Hebrews
An anonymous sermon urging wavering believers to hold on, because Jesus, the Son and great high priest, is greater than everything that came before him.
Overview
Hebrews has no greeting and opens with its theme, “God, having in the past spoken to the fathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, has at the end of these days spoken to us by his Son” (1:1–2). It then argues, step by step from the Jewish Scriptures, that the Son is greater than the angels and greater than Moses. As a high priest “after the order of Melchizedek” (5:10), he is also greater than Aaron and the priests from the tribe of Levi. Its central claim is that his one sacrifice of himself, offered “once for all” (7:27), achieved what the repeated sacrifices of the old covenant could not.
Woven through the argument are sharp warnings against drifting away (2:1) and falling away (6:4–6), and calls to hold firm. Chapter 11 lists the heroes of faith from Abel to the prophets, who “didn’t receive the promise” (11:39), and chapter 12 turns them into “so great a cloud of witnesses” around the readers: “let’s run with perseverance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus” (12:1–2). The last chapter gives practical instructions and a few personal notes.
Author and date
Hebrews does not name its author. He seems to belong to the second generation of believers, since the message was “confirmed to us by those who heard” (2:3), and he knew Timothy (13:23).
Traditional view
The churches of the East counted Hebrews among Paul’s letters from early on, and from the 4th century the churches of the West did too. Older English Bibles title it the epistle of Paul to the Hebrews. Early writers who held this view, such as Clement of Alexandria (around AD 200), explained the difference in style by suggesting that Luke translated or polished it.
Academic view
Almost all modern scholars, conservative and critical, doubt that Paul wrote it, citing its style, its vocabulary and the author’s claim to have received the message second-hand (2:3). Suggested authors include Barnabas (proposed by the early writer Tertullian), Apollos (proposed by Martin Luther), Luke and Priscilla. Many agree with Origen, a 3rd-century scholar, that God alone knows who wrote it. Dates range from before AD 70, when the temple was destroyed (the author writes of its sacrifices as still being offered), to the 80s or 90s.
Both views place the author in or near Paul’s circle, since he mentions Timothy (13:23), and date the book to the second half of the 1st century.
Audience and setting
The title “to the Hebrews” was added by early copyists, and it reflects the content: the readers knew the Jewish Scriptures well, and the argument treats a return to the old covenant as a real temptation. They had already suffered for their faith, enduring “a great struggle with sufferings” (10:32), though not yet to the point of death (12:4). Where they lived is unknown. The greeting from “The Italians” (13:24) may mean Rome was the destination or the place of writing.
Genre, and how to read it
The author calls the book “the word of exhortation” and says it is written “in few words” (13:22), and it reads like a sermon written down. Teaching and appeal alternate throughout. Each stretch of argument leads into a warning or an encouragement, often beginning “Therefore” (2:1). The teaching always serves the call to persevere.
Hebrews reads the Old Testament closely, above all Psalm 110, Psalm 95, Jeremiah’s promise of a new covenant (quoted in full in chapter 8) and the ritual of the Day of Atonement. It treats the tabernacle and its sacrifices as “a shadow of the good to come” (10:1). The warning passages, especially 6:4–6 and 10:26, are read differently across Christian traditions. Some take them as a warning that true believers can fall away, others as describing people who were never truly converted, and others as one of the means God uses to keep his people faithful.
Better
Hebrews argues by comparison, and its word for it is kreittōn, “better”. Of the nineteen times the New Testament uses the word, thirteen are in Hebrews: a better hope, a better covenant on better promises, better sacrifices, a better country, a better resurrection.
- Hebrews 13
- 1 Corinthians 3
- Philippians 1
- 1 Peter 1
- 2 Peter 1
19 in the New Testament, counted in the site’s Greek text.
-
having become as much better than the angels
1:4 -
we are persuaded of better things for you
6:9 -
the lesser is blessed by the greater
7:7 -
a bringing in of a better hope
7:19 -
the guarantee of a better covenant
7:22 -
the mediator of a better covenant, which on better promises has been given as law
8:6twice in one verse -
the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these
9:23 -
a better possession and an enduring one in the heavens
10:34 -
they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one
11:16 -
that they might obtain a better resurrection
11:35 -
God having provided some better thing concerning us
11:40 -
the blood of sprinkling that speaks better than that of Abel
12:24
Thirteen uses in twelve verses: 8:6 has the word twice. At 7:7 the WEB renders it the greater
. Chapters 2–5 and 13 do not use it.
Outline
The Son and his priesthood (1–10)
- 1:1–2:18 Greater than the angels — The Son’s glory, and a first warning not to drift
- 3:1–4:13 Greater than Moses — The wilderness generation, and the rest still on offer
- 4:14–7:28 A high priest like Melchizedek — A priest who sympathises, a warning against falling away, a better priesthood
- 8:1–10:18 A better covenant and sacrifice — Jeremiah’s new covenant, the tabernacle, one sacrifice once for all
Hold on (10–13)
- 10:19–10:39 Draw near and endure — Confidence, a severe warning, the former days remembered
- 11:1–11:40 By faith — From Abel to the prophets
- 12:1–12:29 Run the race — Discipline, and Mount Zion set beside Sinai
- 13:1–13:25 Closing instructions — Love, marriage, leaders and greetings
Key themes
- The Son
- The Son is “the radiance of his glory, the very image of his substance” (1:3), and “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever” (13:8).
- A high priest who understands
- Jesus is a high priest who has “been in all points tempted like we are, yet without sin” (4:15).
- A better covenant
- Jesus is “the mediator of a better covenant” (8:6), and the new covenant promised through Jeremiah makes the first “obsolete” (8:13). The Covenants page follows the new covenant from Jeremiah to here.
- Faith
- “Now faith is assurance of things hoped for, proof of things not seen” (11:1), and chapter 11 defines it by example.
At a glance
Most mentioned: Jesus Christ, Abraham, Moses, Melchisedec, Isaac
Main places: Egypt, Jerusalem, Holy Place, Italy, Jericho
Covenants made here: The New Covenant
In the Almanac: Day of Atonement, Angel