Introduction to Hebrews
Dr. Richard J. Krejcir

Background and Setting

Jesus Christ is greater than anything and everything! He is the fulfillment of the Old Testament; all that came before pointed to Him. This Book tells us of the Supremacy, Sufficiency, Pre-eminence, and Divinity of Christ. He is supreme over all—over angels, Patriarchs, prophets, priests, traditions, Law, and all that was created. Jesus is Superior in His Name, His role, and His purpose; He is the Ultimate Word of God! Because He is so, He can give us redemption and purify us from our sins. These has been given by God for Jesus and presented to us. Jesus is the Son and the eternal Sovereign God; God wants the entire universe to recognize Christ’s Sonship and LORDSHIP and rule. In fact, we too must recognize and worship Jesus as LORD.

This Epistle is about the God Who is here, the One who speaks. He is the God of promise and fact; He has an inheritance and an Inheritor and a role for us. The audience was a Church that was confused about the role of Christ and angels and which of them was superior. They tried to compromise His status to appease both pagans and Jews. For us, we can learn from their good example and be warned of their failures, so we can take the faith we have and grow it because He is able and He is the greater reality. The value and role we have in Christ is greater than any reality we may think we have.

These people, Jews by birth and converts to Christianity, were under persecution and harassment from their synagogue, friends, and family and it would get worse (10:32). Thus, they had to learn faith and take what the Lord had done and let it become more real and impacting. They had not done so well in this area, as many of us today struggle with too; the understanding and application of our faith can be allusive when we are not focused on what faith is all about. Life comes at us hard and fast and when we are not prepared by the development of our faith, we will fail at the deployment of our faith and our call and opportunities and suffer needlessly as a result. God wants us to succeed in life and faith and gives us instructions, encouragements, and warnings to get lined up to Him before it is too late.

The author of Hebrews is also appealing to those who are philosophically minded, as the Jewish philosopher Philo, who had some Gnostic tendencies but is credited in saying our reality on earth is only a mere shadow to heaven. Here, the twist is that God is the Builder and the Essence of reality and we are in His shadow to please Him by following His purpose for our lives. We are shown the qualifications of Jesus to be our High Priest, sole Mediator, God, and Friend. And we are shown our response, the importance of our emergent spiritual maturity, to know and grow in the power of God and His Word.

This is a work of encouragement too. The human author is identifying with his readers as a priest identifies with the weak, yet in great sincerity and passion points out the error of their ways so they will not fail or further waste away. At the same time, he is disappointed in his church of seasoned believers who should know and do more. He wonders if they have the intellectual and effectual faith to understand what he is saying. Perhaps even God Himself is frustrated by our lack of conviction, refusal of His Son, and the slowness of our faith—what we need to hear and be aware of today in our personal lives and church.

These people were once growing and thriving Christians who have stopped or have become lethargic in the furtherance of their faith. Many people in this early church were taking their new faith for granted because they thought grace was a license for apathy and irresponsibility. Indifference and sluggishness will cause us to drift away from the Word of God and His wondrous precepts and call and thus the opportunities He has for us too. Their struggle was also with laziness and complacency and perhaps stress with leadership transitions and pride as most churches do today. They were in eminent danger of backsliding away from Christ and into their old ways and even sin. They needed a lesson on the preeminence of Christ and encouragement to persevere and carry on what Christ had given them (Heb. 6:19; 11:10; 12:4; 13:3-17). A call to get right with Christ and move on with your faith is a call that we too must heed (Heb. 4:11-16; 6:1; 10:19-25)!

The recipients of this Epistle were also struggling with bad ideas and false doctrine, such as a misguided consideration that angels were supreme and that their messages were binding and infallible beyond that of the Prophets and even Christ. This teaching was not from the Torah or Writings; it was a first century heresy infecting both Jewish and Christian groups. Why is this so important? So the role of Christ is not confused with the role and purpose of angels who are inferior or seeking anyone or anything to replace Christ as so many Christians are doing today. So people in the early church and today will not compromise Christ�?status to appease others. Hebrews makes it clear: Christ is All in All and His Word is far more infallible and binding than angels or anything else. Then a climatic and careful argument is made that builds on Christ priesthood, so our rest is in Christ as Lord and Mediator and so we all can be equipped and encouraged to move on in the faith for His glory and our mutual benefit as a Church. And it is so we may draw nearer to Him and in so doing be the example for others to do so too.

This Epistle also points out a major problem in the practice of any religion, here being Judaism. It can easily become an idol. Just as misguided Christians in the Middle Ages sought relics from the holy land, today people seek miracles and signs without substance and/or chase false end time predictions and movements, while the main thing gets left out. The Jews so idolized Moses, they forgot who he was and what he pointed to. Thus, the author carefully points out that Christ is Lord and superior to Moses so to realign their focus on the main thing: Christ as Lord. It is the impact that Christ has had because His teaching has been listened to and adhered to. He is our help and our Lord; we can go to Him and we do. In so doing, we have the skills to know His Truth and practice it, living wholehearted and content lives in Him.

Theme and Purpose
The Permanence, Sufficiency, Preeminence, and Superiority of Jesus Christ! Jesus is the One upon Whom our faith rests and depends, from start to finish. The major purpose of this Epistle was to challenge and encourage one’s spiritual development and maturity in Christ so to resist temptations and persecution by the building up of mutual faith and knowledge of Christ (Heb. 4:1-11; 11:10-16; 13:14).

This Epistle of Hebrews introduces two major themes; one is the divinity of Christ. He is supreme over all—over traditions, Law, and all that was created, including angels and Patriarchs. He is the Ultimate Word of God! Jesus is the heir of all things. He is incarnate, He made the universe, and He is the radiance of God's glory and sustains all things. In so doing, He is able to give us redemption and purify us from our sins (Mark 16:19; Eph 1:20; Col 1:15-20; 3:1; 1 Pet. 3:22). The second major theme is we are in a new Covenant. Christ is our Divine Mediator and Priest. God is the One who speaks, both then and now, and there is a relationship between the old and the new covenant (Heb. 2:2-3; 4:12; 6:5; 11:3; 12:25). He is a God of promise and fact; He has an inheritance and an Inheritor and a role for us. The audience was a Church that was confused about who Christ is and what He does. Perhaps they were fatigued by family and cultural pressures to compromise His role and purpose to placate friends, family, the pagans and Jews. Who today do we try to appease? Are we even aware of it?

Hebrews was primarily written to prevent the Jewish Christians from throwing away their faith and be encouraged to be a testament for the Church though the ages, for us today and tomorrow, on what it means to life by faith by Who and what Christ has done. These people, like many of us today, were struggling with their faith. Suffering had gotten them down, family pressures and society had them doubting or weak in the commitment to Christ they once had given. Thus, perhaps shame and regret had set in because they were trying to maintain their Jewish identity while wearing the new label of “Christian,�?and were finding it difficult to walk in both worlds or leave one for the other (Heb. 10:32-39; 13:3). They needed instructions and encouragement.

Hebrews sets up an eloquent and carefully crafted case for the clear indication of the infinite deity, superiority, and supremacy of Jesus Christ as the eternal, Holy God, all of which is also documented in the Old Testament. In addition, Jesus is infinitely superior to any created being or entity. This argument uses various verses quoted from the LAX Septuagint (first century Greek translation of the Old Testament, most recognizable to the early church and Jews) using key words, such as Son, in order to link the thoughts from the coming Messiah to the revelation and resurrection of Christ Himself, a then common Jewish exegetical technique. These quotes come mostly from the Psalms such as Psalm 2:7 and the Old Testament passages 2 Samuel 7:14 and Habakkuk 2:3-4. Then the “author,�?inspired by the Holy Spirit, uses “rhetorical�?questions to prove Christ’s coming and His Supremacy (worshiped by angels) to a misguided church that thought angels were supreme and that Christ was also an angel of some sort, or at least not as authoritative (Deut. 32:43; 2 Sam. 7:14; Psalm 2:7; 97:7; Acts 13:33).

We are shown the importance of our continual spiritual formation. We are given the object of our faith, Christ; as He is the One who gives us our faith, we are to respond back to Him by faith. If we do not know His Word, the Bible, we do not know much about Christ and thus will not grow in Him. Our lives will backslide and fall to apostasy because of our spiritual laziness. Thus came a stern warning to take the Christian journey seriously and be faithful to our responsibility. If we turn our backs on Christ, we will be held responsible and receive the natural and supernatural consequences, even judgment. We must persevere in our faith and be encouragers and equippers of one another’s faith too, so we all can persevere, no matter what life and Satan throw at us, as we have our High Priest at our side!

The bottom line is that the object of this faithful trust is Christ; our salvation culminates in the Person and Word of Christ. He reveals even more of Himself. We are shown that we are in desperate need for forgiveness and for a Savior to give us mercy and grace. So Christ willingly participated in our humanity without compromise and sin, and became the High Priest to not only represent us, but also to pay our debt of sin. He sees our utter exposure before God and covers us by His suffering atonement. The benefit for us is that He can help us—not just in salvation, but also in our daily life of weakness, actions, and thoughts (Psalm 110:4; Mark 12:35-37).

Authorship

The Big mystery is, who penned this? Although this Epistle has Paul’s “fingerprints�?all over it in the words and themes used, it is not in his style; perhaps it was written form a lost letter he wrote after he had passed away. But, this work has no personal ascription to Paul or the autobiographical/personal references as his other letters clearly do. Nor do most of word usage and styles match Paul or Luke, the only two likely authors who had the education and ability to write in this high style over any other New Testament writer. This is written in a classic, formal Jewish style similar to the opening of “Ecclesiasticus, “a popular apocrypha Jewish wisdom book (deuterocanonical) written in a “high language�?style. Thus, whoever wrote it was highly educated, and influenced or personally discipled by Paul. Or, maybe Paul did write it to a different scribe near or at the time of his death. Where he slowly and carefully crafted this as a treatise, this is in contrast to his epistles that were dedicated in a hurry, while on the run, in prison or under some kind of pressure. And perhaps it was unfinished or the title page address, often written on the outside of the scroll, was lost. But these are theories and there is no hard evidence for them. Whoever the author was, he was well versed in the Old Testament, other Hebrew writings, and the Septuagint (Greek Translation of the Hebrew Scriptures). He was also intimate with his audience, perhaps their pastor or the one who founded their church, as he is very personal and caring when he address them, and can be very challenging—as a good pastor is (Heb. 10:32-34; 13:22-23).

Who could have written Hebrews? The author states in chapter thirteen (Heb. 13:23), that he traveled with Timothy; thus the person being a traveling companion to Paul is most probable. The most likely men who had the skills to compose this letter are first of all, Silas (Acts 16:37; 1 Pet. 5:12). He had the educational opportunities and was a citizen of Rome and was possibly a professional scribe. Second is Apollos, who was also a contender. He too traveled with Paul and was schooled in Alexandrian rhetoric as well as a trained and perhaps professional philosopher (Titus 3:13). Some have suggested it could have been a woman, perhaps Priscilla (Heb. 11:32). And that could be the reason why the author’s name is left out. That would be extremely rare, as all letters, like today, have the author’s name(s) and address on them. In those times, for a woman to write, and write something important was socially unacceptable. Priscilla is certainty a likely contender, but there is no evidence—only speculation. In addition, the author uses a masculine verb for himself (Heb. 11:32). Barnabas (Acts 4:36; 14:4,14) is also in the running from Jerome’s view (347-420 A.D.), who gave us the Vulgate, but again, there is no evidence to uphold Barnabas as the secret author, even though an early translation of the Bible, Codex Claremontanus, had the title as The Epistle of Barnabas. Clement of Alexandria (early church father, 150-220 A.D.) as well as Origen (185-253 A.D.) believed it was Paul, and other early church fathers, Tertullian (155-220 A.D.) believed it was Barnabas, others have suggested Luke or Clement of Rome (95 A.D.), but he comes on the scene way too late. Toward the end of his life, after careful study, Origen said, only God knows who has written the book. Most Church Fathers and scholars such as Pantaenus (around 160 A.D.) believed it was Paul and the debate then was if it was originally written in Hebrew and not Greek, but there no evidence supported this either. Martin Luther proposed it might have been Apollos. Calvin was the first to really dig into this issue and see the textual deviations from other Pauline Epistles, and thus ruled out Paul and proposed this author was just a mystery. Even if we did know the author, it would not add anything to our knowledge or understanding of this Epistle. The main point is this: God’s Word is inspired by Him and He used the hands and means of men to pen His thoughts and decrees. The real Author is the Holy Spirit of course.