The Book of Hebrews

Introduction

Welcome to the Epistle (or Book) of Hebrews as we go through a chapter-by-chapter, verse-by-verse study that carries eternal truths to help you gain a deeper knowledge of the Word of God.  This epistle centers around God the Father, telling us who is God the Son.  

The Theme of Hebrews

The theme of this epistle begins and settles on the superiority and preeminence of Jesus Christ.  Because Jesus became the one sacrifice for all of mankind, the temple and its sacrifices were no longer necessary for salvation. Within a short time after this writing, the temple would be destroyed and no longer could sacrifices be offered.  God’s temple could then only dwell within the hearts of those who believe and follow Jesus Christ Who became the One and only sacrifice for the salvation of mankind.

The believing Jews of Jerusalem, before this tragic event would take place, were being treated as outcasts by their own people. As a result, some of these Jewish believers were having second thought regarding their faith, and either escaping to other parts of the empire or even considering abandoning their faith to again return to Judaism. Therefore, these Jewish believers needed encouragement to walk in their faith in spite of opposing forces in their lives.

• They needed a fuller understanding of Who Jesus was and His relationship with the Old and the New Covenant.
• They needed to know why Jesus’ death and resurrection gave them their salvation and that the Levitical system was no longer necessary for them.
• They needed to know that they no longer needed continual sacrifices because Jesus became the One and only sacrifice that would take away their sins forever.
• They needed to know that Jesus was their High Priest and Mediator of a new and better covenant.

Unbeknownst to everyone at that time would be the upcoming Roman siege of the Jewish temple in Jerusalem within a few short years (Aug, 70 A.D.) that demolished the temple, the Sanhedrin Council and the Levitical system. Everything that was important to all Jews in their adherence to the Law of Judaism would be completely destroyed.  Any survivors of this terrible siege would then scatter from Jerusalem to other parts of the empire.

The Purpose of the Epistle of Hebrews

The Jewish believers in Jesus – especially those living in and around Jerusalem in the 1^st century A.D. were imbedded in Judaism with all its animal sacrifices and the Levitical Law. It was difficult for many of them to accept the New Covenant as superior to the Old Covenant. As a result, they kept going back to the letter of the Law, struggled with understanding Jesus’ claim as Messiah – His life, death and resurrection for eternal life with God.

These confused Jewish believers needed a fuller understanding of Jesus and His relationship with the Old and the New Covenant, so the author of this epistle was attempting to show them why Jesus’ death and resurrection gave them their salvation, and that the Levitical system was no longer necessary and needed to be eliminated.The writer of the Epistle of Hebrews points out that Jesus, as our High Priest over all, is the Mediator of a new and better covenant. It was important that these Jewish believers learn why Jesus was superior over all – angels, Joshua, Aaron, the prophets, and especially Moses and the Levitical system of Law. Throughout the epistle, the writer discusses the differences between the New and the Old Covenant, revealing how much better is the New Covenant because it is centered in and around Christ.

Heb 8:6 But as it is, Christ has obtained a ministry that is as much more excellent than the old as the covenant he mediates is better, since it is enacted on better promises. ESV

The Backdrop of a Jewish Believer

The local synagogues throughout Israel were more than a place of worship.  They were social places where Jewish men and women met to socialize, settle disputes, gaves tithes and offerings, circumcised their children, and just congregated together as Jews. The local synagogues were also places of learning for all Jewish boys from the ages of 5-14 years of age. While they may not have learned to read or write, they memorized the whole Torah - word for word, meaning the Books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. Within the temple in Jerusalem were the sacrifices of animals, the celebrations of the various feasts and festivals, and places to congregate, which brought close to a million Jews to the Holy City from all over the empire to celebrate several times a year. The synagogues in each city/town and the temple in Jerusalem were a very important part of the Jewish life. 

Both Jewish believers in Christ and traditional orthodox Jews still centered their life around their local synagogue and the temple.  Believing Jews came to believe that Jesus was the fulfillment of their long-awaited Messiah, and as such, they considered themselves as fulfilled Jews, still observing their heritage. Up until the time of the fall of Jerusalem, both believing and traditional orthodox Jews gathered together at the local synagogue and at the temple, clinging to the observances of the Law, even though believing Jews also trusted in Jesus and their salvation rested in Him.  This caused great tension with the traditional orthodox Jews who rejected Jesus, causing resentment toward the believing Jews.

These 1^st century Jewish believers expected the imminent return of Christ and the immediate “salvation of national Israel.”  In other words, they were expecting Christ’s 2^nd coming at any time.  As such, they were zealous for preaching the Word, as the apostles had taught them.  Often, they used the temple grounds or local synagogues to preach the Word, especially during the times of feasts and festivals when Jews came by the masses from all over Israel and around the empire to celebrate at the temple.  As a result, more people could be reached for the Gospel during the times of the feasts.

• This caused even greater resentment from the traditional orthodox Jew who grew to hate this Christ whom the believing Jews were preaching wherever they went.

There were, however, some Jewish believers who gave up their physical observances of the Law retaining to the sacrifices, having come to the understanding that Jesus’ death on the cross replaced the Old Covenant requirements of the Law.  That, however, was not the norm.  Most Jews affectionately held to certain practices of their Jewish past.  After all, they were Jewish and proud of their heritage.  They continued to attend their synagogues on the Sabbath, but some would often join their Gentile believers on the 1^st day of the week for worship and fellowship. In that, they were hanging onto both the Old and the New covenant. This brought on the beginnings of persecution from family and friends, and especially those of Jewish authority.

The Judaizers

Most of the Jewish believers in and around Jerusalem addressed in this epistle were still steeped in the rituals and regulations of the Mosaic Law and the Oral Traditions of the Elders. Some of them were extremists who insisted that in order to be saved, one had to be circumcised and follow after the Law in every respect. The Apostle Paul claimed these extremists were damaging to his ministry. They were known to follow him on his missionary journeys undermining his apostleship, claiming he was a false teacher. 

Even if these Jewish Christians were not extremists, most of them were still steeped in the Law and could not separate themselves from the Law, still trying to keep the sacrifices due to either severe persecution from the Traditional Orthodox Jews, having a difficult time ending the customs of their heritage. In addition, many of the staunch traditional orthodox Jews began to spread rumors that this Apostle Paul was a traitor to Judaism, and taught that the Jewish believers in Christ had forsaken Moses and the Law and needed to return to the customs of Judaism.  

Acts 21:21  but they have been informed about you (Paul) that you teach all the Jews who are among theGentiles to forsake Moses, saying that they ought not to circumcise their children nor to walk according to the custom.

Once the Apostle Paul began his missionary journeys to the Gentile people throughout Asia Minor around 42 A.D., the rapid growth of the Gentile church multiplied, which was independent of Judaism. It resulted in a separation between the Jewish and the Gentile believers. Even though the Apostle Paul, along with the church leadership in Jerusalem continuously preached unity between the believing Jews and Gentiles, the breach between them was widening which would be cemented for ages to come. [i] 

Martyrdom

James, the half-brother to Jesus, was the bishop of the Church at Jerusalem at this time. He was the cohesiveness that held both Jewish and Gentile believers together throughout Jerusalem in the 1^st century.  He was, however, arrested by the Sanhedrin Council in 62 A.D. for violating the Law of Moses.  He was shortly thereafter martyred.  After his martyrdom, division between the Jews and Gentile believers grew, and persecution spread.  Two years later, in 64 A.D., Emperor Nero’s persecution of Christians began in Rome. Persecution quickly spread all the way over to the Eastern Empire – as far as Israel.  Whether a person was a Jew or Gentile, persecution became common for all believers in Jesus Christ in the second half of the 1^st century A.D.  Sadly, this brought many Jewish believers to return to their Judaism.

The very title of this book tells us who the audience of this book belongs to - the Hebrew believers in Jesus Christ. Since Jerusalem had long been hellenized (Greek speaking culture) we know the audience was Hebrew believers in Christ who spoke Greek in and around Jerusalem.

This epistle was written to encourage these Jewish believers who would soon be floundering without their temple, priesthood, and sacrifices, shhowing that Jesus had become their High Priest of the New Covenant  - a better covenant. This new covenant was meant to replace the old, and Jesus lives within the hearts of those who trust in Him. Their physical temple was no longer necessary for salvation.

The average Hebrew person throughout Jerusalem spoke Greek; however, they could not read nor write the language. They had to rely on the traditions of what they knew from their ancestors and the memories of memorized Scripture. For those who could read and write, they were deeply rooted in the Old Testament - in the Greek Septuagint, which was the Scriptures the people of the 1^st century followed.  The Hebrew language was only used and spoken at that time by the learned, such as the scribes, Pharisees and the Sadducees.  That was their pride.

• Those living in small villages in Israel, far from Jerusalem, generally spoke Aramaic, such as in Galilee; however, the common language of the whole empire was Greek at that time. 
• According to Clement of Alexandria (150-215 A.D.), an early Christian philosopher and Church father theologian, the Epistle of Hebrews was originally written in Hebrew by the Apostle Paul, but then translated into Greek by Luke.  Both the leaders who knew Hebrew and the ordinary Greek spoken person could then get the message of what the writer was trying to convey to his audience. 

The Timing of This Writing

The timing of this writing was somewhere between 62-67 A.D. We know that the temple grounds were bustling with animal sacrifices with its aroma of the daily sacrifices filtering the air as a constant reminder of the old Law that had commanded all Jews to bring their sacrifices to the altar for the covering of their sins. The new Jewish believers in Christ in Jerusalem were surrounded and entrenched in the traditions of Judaism day in and day out. 

In 62 A.D., the Apostle Paul was tuck away in a Roman house prison in Italy, joined by Timothy who was either imprisoned with him or a constant visitor, as Paul's prison house was his headquarters for ministry while he awaited an audience before Nero the emperor with hope to be set free. As such, he was set free that same year. That was, however, a temporary release as he would later be captured again, put in a dungeon prison and martyred around 67 A.D.

• In that same year (62 A.D.) on the other side of the empire, James, the half-brother of Jesus, who was the head of the Jerusalem Church was martyred by the Jewish Sanhedrin, claiming he had violated the Law of Moses. This left the Jewish believers in Christ in a quandry because the leader of the Church was now dead. This increased the division between the Jewish and Gentile believers of Jesus. 
• In July of 64 A.D., Nero had a portion of Rome set on fire to make room to build more palaces. To cover up his plot, he  blamed the Christians who lived in Rome, which began a massive persecution against Christians. This persecution then filtered throughout the empire - including Christians in and around Jerusalem.
• In 67 A.D. both the Apostle Paul and the Apostle Peter were martyred; thus many of the top leaders of the Church were gone.
• By 68 A.D., many Jews throughout Judah had revolting against the harsh treatment of the Roman army that was in place in Jerusalem and its surrounding areas. This then began the first of the Jewish-Roman Wars, which history precluded the fall and collapse of Jerusalem and the destruction of the temple in 70 A.D.

At the time of the writing of this epistle, scripture still showed the temple in Jerusalem was very active and intact, with the priests giving daily offerings and sacrifices being held.

Heb 10:11 Every priest stands day after day ministering and offering the same sacrifices time after time, which can never take away sins.

Heb 13:11 For the bodies of those animals, whose blood is brought into the sanctuary by the high priest for sin, are burned outside the camp.

Life in Jerusalem

Most of the traditional orthodox Jews throughout Judea had refused to accept Jesus as their Messiah, sending Him to the cross. The majority of those left in Jerusalem who did come to believe and accept Christ did not recognize Him as the Mediator of a new and better covenant, so they still clung to the Levitical law with all its rituals and sacrifices. Had the temple and its sacrifices been allowed to continue among the Jewish Christians, the Jews throughout the known world would have continued in their sacrifices under the Old Covenant Law. Their refusal to let go of the Levitical Law and its sacrifices were in danger of creating a ritualistic, legalistic basis for Christianity; therefore, nullifying all that Christ has done for us. The temple with its sacrifices and Levitical Law were now obsolete and detrimental to the future of Christianity. As such, God found it necessary to take away the temple, the sacrifices and the Levitical Law in order to protect what Jesus did for us under the New Covenant. He simply lifted His protection off of His people. Now unprotected, Rome came in and conquered over Jerusalem and its temple.

Audience

The timing of the writings of this epistle seems to fit best between 62-67 A.D. when persecution of Christians were all over the empire and the fall of the Jerusalem was imminent, which happened in August, 70 A.D. 

Authorship

The author of the Book of Hebrews has been a debate for several hundreds of years. Other than 1st John, the Epistle of Hebrews is the only New Testament book that does not give the name of its author.  Because there is no author claimed within the text, this omission has led to much speculation. In addition, the structure of this book is different from other New Testament books. It begins like an essay, continues as a sermon and ends like a letter. There are, however, several clues throughout the book, as well as historical documents that points to the probable author. The Epistle of Hebrews begins with no mention of the author, except for God.

The King James Version acknowledges the Apostle Paul as its author.  Because of newer manuscripts, translations and speculations, the authorship of this book as been as subject of debate for some time.   

Let's examine this chart carefully:

Many more recent biblical scholars claim this last sentence of Timothy as the author
was an addition to the original manuscript.

In addition, the Apostle Peter, who only preached and wrote to Jews, claimed Paul wrote to the Jews

2 Peter 3: 15-17 and account that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation - as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given to him, his written to you, as also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which those who are untaught and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures...

And finally, early theologians believe Paul wrote Galatians at the same time as the Book of Hebrews, speaking of a large writing. 

Gal 6:11 See with what largte letters I have written to you with my own hands.

__________________________________________________-

It is very apparent that the writing style and vocabulary differs from that of the Apostle Paul.  The Epistle of Hebrews was not written in the form of a letter, which was the Apostle Paul’s style, but was written as a homily (sermon), except for the closing verses, which was how the apostle generally closed his letters.  This then opens up the possibility of other authors.

For instance:

The writer uses quotes from the Greek Septuagint (LXX) rather than the Hebrew Old Testament. It must be noted, however, that even Jesus quoted from the Septuagint because that was the accepted Scriptures to a Greek speaking people at that time throughout Jerusalem. Jesus never, however, quoted anything from the Apocrypha writings, which were included within the writings of the Septuagint. Only learned scribes and Pharisees used the Old Hebrew Scriptures, which were only written in Hebrew. The Apostle Paul, however, was a Pharisee, well verses in the Hebrew Scriptures; however, he wrote his letter to the churches in Greek because they were a Greek speaking Hebrew audience.

• To compliment matters, Tertullian (200 A.D.) called this book the Epistle of Barnabas. According to Acts 4:36, Barnabas was a Levite and familiar with the Levitical Law and a believer in Christ and traveled with the Apostle Paul on his first missionary journey. That, however, does not qualify him to be the writer of this book of the Bible. Tertullian was the only one who claimed Barnabas as the author.
• Some biblical scholars have even suggested that possibly Priscilla, Aquila, Philip, or Apollos, could have authored this book. [i]               

Ultimate author

Regardless of who penned this Epistle to the Hebrews, its author was the voice of God, as inspired by the indwelling Holy Spirit. That means, the real author is God. The author, who under the anointing and inspiration of the Holy Spirit, wrote in his individual style to bring forth the message of Truth from its real true author – God.

Because it is evident through its writings that there was more than one author, it is still more than probable that the Apostle Paul was the author of this book and the “we” could have referred to Timothy who was with him in prison in Rome and could have penned the writing in his own style as the secretary to the Apostle Paul.

Think on this:  The Apostle Paul was well versed in Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek.  As well versed and knowledgeable as he was, he was still considered a traitor to the Jewish faith by all traditional orthodox Jews as well as many Jewish believers in Jesus who stayed within their Judaism as a way of life.  Remember, the Judaizers were continuously undermining Paul's credibility.  This was especially true in and around Jerusalem.  As such, not many Jews (believing or traditional) would have read anything written by him.  It would then have been understandable why the apostle would not have identified himself in these writings like he did with his Gentile believers - especially the Jews throughout Jerusalem.  

And then consider this:  As a former Pharisee, and having a genuine love for his former friends and colleagues of the Sanhredrin Council, the apostle may even have been trying to reach the leadership within Judaism with the Gospel, which would explain why the Epistle of Hebrews was first written in Hebrew.  They were smug, but would have read some spiritual doctrines written to scholars in Hebrew.  Paul knew he was hated by those he loved, with them thinking he had betrayed Judaism.  Regardless, he would have wanted those special in his life to come to know the truths of the Gospel, so it is definitely within the realm of possibility for him to attempt to disguise himself, writing in Hebrew to the leadership within Judaism with the hopes of reaching some of them.

• We do see, however, no matter how the author disguised himself in the writings, Paul's knowledge and expertise can be seen through and through in this letter, regardless of the style change.  It is so evident that the author had great knowledge and understanding of the Old Covenant and the Mosaic Law like that of a Pharisee or highly trained Jew, as well as great insight in the New Covenant mysteries known to the Apostle Paul, which he learned from the Holy Spirit, which he then taught it to others.  Because of the apostle's three-year experience with the Holy Spirit in Arabia (probably on Mt. Sinai), the Apostle Paul would be the only one qualified to write such an epistle to the Hebrew believers in Jerusalem. He knew those mysteries through and through, and could write it so eloquently in Hebrew to the unbelieving learned, yet present it in such a way as to minister out in Greek to the Jewish believers.
  

The author uses quotes from the Septuagint (LXX) rather than the Hebrew Old Testament to reach the Jewish believers of the 1st century in Jerusalem.  All that to say - even Jesus quoted from the Septuagint because that was the accepted Scriptures to a Greek speaking people at that time and it would not be unusual for the Apostle Paul to do the same for his Jewish believing audience in Jerusalem.

• So then, even if this epistle was originally written in Hebrew, it is also probable that Luke translated these Hebrew writings into Greek, so therefore, the ordinary Jewish believers throughout Jerusalem could also have access to the truth as well.  

Conclusion

Since over 100 early church leaders claimed the Apostle Paul as the author of this book up until 700 A.D., as well as many church leaders until 1948 A.D. it becomes quite clear that most of the early church fathers claimed Paul as the author of the Book of Hebrews.  While more fragments of Scripture became evident after the discovery of the Dead Sea scrolls, which holds some validity, the opinions are vasts and some completely so far off from what the early church fathers are claiming. 

Viewing the evidence, it points to the Apostle Paul as the author of the Book of Hebrews as he dictated his thoughts to Timothy who then wrote down what the apostle told him to write. The real author, however, was God spoken to the author/writer under the anointing and inspiration of the Holy Spirit, and wrote in a style that fit the style of Jewish believers in Jerusalem, which would have been different than a letter written to Gentile believers throughout Asia Minor. Two different cultures of people - the Jews and the Gentiles - in two different countries of the world - Israel and Asia Minor.  We must take that into consideration.  

Bibliography

Nelson Illustrated Bible Dictionary. Thomas Nelson Publishers. (1986): Electronic.

End Notes

[i] Tenney, Merrill C. New Testament Survey, Revised 1985

[ii] Tenney, Merrill C. New Testament Survey, Revised 1985