Lesson 1<\/p>\n
The Mystery of Hebrews<\/p>\n
Overview<\/p>\n
September 13, 2015<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Over the years I have tried to be very careful concerning the material I read. It is so easy to be misled by ideas that sound good but in the end are destructive to one\u2019s faith. The Book of Mormon certainly fits into this category as far as I am concerned. I tend to select authors and books based on the references made to them by writers I trust. If someone came to me and asked me to read a book like Hebrews I would be very hesitant for a number of reasons. Asking about the book I would get a number of answers that would be somewhat unsettling. Here are a few:<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
There are probably a number of other questions that might be asked but if the answer to most or all of them is, I do not know or I am not sure the book would not find its way on a reading list.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
If we look at the condition of the church of today we see that many different denominations have been caught up in the trap of basing their belief system on false teachings. If they pay attention to Scripture at all they have a tendency to twist its teachings in ways that benefit themselves. The Bible is very clear on what it says about what we are to believe and the way we are to live. Thankfully, the men who decided on the writings to be included were very careful of what found its way into the sixty-six books. The Book of Hebrews was one of a few that were only accepted at a comparatively late date. It was finally accepted by the time of the Synods of Hippo (393 A.D.) and Carthage (397 and 419 A.D.). Even after its acceptance there was many more questions about the book than answers. I will try to cover some of them in this introduction.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Uniqueness of the book<\/p>\n
From its beginning it has been shrouded in mystery. One of the things that make it different from all the other letters in the New Testament is the fact that there is no salutation, no greeting or identification of the recipients. One conclusion is that to identify either would have put their lives in danger with the authorities.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
How it became part of the Canon<\/p>\n
The early church fathers thought the book of such significance that they wanted it included into the canon. The only problem was that they did not know who had actually written it. In order for a book to be a part of what we have today in God\u2019s word, the material had to either be written by an apostle or someone closely associated to one for an example someone like Luke who was part of Paul\u2019s team. To resolve that issue they chose Paul as the author and actually placed Hebrews at the end of the thirteen letters that they knew Paul had written.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Authorship<\/p>\n
In all likelihood Paul did not write the book. There are at least three reasons, among others, that stand out to show that he was not the author. First, The lack of the prologue that usually included the name of Paul as the writer is missing. Secondly, The content and style of what is probably a combination and sermon differ greatly from anything else Paul wrote. Lastly, the writer\u2019s extensive use of the Old Testament was unlike the way Paul had included them. Some of the earliest church fathers dealt with this problem by stating that the ideas were Paul\u2019s but the composition of the letter was done by a secretary like Silas or even Luke.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Most scholars in the twentieth and twenty-first century do not believe that Paul was the author. Some of the possible names that have been floated as possible candidates are Barnabas and even Apollos. Because of their relationship with Paul there would be some of his teachings that would have found their way into the book no matter which of the men might have written it..<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The author of \u201cThe New American Commentary on Hebrews,\u201d David Allen leans toward Luke being the author for the following reasons.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
As Dr. Allen states in his commentary, \u201cWhen one considers the lexical, stylistic and theological similarities between Luke-Acts and Hebrews coupled with the way in which a theory of Lukan authorship can be historically reconstructed from the texts themselves, there is impressive evidence that points to the Lukan authorship of Hebrews.\u201d (Page 61)<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Our overview next brings us to the question of, to whom was the book written and where were they living. The most accepted answer today is that Luke was writing to those Jewish priests who had become followers of Christ. Because of their stance they had been forced to leave Jerusalem having lost their position in the service of the Temple. At the time of the writing they were probably part of the greater church in Antioch. They were, however, a separate congregation from those where the majority of membership was made up of Gentiles.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Luke wrote to those former priests who were on the verge turning their backs on Christianity. Because of the uncertainty of what was going to happen to the followers of Christ they were considering a return the religion where they felt comfortable. There would also be a familiarity with the traditions and rituals of the Jewish faith. The letter was written to give those men encouragement and to share the superiority of Christ over what they had left behind.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
We will end with two simple views of the book presented by Dr. Allen and then John Phillips in his \u201cExploring Hebrews.\u201d First Dr. Allen sees the book as divided in three sections dealing with the Sonship of Jesus, Hebrews 1:5-4:13 then Jesus as High Priest, Hebrews 4:14-10:18 and finally Jesus as the King, Hebrews 10:19-13:21.<\/p>\n
Dr. Phillips states it a little differently. He sees \u201cThe superior person of Christ as Son, Hebrews 1:1-2:18. He moves from there to the idea of Jesus as the superior Savior through the provisions of the cross, Hebrews 3:1-10:39. Finally, the superior principles of Christianity is provided in Hebrews 11:1-13:25.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
What I have tried to give here is a condensed version of introductory material that covered some one hundred pages. Hopefully, It is enough to wet your appetite to get into this exciting, challenging and power book not only written for those living in the first century but for us in the twenty-first century.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Lesson 1 The Mystery of Hebrews Overview September 13, 2015 Over the years I have tried to be very careful concerning the material I read. It is so easy to be misled by ideas that sound good but in the end are destructive to one\u2019s faith. The Book of Mormon certainly fits into this […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-564","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-hebrews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/biblicalmastery.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/564","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/biblicalmastery.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/biblicalmastery.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblicalmastery.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblicalmastery.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=564"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/biblicalmastery.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/564\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":565,"href":"https:\/\/biblicalmastery.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/564\/revisions\/565"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/biblicalmastery.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=564"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblicalmastery.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=564"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblicalmastery.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=564"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}