The Letter to the Hebrews

IntroductionWinter 2014 FXCC

Book, Letter, ?

• We will find that this letter is more a sermon than letter– No introduction– No personal notes– Does end much like a letter– Exhortation to stay the course

Book, Letter, ?

• Hebrews presumes a knowledge of the Old Testament– Particularly Tabernacle ritual– Many references to the OT– In fact it has 83 OT references/quotes– Remember the OT was the Bible of the 1st century

church!

Old Testament in the New

• Romans has 84 OT references• I Corinthians has 26• Galatians has 14• Ephesians has 12• Biblical scholar Craig Evans has produced a 31

page list of OT references found in the NT!

Old Testament in the New

• Why so many OT references in Hebrews??– We will at this more of this later

• Mainly shows that Jesus is God’s FINAL and BEST revelation

• PERIOD

Canonicity

• Hebrews appears in most of the earliest lists of canonical books

• The earliest of the church fathers quote it as scripture and/or are aware of it– Clement of Rome (1st century)– Shepherd of Hermes (1st/2nd century)

• Not sure when it gained its title– But at least by end of 2nd century

Canonicity

• It shows up in P46 (the oldest MSS of Paul’s epistles, late 2nd century)

• Origen had no doubts about its canonicity, even if he did not know who wrote it

• Eusebius lists it as one of the “acknowledged” books of the canon

• Syriac church fathers affirm its canonicity

Canonicity

• Clement of Rome quotes it, not clear if he considers it canonical

• Justin Martyr seems to have known of it (allusions to its language)

• Gaius of Rome did not consider it canonical• Irenaeus (Smyrna and Gaul) and Hippolytus

Rome) did not consider it canonical• Not listed in Muratorian Canon

Canonicity

• Tertullian seems to have considered it canonical

• In general the Reformation leaders accepted it as canonical, just not Pauline

Author

• Maybe you noticed that Hebrews does not identify its author

• What other Bible books also make no mention of their author?

• Was often included among Paul’s epistles• Canonicity was never doubted

Author

• The eastern church favored the theory of Pauline authorship

• The western church resisted that at least until the late 4th century

• Tertullian (160-225 AD, western church, Carthage) favored Barnabas as the author

Author

• Those not supporting Pauline authorship– Irenaeus (Gaul, 130-202 AD)– Hippolytus (Rome, 170-235 AD)– Gaius of Rome (early 3rd century)– Eusebius (Caesarea, Palestine, early 4th century,

records that western church did not accept it as Pauline)

– Ambrosiaster (Rome, late 4th century)

Author

• Western opinion changed by – Jerome (Rome, Palestine, 347-420 AD) author of

the Latin Vulgate– Augustine of Hippo (N Africa (Algeria), 354-430

AD) author of “City of God” and “Confessions”

Author

• Generally accepted as Pauline from 4th/5th century until the Reformation (Luther, 1517 AD)– Most early collections of Paul’s writings included

14 letters vice 13– Not everyone was convinced, but the trend

prevailed

Author

• Other suggested authors– Clement of Rome (1st century bishop)– Luke (translated Paul’s Hebrew language letter to

Greek)– Apollos (1st century Christian from Acts)– Barnabas– Priscilla or Priscilla and Aquila

Author

• General consensus today is that the style and vocabulary of Hebrews is not Pauline– Also 2:1&3 seem to say that the author got his

knowledge of Christ from others– Paul declared that he had a personal encounter

with Christ

Author

• Basically Origen (Alexandria and Tyre, 184-253 AD) said it best – “…but who wrote the epistle God only knows.”

Audience (Who, Why & Where)

• The audience is also not identified in the book• We do have some clues• The book clearly assumes a strong familiarity

on the part of the readers with the OT Levitical priesthood and worship– While this could be Gentile Christians, it is most

probably Jewish Christians

Audience (Who, Why & Where)

• The recipients seem ready to give up on Christ and go back to what they knew before, i.e. the Old Covenant of Moses

• The author lays out arguments for why Christ was and remains superior to the Mosaic Law

• Encourages the recipients to stay the course, remain faithful and claim their reward

Audience (Who, Why & Where)

• The book repeatedly affirms the superiority of Christ to the OT Levitical system– Order of Melchizedek superior to the Levitical– Change covenant required

• The book seems to assume the readers had not seen (or heard) the living Jesus

• Thus they probably did not live in Judea or Galilee, but were Hellenistic Jews

Audience (Who, Why & Where)

• Where did these Jewish Christians live?• Again we do not know– Theories range from Judea to Spain– The temple is never mentioned, so Judea and

Galilee are not likely• We have evidence to support knowledge of

the book in Rome in the 1st century– But Rome and the west were slow in fully

adopting it as canonical

Audience (Who, Why & Where)

• 13:24 could mean it was written to Rome, but it could just as easily mean it was written from Rome

• So bottom line – we just don’t know where the original recipients lived

Date

• There are no explicit clues in the book that help here, but the lack of certain references help

• So far we have struck out– Author– Recipients (who, where)– What about when?

Date

• The early awareness of the letter and quoting from it, place it in the 1st century

• 2:3 would indicate that the recipients had heard the gospel from those who were first generation Christians

• 13:23 mention of Timothy is assumed to be Paul’s companion

Date

• 12:4 “not yet resisted unto blood” could– Mean prior to Nero’s persecution of 64 AD, if

written to Rome– Seems to eliminate Jerusalem, etc– Mean prior to Domitian’s (81-96 AD) persecutions

• There is NO mention of the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple in 70 AD– Such an event would support the author’s point

Date

• So all in all the best guess for the date is prior to 70 AD and probably prior to 64 too

Overview aka Outline

• Jan 5 – this Introduction• Jan 12 – Chapter 1• Jan 19 – Chapter 1• Jan 26 – Chapter 2• Feb 2 – Chapter 3• Feb 9 – Chapter 4• Feb 16 – Chapter 5

Overview aka Outline

• Feb 23 – Chapter 6• Mar 2 – Chapter 7• Mar 9 – Chapter 8• Mar 16 – Chapter 9• Mar 23 – Chapter 10• Mar 30 – Chapter 11• Apr 6 – Chapter 12

Overview aka Outline

• Apr 13 – Chapter 13• Apr 20 – No Class• Apr 27 – Conclusion

References

• F.F. Bruce, “The Epistle to the Hebrews”, The New International Commentary on the New Testament, Eerdmans, 1967

• Edward Fudge, “Our Man in Heaven: An Exposition of the Epistle to the Hebrews”,, Baker, 1974– Available on-line for free– http://www.edwardfudge.com/written/

omihtext.html

References

• Edward Fudge, “Hebrews: Ancient Encouragement for Believers Today”, Leafwood Publishers, 2009

• John Mark Hicks, Hebrews, Word Doc– http://johnmarkhicks.com/wp-content/uploads/

sites/10/2009/03/hebrews-edited.doc

References

• Bobby Valentine’s “Stoned-Campbell Disciple” blog – http://stonedcampbelldisciple.com/2013/08/20/

paul-and-the-unquestioned-authority-of-the-old-testament/