Studies In Hebrews

By James Dobbs

This is a verse-by-verse study of the Book of Hebrews as it applies to Christians today.  I listed it as an epistle of Paul given the choices offered, though it likely isn't.

• Language: English
• Publisher: James Dobbs
• Release date: Jan 28, 2024
• ISBN: 9798224744770

James Dobbs

I graduated from Dallas County High School in Plantersville, Alabama and from Ouachita Baptist University in Arkadelphia, Arkansas.  I have pastored churches in Arkansas, Idaho, Alabama, Oregon and South Dakota.  I retired from the U.S. Air Force.  I am married to Pam, and we have five children and twelve grandchildren.

Book preview

In this study in Hebrews, all scripture is from the King James Bible, and all commentary references are from Matthew Henry’s Commentary.  The study is my understanding by God’s guidance of what this book says to us as Christians today.

Chapter 1

Hebrews 1:1 says, God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past] unto the fathers by the prophets,  We have just seen in the book of Daniel some of the ways God spoke in the past to His prophets.  God spoke through dreams and signs, but He also spoke through events, such as the fiery furnace.  There could be little doubt that God was at work in such situations.  In those days, the priests and prophets were the ones who spoke to the people for God and to God for the people.  Verse two says, Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds;  There was a change that occurred with the coming of Christ.  This says in the last days God spoke to us through His Son.  No matter how long it is until Christ returns again, since He came into the world we have been living in the last days.  Though this may have been a reference to the time immediately around the life of Christ, it does not change the fact that we are in the last days.  God speaks to those in the world through the sacrifice of Christ on the cross.  We need no other signs to know God, and we have no other way to come to Him except through Christ.  Christ is both the heir of all things and the Creator of all things.  This simply speaks about the eternal nature and power of Christ.  He is both the Creator and Redeemer.  God speaks to us, not through signs and wonders, but through faith.  Even if signs and wonders do occur, without faith we will not recognize them, and through faith we will not need them.  Verse three states, Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high;  Christ has already completed His act of redemption, once and for all time.  He died for those who put their faith in God and the coming Messiah who lived before He came, and for all those who put their faith in Him since.  Christ actually died as a Redeemer of all, but many will not accept His sacrifice, and they go away to everlasting punishment of their own choosing.  Christ now awaits for the time to be right for Him to return and claim those who are His.  Verse four declares, Being made so much better than the angels, as he hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they.  Christ is superior to the angels, because for all their power, angels, like people, are but created beings.  Christ is not a created being, but the eternal only begotten Son of God.  Verse five adds, For unto which of the angels said he at any time, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee? And again, I will be to him a Father, and he shall be to me a Son?  This continues to explain the superiority of Christ over the angels that was brought up in verse four.  Here, the question is asked when did God say to any of the angels that they were His Son and that He had begotten them.  The answer is never.  Again, angels are but created beings, and are separate creations from people.  We will never go to heaven to be angels.  Verse six continues, And again, when he bringeth in the firstbegotten into the world, he saith, And let all the angels of God worship him.  When Christ, the first, and only, begotten, came into the world, the angels worshipped Him, because they recognized His superiority to them.  We must likewise recognize Christ's superiority to us, and simply obey and worship Him.  Verse seven states, And of the angels he saith, Who maketh his angels spirits, and his ministers a flame of fire.  I believe that by this question that God was stating that the angels know that they were created servants whose only real power comes from God.  This applies to people as well, and especially to those who are followers of Christ.  Verse eight adds, But unto the Son he saith, Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: a sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of thy kingdom.  The angels know their place, and so does Christ.  As the only begotten Son of God, the scepter, or power, of righteousness is given to Him alone.  This is the scepter that separates the kingdom of God from the kingdom of this world.  Faith in Christ is the dividing line.  Those who do not put their faith in Christ as Savior and Lord will be forever cut off from His kingdom. 

Hebrews 1:9 says, Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated iniquity; therefore God, even thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows.  This is still speaking of Christ and His superiority over all of creation, both angels and people.  Jesus Christ did indeed love righteousness and hate iniquity in every action that He took.  As His followers, we are called to be the same, yet too often we still choose iniquity over righteousness.  Christ is the anointed Savior of mankind and the only way to salvation.  Verse ten adds, And, Thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth; and the heavens are the works of thine hands:  Christ, in the beginning, created the heavens and the earth.  We hear today about new planets being discovered, but they are not new.  They are a part of the creation of Christ.  We cannot truly believe in God if we do not accept that He is the Creator of all things.  I have heard some say that they are Christian evolutionists, but I do not believe that we can be both.  The account of creation in Genesis does not say that God evolved man from some other form of life, but that He created man from the dust of the earth.  The woman was created from the rib of the man.  Verse eleven continues, They shall perish; but thou  remains'; and they all shall wax old as doth a garment;  In this life, people will grow old and perish, but Christ is eternal.  We as His followers will one day cease to grow old and perish, but not until Christ returns to claim His church. Verse twelve states, And as a vesture shalt thou fold them up, and they shall be changed: but thou art the same, and thy years shall not fail.  We shall be changed in the twinkling of an eye, with an everlasting body, but Christ is already what He will always be.  Verse thirteen adds, But to which of the angels said he at any time, Sit on my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool?  Now, speaking