Hebrews

Imagine that you decided to change religions. Not a minor change, say like switching from the Methodist Church to the Presbyterian Church, but from a mainstream church to a peculiar little group. One that required you to dramatically change your diet and reject all of the traditional celebrations of your culture (birthdays, Christmas, Easter, Sunday worship), and even walk away from your profession for which you invested year of study for a much lower paying job. Do you think your family and friends would approve and support your move? More likely, they will criticize you and think that you are a fool. After a while it might be very tempting to walk away from your new way of life and to return to your older, familiar lifestyle.

Well, this is the situation that Jewish Christians found themselves in when this book was written. They had walked away from Judaism to follow this new little cult called “Christianity.” They were being persecuted and were tempted to go back to Judaism, a religion that was tolerated by the Romans. This letter is written to encourage them to remain in the faith and to show that what Christianity has to offer is far superior to Judaism. Jesus is superior to angels, superior to Moses and superior to the Levitical priesthood. He tells them that they should not make a mistake like Esau did when he sold his birthright to Jacob. Don’t decide to go back, go forward.

Unlike so many other letters, this one does not identify its author, though for many centuries it was commonly called “The Epistle of Paul to the Hebrews.” In Hebrews 2:3 it suggests that the author of this letter hadn’t been with Jesus during his earthly ministry. So Paul could be the author, though the writing style is not that of Paul. So, we have a mystery. We do know that it was written before the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem in 70 A.D. because the Levitical worship was still in place. 

1:1-4 “In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these LAST DAYS he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he made the universe. . . sustaining all things . . . after he provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven. . . . So he became as much superior to the angels as the name he has inherited is superior to theirs.”

There is a lot of information in these four verses. You notice that the author says that he was living in the “last days.” The last days are here and have been here since the time of the New Testament church.

The author goes on to say that it was Jesus, not an angel, through whom God has spoken, made heir to all things, and through whom he made the universe and it is he who is holding it all together. He (Jesus) also provided purification and when he was done, sat down (a symbolic act of completion) in the place of honor, at the right hand of God. What the author is saying is that the resume of Jesus is far superior to any angel. Apparently Jewish angelology had become very complex in the centuries prior to Jesus. They may have elevated the status of angels and wondered, “Where does this Jesus fit in to their hierarchy?”  The author says, “No where! He is far superior to angels.”

1:5-6 “For to which of the angels did God ever say, ‘You are my son; today I have become your Father’ or again, “I will be his Father and he will be my son.’” And again, when God brings his firstborn into the world, he says, ‘Let all God’s angels worship him.’

God has never called an angel, “son.” No angel calls God, “Father.” Now, angels, collectively, are called “sons of God,” in Job; but to no angel did God say, “You are my son.” So there is a father-son relationship here between God and Jesus; which no angel has. In verse 6 God the Father says that Jesus is to be worshipped by angels. Again, Jesus is superior to angels.

1:14 “Are not all angels ministering spirits sent to serve those who will inherit salvation?”

Angels are servants, ministering spirits, errand boys, if you will to those who will inherit salvation. Angels serve, but the Son rules. 

So, Jesus is superior to angels, how about Moses? Is he also superior to Moses? This is the subject of chapter 3.

3:3 “Jesus has been found worthy of GREATER honor than Moses, just as the builder of a house has greater honor than the house itself.”

Just as the creator is greater than the creation; so Jesus is greater than Moses.

4:9 “There remains, then a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; for anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from his own work, just as God did from his. Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest. . . .”

The author is telling them that they need to become more spiritually, enter a Sabbath-rest, rather than relying on their own efforts. The author remind them of the disobedience of the Israelites where they failed to enter a “Sabbath-rest” when they failed to move ahead in faith into the Promised Land. He warned the Jewish Christians not to make the same mistake. Here is the background of that mistake. After Moses led them to the town of Kadesh-barnea, he sent a dozen spies into the Promised Land, among the spies were Joshua and Caleb. When the spies returned and reported to Moses and the Israelites what they found, only Joshua and Caleb were willing to move into Canaan, the others lacked faith. Because of their disobedience they were sentenced to wander in the desert for forty years until that generation died off. Joshua and Caleb were the only members of the older generation to enter the Promised Land. The author is encouraging the Israelites not to make the same mistake, lacking faith and paying a heavy price for it. 

The author has thus far shown the superiority of Jesus to angels and to Moses. Now he will focus on his priesthood, versus the Levitical Priesthood.

5:5 “. . . .”You are a priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek.”

Now, Melchizedek is a figure from Genesis. In Genesis we find that he was a king and priest. In that day, such individuals had double duty. Jesus, like Melchizedek, is both King of King and our High Priest. In this sense, his priesthood was better than the Aaronic priesthood, since these priests were only priest, not kings. This would be like someone who is both Chief Justice of the Supreme Court and President of the United States being in a greater position than someone who was only the Chief Justice.

5:11 “We have much to say about this, but it is hard to explain because you are slow to learn. In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God’s word all over again.”

What other church was described as being spiritually immature? The church in Corinth was described as mere infants, still on milk, not ready for solid food (I Cor 3:1-2).

6:1 “Therefore let us leave the elementary teachings about Christ and go onto to maturity. . . .”

Moving onto maturity is another way of saying, entering Sabbath-rest. “Let’s move on!”

6:4 “It is impossible for those who have once been enlightened, (not necessarily converted, but exposed to the truth), who have tasted the heavenly gift (not necessarily swallowed), who have shared in the Holy Spirit (influenced by but not necessarily indwelt by it), who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the coming age (seen the wisdom and power of the Word of God), if they fall away to be brought back to repentance, because to their loss they are crucifying the Son of God all over again an subjecting him to public disgrace.”

Here is what one commentator said about this passage: “This section contains one of the most debated passages in biblical studies.” So, if you think that this humble Bible teacher of limited abilities is going to settle the arguments once and for all-sorry, it’s not going to happen. 

I added some words in parenthesis in the above verse so as to give one explanation. For years I thought that this passage taught that you cannot lose your salvation. Some scholars say that this passage means that some have come close to accepting Jesus, but then he turned away, failing to come to true repentance. God has done everything he could for them, but they were hard hearted and rejected salvation. To illustrate this interpretation I picture a salesman who presents to a potential customer all of the features and benefits of his product, overcame all of the customer’s objections, and has done everything he could to get the customer to buy it, but he just won’t make the final step and purchase it. The salesman throws up his hands in frustration and leaves. 

That’s what I thought this passage meant. But, think a better explanation is that this passage doesn’t deal with salvation at all, but the maturation of a believer. The entire book refers to people who are already true believers, but they were immature. The author is not encouraging his audience to get saved, but to become more mature. Since they were immature believers, the author might be saying that if they decide to not become mature, they will make the irreversible decision that will permanently keep them in a state of spiritual immaturity.

Let me explain this with another illustration (I like illustrations). Imagine a local church that is made up of many Christians who are immature and illiterate with regards to the Bible. Now God brings to the church a couple who has developed a thriving teaching ministry for both children and adults. This couple offers their services to this new church. This couple can provide for the members a sound, comprehensive Bible study program for all ages. The church has to make a choice, accept this couple in the congregation and allow them to use their gifts for the benefit of the congregation or reject their offer and remain permanently immature, complacent with their immaturity.

One respected commentator says of this passage: “There have been at least ten suggested interpretations of this verse.” Do you want all ten explained to you? I didn’t think so. Shall we move on? Good.

7: Melchizedek the Priest. This is another difficult chapter because we do not come from a Jewish first-century background. Here the author is saying that the priesthood of Jesus is greater than what the Jews had under the Aaronic priesthood. In fact the Law shows this.

Here the author compares Jesus other priesthoods to show that his is superior: 

• Jesus was not just a priest, like those in the Aaronic priesthood; he was like Melchizedek in that he was both king and priest (v.1).
• Jesus is a superior priest because he didn’t even have to be from the tribe of Levi (he was from the tribe of Judah); and his qualifications were based on his resurrection from the dead (v.16).
• Jesus is a superior priest because his priesthood is forever (Levitical priests had to retire at age 50).
• Jesus is a superior priest because he only had to sacrifice once for all when he offered himself (v 27).
• Levitical priests had to repeat their sacrifices over and over again (10:12).
• Jesus is a superior priest because he is a priest of a New Covenant; written on the people’s minds and hearts, not on stone tablets (8:10).
• Jesus is a superior priest because what the Levitical priests offered could not clear the conscience of the worshipper and were temporary until the time of the new order (9:10).

Just as we saw in Galatians, we need to stop trying to earn our salvation by obeying laws that we can never fully obey. God is pleased when we come to the realization that we need him. It is coming to the end of our rope and realizing that it is God who holds the other end.

Now we are going to move from theology to application. So, the rest of the book is more practical. Even if you don’t fully understand something, we can at least understand what we need to do.

10:23 “Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. Let us not give u meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another –and all the more as you see the Day approaching.”

Here the author is encouraging them to stick together, to continue to have fellowship with one another. And when they come together, they are to encourage each other to love and good deeds. Attending a worship service for an hour and sitting with strangers, without interaction, is not what he has in mind. How can you encourage one another if you don’t know what is going on in the lives of others? How can you do good deeds if you don’t know what the needs are? And, I will add, this coming together does not necessarily mean Sunday morning worship nor is it limited to Sunday morning worship. 

The Day approaching may have a double meaning. The first meaning is the coming destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D because of their national rejection of the Messiahship of Jesus which prefigures the final judgment.

10:37 “For in just a very little while, ‘He who is coming will come and will not delay. But my righteous one will live by faith. And if he shrinks back, I will not be pleased with him.”

Does this passage sound familiar? It’s from Hab 2:3, 4 and also quoted in Rom 1:17 and Gal 3:11. Those who were being persecuted don’t know what the future holds, but they must live by faith. And, if these people “shrink back,” return to their old ways of Judaism, God will not be pleased.

11: This is referred to as the faith chapter, much as I Cor 15 is referred to as the resurrection chapter. In it we have a “Hall of Fame” of those who were faithful. The author is inviting them to do likewise, remain faithful like these “heroes of the faith.”

1:1 Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.”

Here’s another definition of faith, I think it was C.S. Lewis who wrote: “Faith is the art of holding on to things your reason has once accepted, in spite of your changing moods.” Isn’t it easy to express faith until you’re in the middle of a crisis and your emotions take control?

You will notice that Rahab the prostitute is listed, as is Samson (v. 31-32). Isn’t it encouraging that you don’t have to be perfect to be used by God or to deserve His commendation?

12:1 “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.”

He sounds like a sports coach getting his team psyched up for the big game. We all have a job to do, let’s get rid of those distractions (possessions we don’t need, relations that drag us down, etc.) and focus on the task at hand. 

13:1-2 “Keep on loving each other as brothers. Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some people have entertained angels without knowing it.”

One of the qualifications for an elder is to practice hospitality. This does not mean to invite church members to your house. The meaning was to open your house to traveling preachers so that they had a safe place to stay, rather than the notorious local lodges/bars. Also, because of the persecution, some have lost their homes and needed a place to stay. As for entertaining angels, can you recall a person in the Old Testament who did this? How about Abraham in Gen 18-19? Now the Greek word for angel means messenger. The author might be saying that the stranger might be God’s messenger, not an actual angel. 

13:3 “Remember those in prison as if you were their fellow prisoners, and those who are mistreated as if you yourself were suffering.”

I visited a person in a federal prison one time. It was a scary experience to walk through doorways and hear the heavy metal doors close behind you as you make your way to the visiting area. Perhaps the church hasn’t done as much in this area as it should. Nursing homes and other long term care facilities are other places where I think people could benefit from more outside contact by the church.

13:9 “Do not be carried away by all kinds of strange teachings. It is good for our hearts to be strengthened by grace, not by ceremonial foods, which are of no value to those who eat them.”

I think that fussing about foods, as some have done, and still do, is one of those things that we need to “throw off” because it hinders us from what is really important.

13:16 “And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased.”

For those who want to go back to the Levitical sacrifices, the author is saying that the sacrificing what we have with those in need is the sacrifice that pleases God.

How do you think this letter was received? Was much of it rejected as Paul’s letter to the Corinthian church was? Apparently not. According to Josephus, a first century Jewish historian, Heggisippus, who lived in the second century and Eusebius, a Gentile Christian of the fourth century, they responded positively. They made their break with Judaism and when the Jewish revolt started in 66 A.D. the entire community of Jewish believers escaped across the Jordan River to Pella. They waited out the war which destroyed the temple and Jerusalem. Over one million were killed in this conflict. These writers claim that not a single Jewish believer was killed because they obeyed the letter to the Hebrews. 

Well, you made it through Hebrews. James, another “Jewish Epistle” is next. It won’t be as challenging as Hebrews... trust me.