(It should be remembered there were many believers in prison at that time, so imprisonment does not automatically make Paul the writer.) Apparently, the original audience of Hebrews had become attracted to these kinds of teachings. Dr. Um is the author of several publications, including Why Cities Matter (Crossway, 2013) and Gospel Shaped Mercy (Good Book, 2017). Of course, notable scholars like Clement of Rome, who died sometime around A.D. 99, treated Hebrews as equal to other New Testament books. Romans could have been written ten or more years before Hebrews, but even so, it might not have begun to circulate widely by the time Hebrews was written. On the other side, the latest likely date for the book would be around A.D. 95 shortly before Clement of Rome referred to the book of Hebrews in his letter, 1 Clement. As crucial as these matters were, they're not a major concern in the book of Hebrews. This specific focus sounds familiar enough. Why didn't God give Esau back the blessing that Jacob stole? Themes in the Book of Hebrews . These folks knew about angels, the Old Testament heroes, the devil, and Moses’ tabernacle, but someone thought they needed to know a little more. And then, we'll examine the goal of these exhortations, how the author hoped his audience would respond. Change ), You are commenting using your Facebook account. In the past, interpreters pointed to the author's use of the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Old Testament, as evidence that he was a Hellenistic Jew. D. Hebrews was written during the lifetime of Timothy whom the author knew 30. In fact, he quoted the Old Testament at least 31 times in his 13 chapters. One rhetorical device, called synkrisis in Greek, is a detailed comparison between two or more things designed to convince audiences to affirm the speaker's point of view. Having said that, let’s remember that no matter who wrote it, it was GOD WHO INSPIRED THEM TO DO SO. Identifying the kinds of false teachings that circulated within Jewish communities helps us to understand why the author of Hebrews exhorted his audience to resist these teachings and remain faithful to Jesus. As we've just suggested, the author of Hebrews wrote to exhort his audience. The Greek term translated "confidence" here is parresia, which in many contexts means "courage," "boldness," or "fearlessness" in the presence of dignitaries. It is probable that the Epistle was written near his second Roman imprisonment, about 60-62 AD. For instance, in Hebrews 10:26-27 we read this warning: We need to be clear here that the author of Hebrews was not concerned about peccadillos or small sins. He exhorted them to remain faithful to Jesus as the Messiah by reminding them of God's promises and blessings in Jesus. Recipients, Author and Time of Writing. But the book of Hebrews stands apart from other New Testament epistles due to the intensity of its exhortations. In the second place, an assortment of basic teachings addressed in the book of Hebrews also appears in texts at Qumran. In this lesson, we'll introduce a number of perspectives that should guide our interpretation of this complex book. So far in our discussion of the background of the book of Hebrews we've focused on the book's authorship. One hint I didn’t discuss in the blog post (since I said a knowledge of Greek wasn’t necessary) is that the author of Hebrews consistently uses the Septuagint, even resting on readings in that translation that differ from the Masoretic text. And they generally agreed that the apostle Paul was the author. He drew attention to the Old Testament tabernacle. The book of Hebrews compares and contrasts Jesus to key historical people and events from the Old Testament. I can definitely recommend this way of experiencing the Bible. The author of Hebrews responded to this local Jewish teaching by demonstrating from the Old Testament, and from Jesus' life, death, resurrection, ascension, and return in glory, that he is actually superior to the angels. In the first place, we've already noted that in Hebrews 13:9, the author spoke against a particular example of eating ceremonial foods. Lesson 1 in the series The Book of Hebrews: Introduces perspectives on the author, audience, date and purpose of the book of Hebrews that can help us interpret the original meaning and apply this book to our modern world. Please specify whether you are theorizing, and the reasons for who you think wrote Hebrews, including your sources. The book of Hebrews is called Hebrews for a reason. Kingdom, Covenants & Canon of the Old Testament, Your Kingdom Come: The Doctrine of Eschatology, He Gave Us Scripture: Foundations of Interpretation, Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary. In fact, the books of Ephesians and Colossians deal with comparable issues in their locations. It seems very likely that the author was a Jewish Christian. And around A.D. 64, Emperor Nero persecuted Christians in the vicinity of Rome. But notice how he called Old Testament Israelites "our forefathers" — the ancestors of the author and his audience. This seemed to us to account better for the letter’s encouragement to persevere and endure persecution. There were two well-known times of persecution for Christians during the first century A.D. that may have impacted Hebrews' original audience, at least indirectly. The writer of this letter does not identify himself, but he was obviously well known to the original recipients. And what would be your take on the question.? Darkness, light, and water in the Genesis creation account. Hebrews 1:1 makes this clear: Here, the author referred to how God had revealed himself to Israel in the Old Testament. Angels. These books have a number of teachings that closely parallel the theological issues addressed in Hebrews. View of the Hebrews is an 1823 book written by Ethan Smith, a Congregationalist minister in Vermont, who argued that Native Americans were descended from the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel, a relatively common view during the early nineteenth century. Date: Many scholars believe that Hebrews was written sometime before the destruction of the temple (AD 70). And his vocabulary and style give evidence of a mastery of the language that even surpasses the writings of Luke. Third, the strongest reason for doubting Pauline authorship is the way the writer of Hebrews distanced himself from the first generation of Jesus' followers. Perhaps you were brought here by a search engine or by a link to one of the posts. Listen to the way the author described them in Hebrews 5:12: Notice that the audience had been believers long enough for the author to say "by this time you ought to be teachers." This long-lost collection of documents included Old Testament texts, but also extra-biblical writings that represented the distinctive teachings of a disenfranchised Jewish community living near the Dead Sea. First, as we've already mentioned, this book is anonymous, and it was Paul's practice to name himself in his epistles. Interpreters widely acknowledge that the author of Hebrews was an intellectual. To understand the Book of Hebrews’ message, we must first learn some history. This makes a lot of sense. We don’t know any Greek and we haven’t looked in any commentaries; this is simply two reasonable laymen looking at each other and reflecting on what we’ve read—both in the text, as well as in the preceding intro. It says in Hebrews 13:24 "They of Italy salute you" and this phrase indicates that the letter was written from Italy. Listen to the way he empathized with his audience in Hebrews 10:33-34: In a similar way, in 12:1-2 he showed his passion for Christ when he said: It's difficult to read these and similar passages without realizing that this author was hardly an impersonal scholar. Now we should turn to our second issue: Hebrews' original audience. Dr. Christopher R. Smith is an an ordained minister, a writer, and a biblical scholar. But during the Reformation, Protestant Reformers questioned many ecclesiastical traditions, including the traditional view of Pauline authorship. There is a lot of speculation about who exactly wrote the Book of They'd done well years ago, but the author of Hebrews feared that they might now turn away from Christ to avoid further persecution. For this lesson, we'll briefly mention just four topics found in both the book of Hebrews and the documents at Qumran. Ceremonial Foods. Rather, this verse refers to those who profess faith and experience many of its blessings, but without regeneration and justification. Followers of Christ have suffered persecution throughout history. He was active in parish and student ministry for twenty-five years. Through these comparisons, we see His superiority. Why do Matthew and Luke seem to disagree about the circumstances of Jesus’ birth? There are a couple reasons why this might be the case. Listen to the words of Hebrews 2:3: Notice here that the author of Hebrews mentioned how salvation was "first announced by the Lord" — in other words, by Jesus himself — and "was confirmed to us by those who heard him." I’ve often wondered if the book was written at least partly with an audience of either Hellenized Jews or Samaritans or both. If this letter was addressed to believers in Jerusalem before AD 70, it’s almost certain that some of them would have seen and heard Jesus when he was alive on earth. Gathering details from the book of Hebrews itself, we … As we read through the book of Hebrews, it becomes evident that the original audience had already faced persecution in the past, some of them were suffering in the present, and the author's expectation was that more of them would suffer, perhaps even more severely, in the future. The answers to these questions don’t depend on knowing Greek. Second, the book of Hebrews emphasizes subjects that don't receive much, if any, attention in Paul's letters. These exhortations are implicit at times, but at least 30 times they appear explicitly. It then builds to a more complex conclusion that the audience initially doubts, but can now more easily accept. For example, synkrisis appears in the book of Hebrews in 7:11-28. Also, in 8:13 the author encouraged his audience not to turn back to the "obsolete" sacrificial practices established by God's covenant with Moses. He was deeply passionate about the Christian faith. (Thanks for your comment!). It was written mainly to the Hebrew believers. The writer of this letter does not identify himself, but he was obviously well known to the original recipients. In addition, many commentators have observed that, in passages like Hebrews 5:1-3, the author used the present tense to describe the sacrificial duties of the high priest. His Understanding the Books of the Bible study guide series is keyed to this format. Although the exact date for Hebrews remains uncertain, the earliest and latest dates for this book can be established rather firmly. Interestingly enough, The Rule of the Community and the War Scroll at Qumran give a great deal of attention to these and similar matters in ways that differed from the mainstream of Palestinian Judaism. We know that the high priest's activities, and the Levitical sacrificial system as a whole, came to an end in A.D. 70 when the Romans destroyed Jerusalem and its temple. Now, in Hebrews 5:11, the writer of Hebrews reprimanded his audience for being "slow to learn." Questions about sin and human responsibility. Only God knows for certain who wrote this book. It's foolish to say that it was written to gentiles unless you don't believe in an inspired inerrant Bible which this man obviously doesn't. No we have not. Questions like yours, about the background to a whole book, won’t necessarily lead you to a “gem of the day” devotional thought that you can carry around with you. First, there's reason to think that at least a good portion of the original audience was Jewish. They must steadfastly and exclusively live in, and live out, their new relationship in Christ. Dr. Sean McDonough is Professor of New Testament at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. In response, the author of Hebrews demonstrated that Jesus was the true Royal Priest who appeared in the last days to provide eternal atonement for sin. You can also read or download the study guides in my Understanding the Books of the Bible series by using the Free Study Guides link at the top of this page. To look further at what we mean by the intensity of the author's exhortations, we'll look at two issues: first, the frequency of exhortations in the book, and second, the author's rhetorical style associated with his exhortations. No, this is not a news flash. So, it seems unlikely that he would have failed to identify himself had he written Hebrews. The words "I urge" derive from the Greek verb parakaleo, the verbal form of the Greek noun translated "exhortation" in the same sentence. Rather, the author dealt primarily with erroneous beliefs and practices, specifically those that developed in Jewish communities outside the mainstream of Palestinian Judaism. You may want to look for further items of interest by using the resources below: the search bar; the lists of posts; and the list of categories. 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