Exploring the Word of God: The Letter to the Hebrews

By Michael D. Morrison

In this lay-level commentary, Michael Morrison examines the story-flow of the epistle to the Hebrews, showing the author's rhetorical strategy and its significance for Christians today. Two additional chapters focus on the question of the validity of Old Testament laws for believers today. Dr. Morrison wrote his dissertation on the book of Hebrews and now teaches at Grace Communion Seminary.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Grace Communion International
• Release date: Oct 28, 2013
• ISBN: 9781310741210

Michael D. Morrison

I grew up in a small town in southern Illinois: Sparta. Our family of seven was religious but did not go to church - instead, we had a Bible study at home every week. I eventually began attending a church after I moved away, and then I went to a Bible college, and eventually a seminary. Now I work for Grace Communion Seminary, an online seminary based in Glendora, California. My interests are the Gospels, the epistles and theology of Paul, and ethics.

Book preview

Exploring the Word of God:

The Letter to the Hebrews

By Michael D. Morrison

Copyright 2018 Grace Communion International

Published by Grace Communion International

Cover art by Ken Tunell. Copyright Grace Communion International.

Scripture quotations in chapters 1–6 are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations in chapters 7–13 are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Table of Contents

Introduction to Hebrews

The Reflection of God’s Glory: Hebrews 1

Perfect Through Suffering: Hebrews 2

Think About Jesus and Be Faithful: Hebrews 3

Entering God’s Rest: Hebrews 4

Jesus Qualified as a High Priest: Hebrews 5

Danger and Promise: Hebrews 6

Excursus: Calvinism, Arminianism, and Apostasy

A Priest Like Melchizedek: Hebrews 7

The Superior Ministry of Jesus: Hebrews 8

A Perfect Sacrifice: Hebrews 9

Perfect Results: Hebrews 10a

Exhortations, Warnings, and Reassurance: Hebrews 10b

Faithful Heroes: Hebrews 11a

Abraham’s Example of Faith: Hebrews 11b

Faith in Victory and in Death: Hebrews 11c

Dealing With Difficulties: Hebrews 12a

A Mountain of Joy: Hebrews 12b

Final Exhortations: Hebrews 13

Hebrews and the Change in Covenants

About the Author

About the Publisher

Grace Communion Seminary

Ambassador College of Christian Ministry

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Introduction to Hebrews

The King James Version identifies this document as 1) the letter 2) from Paul 3) to the Hebrews. The letter itself does not claim these things, and all are disputed.

First, the book does not begin like a letter, but it does end like one. It calls itself a word of exhortation (13:22), which is used in Acts to refer to a sermon, and the book is indeed like a sermon, or a series of sermons based on a series of OT texts. It alternates commentary and exhortation: What does this mean, and how should we respond?

Second, most scholars do not believe that Paul wrote it. It has dramatically different content than Paul’s other letters, and a dramatically different writing style. Perhaps most telling is that the author includes himself in saying the gospel was attested to us by those who heard him [Jesus] (Heb. 2:3, NRSV). In the letters that have Paul’s name on them, Paul insists that he got the gospel not from some intermediary, but directly from Jesus (e.g. Gal. 1:12), so it seems unlikely that he would write Heb. 2:3.

In the Western church, Paul’s name was attached to the letter, but the Eastern church (perhaps because they read the letters in Greek and could see the difference in writing style) did not attribute it to Paul. Various guesses have been offered: Luke, Barnabas, Apollos, even Priscilla. We can exclude the latter because the author uses a masculine participle for himself in Heb. 11:32, and the author is not trying to hide his identity – he seems to assume that the readers know who he is. [For more information, see Daniel Wallace, Hebrews: Introduction, Argument, and Outline, https://bible.org/seriespage/hebrews-introduction-argument-and-outline.] Origen seems to win the prize for the best answer: Only God knows.

Third, some scholars also question whether the book was written to Hebrews – they suggest that Gentiles were the first readers. The problem being addressed in the letter is not relapse into Judaism, they say, but lethargy – the recipients are just tired of persecution, weak in faith, and needing some encouragement. The letter then becomes more relevant to modern audiences, but I think it’s at the expense of the original audience. Loss of hope and confidence is little more than a restatement of the problem; it is not an explanation for it. The doctrinal sections, particularly details about rituals, are only vaguely related to encouragement—unless those rituals were relevant to their lack of enthusiasm. The readers needed reasons to endure, and some of the reasons given in this epistle concern Jewish rituals. They readers needed the argument about Jesus’ ministry as high priest and the obsolescence of the old covenant.

If the original readers were weary of persecution, what were they tempted to do to alleviate the persecution? Being nothing was not a viable option in the first century – everyone had a religion of some sort or another, and the letter never addresses options that would be available to Gentile readers. If they had come from paganism, wouldn’t at least some of them be tempted to go back to paganism? But the author never addresses such a possibility. Nor does he give any indication that they had ever been pagan, or had become God-fearers or proselytes. The author addresses only one religion vying for their attention: Judaism. He can assume that their affections would be in that direction, and not anywhere else. The people are culturally Jewish, and it doesn’t do any good to speculate about whether they are genetically Jewish or genetically something else: functionally, they are Jewish, and are attracted to Judaism. That’s the assumption that makes the most sense of the arguments in this letter.

Date and circumstances

When was the letter written? The traditional assumption has been that it was before Roman armies destroyed the temple – that is, before A.D. 70. The author uses present-tense verbs to describe the rituals of Judaism, as if they are still going on. But Josephus uses present-tense verbs, too, even though he wrote after A.D. 70. So perhaps this was a literary custom. We should also note that the author doesn’t mention the temple – the description is always of the long-gone tabernacle.

However, it is difficult to see how or why the readers would be so attracted to Levitical rituals when they knew the rituals were not being performed and were not likely to be resumed. Judaism could still be attractive after A.D. 70, but it would be odd for the attraction to center on rituals that weren’t being done. The only form of Judaism ever addressed in the epistle is a religion in which sacrifices are central—which implies that a post-Temple Judaism (in which sacrifices have been de-emphasized and reinterpreted) is not yet an option for the readers. There is no hint that any rituals could be effective in the absence of animal sacrifices. So I think it is likely that the letter was written while sacrifices were being done, while they were an option for the readers. Heb. 10:2 implies they were still being done.

The readers were tired of persecution, and Judaism would offer a refuge, for two reasons: 1) some of the persecution may have come from the Jews who didn’t believe in Jesus, and the persecution was aimed specifically at bringing the people back into the fold of Judaism. 2) if persecution came from outside, Judaism was accepted as a legitimate religion in the Roman Empire. It is not certain when Roman authorities began to distinguish between Jews and Christians, but the fact that believers were given the name Christians in Antioch (Acts 11:26) suggests that outsiders were able to see the distinction even in the early decades of the Christian movement.

To piece together what we can discern about the readers: They were once Jewish, but had come to believe in Jesus. They were persecuted for this, and their houses were plundered (10:34), but no one was killed (12:4). But they now face renewed pressures (Jewish nationalism was rising in the 60s, and with it probably came pressure for conformity) and the people are tempted to forsake the Christian meetings (10:25) and go back to the synagogues. So the author is telling them that the synagogue has nothing to offer but a reminder of sin, and they need to keep faith in Jesus and keep faith with the Christian community.

Where were the people? Some scholars say Judea, but since persecutions came quickly to the Greek-speaking church in Jerusalem, it is not likely that the author would tell Judeans you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. Even if this is a metaphor from boxing, the irony would be too glaring for a letter that is written so well. Most scholars prefer another area of the Roman empire, due in part to the high quality of the Greek and the extensive use of the Greek Old Testament. Near the end, the author writes, Those from Italy send you greetings (13:24). This implies either that the author is in Italy, or he is writing to people in Italy, and there’s not much in the letter to help us decide. If he’s writing to Rome, however, it would have to be before the persecutions by Nero.

Beliefs of the recipients

The author assumes that the recipients of the epistle share certain beliefs with him. These can be stated without giving any supporting reasons. These include a belief that Jesus is the Christ, and that he has been exalted into heaven and seated at the right hand of God (Ps. 110:1). The priesthood of Christ, which is crucial to the central theological argument of the epistle, is based on the belief that Psalm 110, including v. 4, is about Jesus, without any attempt to argue that this psalm actually applies to Jesus. The author assumes that the readers will agree with him on this point.

However, on some other points the author provides extensive supporting argumentation, as if the topics were in question, and certain beliefs could not be taken for granted. Chief among these is the old covenant law. Here the author goes out of his way to make his points, and he supports them with several lines of reasoning. The density of the argument suggests that the readers, although firm believers in Jesus Christ, were also attracted to old covenant worship laws.

Hebrews begins with several assertions, most of which are not argued—they are simply stated: God spoke to our ancestors and has now spoken by a Son, the creator, sustainer, and heir of everything, who is like God in glory and being, and he is now at God’s right hand (1:1–3). Ancient Greek rhetorical style was to begin with points of agreement, so I conclude that he believes that his audience already believes these ideas. The word restore in 13:19 indicates that he was formerly part of the community and he would therefore be familiar with its beliefs. From the opening statement, I conclude that the readers believe the following:

Some Jewish books are authoritative.

The Son of God appeared on earth, initiated a new age in history, and is now seated in heaven. Later verses assume without giving any supporting reasons that the Son is named Jesus.

The Son was the means of creation, has authority over all and sustains all things.

The Son is like God in glory, being, and authority.

In short, the readers had a high Christology. However, two phrases in the introduction are defended later in the epistle: 1) He made purification for sins—a point elaborated and defended in detail in chapters 8–10, yet stated here as an idea that could be initially accepted. 2) He became as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs (1:4). Although his superiority over angels is supported in the remainder of chapter 1, it also seems to be an area of previous agreement. Anyone who believes that the Son has authority over all things and is seated at the right hand of God, would already believe that he was superior to angels. Chapter 1 has a series of quotes to show that Jesus is superior to the angels, but the author does not stop to demonstrate that any of those verses are actually about Jesus – he seems to assume that his readers will track with him on that. Perhaps he taught that to them when he was with them earlier.

Some scholars conclude that the recipients viewed angels as too important, that they were tempted to think that Christ was below the angels. I do not think that this is the purpose of the chapter, because I see no signs that the author’s view would be contested here. I think that the author is establishing rapport with the audience, beginning with praise for Jesus, and leading into his first, mild exhortation (2:1-4). In effect, he could say, You folks agree with me that Jesus is higher than the angels. Well then, why do you want to pay more attention to the message delivered by angels (the old covenant)? Should you not give more attention to the message given by the more important person? It’s a call for attentiveness.

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The Reflection of God’s Glory:

Hebrews 1

In the first century, some Jews believed in Jesus as the Messiah and yet still wanted all the rituals of Judaism. The boundaries between Christianity and Judaism