An Overview of the Book of Hebrews
An Overview of the Book of Hebrews
The Book of Hebrews is a very valuable book in the New Testament. Along with Galatians, it makes the clear argument that the Old Testament Mosaic system had done its work, which was to point to Christ, and because Christ has come, that system's work was completed, and it was put aside.
Biblical Judaism, the God ordained Jewish system, is over.
The Jewish nation had two (2) purposes: 1) to be a pure human blood line for Christ, and 2) to be custodians of the Scriptures. See my Blog: 0069 = What Was the Purpose of the Jewish Nation.
In the old testament we see three (3) laws:
1) The moral law of God, the Ten Commandments, which are for all people, for all time, and so did not end, but are still God's law for us today. They are the expression of God's moral character, and therefore existed from before the foundation of the world, and were then written down on the stone tablets by God himself, and given to Moses. They define sin; sin is defined by God.
2) The ceremonial law, the Mosaic Sacrificial System, which was the shadow pointing to the Christ, the Savior, the Messiah whom God would send. So when Christ came, he closed that chapter in God's plan of salvation, and opened the new one: the Old Testament system is put aside, the New Testament is opened.
3) The civil law, which regulated the Jewish society.
Each had its sphere, but obviously there was overlap!
This Blog is an overview of the book of Hebrews, meaning I will deal with the book as a whole, its theme and purpose.
It has ONE (1) unified theme and purpose!
We will look at the following:
1) To whom was it written
2) When was it written
3) Why was it written
4) To what end was it written
But before we look at those, we will ask the question: Who wrote the book? Everybody likes to discuss this question, but we don't know!
Everyone has an opinion, and while I do not know who wrote it, I am fairly certain I know who did NOT write it; I do not think Paul wrote it!
Here are my reasons:
First: Paul was a native Greek speaker. He grew up is Tarsus. Yes, he spoke Hebrew, but when he spoke/wrote Greek, he did it as a native Greek speaker. Greek grammar, due to markers on nouns, adjectives etc, does not require words in a sentence to be sequential, they can be in "any" place within the sentence. When Paul wrote his letters, he wrote using Greek words, and Greek grammatical structure; convoluted and disjointed, even when compared to English sentence word order. Think of how hard it is to read an inter-linear Greek-English bible. That is why the KJV, which seeks to preserve the original Greek word order, is often confusing to us. The sentences are long, and winding, with hanging phrases, dangling modifiers, and we are always asking, Does this word/phrase go with this or that?
Until I started translating the bible, I would not have understood that grammatical argument.
That is why Peter says of Paul's writing:
"even as our beloved brother Paul also according to the wisdom given unto him hath written unto you;
As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood," 2Pe 3:15-16
He is not saying the subject matter is hard, he is saying Paul writes in a confusing manner.
Think of legal contract, we know the words, but all of those qualifying, dangling phrases, get a bit confusing; Greek word order can be like that.
Hebrew however, is not like that; the words in a Hebrew sentence flow in a nice sequential order.
The native Hebrew speaking writers of the New Testament, who all grew up in Palestine, Peter, John, James, Jude, and Matthew wrote differently. When they wrote, they used Greek words, but Hebrew grammar. That is why Paul's Greek was confusing to Peter!
My best illustration is my one set of Italian immigrant grandparents. They spoke English, well kind of: they used English words, but the words within the sentence were ordered according to Italian grammar. If you have immigrant parents or grandparents, you understand perfectly what I am saying.
The word order, and order of argumentation in the book of Hebrews is sequential. Compare it to Roman, which we know Paul wrote, and the difference, even in our English translations, especially the KJV which tried to preserve the original Greek word order, is crystal clear.
Second: Paul does not sign his name, which he himself says is the mark of ever letter he writes:
"The salutation of I Paul with mine own hand, which is the token in every epistle: so I write." 2Th 3:17
Regarding other people who are put forward as the possible author:
Timothy - It cannot be Timothy, for he is refereed to in the 3rd person, in the letter itself:
"Know ye that our brother Timothy is set at liberty; with whom, if he come shortly, I will see you." Heb 13:23
And since Timothy grew up in a Greek city, with a Greek father, he was definitely not a native Hebrew speaker, in fact he may not have even known Hebrew; remember, he had not even been circumcised! His mother was a Jew, but we don't know about his grandmother: was she his mother's mom or his father's? If she was his paternal grandmother, she was a gentile, but we simply do not know.
Titus - It cannot be Titus, for he was definitely not Jewish. He was not circumcised (Gal 2:3). Paul calls him a "Greek," but that term is used of non-Jews, so he may have been a Roman, as Titus is a Roman name. So the style of writing would not fit with him, but also as a non-Jew, both the subject, and the audience would also not fit with him.
Barnabas is a likely candidate, as he, being a Levite, a priest, would have been a native Hebrew speaker, he would have known the Jewish law, and had a vested interest in the audience, but that is all we can say.
Mark, Barnabas nephew (Col 4:10), who was a Jew, is also a candidate, but again, it is just speculation.
Apollos? Aquila? We are just groping, and in the end, does it matter? No, not really!
What we do know is that the author has a good knowledge of the subject matter as one who had been inside the system, and so having a personal connection, wrote as a Jew writing to fellow Jews who were struggling; the author himself was a Jew.
Now to the points we want to address.
1) To whom was it written
It was obviously written to Jewish Christians: ethnic Jews who had believed in Jesus, and had therefore "forsaken" the Old Testament Jewish system. That is why the author warns:
"For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, And have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come, If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame." Heb 6:4-6
He is telling them, you know the old system is done, if you go back, there is no other way.
And it was written to a local church, or several local churches within a relatively small area. The author tells them to obey their leaders, the elders and deacons, terms only applicable to a local church context.
"Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves: for they watch for your souls, as they that must give account, that they may do it with joy, and not with grief: for that is unprofitable for you." Heb 13:17
"Salute all them that have the rule over you, and all the saints. They of Italy salute you." Heb 13:24
Where exactly did they live, we don't know, but certainly not Italy, because the writer was in Italy, and he sent his letter to Christians in another location, probably Palestine, maybe Jerusalem itself.
2) When was it written
While we do not know the exact date, we do know that the Roman Emperor Claudius was persecuting the Jews, and in AD 49 issued an order to expel them from Rome. He was not thinking religion per se, so Jews who were Christians were also expelled.
"And we found a certain Jew named Aquila, born in Pontus, lately come from Italy, with his wife Priscilla; (because that Claudius had commanded all Jews to depart from Rome:) and came unto them." Act 18:2
In addition, the Temple in Jerusalem was destroyed in AD 70. That is a significant event, because it removed the God ordained venue for sacrifice, effectively ending the Old Testament Jewish sacrificial system, and since the destruction of the Temple is not mentioned in the book of Hebrews, which it surely would have been if it had happened, we can say with great certainty, the book was written before AD 70.
So it seems to me, the trouble starts in Rome under Claudius, at first specifically against the Jews, but since in the early days of the church, the Romans considered Christianity a part of Judaism, and so the persecution would have also effected Christians.
Then some years later, the Jews of Jerusalem rebel, which lead to the First Jewish-Roman War, which started in 66 AD, and ended with the destruction of the Temple in 70 AD. But prior to the war starting, and/or during it, the Christians of Jerusalem/Palestine were being persecuted, and it was during that period the letter was written.
3) Why was it written
It was written because some of these Jewish Christians who were being persecuted, were in danger of forsaking Christ. It is written in the context of persecution!
"But call to remembrance the former days, in which, after ye were illuminated, ye endured a great fight of afflictions; Partly, whilst ye were made a gazing stock both by reproaches and afflictions; and partly, whilst ye became companions of them that were so used. For ye had compassion of me in my bonds, and took joyfully the spoiling of your goods, knowing in yourselves that ye have in heaven a better and an enduring substance." Heb 10:32-34
The writer himself had been in prison, and others of their group also:
"Remember them that are in bonds, as bound with them; and them which suffer adversity, as being yourselves also in the body." Heb 13:3
"Know ye that our brother Timothy is set at liberty; with whom, if he come shortly, I will see you." Heb 13:23
Some of these Jewish Christians were beginning to wonder if Jesus really was the Christ, and wondering that, they were thinking of turning back. They were still holding on to the basic Jewish thought that the kingdom was an earthly kingdom (Act 1) and so they thought they should be conquering, not being persecuted.
So how does the author seek to counter that thinking, and encourage them to continue on?
He uses Truth, he uses Facts.
The writer shows them the superiority of Christ to:
- To the angels, who were just created beings, whereas he is the Creator, chapters 1 and 2
- To Moses, who was just a worker in God's house, whereas Jesus is the Owner of the house, chapter 3
- That the Sabbath Jesus has prepared for his people is an eternal Sabbath, whereas the Sabbath under the Old Testament was just to rest one day each week from work, chapter 4
- That he Jesus was outside the earthly Jewish priesthood, he was not a Levite, he was of Judah, and so he surpassed the earthly Jewish priesthood, chapter 5
- That he Jesus was like Melchizedek, so he has an eternal priesthood, chapter 5, 7-8
- That he is the mediator of an eternal covenant, chapter 8
- That he offers a sacrifice of intrinsically better quality, himself, in the heavenly temple, not in an earthly temple
- That his sacrifice is shown to be intrinsically better, because it only needed to be done once, in contrast to the animal sacrifices which had to be repeated over and over again, chapter 10
In chapter 11 the writer then lists some of the Old Testament Era believers, to show that they believed the same promises, the same gospel that we do!
- Abraham was going to heaven, not Canaan, 11:10, 11:16
- Of Moses it is said: "he esteemed the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt: for he had respect unto the recompense of the reward." Heb 11:26
After listing all of those people, he tells those Jewish Christian who were in doubt, to remember those people are in heaven, they are the cloud of witnesses, people who went before us, and are now in heaven cheering us on.
"Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us," Heb 12:1
He is telling them, he is telling us: endure!
He strengthens his arguments with warnings and rebukes against quiting:
"Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it." Heb 4:1
"Of whom we have many things to say, and hard to be uttered, seeing ye are dull of hearing. For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat." Heb 5:11-12
In chapter 6:1-8, he gives a scary warning to those who turn back after having experienced spiritual blessings; he does not think that pertains to them, but he is warning them: do not turn back!
He warns them not to think the trials and persecutions they are experiencing are signs that they are believing the wrong thing, but that those trials and persecutions are actually signs that they are God's children!
"And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him: For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth." Heb 12:5-6
And finally in Heb 12:25, he warns them: "See that ye refuse not him that speaketh. For if they escaped not who refused him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven:"
That is the flow of logic that he uses to strengthen their faith. He uses the facts of history; facts and doctrine as recorded in the scriptures.
Doctrine does not divide, it unites; faith is strengthened by doctrine, as we think upon Truth.
Truth matters! Truth is what keeps us!
4) To what end was it written
We look at the book of Hebrews as a theological treatise, which it is, but that is not the end to which it was written. The writer was pleading with them, to not forsake Jesus Christ.
It is a simple, straightforward presentation of the gospel, not from in a legal framework as Paul does in Romans, but showing the unfolding of God's plan historically within the frame work of the Jewish nation, that God established Jewish nation and sacrificial system to foreshadow the eternal realities, and so once Christ died, the shadow has done its work, and is put aside, Christ having brought in the eternal reality.
True Christians do not turn back; we may doubt and wonder and be perplexed, but we do not forsake Christ. That is what is meant by the "Perseverance of the Saints." We Christians cannot lose our salvation, he is holding us.
But if you are not a Christian, especially if you are Jewish, the point of the book of Hebrews is that the Old Testament system which God set up, was to point to Christ, but since he has come, its work is over, being replaced by the reality of Jesus, who clearly said: "I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me." Joh 14:6
No other religion will lead you to God, Jesus is the only way.
22 August 2025