1. Attestation
a. External - Clement of Rome (96AD), Polycarp, uses similar words, and Justin Martyr
b. Sent to Jewish people
c. Clement of Alexandria said Paul wrote it
d. Hebrews 13:23 ("I want you to know that our brother Timothy has been released. If he arrives soon, I will come with him to see you.") - message to Timothy
2. Author
a. Writer does not mention his name, whereas Paul usually does.
b. Paul is apostle to the Gentiles, so he might have been writing anonymously. Dr. James Borland does not think that the author is trying to be anonymous.
c. Hebrews 2:3 ("How shall we escape if we ignore such a great salvation? This salvation, which was first announced by the Lord, was confirmed to us by those who heard him.") - writer is dependent upon someone else. Paul always emphasizes that his information came from Christ.
d. This writer knew the Septuagint. Paul used the Hebrew whereas the writer of Hebrews used the LXX (Septuagint) Greek translation.
e. Timothy has been set free, and the writer, unlike Paul, was going to visit him (about 55AD).
3. Eastern church thought that Paul was the author. Clement of Alexandria thought Paul wrote it and Luke translated it. Many have said Luke, exclusively. Some have said Barnabas because he was Jewish. Acquila and Priscilla have been suggested. Apollos, a Jew, has been suggested. He was a great orator. Silas has been suggested. Origen said that only God knows.
4. Background
a. Written to Jewish believers. The New Testament is not written to Christians, but to professing believers. Professing is not believing. No reference in Hebrews to Gentile believers.
b. Maybe to Palestine, Antioch, or so forth. No one can tell the location or the destination of this epistle.
5. Date and occasion
a. Time of persecution
b. Writer says that Jesus is better than Moses, angels, and so forth. The writer does not mention the destruction of the Temple, so probably a little before 70AD, maybe 67AD. By then, Paul was already dead.
c. This book establishes Christ and Christianity to encourage a complete break from Judaism to Christ, to warn against apostasy, and to encourage them to move toward Christ.
d. Key Word: "better"
6. Hebrews 4:9 ("There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God.") - God's rest and entering into it
7. Jesus is our High Priest, in all points tempted. This does not mean that He was tempted in all ways.
8. Chapter 5 - likened to Melchidzedec (a type of Christ, but not Christ)
9. Different Viewpoints
a. Arminian View - you can lose your salvation and not be saved again
b. Rolle (fruit-bearing) - if fall away from fruitfulness, then you cannot get back to it
c. Hypothetical (cannot really happen) - the verses are only given as a warning.
d. Calvinist View - cannot lose salvation (talking about lost, not saved people)
10. Hebrews 6:4 ("It is impossible for those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, who have shared in the Holy Spirit, who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the coming age, if they fall away, to be brought back to repentance, because to their loss they are crucifying the Son of God all over again and subjecting him to public disgrace.") - Once enlightened, heavenly gift, and so forth, people will not repent if they walk away. These are ambiguous, but why? Because he is only writing to professors of Christ. These words become indicators of a person's true condition.
Tom of Bethany "He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life." (I John 5:12)
Index to Selected Essays And Book Reviews
Lesson 29 - The Epistles of John
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