Letters to the Church

Karen H. Jobes

• Publisher: Zondervan Academic
• Year: 2011
• ISBN:
  9780310494799
• Topic: Teologia e religione
• Subtopic: Riferimenti biblici

Respected New Testament scholar Karen Jobes explores the cultural and theological background of Hebrews and the general epistles (James through Jude) in this rich commentary. Writing from an evangelical perspective, Jobes addresses issues of historical relevance as well as how these ancient books connect with Christian faith and practice today. Letters to the Church includes: -Historical background for each book focusing on authorship, genre, date, and content-An exploration of the major themes in each book and detailed commentary on key passages-Boxes with chapter goals, outlines, challenges, and significant verses-Sidebars addressing difficult passages or ideas-Maps, photographs, charts, and definitions-Questions for discussion, reflection, and testing-A comparison of the teachings about Christ in each of the lettersPastors, professors, students, and laypeople interested in deeper biblical study will find this an invaluable resource that offers well-researched commentary in an accessible, spiritually meaningful form.

PART 1

Hebrews: The Book of Better Things

CHAPTER 1

Introducing Hebrews

THE BOOK OF BETTER THINGS

Your Goals for This Chapter

• To know the range of dates scholars give for the writing of Hebrews and the reasons why.

• To be able to list the evidence for identifying the various possible authors of Hebrews and why most today do not believe it is the work of the apostle Paul.

• To better understand the situation of the original readers of Hebrews and why this epistle was written to them.

• To be able to list literary characteristics of the book of Hebrews.

• To be able to discuss how the original situation addressed by Hebrews compares to contemporary situations.

WHY THE BOOK OF HEBREWS IS IMPORTANT TO YOU

The book of Hebrews is important to you for three primary reasons. First, it has been compared to Romans for the magnitude of its theological significance. It is the book of the New Testament that is most devoted to explaining the relationship between the old covenant God made with ancient Israel and the new covenant established by the death of Jesus Christ. And so it presents profound insight into how Jesus Christ, particularly in his death, relates to the important elements of the Old Testament priesthood and sacrificial system. If you wish to better understand the Old Testament and why Christians no longer live under the old covenant, you need to understand what the author of Hebrews says about the new covenant’s relationship to the old. And the better your knowledge of the theology and practices of ancient Israel, the better you will understand Hebrews.

Second, there is probably no other book of the New Testament that so clearly explains why the Christ had to be fully human in order to bring God’s redemptive plan to its culmination. The glory of Christ’s divinity sometimes obscures in Christian thought the necessity of his humanity. Christians often fail to appreciate how Jesus Christ lived with the same human frailities, fears, and temptations that each one of us faces. Jesus Christ’s full participation in all that it means to be human was a qualification for his redemptive work on the cross, a work that Hebrews describes in terms of him being both priest and sacrifice.

Key Verses

2:3b:	This salvation, which was first announced by the Lord, was confirmed to us by those who heard him.
5:12:	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….
10:32 – 35:	Remember those earlier days after you had received the light, when you endured in a great conflict full of suffering. Sometimes you were publicly exposed to insult and persecution; at other times you stood side by side with those who were so treated. You suffered along with those in prison and joyfully accepted the confiscation of your property, because you knew that you yourselves had better and lasting possessions. So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded.
12:4:	In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood.
13:22:	Brothers and sisters, I urge you to bear with my word of exhortation, for in fact I have written to you quite briefly.
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.
13:24b:	Those from Italy send you their greetings.

Challenges Presented by the Book of Hebrews

• Identifying its author.

• Appreciating its use of the Old Testament.

• Understanding its relationship to Philo and Neoplatonic philosophy.

• Comprehending its teaching on the possibility of apostasy.

• Rising to its challenge of pressing on to spiritual maturity.

It also allowed God to share in the experience of all that it means to be human — the temptations and fears as well as the sweetness of life and love and beauty.

Third, the book of Hebrews explains the incentive for faithful living. In a Christian culture that so puts the emphasis on “being saved,” Hebrews issues the most disturbing warnings found in the New Testament. Its teaching on apostasy must be understood in the original historical context of the book and taken to heart by anyone who wishes to press on to Christian maturity. For these and other reasons, no Christian should pass over the book of Hebrews lightly.

CHAPTER OUTLINE

I. Who Were the People Originally Addressed?

II. Where Were the Original Readers Living?

III. When Was the Book of Hebrews Written?

IV. Who Wrote the Book of Hebrews?

V. Is Hebrews Really a Letter?

VI. An Overview of the Theology of the Book of Hebrews

A. Christology in Hebrews

B. God the Father

C. The Holy Spirit

D. The New Covenant

E. The Reality of Heaven

F. The Dualism of Hebrews

G. The Definition and Practice of Faith

H. Angelology

VII. The Text and Canonicity of Hebrews

A. The Greek Text of Hebrews

B. Canonicity

VIII. Outline of the Book of Hebrews

Please read the book of Hebrews in one or two sittings before reading this chapter.

WHO WERE THE PEOPLE ORIGINALLY ADDRESSED?

Have you ever grown bored with Christianity and been tempted to experiment with a new, more glamorous religion? Would you go to church this Sunday if you knew there was a high risk you would be arrested by hostile authorities on your way? Have you ever been mocked for your Christian faith and tempted to quietly distance yourself from Jesus Christ? Has the thought ever gone through your mind that, because you once said the “sinner’s prayer” and meant it, that it now matters little how you live for Christ, since you have your ticket to heaven? Judging from the exhortations in the book of Hebrews, the Christians to whom it was originally addressed may have faced issues like these.

Considering the pervasive references throughout the book to Israel’s history and practices, the epistle of Hebrews apparently was written by an author who was thoroughly steeped in the theology of Judaism and wrote to Christians who also presumably would understand his references and arguments, at least to a great extent. The Jewish nature of the book conclusively says something about its author, but it is a little less certain what we can infer from this about the original audience. It would have been especially important for Christian converts from Judaism to understand the relationship of Christ to the religion of Israel. But even Gentile converts would have had the Scriptures of Israel available to them in its Greek translation (the Septuagint). So it is less certain whether the audience was Jewish Christian, Gentile Christian, or mixed. It can be inferred with more confidence that regardless of their ethnic origin, the people to whom Hebrews was originally written were beginning to waver in their faith because of some kind of persecution, whether it was a form of social ostracism or more menacing acts by government officials (e.g., Heb. 12:4). And if the Christians to whom Hebrews was originally sent were, in fact, converts from Judaism, it is easy to imagine how they would be tempted to slip quietly back into the synagogue to worship God and to forget all about this man Jesus. Maybe they had been mistaken that he was Israel’s long-awaited Messiah after all.

As Christians reading the Bible today, we think of it as God’s Word speaking directly to us. This is a true and right way to read the Bible, but we must not lose sight of the fact that the books of the New Testament were originally written to Christians who lived more than two thousand years ago, who read the New Testament in its original language (koine Greek), and who were living in times when society, politics, religions, and philosophies were vastly different from our own. And so to better understand what God is saying to us today through the book of Hebrews, we need to consider those circumstances originally addressed when the book was first written.

We can infer from the content of the book of Hebrews that its author was intensely interested in teaching the original audience about the relationship of Jesus Christ to the old covenant between God and ancient Israel as revealed in the Hebrew Scriptures. The book of Hebrews is filled with references to the sacrificial system and priesthood of ancient Israel and explains how the new covenant established by Christ’s death has replaced the old covenant in God’s redemptive dealings with humanity. Such matters would have been vitally important to converts from Judaism, whose families had for generations practiced the religion of Israel. Gentile Christians may have found the supersession of the old covenant by the new of interest, but not with the same existential zeal (or perhaps angst).

All New Testament books originally were written in Greek, but the authors did not assign the titles that have come down to us. This suggests that the circumstances in which the books were produced were specific and personal, such that a writing, whether gospel or epistle, passed between author and original readers with no need for a title. Titles certainly had to be added when the individual books of the New Testament began to be collected and bound together.

Although the titles of the New Testament books were not assigned by their authors, they are nevertheless quite ancient. The title of Hebrews, “To the Hebrews” (Gk. pros hebraious; Lat. ad Hebraeos), apparently was assigned before the end of the second century, as attested by Tertullian, who provides the earliest extant reference to the book by name (Pud. 20). Perhaps the title reflects a reliable memory of the book’s original audience even though, unlike Paul’s letters, the book doesn’t specify it was written “to the Hebrews.” Neither the word Hebrew (Gk. hebraios) or Jew (Gk. ioudaios) appears in the book, making one wonder what motivated the ascription “To the Hebrews.” The title “To the Hebrews” may indicate that when it was assigned, the book was thought to be addressed to Jewish Christians, for ancient evidence shows the term Hebrews (Gk. hebraioi) was generally used to refer to Jews in distinction from Gentiles. However, a synagogue in first-century Rome was known as the “synagogue of the Hebrews,” and an inscription in Corinth bears the same phrase.¹ Since all synagogues were presumably attended by Jewish people, these inscriptions may indicate a sect of Judaism that, though located geographically in the Diaspora, maintained the language and customs of Jerusalem. Even in Jerusalem itself there were both Hellenistic Jews — those more amenable to the influence of Greek culture — and Hebraic Jews (Acts 6:1). Perhaps Hebrews was written to an audience of Jewish Christians who had not yet fully understood that Christ’s death replaced the ancient sacrificial system.

In fact, some scholars have attempted to identify Hebrews as a sermon preached in a synagogue of Jewish converts, since early Christian worship was patterned on the synagogue liturgy. Some argue Hebrews originated as a midrash preached on Psalm 110.² Another sees it as a sermon preached on Tisha Be-Av, a day of fasting and mourning that was a solemn day in the Jewish liturgical year commemorating the broken covenant. The Palestinian Triennial Cycle (PTC) of lectionary readings observed this day by pairing Exodus 31:18 – 32:35 with Jeremiah 31:31 – 34, a reminder of both the breaking of the covenant and the promise of a new covenant written on hearts. The PTC took a congregation through the Torah in three years and was used in ancient Palestine and Palestinian Diaspora communities, perhaps such as the “synagogue of the Hebrews” in Rome.³ While the message of Hebrews would be very apt on such an occasion, it is probably not possible to tie it to s...