOOK OF HEBREWS WRITTEN?

Although the exact date for Hebrews remains uncertain, the earliest and latest dates for this book can be established rather firmly using the scriptural and historical evidence. It obviously had to be written sometime after Christ's ascension, which would have been about 30 A.D., and sometime before the destruction of Jerusalem, which would have been 70 A.D., because Jerusalem is still standing when Hebrews is written. Later I will show you how we can further bracket the earliest date by looking at a verse in Hebrews.

There had to be time for the apostolic missionaries to get going and we know that there weren't really any apostolic missionaries from Jerusalem until at least seven years after the church had been founded there. And likely it was sometime later that they would have reached this little Jewish community in Greece. And also after they had been reached, they had to have a certain amount of time to grow spiritually, because in Chapter 5, verse 12, the Holy Spirit says to them: "For when for the time as long as it's been you ought to be teachers. You have need that one teach you again the first principles of the oracles of God." So it had to be written sometime after the apostolic missionaries went out, establish the little congregation, and have sufficient time to have matured spiritually (which obviously they hadn't).

A fact that helps us confirm the earliest possible date is found in Hebrews 13:23. Here we see that “Timothy [had] been released” recently from prison. We don’t hear of Timothy’s imprisonment anywhere else in the New Testament. In fact, in the book of 2 Timothy, Paul’s last letter written shortly before his death, Timothy was free to travel and bring Paul supplies. Yet, this verse tells us that by the time Hebrews was written Timothy had been imprisoned and released. For this reason, the book of Hebrews must have been written after Paul’s death, which took place sometime around A.D. 65.

The latest possible date would have been A.D. 70. Many commentators have observed that, in passages like Hebrews 5:1-3, the author used the present tense to describe the sacrificial duties of the high priest. This is important because in the rest of his book the author consistently used the Greek past tense when referring to past events. So, it’s likely that these priestly activities were still going on when Hebrews was written.  

Also, in 8:13 the author encouraged his audience not to turn back to the “obsolete” sacrificial practices established by God’s covenant with Moses. He explained that in light of the new covenant, these practices would “soon disappear.” We know that the high priest’s activities, and the Levitical sacrificial system as a whole, came to an end in A.D. 70 when the Romans destroyed Jerusalem and its temple. So, these evidences suggest a date for Hebrews sometime after Paul’s death around A.D. 65 and before the destruction of the temple in A.D. 70.

TO WHOM WAS THE BOOK OF HEBREWS WRITTEN?

The author doesn't clearly identify his audience by name, city or region, but in general terms, we can be confident that the author wrote to a specific audience with whom he was personally familiar.

There were three basic types of people in view throughout the book. The point is to show all three groups that Christ is better than anything in the Old Testament, that the new covenant is better than the old, and that they can let the rest go because of everything they have in Christ is infinitely sufficient.

Group 1: Hebrew Christians: They were still hung up in the temple ritual and temple worship. Between the pressure and persecution, their weak faith, and their 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. So the letter to the Hebrews is written to give confidence to these floundering believers.

Group 2: Hebrew non-Christians (convinced): People who know the truth, but have never committed themselves to it. I'm sure you know or have met many people like this. People who've heard the truth of Jesus Christ, they believe it, they're intellectually convinced that Christ is indeed who he claimed to be but they're not willing to make a commitment of faith to him. This group of Hebrews were at the point of believing it but not committing to it, resulting in the great sin of neglecting to do what they had been intellectually convinced was right. The author says, you ought to know better. (2:1, 2,4; 6:4; 10:26, 27, 29; 12:15)

NOTE: James 4:17 warns us of having this attitude:  "Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin."

Group 3: Hebrew non-Christians (not convinced): People who need to be convinced that Christ is real (9:11, 14, 27).

One of the keys to interpreting Hebrews is to understand to which group the author is speaking. The Holy Spirit (through the author's voice) pulls these three groups together and meets each of their particular needs and questions in this one book.

In the book of Hebrews there is confidence and assurance to the Christian. In the book of Hebrews there is warning to the intellectually convinced that He must receive Christ or his knowledge will damn him. And finally there is a convincing presentation to the unbelieving Jew who is not intellectually convinced that he indeed should believe in Jesus Christ.

IN WHAT STYLE WAS THE BOOK OF HEBREWS WRITTEN?

The book of Hebrews has often been characterized as highly rhetorical. By this we mean that it employs many literary devices that were associated with persuasive oratory or urgent debate in the first century. Many of these rhetorical devices appear now and then in other New Testament books, but we find them far more often in Hebrews.

SYNKRISIS: One rhetorical device, called synkrisis in Greek, is a detailed comparison between two or more things designed to convince audiences to affirm the speaker’s point of view. (Hebrews 7:11-28)

EXEMPLA: Another rhetorical device in the book of Hebrews is known as exempla. Exempla are lists of illustrations or examples that follow one after the other to build a persuasive argument for a particular point of view. This oratorical technique appears in the familiar list of the faithful in Hebrews 11. There the author listed by name: Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, the Israelites, Rahab, Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel and the prophets. This long list was designed to persuade the audience that servants of God should remain faithful throughout their persecution.

QOL WAHOMER: A third rhetorical device used by the author of Hebrews is known by the Hebrew expression qol wahomer. This expression is well known from both Greco-Roman and rabbinical traditions and may be translated “light to heavy,” “less to great,” or “simple to complex.” This type of argumentation begins with a simple premise that isn’t disputed by the audience. It then builds to a more complex conclusion that the audience initially doubts, but can now more easily accept. Simply put, this argument says that because the simple premise is true, then surely the more difficult conclusion must also be true. Read how this rhetorical device appears in Hebrews 10:28-29.

These examples help us see the urgency of the author’s intentions. He was convinced that his audience faced a very serious situation and that it was time for them to make some very difficult decisions. So, he did all he could to urge and persuade them to make the right choices.

WHAT ARE THE CENTRAL THEMES OF THE BOOK OF HEBREWS:

Any book as long and complex as the book of Hebrews is written with many different purposes in mind. Interpreters have summarized the overarching purpose of the book in a variety of ways. But here are the two main themes that seem to permeate the entire 13 chapters:

1. To elevate Jesus as superior to all things and people.

2. To exhort the audience to reject the local Jewish teachings and remain faithful to Jesus, despite persecution.

The book of Hebrews is one of the most challenging books of the New Testament. It offers so much that we may never uncover more than a small portion of what it teaches. Yet, we can benefit in many ways from these complex teachings. As modern followers of Christ, we also face temptations to avoid troubles in this life by compromising our commitments to Jesus. But if we'll open our hearts to hear how the author of Hebrews urgently exhorted his original audience, we'll see how crucial it is that we stand strong in our faith, no matter what opposition we may face.

Next week we will look at the sections and layout of the book as we dive into chapter 1.