“Hebrews is a delight for the person who enjoys puzzles.”

A Neglected Book?

In your experience (as a Christian, or as one inquiring into the Faith), which parts of the New Testament have been most explored?  In sermons, reading, or your own study, which are most familiar?  Conversely, which parts of the New Testament canon seem like uncharted territory?  If all of Scripture is inspired by God[1] why such a disparity?  For most of us the four gospels (or at least one of them), some of Paul’s letters, maybe Acts, and bits and pieces from the Revelation fill the first list.  Sermons and Bible study groups repeatedly return to familiar territory.  But some parts seem to receive much less attention.  Hebrews would top that list for many.

When was the last time you heard a sermon series (or even a single sermon) on Hebrews?  I recall a detailed series at a church while I was in college (several decades ago).  The pastor used an overhead projector (high tech then, if a little startling in a church setting) to diagram the Temple, the altar and the rest of the liturgical furniture described in Leviticus and alluded to in Hebrews.  My impression was (and remained for a long time) that Hebrews was territory for Old Testament scholars who could sift through all the imagery.  Those unfamiliar objects were too obscure for me as a fairly new Christian.

Hebrews exhibits other oddities.  Most of the New Testament books are titled either for the human author (e.g., Matthew or Jude), or for the specific recipients (the Ephesian church, or Paul’s friend Philemon).  But Hebrews never names the writer, and there is no explicit mention of the specific destination.  There are only a few internal clues to the historical setting or context for writing the letter.  And it doesn’t follow the form of many other letters in the New Testament, lacking an opening salutation[2] or a lengthy closing with personal greetings.[3]

In addition, Hebrews is one of the longer books in the New Testament.[4]  That itself can be a bit overwhelming for personal study or a sermon series.  Plus, Hebrews can be distressing, with so-called “warning passages” that mention “drifting away” and “falling away” and an “impossibility of repentance.” [5]  Difficult passages that might lead to conclusions outside of our comfort zone are intimidating.  Much easier to go back and study Ephesians again or listen to that great sermon series on the Gospel according to John.

As one commentator summarizes, “Hebrews is a delight for the person who enjoys puzzles.”[6]

Why Study Hebrews?

So we return to the question, “Why study (and blog about) Hebrews?”

Perhaps part of the answer comes from the same commentator who found it a puzzle:

Hebrews is a difficult book. But I am convinced that it is one of the special gifts of God to his Church.  It is a gift to be appreciated especially when God’s people find themselves prone to discouragement or distraction from any cause.[7]

Or we could follow the example of John Owen, “by common consent the greatest of the Puritan theologians,” who wrote seven volumes (almost 4,000 pages, over two million words[8]) on Hebrews.  His monumental task had two goals, theological and practical:

“In the first place, the glory of Jesus Christ as the divine Savior and Lord of Christians and churches was always his [John Owen’s] supreme theological, devotional, and doxological concern, and he wanted to expound Hebrews because of all the New Testament epistles it seemed to him to display that glory most fully and directly.
…
Then, too, he wanted to bring out the vast quantity of instructions on living by faith in Christ that he found in its pages.”^[9]

Hebrews is indeed a rich stockpile of theological treasure, just as my college pastor wanted to communicate.  However, that theology is not presented in a vacuum.  Rather, the theology of Hebrews provides the animating atmosphere of a life committed to trusting God in every circumstance.  That atmosphere is essential “in the furnace of affliction precisely when there is no indication that God will break through and rescue his people in some miraculous manner.”[10]

The goal of my study and this blog is to at least begin to explore both aspects of Hebrews:  the theological perspective (some of which is unique to Hebrews[11]) and the practical applications that are particularly needed in our current culture.

Lest this first blog entry grow to an excessive length (my usual tendency), the twenty-first century characteristics that make Hebrews so relevant will wait until the next post.

Meanwhile, read through the book of Hebrews.  The main thing is the text, not what I or John Owen or anyone in between has to say.  Read the text (or listen on a site like Bible Gateway[12]).  Thirteen chapters take less than an hour.  Or concentrate on a chapter or two a day.  But as a starting point (and throughout the future blog posts), always return to the text.

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[1] 2 Timothy 3:16; for a more thorough treatment of this affirmation, see F. F. Bruce The New Testament Documents:  Are they reliable? (Chicago:  Inter-Varsity Press, 1968).

[2] e.g., Romans 1:1; Ephesians 1:1-2; even for those the writer had not met in person, Colossians 1:1-2, cf. 2:1.

[3] e.g., Romans 16:1-23; 1 Corinthians 16:15-21.

[4] See “Word Counts for every book of the Bible” Hebrews is longer than any of Paul’s letters with the exception of Romans and 1 Corinthians.  Also, Hebrews is longer than the “General Epistles” of James, Peter, John and Jude.

[5] Hebrews 2:1; 6:6

[6] William L. Lane, Hebrews 1-8, Word Biblical Commentary (Dallas:  Word Books, 1991), xlvii.

[7] William L Lane,. Hebrews:  A Call to Commitment (Vancouver, British Columbia:  Regent College Publishing, 2004), 10.

[8] https://www.logos.com/product/4365/an-exposition-of-the-epistle-to-the-hebrews , viewed August 23, 2021.

[9] John Owen, Hebrews, in The Crossway Classic Commentaries, series editors Alister McGrath and J. I. Packer (Wheaton, Illinois:  Crossway Books, 1998), ix.

[10] William L Lane,. Hebrews:  A Call to Commitment (Vancouver, British Columbia:  Regent College Publishing, 2004), 155.

[11] William L Lane,. Hebrews:  A Call to Commitment (Vancouver, British Columbia:  Regent College Publishing, 2004), 101.

[12] https://www.biblegateway.com/audio/mcconachie/nasb1995/Heb.1