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Hebrews presents one of the most fascinating and challenging studies in the New Testament. It is fascinating because of its uniqueness, being written anonymously, offering scarce clues to its specific context, and presenting unique theological ideas through a sustained central argument. Stylistically, the letter is rather highbrow, its author being given to lofty rhetoric and a style that is not for the faint of heart. It is challenging for many of these same features, and for the complexity of the argument. It is just long enough to fall outside of the boundaries of what most of us read at a single sitting, yet it must be understood and interpreted as a whole. It diverges from its argument on occasion, but does not do so for long or without purpose. To understand the argument requires fairly extensive understanding of the Old Testament scriptures, and turns on historical and sacrificial nuances that the casual observer might not have caught.
The benefits of taking the study go beyond those yielded by any taxing study requiring discipline to grasp, but there are concrete understandings that can be gained from the study of Hebrews that could not easily be found in other parts of scripture. Beyond unique and interesting theological points, it is perhaps here that we find the most inspiring and encouraging call for faithfulness in the New Testament. This author, whoever he or shay may be, uses sound theology, playful biblical interpretation, a skillful argument and draws upon a treasury of hero stories to beg the reader to persevere in the face of temptation. Like Churchill, the Hebrew author skillfully reminds us to “Never, ever, ever, ever give up.”
As an introduction, the driving objective of this week is to prepare the class to invest themselves in the study by having a useful overview of the text and encouragement about its value. Here you’ll find an overview of the book’s context, three key theological themes of the book, and a challenge. The three components may be addressed in any order, it seems to me.
Original Context Matters
The letter is written anonymously. Is this an issue for us? Does it bother us that we can’t ascertain the author?
In fact, the history of interpretation of Hebrews demonstrates positive and negative responses to its ambiguity. Some have engaged in the quest for finding the identity of the writer, while some have accepted the canonicity as a matter of fact and moved on with ease. In the end, the letter was held to be canonical, as being guided by the Holy Spirit, containing sound doctrine in line with the body of New Testament teachings. There are clues within the text, such as the author’s style, their command of the New Testament, their connection with Timothy, and common themes with other New Testament writers or figures, but in the end any definitive claim to authorship appears elusive.
The Letter seems written to an audience contained of Hellenized Jews, probably living outside of Judea in other cities in the Roman World. It appears that they identified closely with the Jewish system of atonement, knew the scriptures well, read them in their Greek version (the Septuagint) and had the experience of being outcasts. That identity as Jewish outcasts had perhaps intensified as they because ostracized from that community by virtue of their Christian confession.
Is it possible for us to identify with such people? What experience of being excluded from society have we experienced as Christians? What systems (religious or secular) have we turned away from that we once felt safety in? Is there anything that makes it tempting to go back to those things?
One of the key skills of interpreting a letter such as this is to continuously ask, “what problem does the author seem to be trying to solve by writing this? What did he see as an attack against the church to which this letter is addressed? What can we reasonably infer about the background, given what is written. That means skillfully discerning what the author seems to be working to persuade the recipients to believe, feel, or act. Sometimes that simply means that some were either opposed to or were doubtful of whatever the opposite of the message given is. Sometimes though, the text may begin with or turn to subjects that the author knows the readers will agree with, in order to win their thoughts before challenging whatever is amiss, but the reward of carefully reading the text in such a way is that we are better prepared to ask, “What would the author say to us?”
Key Themes
Three themes continually resurface in this letter, and together they form a compelling argument again the relapse that endangers the recipients. The author thoroughly argues:
Jesus is superior. He is superior to angels, superior to Moses. Superior to all other ways of life, Jesus is simply superior to everything. This is not simply a philosophical point though, or an academic theological one. Jesus’ superiority is the basis for faithfulness. A turning away from Jesus to anything else is a turn to something that is inferior. The writer skillfully demonstrates how the theological point makes an impact, not just on what we think, but what we feel and do. One of the great treasures that we find in Hebrews is a very developed way of thinking about Jesus and his work, and a way of translating that into our own lives.
Faithfulness is obedience to the one we trust. Hebrews also has much to teach us abou the nature of faithfulness. It does so by positive examples of those who walked by faith, negative examples of those who did not, and an explanation of what it is that Christians believe in. Hebrew provides a great argument in favor of faithfulness and illustrates well what that faithfulness entails.
Perseverance is indispensable. The heart of the letter is probably best seen as its call to perseverance. This might be seen as an aspect of faithfulness, but seems to deserve mention because of its centrality to the writer’s purposes. It is in the calls to perseverance that we gain our most clear glimpse into what is wrong in the community who originally received this letter. The letter addresses their fears and feelings of isolation though, and calls upon them to set their faces forward without any question of turning back. The letter is one whose main purpose is encouragement.
Memory Challenge
One possible challenge that might aid in the study of Hebrews is the memorization of a set of passages from the book. This is not intended as a rote drill for the sake of verbatim recall, but as a spiritual practice which in this case will help us in two ways.
1. It will give us fuel for meditation and prayer. Letting the word soak into our minds at the level of memorization can be a practice that prepares us to fully ponder and meditate on the passages at hand. As the word reaches deep into our hearts, we can become open to hearing the word on a different level, absorbing it into the deep, hidden places of our heart. We become intimately related to that bit of scripture and the God it reveals to us.
2. It will help us more clearly understand the text as a whole. Hebrews is best read at a sitting, but since we are looking a the book over the course of several months, memorization of key passages can help us connect the different parts of the text together. The passage I memorize this week may help me grasp what I am hearing a month from now more fully.
Memorization: A Discipline for the Heart
They call ours "The Information Age." What used to require time in a library reference room can be found in seconds over the Internet. Phones store hundreds of numbers that only a decade ago we would have had to memorize or record separately. Processes are automated, and massive amounts of information are produced, catalogued, and made readily accessible by nearly everyone.
The good side of that for those of us concerned with God's word is the proliferation of resource information on the scriptures available to almost anyone. That concordance printed in the back of your Bible or freely accessible on the Web makes it easy to track down that verse that you can only partially remember, and the notes in your study Bible make things understandable at a glance, seeming to take the place of long study.
However, there's a downside to tall that free, readily accessible information. Our own drive to learn, to take the word deeply into our hearts, is subverted by the idea that if and when we really need it, we can find it. Why learn book, chapter and verse when you can easily track it down on the Web?
Consequently, the Bible becoems a reference book for debate, moments of trouble, or ethical quandaries. The word never seeps down deeply into our heart, where it can influence our ways of thinking, feeling, and behaving.
Imagine though, that the word liad claim to a deeper part of our hearts, where it could become as influential to hearts, minds and bodies as ideas like "things that fall go down" or "water quenches thirst." Imagine that the words of God begin to form our instincts, to be so much a part of our thinking that we begin to think feel and act in life the same ways that God would think, feel, and act.
Memorization gets a bad rap. Most adults think of it as a chore for school kids/ a pointless drill with little positive effect. Or, perhaps they would love to enjoy having passages memorized, but it seems either out of reach, too time consuming or too difficult. Perhaps G.K. Chesterton's words about the Christian ideal are true about memorization as well, and it is not that it has been tried and found difficult, but that it has been found difficult and left untried.
Yet, the discipline could have another shape. Perhaps the process is less like a drill, and more the process of simple, slow, prayer-like pretition; letting the words become such a part of us that they can come instantly to time. Maybe it includes closely reading a short passage until we know it so intimately that it becomes a part of our very hearts. Memorization can become a way to prepare for meditation, giving our minds fuel to contemplate. It can also be a way of meditating in itself, a way of coming to know God's words - and through them the God that gave them - very closely. Placing the words in our minds not only gives us a way to expand our knowledge about God, but a way to deepen our relationship with him by allowing our hearts to be shaped by his powerful word.
We propose a challenge. Let us give the discipline of meditation a new chance for the next four months, to be a process that we engage in as a church, as a collection of disciples.
Here's the challenge:
Between February and May, memorize:
3 preselected passages
+7 self-chosen passages
10 total passages
We've selected three passages from Hebrews that reflect themes that will be highlighted in our study of the book, namely, 1:3, 11:6, and 12:1. These represent three themes within Hebrews:
Nothing is Better than Jesus
Be Faithful
Never Give Up.
Additionally, we challenge you to select seven other passages that strike your own heart, and commit them to memory as well. In the following paragraphs, you'll find the preselected passages as well as this link to the Discussion Forums for you to share the passages you select, so that you can keep them as handy as your computer, to take advantage of spare moments to work on the process. We beleive that in doing so you'll benefit both from the objective knowledge of these passages and in our ability to meditate on them, but that the process will also increase our understanding of the book as a whole.
As we all engage in that process together, may God use the words we commit to memory to transform and shape us so that we can increasingly reflect the Glory of the God who uttered them. For as the book itself tells us,
"The word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart."
May the living and active word penetrate deep into your heart as you take on this challenge!
~ Steven Hovater
Hebrews 1:3
"The Son is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided for the purification of sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven."
Hebrews 11:6
"And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him."
Hebrews 12:1
"Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us."
What have you chosen for the other seven verses to meditate upon and memorize? Share them at this link.
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