Psalm 119:11 Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not
sin against thee.
Last week we started our
study of Hebrews. We talked about the
enigma of Hebrews. This is a unique book because we do not know the author is
or why he wrote it or who the original recipients were. We don’t know what their situation was. We don’t know where they were located.
Nevertheless, the book is included in the canon and has been recognized as such
since the 4th century. It was
recognized as authoritative by the end of the first century. Because it is a bit of an enigma, Hebrews was
considered a doubtful book for quite a longtime. They did not know who wrote it. They didn’t know if it had apostolic
support.
We also looked at the
form. We call it an epistle because it
ends in that format. It does not begin
like an epistle. There is no initial address
here. In the ancient world there would
be an address and then usually a short salutation. This is missing from Hebrews.
It begins with one of the
most profound and pregnant sentences in all of the New Testament. I pointed out in Hebrews 13:22 that the
writer himself refers to this book as a word of exhortation. That phrase “word of exhortation” is also
used one other time in the Scripture in Acts.
Acts indicates that this was a particular kind of message, a message of
encouragement. Paul was speaking in the
synagogue in
We want to have a church that
is known for quality. We know that our
focus is on the Word of God. That is the
focal point of everything going on in the church. There are all kinds of secondary ministries
in a church that are valid, significant, and meaningful. But a church needs to keep secondary
ministries of the church secondary and the primary ministry primary. Always maintain quality control. Always shoot for the highest standard
possible. This is what Paul was doing in
Acts 13. This is what the writer of
Hebrews does.
The author starts off in the
first chapter weaving together 8 different quotes from the Old Testament. He assumes the listeners are fully versed in
these passages and their context. From
this, he builds certain theological conclusions. In the first chapter he establishes the
superiority of Christ as the Son and His superiority over the angels. In the first four verses of chapter two he
concludes and makes a practical application.
In light of this doctrinal truth, this is how it should affect your
decision-making and how it should affect your life. This is how he builds. In the next section he comes along and takes
ideas that were introduced and begins to unpack those words and those
concepts. Then, he climbs to the next
level and punches with another doctrinal application and warning. It is like climbing a set of stairs until you
come to the last section of the book.
There are 5 basic sections in
the Book of Hebrews. He builds to the
final section in chapter 11 that gives us the doctrinal principle. Then in chapters 12 and 13 there are two
basic exhortations and warnings. He writes as if he expects the listeners to be
fully aware of everything that he is weaving into this book. He expects them to be fully cognizant of the
Old Testament context and teachings as he weaves doctrine together. No book in the New Testament quotes as much
from the Old Testament as Hebrews does.
He expects the audience to be fully versed in the Levitical sacrifices,
the ritual of the tabernacle services, all the principles related to the
priesthood and the context of the various psalms that he quotes. Sadly, that is not true of many today. Many today are impoverished in their understanding
of the Old Testament and Old Testament theology. That it not to bash believers, most believers
really enjoy the Old Testament. Most
relate to it because they understand the people. A certain commonality is established.
Most of us know that “All
scripture is God breathed profitable …”
In the previous verse Paul told Timothy that it was by these Scriptures
that he came to spiritual maturity.
There wasn’t a New Testament when he wrote that. So, while it applies to New Testament
scripture and maybe 60% of the New Testament was written, the canon had not
been collected. His primary point of reference from the
context is the Old Testament. So we need
to get into the Old Testament. The
problem is that pastors don’t teach it.
We looked at the issues
related to the form of the letter and concluded it was a sermon. This was probably a sermon that was taught
as a Bible class and then put together as a letter. This would account for the closing comments
and personal greetings at the end of the book that make it look like an
epistle.
The date of writing itself is
connected to understanding of who the recipients are. There are two views to who is being
addressed. Almost everyone agrees that
the addressees are Jewish Christians.
They were under persecution for their faith. Because of the extreme adversity or suffering
they are about to encounter, they are about to give up and chuck their
Christian lives and go back to Judaism.
They are warned against that and the dire consequences of extended
carnality.
We don’t know where they are
located. Some people suggested a number
of different locations all the way from
He is unknown. There are a lot of different
suggestions. Some think it was Paul. In fact, for many years Bibles had the
Epistle of Paul to the Hebrews as the title.
Others thought Paul taught it in Hebrew and Luke wrote it down in Greek. Others thought it was perhaps Barnabas. That has tremendous tradition.
When you get into more modern
times, Luther thought it was Apollos.
Apollos has many modern adherents because he was from
Others say it was Clement of
Rome who was a leader in the Roman church. Silas who accompanied Paul on many
of his journeys has been suggested. Luke
and Phillip are mentioned. Some even
thought it might be Priscilla. There is
a cornucopia of suggestions as to who wrote it.
What we do see is that the author is well trained.
There are 4,942 words in
Hebrews. The writer uses 1,038 different
words (different from the other epistles).
And 169 of those distinct words are found only in Hebrews. This writer has a tremendous vocabulary.
Who is this addressed
to? Everyone says to the Hebrews. But that is not on the original manuscript. In fact, the title was not added to the book
until 175 AD. That is roughly 110 years
after it was written. The title is a
tradition. The original did not have a
specific title. Tertullian who was a
church leader towards the end of the second century and later Clement of
Alexandria who flourished about 200 spoke of this book as being written to the
Hebrews. This was the tradition handed
down handed down in the second century.
Some have suggested it was to
Gentiles, but we know that this is probably not true for a number of
reasons. First in Hebrews 6:1 the author
talks about elementary doctrines. It
says we need to press on beyond these elementary doctrines related to
Christ. The context suggests it is Old
Testament doctrines. It assumes
familiarity with the Old Testament. This
would not have been true of the Gentiles.
Furthermore, in chapters 8
through 10 there is an emphasis on the Old Covenant versus the New
Covenant. This is one of the most
interesting problems in Hebrews. Who are the recipients of the New
Covenant? Are there two New Covenants?
Dispensationalists have debated this in the past. Is there a New Covenant to the church? Is there a New Covenant to
If you have two parties, the
party of the first part is God and Jesus Christ. The party of the second part is the house of
The third reason is that in
Hebrews
This brings up something
fascinating. He quotes numerous verses
from the Old Testament. Whenever he goes
back to the Old Testament he says, “God said.”
Only once in this book does the writer say, “The Scripture says”. Isn’t that interesting? We know that Psalm 2 was written by David. But the writer says that God wrote it. It tells us that he accepts the divine
authorship of the Old Testament. He
believed that God wrote through human writers.
He believed that the Word was inspired and infallible. Liberals want to say that the writers
describe their understanding of who God is.
It is not revelation in the distinct authoritative sense that we
understand it. The writer confirms our
understanding of the inspiration of Scripture by the way he quotes it. It doesn’t matter if it was David or Abraham
or Moses or some other writer. The
writer of Hebrews says that it came from God.
It is an extremely high view of Scripture.
A fourth reason that we know
this was not written to Gentiles is that there are numerous idioms used in the
book that are based on Old Testament episodes.
They would have gone right over the heads of any Gentile readers. He uses the phrase “outside the camp bearing
His reproach”. This is based on the
ritual related to the tabernacle. They
had to understand the function of the tabernacles and the priesthood or they
would be lost. Furthermore there is also
an emphasis on priestly ritual. There is
an indication that some of the readers had been in the priesthood. They had very technical knowledge of the
priesthood. Many people believe that the
readers were former priests. We know
from extra Biblical sources that a large number of former priests became
Christians in the first century. Perhaps
this is part of that contingent.
Furthermore, the readers to
whom he writes seem to accept the authority of the Greek Old Testament called
the Septuagint. It is tradition that 70
Jewish rabbis translated the Torah in 70 days. After the diaspora, there
remained a large contingent of Jews is
There are some differences
between the Septuagint and the Masoretic text.
What does that imply about inerrancy? It does not introduce bad
theology. Under the inspiration of God
the Holy Spirit even though the reading may be varied, the Holy Spirit quoted
it. That translation also became
inspired. We know that once the Holy
Spirit quotes it, the variation has His stamp of approval. The writer assumes the readers have an
in-depth knowledge of the Old Testament and have been trained in Old Testament
theology from the Septuagint.
NKJ Hebrews 2:2 For
if the word spoken through angels proved steadfast, and every transgression and
disobedience received a just reward
This is a powerful
verse. He is talking about the Mosaic
Law.
If you go back to Exodus 17
you will look in vain for any mention of angels on
NKJ Deuteronomy 33:2 And he said: "The LORD came from Sinai, And dawned on them from
Seir; He shone forth from Mount Paran, And He came with ten thousands of
saints; From His right hand Came a fiery law for them.
There is a mention of angels
(saints). Moses reminds the Jews of
what took place on
The holy ones refer to the
angels that accompanied the Lord when He gave the Law. The Septuagint reads that angels were with
Him at His right hand. It adds a
phrase. It is not an error. By quoting it, the Holy Spirit put His stamp
of approval on the addition as correct.
The LXX became inspired. Saints
should be translated holy ones. The
Septuagint reads a little differently.
It adds in the word angels. That
did not introduce error. By quoting it,
the Holy Spirit put His stamp of approval on it as correct even though it is
not in the original text.
It is clear he writes to
Jews, not Gentiles. Where were
they? Were they in Jerusalem? We do not know the exact location. The two most common views are that they were
former Jewish priests in Judea or in Rome.
Why Judea? Five basic reasons are given. First, there is an absence of a Jew-Gentile
conflict in this epistle. We run into
that in other epistles. That this is not
found here indicates a fairly homogenous group that was all Jewish. Secondly, Clement of Rome who wrote a little
later referred to the church in Jerusalem as the Church of the Hebrews.
Third, there is an indication
in the book that some judgment is impending.
There is some imminent attack or high level suffering expected. This intensified level of suffering that they
are about to encounter may be the occasion of the book. They were ready to bail
out. We have all been there. Sometime it has been us. When we are about to go through suffering, we
also wonder why we are going through this.
We think that if we give up and become a secret-service believers we can
avoid this suffering. But then God
starts working on us and that is even worse.
Fourth, Vespasion is getting ready to invade Judea or already has by the
time of the writing of this epistle. It
appears the prophecies of Matthew 24 are about to take place. There is an indication that these are former
priests. They really know and understand
Old Testament ritual. Where would you
find them a large number of them other than Judea? Fifth, their familiarity with the Old
Testament was so great that it suggests Judea.
But there are problems with
this view. Hebrews 2:3-4 indicates that they did not hear the gospel from
Jesus, but that they heard this indirectly through secondary sources. It was only 30 years after the crucifixion. If anyone was over 40 and lived in Judea, it
would seem that some would have been direct witnesses of the ministry of Jesus
Christ during the First Advent.
Secondly, their knowledge of sacrifices seems to be based on Old
Testament passages and tabernacle passages not temple practices. There is no mention of the temple in all of
Hebrews. Only the tabernacle is
mentioned. That indicates that it was an
audience of people who had not been to the temple in Jerusalem. Furthermore in Hebrews 6:10-11 indicates that
they were wealthy enough to give financial aid to other congregations that were
in trouble. But we know that the
Jerusalem church during the last part of the first century suffered famine and
testing. Paul collected money for the
church in Jerusalem throughout his second and third missionary journeys. So it does not seem to fit. They don’t seem to be on the receiving end of
aid. Furthermore, the temple is not
mentioned at all.
Rome is the other place that
is suggested. It was the first place
that the book is known historically. By
95, Clement of Rome quotes it extensively with in-depth familiarity with the
Book of Hebrews. Secondly, there was a
significant persecution under Claudius directed against the Jews in Rome. He
expelled the Jews in 49 AD. This may fit
the mention in Hebrews of a former persecution that they had gone through in
Italy. Third, Hebrews 10:32 mentions Melchizedek. It actually runs through several
chapters. Historically, the only early
church that made mention of him in their early writings and liturgy is the
church at Rome. So there is that
connection. Fourth, in Hebrews 13:24
there is a reading that “those from Italy greet you.” The Greek preposition apo is used to
indicate that they had previously lived in Rome. The phrase is used one other time in Acts
18:2 to describe Aquila and Priscilla.
They were no longer in Rome. So
the writer says that there are those here from Italy who send you greetings. That is the thrust of the phrase. So it indicates perhaps an Italian home for
this group. The last piece of evidence
comes from Hebrews 13:17,24. He calls
the leaders hegoumenoi. The Greek
verb hegeomai means to think or reason or consider. The primary meaning of the word is the
thinkers. But, it came to be a word used
for those in leadership. Principle: A leader is a thinker. It is someone who knows how to analyze
situations and problem solve and work through situations. The only church in the ancient world that
called their leaders by this word is the church at Rome. It is an interesting connection from key
words. We know that in the early days
there was a strong contingent of Jewish believers in Rome.
So, we don’t know who wrote
it. We know the recipients were Jewish
and had a tremendous understanding of Old Testament ritual and the Levitical
priesthood.
The writer takes all this Old
Testament doctrine and weaves it together theologically and presents a case for
why we as believers need to stick with the Christian life. If we get into extended carnality there are
tremendous consequences. They are
negative and horrible consequences to the believer who fails to persevere to
the end. Not that he is in danger of
losing his salvation. Some people read
these warning passages and think that it is a warning of losing salvation. It is not a warning about losing your
salvation. It is a warning that if you
give up, you will lose privileges and rewards of the millennial kingdom. You may not grasp fully what you will get and
the significance of these rewards, but you jeopardize your future if you bail
of the Christian life in time. The
challenge is to stick with it because you will lose rewards and position and
privilege in the eternal kingdom. Your
privilege is part of your incentive for hanging in there when things get tough
or when you feel like the cosmic system is about to run over you and you can’t
understand why all of this is happening.
The writer says that we must
consider what Christ did on the cross and what He is doing now in the present
session. This is the thrust of this
book. In almost every chapter there is a
mention of the ascension and session of Christ. This book unlike any other New
Testament epistle unpacks for us the significance of Christ’s present session. Paul does not do this. He never deals with the high priestly role of
Christ. That is unique to the writer of
Hebrews. He tells us that if you have
problems and you think that putting doctrine first is just someone’s opinion
that you should not succumb to this terrible lie. That is a terrible lie. We need to understand what He did on the
cross and what He is doing right now in the present session.
He unpacks this whole book
from and understanding of two verses in the Old Testament. They are Psalm 2:7 which identifies Him as
the Son and Psalm 110 which tells Him to sit down at His right hand. It is those two verses that are brought
together in the mind of the writer. This
is important. It is not just abstract
doctrine or abstract theology. Once you
grasp what He is doing right now in the heavenlies at the right hand of God, it
should change your thinking about everything in your life. It moves you pass
immaturity into a personal sense of your eternal destiny. This book develops His incarnation, His
humanity and deity, the blood of Christ, His royal high priesthood, and His
substitutionary atonement. He does this
in order to encourage believers in intensified suffering to press on to
spiritual maturity. This is an incredible
doctrinal exposition in the New Testament.
Canonicity is the study of
how certain books written by Christian leaders came to be included with in a
standardized collection of books that became the absolute authority for the
Christian life. The word canon comes from
a word meaning a rule or standard. Canonicity
is very important today because it has to do with how we know the truth. It is a crucial battleground today. This is where we are being attacked.
We note that when the author
quotes the Old Testament, he always quotes from the Septuagint in Hebrews. There are a few differences. For example in Psalm 8:5 we read of the
heavenly beings.
NKJ Psalm 8:5
For You have made him a little lower than the angels, And You have crowned him
with glory and honor.
That is the word elohim
in the Masoretic Text.
NKJ Hebrews 2:7
You have made him a little lower than the angels; You have crowned him with
glory and honor, And set him over the works of Your hands.
The translators used the
Greek word angellos. So the writer
of Hebrews uses the Septuagint and applies that to Jesus. Does that mean that the Masoretic Text is
wrong? No. By using the LXX, the writer takes this to
build another doctrine - that is that Jesus was made a little lower than the
angels in His incarnation. This helps us
understand some things about the Old Testament.
Neither the Masoretic Text nor the LXX are wrong.
God has used the King James
Version to bring millions of people to salvation and millions of believers to
maturity. So you can learn a tremendous
amount of doctrine from reading. There
are some things that you will not understand, but you can understand the basics
of the spiritual life and go to spiritual maturity through the King James Version.
That is all many pastors had to lead their flocks to spiritual maturity.
There are 35 direct
quotations from the Old Testament usually introduced by the formula “God said”
or “He said”. On top of that there are
53 other allusions to the Old Testament statements. So there are at least 88 references to the
Old Testament. Every chapter of Hebrews
has multiple references to the Old Testament.
In fact chapter one is almost completely quotations from the Old Testament.
Hebrews is one of the most
disputed books because the early church looked to apostolic writers. They used certain criteria. They didn’t know
who wrote it. They didn’t know who the
recipients were. Before the close of the
canon it was recognized as authoritative.
If you read I Clement, he wrote a letter to the Corinthians that strings
together a series of quotations from Hebrews 1.
He viewed it as an authoritative work for the Christian life.
Justin Martyr who lived in
the first half of the second century and Irenaeus and Hippoletus who ministered
from 190 to 236 all recognized the inherent authority of Hebrews in their
writings. None of them held to Pauline
authorship. In the Eastern Church,
Pantanus who lived about 180 and Clement of Alexander and Origen who taught
between 200 and 254 all viewed it as authoritative and thought Paul wrote
it.
Furthermore Hebrews was
included among the Pauline epistles in a papyrus dated in the early 200’s. So it is clear that the early church accepted
Hebrews as authoritative but they weren’t as sure about it as they were other
books. It was a few years before it was
accepted as authoritative.
Why was it accepted? It was accepted because it passed the
performance test. It was accepted based
on its content. It was clearly accepted
as authoritative and was finally recognized.
Most people think that the canon were accepted because a group of men
got together and said some were accepted and some were not. Just the opposite happened. They simply validated what was happening in
reality. It was more of a recognition of
authority than a declaration of authority.
This is a tremendous work to
build a case for the deity and humanity of Christ and what is happening in the
session and what it means to us in our everyday Christian lives.