The Epistle to the Hebrews: Introduction
This is the ‘front page’ of a two studies in the Epistle to the Hebrews.
This Epistle gives us a deep exposition on the very Person and the Work of our Lord Jesus Christ. It contains many of the most-complex and deep teachings about Jesus contained in all the New Testament.
In the sequence of New Testament writings the Epistle to the Hebrews was almost certainly written prior to the destruction of the Temple by the Romans on a well-established date, namely 70 A.D.. It is highly likely that it was written after the time of Paul’s arrival and imprisonment in Rome and face-to-face encounter with the young church there who had received some time after previously Paul’s Epistle to the Romans. That Epistle makes the claim that our righteous occurs by the Faith of Christ, as made evident by the faith of our response to God’s call, utterly apart from any work of merit on our part and any work possible by us under the Mosaic Law. This is an astonishing claim. But consider just two brief passages from Romans:
Romans 3 :27 Then what becomes of our boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? By a law of works? No, but by the law of faith. 28 For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law. (ESV)
Romans 4:13 For the promise to Abraham and his offspring that he would be heir of the world did not come through the law but through the righteousness of faith. 14 For if it is the adherents of the law who are to be the heirs, faith is null and the promise is void. 15 For the law brings wrath, but where there is no law there is no transgression. 16 That is why it depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all his offspring—not only to the adherent of the law but also to the one who shares the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all, 17 as it is written, “I have made you the father of many nations”—in the presence of the God in whom he believed, who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist. 18 In hope he believed against hope, that he should become the father of many nations, as he had been told, “So shall your offspring be.” 19 He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was as good as dead (since he was about a hundred years old), or when he considered the barrenness of Sarah’s womb. 20 No unbelief made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, 21 fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised. 22 That is why his faith was “counted to him as righteousness.” 23 But the words “it was counted to him” were not written for his sake alone, 24 but for ours also. It will be counted to us who believe in him who raised from the dead Jesus our Lord, 25 who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification. (ESV)
These words from the Epistle to the Romans would have been very difficult to grasp even for Gentiles (Romans), but they would have been incomprehensible, even seen as blasphemous, by those faithful to the Old Testament Mosaic Law. How could it be even possible for such Law to be set aside, and its 1500 years of history, and the many Old Testament prophets, and signs and wonders, all replaced by an act of “Faith” (utter reliance) on One born, and later crucified (and resurrected!) just a few years earlier? The Epistle to the Hebrews addresses that very issue.
Why should this deeper investigation into the Work of Christ be of importance to us, to the church today. Most of us are far removed from the Mosaic Law (and don’t much like “laws” of any kind anyway). What problem is it for us just to take the above verses from Romans (and many other such verses) and just skip the entire Epistle to the Hebrews, or at least jump down to Chapter 11 where we it records for us a Biblical ‘Hall of Fame of Faith?’ Here’s one answer to such question, by John MacArthur. Here’s a link to the video from which the below transcript was taken:
“You know when you look at the present-day church, I would say to start with the problems that exist in the church, and there are many, start with an inadequate understanding of God. We have a superficial, shallow, truncated, popularized, sort of personalized understanding of God. This is a massive problem. Because we don’t know the truth about God, we really don’t know the truth about anything else in its fullness and its richness. The infantility, I guess you could say, of the church, the immaturity of the church, the superficiality of the church, the cheesiness of the church, the cheapness of the church, the shallowness of preaching is related to an inadequate understanding of the greatness and the glory of God.”
None Other: In his new book, None Other: Discovering the God of the Bible, John MacArthur shows that the best way to discover the one true God is not through philosophical discourse but a careful study of Scripture—the primary place where God has chosen to reveal Himself.
Two Studies in Hebrews:
There are here two separate study tracks of Hebrews.
A 13-Session Sunday School Study (2017)
One study is based entirely on PowerPoint-like visuals (done in Macintosh Keynote) that includes every verse in the Epistle expressed and examined by a structural exposition. This one was done in 2017 in a 12 week Adult “Sunday School” format. It begins with the “Study #1” link, and following, below on this page. The study ends with Week #12, through Hebrews Chapter 10; the rest of Hebrews was never completed.
The Panels and other material for the 2017 Study is here:
2017 12-Session Study of Hebrews
A Three-Session Retreat Study (2019)
A different approach of the study of Hebrews was done in 2019 in a church “retreat” format. This study was done using the Crossway publication of a journal formal of Hebrews in a standalone booklet. A link to Amazon is here.
In this 2019 study, 24 “Panels” are used that can be taped into the ESV booklet on the respective pages shown at the top of each Panel. These Panels were prepared also using Keynote and are likewise structural studies. They are nominally sized a 5 by 7 inches such that they fit the size of the ESV booklet. Unlike the 2017 study, the 2019 study focuses on certain distinctives of Hebrews.