Getting Biblical in Daily Life
The Epistle to the Hebrews is one of the masterpieces of the Bible: the writing is sophisticated and the ideas it's putting forward are majorly complex. So let's take a closer look at what exactly this book is saying.
Author, Author
First stop: the author. Who wrote all this stuff? The traditional answer is that Paul the Apostle it—along with the other 13 letters he contributed to the New Testament. The reason: at the end of the letter, the author mentions one of Paul's favorite traveling companions, Timothy (13:23).
But don't get too cozy with the idea—there's a difference in both style and substance between Hebrews and Paul's writing.
If it wasn't Paul, who was it? Here are some possibilities:
- Tertullian, a 2nd-century church father, thought that Paul's friend Barnabas might have written Hebrews.
- Martin Luther suggested that it could be Apollos (whose name appears in Acts and 1 Corinthians).
- Early biblical figures like Aquila, Silas, or Jude have also been name dropped.
- Even a lady's name made it into the mix: Prisca, who we first meet in Acts 18. (Source, 1149)
The 3rd-century church philosopher, Origen, summed up the whole thing: "Men of old time have handed it down as Paul's. But who wrote the epistle, in truth, only God knows" (source).
Gentle Reader
We don't know who wrote it, but we do know who read it, right?
Not quite.
The title of the book says it's addressed to "the Hebrews," which is just a 1st-century way of saying "the Jews," but that description was added later on. Clearly, the book is addressed to folks who must have had some clue what the author was talking about. That means that it was probably going out to Christians who had a Jewish background; otherwise all the stuff about Jesus and Jewish scripture would have gone way over their heads. (Source, 1149)
What else was going on with these Jewish-Christians? Well, they're catching a little flak for their beliefs. Apparently, the non-Christians around them weren't too taken with their faithful ways and they'd been publicly ridiculed and arrested and had their homes ransacked by the authorities (10:32-34). Sure, no one had died yet, but the author of Hebrews warns that they should be ready for it if the time comes.
Gulp.
You Down with J.C.?
Why write all this down anyway? It's the same reason that just about every New Testament book was written: to talk about Jesus. He's kind of a big deal.
Here's what Hebrews thinks of the guy. For starters, he wasn't just a man. Sure, he became a human being for a little while, but he's also on the same level as God:
- Jesus was there when God created the universe.
- He's just as glorious and magnificent and wonderful as the Big Guy in every way.
- He's the Son of God, the High Priest forever, who gets a primo seat at the right hand of God in Heaven and the angels totally worship the ground he walks on (1:2-4).
This is what biblical scholars like the call a "high Christology." Translation? We're leaning more towards Christ, the divine being, than Jesus of Nazareth, regular guy. Back in the 1st-century, this stuff was a hot topic. Some Christians thought that Jesus was just a man who followed God. Others thought that he just looked like a man, but was actually a spiritual being. These questions weren't settled until the 4th and 5th centuries when the church finally declared that Jesus was both God and man (source).
Talk about having your communion wafer and eating it, too.
Not Dead Yet
God sent Jesus to Earth to change the world…and human beings promptly killed him.
Oops.
On its face, it seemed that God had been defeated. After all, Jesus was dead—what good could he do now?
As it turns out, a lot. According to Hebrews, Jesus' death had a sacrificial quality. Basically, that just means that when Jesus gave up his own life, it wiped away humans' sins from God's ledgers. Debt paid in full. Plus, because Jesus himself died and went to God, no one ever had to be afraid to die again.
Man, those early Christians sure could spin a public execution.
A Real Mensch
The author is also really interested in reconciling Jesus with Jewish tradition because Jesus and his first followers were Jewish. After he died, Christianity started to branch out to non-Jews, but one thing was clear—Jesus was definitely the continuation of thousands of years of Jewish life, culture, and traditions.
That's why our author quotes from Jewish scripture left and right. Seriously, a good chunk of this book is cribbed from the Hebrew Bible.
- He sees verses from the Psalms as predicting the coming of God's son.
- He interprets words of the prophets as a promise of a new covenant in the future.
- And he looks to stories from the Torah to show that God has given the world a new set of rules to follow. (Source, 1237)
It's all pretty masterful, actually. The author lists out his evidence from scripture and then goes line-by-line and word-by-word proving his points about Jesus.
It's pretty good literary analysis, but as we know, literary analysis is always subjective.
Priestly Duties
One of the most killer re-imaginings of J.C. is the image of Jesus as the High Priest. In Jewish tradition, the high priest offered sacrifices for the Jewish people once a year on Yom Kippur. He would sprinkle blood in the most holy inner sanctuary in the tabernacle (where's God's presence dwelled), and the people's sins would be wiped away. The idea was that, by giving something up, the people could get right with God again.
If you think about it, says our author, you'll see that Jesus is actually the true High Priest. He goes into the place where God dwells (Heaven). But he doesn't bring goat blood with him—he brings his own blood. And because of his son's sacrifice for all of humanity, God agrees to forget about our sins and make a new deal with us. He'll be our God and we'll be his people. We won't have to worry about all those pesky laws—we just need to live like Jesus and we'll be fine.
Obviously, Jewish folks don't agree with the author's spin on their Bible. But that hasn't stopped Christians from combing through the Hebrew Bible to find verses that they think point to the New Testament. Some people might call this proof-texting, cherry-picking, or quote-mining. But the author of Hebrews calls it a rock solid theological foundation.
Keep the Faith
Hebrews is about Jesus, yes—but it's also about his followers. Jesus's followers are supposed to see in him the perfect model for humanity. This is the person they should all be striving to become, and all these ideas are meant to encourage Christians to keep on keeping on. (Source, 1237)