WWUTT 1801 Introduction to the Book of Hebrews

Who is the author of the book of Hebrews? That's a debate that's been going on in the history of the church, right?

What are some of the themes and the aims in this particular letter, and is this even a letter at all?

We'll consider that when we understand the text. Many of the

Bible stories and verses we think we know, we don't. When we understand the text is committed to teaching sound doctrine and rebuking those who contradict it.

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Pastor Gabe. Thank you, Becky, and greetings everyone. If you are able, and you have your

Bible with you, open it up to the book of Hebrews. We begin a brand new study today, and I'm going to start off by reading all of Hebrews chapter 1 out of the

Legacy Standard Bible. This is the word of the Lord. God, having spoken long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, in these last days spoke to us in his

Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, through whom also he made the worlds, who is the radiance of his glory and the exact representation of his nature, and upholds all things by the word of his power, who, having accomplished cleansing for sins, sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high, having become so much better than the angels, as he has inherited a more excellent name than they.

For to which of the angels did he ever say, You are my son, today

I have begotten you, and again I will be a father to him, and he shall be a son to me.

And when he again brings the firstborn into the world, he says, And let all the angels of God worship him.

And of the angels, he says, who makes his angels' winds and his ministers' flaming fire?

But of the Son, he says, Your throne, O God, is forever and ever, and the scepter of uprightness is the scepter of your kingdom.

You have loved righteousness and hated lawlessness. Therefore, God, your

God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness above your companions.

And you, Lord, in the beginning founded the earth, and the heavens are the works of your hands.

They will perish, but you remain, and they all will wear out like a garment, and like a mantle you will roll them up, like a garment they will also be changed.

But you are the same, and your years will not come to an end. But to which of the angels, has he ever said,

Sit at my right hand until I put your enemies as a footstool for your feet? Are they not all ministering spirits, sent to render service for the sake of those who will inherit salvation?

Thus, we begin our study in the book of Hebrews. This is just going to be an introductory lesson today as we get a bird's eye view of this book, starting off by considering who the author is.

That's a hotly debated topic with regards to the book of Hebrews. Who is the recipient?

That should be obvious since it's called Hebrews. What is the occasion or the background of this letter?

What are some of the themes and the aims? And last of all, we'll consider a structure of the letter or a basic outline.

We have 13 chapters here. Hebrews is almost exactly 5 ,000 words long, and it seems to follow the pattern of a sermon.

If you were to read 5 ,000 words out loud, it would be the length of the average sermon, anywhere from 45 to 55 minutes, depending on the pace of the person who is reading it.

That tells us something about Hebrews, in fact. I'm not just comparing it to a sermon, but some scholars believe that Hebrews is a sermon.

It doesn't follow the typical pattern of a letter. As we have read many of Paul's letters, he'll start off by introducing himself,

Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus. He'll say who he's writing to, and then he'll say, grace to you and peace from God, our

Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ. We don't have any kind of introduction like that, or even like one of Peter's letters, 1

Peter 1, Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ to those who reside as exiles scattered throughout

Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, Bithynia, who are chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the

Father. So you've got an obvious introduction, the author and the recipient mentioned at the start of 1

Peter, or in James. James doesn't even follow the pattern of a typical letter, yet it still begins,

James, a slave of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ to the 12 tribes who are in the dispersion, greetings.

So that's obviously a letter. Hebrews doesn't have any indication of being a letter until we get to the very end.

And then it's got the typical conclusion, hey, so -and -so greets you, tells this person that we said hello.

That's the way a lot of Paul's letters end, but none of his letters start like this.

So that's one of the reasons why I would contend that Paul is not the author of Hebrews.

Let's consider who the author is. I have two reasons why I would think that it's not the apostle

Paul. Number one is because Paul doesn't introduce himself. Of all the letters of his we have in the

New Testament, every single one of them, he introduces himself and addresses the people that he is writing to.

Hebrews doesn't start like that. But more so, and I think a greater piece of evidence that indicates

Paul is not the author here, is because of something that's said in chapter 2, verse 3.

Let me start reading in Hebrews 2, verse 1. For this reason, we must pay closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away.

For if the word spoken through angels proved unalterable and every trespass and disobedience received a just penalty, here's verse 3, how will we escape if we neglect so great a salvation?

That salvation, first spoken by the Lord, was confirmed to us by those who heard.

God also testifying with them, both by signs and wonders and by various miracles and by gifts of the

Holy Spirit according to his own will. There's no personal ownership there of having heard the gospel from Christ himself.

Everywhere else in Paul's letters where he talks about his testimony and having received the gospel, he says he did not receive it from any man.

It was given to him by God. Galatians 1, 12. For I did not receive it from any man, nor was

I taught it, but I received it, the gospel, through a revelation of Jesus Christ.

And in Ephesians 3, 3, the mystery of Christ was made known to me by revelation, as I have written briefly.

So everywhere Paul talks about that, he takes personal ownership for having been taught the gospel by Christ himself.

But these three verses here or these four verses at the start of chapter 2 indicate that the gospel was preached to us by those who heard.

That would not have been the apostle Paul. So what is the likelihood with regards to the author of Hebrews?

This is what Pastor Tom says. So I'm going to defer to the expertise of Dr. Tom Buck.

He wrote his doctoral dissertation on the book of Hebrews, and he argues that the author is actually

Luke. If you know Greek very well, and I don't, but Dr. Tom does, Dr.

Tom, Dr. Buck, whichever you, wherever you put that. Anyway, Pastor Tom, he knows

Greek well, and he can read the Greek in Luke and in Acts and in Hebrews, and it looks very much the same.

It has the penmanship, if you will, of Luke. Dr. Luke, Dr.

Tom says that Dr. Luke is probably the author of Hebrews. But what

Luke is writing is a sermon that was delivered by Paul.

So hence why a lot of the language sounds like Paul, but there's other elements of it that don't sound like Paul.

Why would that be? Well, probably because Paul didn't write it, but he did preach it. Luke wrote it, and he wrote down what

Paul preached, and he wrote it in a letter form so that it would go out to the rest of the

Hebrews. Obviously, the recipient of the letter are Hebrews. This was spoken to Jews and showing how

Christ is the fulfillment of the Old Testament scriptures. But not all of the Jews were there to hear the sermon preached.

So Luke wrote down what Paul preached and then distributed it to other Jews or just,

I mean, he distributed it to everybody. Jew and Gentile would have received this. But since the original audience was

Hebrews, then that becomes the title of the letter, and hence why we have known it in canon that way ever since.

But it follows. It kind of has the general structure or the pattern of a sermon rather than a letter.

But it was put in letter form and then sent out to all the churches. So my argument is going to be that Luke is the author of the book of Hebrews, and he's writing a sermon that Paul preached.

What about the occasion or the background of this letter? Why would this letter have been written?

And what time, like what date would this letter have been written? We actually don't know.

Since there's not a lot of clues here in the very beginning as to who the author is and what the occasion is for the letter, therefore we don't know exactly the date, but we would assume it was before 70

AD. So maybe sometime even between 60 or 70 AD could have been when the letter is written, but we don't know for sure.

Between 40 and 70, it could be a 30 -year window in there, but certainly before the destruction of the temple, as there are things here that seem to indicate that the temple is still there.

If it had been destroyed, I would think that would be said in the book of Hebrews with regards to all of like the temple language and sacrifice, references to sacrifices and things like that.

All of that still pretty ongoing in the life of a lot of Hebrews who did not believe that Jesus was the

Christ. And so if the temple had been destroyed, then there wouldn't be any sacrifice at all. So the temple is still there, hence why we can assume the letter was written before 70

AD. Now why this letter would have been written? Well, there's exhortations to the church to remain faithful.

There are exhortations for the audience to continue enduring through persecution and some of the trials that they had to face.

There is exhortation to mature. Some of them have become very immature, and hence you have that exhortation in chapter five where the author says, hey, by now many of you should become teachers.

You should be teachers by now, but you're not, and you need to go back to being fed milk rather than solid food.

So there was a maturity problem among a lot of them, and that's especially relevant considering that this is the

Hebrews this letter is being written to. They were the first ones to hear the gospel. It was preached first in Jerusalem and then

Judea and Samaria, and then to the ends of the earth, right? That was the commission that Christ gave his disciples at the beginning of the book of Acts, and so the

Hebrews heard it first. They had it longer than anybody, yet there are many Hebrews that don't yet understand some of the deeper truths of the word of God, the gospel that was proclaimed by the apostles, showing how

Christ is the fulfillment of the law and the prophets, and so they need to go back to the basic things.

They need to go back to learning some of those elementary doctrines that they may grow up and become teachers.

So there's a rebuke or an exhortation regarding that. But I think we come into knowing the reason for the letter, the purpose of the letter when we consider its themes and its aims.

What are the basic themes of this letter? And by themes, I mean, what is this about?

If you were to have come out of church yesterday and somebody were to ask you, hey, what was the sermon about?

You would say, oh, the pastor preached about this, and it would be either the passage of scripture that he preached from, or you would give a few words that might be like the title of the sermon that would summarize what the sermon was about.

Well, if that's what we're looking at here with Hebrews, if this is a sermon, if Paul is the one that was preaching it, then what did he preach about?

Most of all, what Paul wants his readers to understand is the exaltation of Christ.

Again, showing to his hearers that Christ is the fulfillment of all the law and the prophets.

He is the greater word. He is the greater Moses. He is the greater David. All themes that come up throughout the book of Hebrews.

Paul is also preaching from a particular passage of scripture. So this isn't just a sermon that's drawing random passages from different parts of the

Bible, although we do see that in our introductory chapter here. As I was going through Hebrews 1, we saw various references from throughout the

Psalms and the prophets, talking about how Christ is even greater than the angels. But there is one passage that seems to be in view throughout all of Hebrews, and that's

Psalm 95. In fact, to prepare yourself for a study of the book of Hebrews, I would encourage you sometime this week, open up Psalm 95.

It's not very long, verses 1 through 11. And in fact, it's verses 7 to the end of the

Psalms. 7 through 11 are quoted exactly in chapter 3, and you see portions of Psalm 95 come up again in chapter 4 as well.

So this is apparently the Psalm that Paul has in view, that he's preaching expositionally from.

Hebrews is an expository sermon of Psalm 95.

Let me just go ahead and read to you from Psalm 95, starting in verse 7. We read, for he is our

God, and we are the people of his pasture and the sheep of his hand. Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as at Meribah, as in the day of Masa in the wilderness, when your fathers tried me, they tested me, though they had seen my work.

For 40 years, I loathed that generation, and said, they are a people who wander in their heart, and they do not know my ways.

Therefore, I swore in my anger, they shall never enter into my rest.

And we see those verses exactly in Hebrews 3, starting in verse 7, and going through verse 11.

So that's Psalm 95, 7 to 11. It's in Hebrews 3, 7 to 11.

So I encourage you, sometime this week, open up Psalm 95 and get that Psalm in your mind, because you'll see elements of the

Psalm come up throughout Hebrews, as this is an expository sermon on Psalm 95.

How about that? Expository preaching is not just something, it's not just a discipline that we do today from the

Bible, but it's actually done in the Bible. In Nehemiah 8, 8, we read that they read from the book from the law of God, explaining and giving insight, and they provided understanding of the reading.

That's an Old Testament passage in the book of Nehemiah, during the second temple period.

And that's exactly the way the word of God was taught to the people of God. They read from the law and they gave the sense.

Expository preaching. And so we see it in the New Testament as well, even here in the book of Hebrews.

What about some of the aims? Like, what are the objectives? What does Paul, if he's the preacher here, what does he want his hearers to do?

Well, he wants them to understand that Christ is the greater than. He is the better word from God.

We just read that in verses one through four. He is, he is greater than the angels.

He is a greater minister over God's people than Moses. We'll see that when we get to chapter three, he's a better minister of God than Joshua.

Like, like Joshua brought the people of Israel into God's rest. Christ does it even better than Joshua did.

Jesus is the greater high priest. That's in chapters five through seven.

He is the priest of a better covenant. That's in chapter eight. He ratified that covenant for a better sanctuary, which is heaven.

That's in chapter nine. He ratified that covenant with a better sacrifice. That's in chapters nine and ten.

And by faith in Christ is the better way to draw near to God.

Not through the blood of rams and goats and bulls. Not through the high priest who would do that once a year on Yom Kippur.

Going into the sanctuary and sacrificing on behalf of the people. Now we can draw near to God. No, the better way to draw near to God is by faith in Jesus Christ.

That's something I just don't think we as Christians really understand. We have it so much better on this side of the cross than those in the

Old Testament. The Old Testament faithful than what they had on the other side of the cross. They had to go through all of those sacrifices.

And all of that being types and shadows of one who was to come to fulfill all of those things.

Who is Christ. Christ is the greater than. He is the better than.

And that is not only the theme, but even the aim of this letter. That's the theme in what

Paul is preaching about. And it's the aim with concern to what he wants his readers to understand.

He also wants them to endure in their confession of faith. That they would not shrink back.

Just as the warning that was given in Psalm 95. He also encourages the hearers.

And encourages those persecuted in their faith. He edifies them. So that they would know the difference between right teaching and false teaching.

And he entreats them for prayer. We get that at the very end of the letter.

So these are the main themes and aims. We have exaltation, endurance, encouragement, edification, and entreaty.

Last of all, let's consider a basic outline of this particular letter. The sermon to the

Hebrews is broken up into three parts. That's how we can know that Paul and Luke were

Baptists. Because they gave a three -part sermon. Part one is how

Jesus is the Son of God. The better message, the better minister of salvation.

That goes from chapter 1 through chapter 4, verse 13. Where we understand he is superior to the prophets.

He is the greater word. He is superior to the angels. He is greater than the law itself that was delivered from God.

Therefore, we must hold dear the revelation and the salvation that is in Christ Jesus.

He is superior to Moses. Therefore, we must hold fast our confession and find our rest in Christ.

Part two of the sermon goes from chapter 4, verse 14 to chapter 10, verse 18.

Where we read about how Jesus is the better high priest. The better mediator of a better covenant.

He is a high priest in the order of Melchizedek. He is a mediator of a better covenant with better promises.

He has effected a better sanctuary with a better sacrifice. All of that is in chapter 4, verse 14 through chapter 10, verse 18.

That's part two of the sermon. Part three, we read about a new covenant in faith in Jesus Christ, the

Son of God. And this is the only acceptable worship unto the Lord. This goes from chapter 10, verse 19 to the very end of the letter.

And there are various warnings that are given. We must consider the consequences of rejecting

Christ and the new covenant. We must also endure in our faith and embrace discipline from the

Lord. We read about discipline in chapter 12. That's a pretty popular discipline chapter, as a matter of fact.

So that no one would come short of the grace of God and refuse the word of God. We understand that in Christ Jesus, all good things of God are given to us.

And so let us worship God through a life of faith. We have the heroes of the faith that are talked about in chapter 11.

The hall of faith, as sometimes that is described. Those examples that are given to us that we may likewise live as they did.

Risking their very lives in faith unto God, so we would also give our lives unto him.

He who died for us, rose again from the dead, ascended into heaven, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God, who is coming back again to judge the living and the dead.

And all who are in Christ Jesus will be saved and have everlasting life with him.

All of that is not just me summarizing the gospel. It's right here in the book of Hebrews.

So I hope that you have enjoyed this overview here today. And we'll come back to studying the book of Hebrews again tomorrow as we continue on with some of these

Old Testament references that we've read here in chapter 1. Let me conclude with prayer.

Heavenly Father, we thank you for the goodness that you have demonstrated to us through your son, Jesus Christ.

He who is the greater than, the better than, the greatest of all. That in Christ Jesus we have the forgiveness of sins and we have fellowship with God.

And may we also have boldness to declare the word of God to others so that they may recognize their sin, repent, and come to faith in Jesus Christ and so be saved.

Work out in us the knowledge of these things as we go through the book of Hebrews together. It's in Jesus' name that we pray.

Amen. Thank you for listening to When We Understand The Text with Pastor Gabe Hughes. If you'd like to support this ministry, visit our website www .wutt

.com and click on the Give tab in the top right corner of the page. Join us again tomorrow as we continue our