The Hebrew epistle is a journey into heaven to view the surpassing glories of the Son of God. The literary style of the book is lucid, logical, smooth, stately, and sublime. The customary introduction and salutation are absent. Like the Bible itself, Hebrews begins with God. It is characterized by frequent exhortations interspersing the arguments, instead of being reserved for the end of the epistle. The great subjects are alluded to and later developed. It is full of Old Testament quotations, illustrations, and imagery.
Purpose
1. Immediate Purpose:
a. To doctrinally establish the truth of the finality of Christianity, in contrast with the temporary and typical character of Judaism. Christianity is seen not to be a repudiation or abandonment of earlier revelation made to Moses, but rather its fulfillment, the substance of which Judaism was but the shadow.
b. To strengthen them in the face of persecution by weaning their hearts from Judaism which, before God, had ended with the rending of the temple veil (Mt. 27:51) and which was soon to end historically with the destruction of Jerusalem.
c. To prevent apostatizing to Judaism. Jewish leaders were probably upholding the objective elements of Levitical worship–the writings of the OT; the covenant of law received through angelic meditation; the achievements of Moses and Joshua; the Aaronic priesthood; the temple with its vessels, service, and animal sacrifice–as indicating the superiority of Judaism over Christianity which was a belief system of pure faith in an unseen Saviour. The facts of Judaism were set against the faith of Christianity to the attempted disparagement of the latter. Doubtless the converts were challenged to present some tangible proofs of the divine origin of Christianity.
To a person who had been taught from childhood to reverence all these visible elements of Judaism, such an argument would be impressive, for Christianity had nothing to offer but an invisible Saviour whose claims were challenged on every hand. The argument would be fortified by terming the Christian Jews apostates from Jehovah, renegades from the law of Moses, and as having forfeited all the blessings of the legal covenant.
To prevent this possible defection, the author sets forth the “better” things of Christianity, showing the superiority of Christ to the prophets, angels, Moses, Joshua, Aaron, and temple sacrifices and service.
2. Ultimate Purpose:
The Holy Spirit anticipates and answers in advance the Judaizing tendencies which have crept into the professing Church through the centuries. These tendencies, reaching their climax in Romanism and ritualistic Protestantism, are steadily invading many evangelical movements. Never was this epistle needed more than at present (2 Tim. 3:5).
Authorship
Although anonymous, the book has been ascribed to Paul, Timothy, Apollos, Barnabas, Priscilla, Clement and others. God knows the human author, but there is strong evidence of Pauline authorship:
1. Peter refers to a letter which Paul had written to Hebrew converts (2 Pet. 3:15-16; cf. 1 Pet. 1:1).
2. It contains “some things hard to be understood” especially for Hebrew readers (chs. 9, 10, 12), as well as for others (6:4-9; 10:26-31).
3. It contains Paul’s secret mark (13:25; cf. 2 Thess. 3:17-18), which was a protection against spurious letters ascribed to him (2 Thess. 2:2). Contrast the end of Paul’s epistles with the end of those by other writers, where the mark is absent.
4. Three epistles expound the truth of Habakkuk 2:4, “The just shall live by…faith.” The first two were written by Paul (Rom. 1:17; Gal. 3:11), which fact adds to the probability that he also wrote the third (Heb. 10:38).
5. Paul would have had reasons for keeping the epistle anonymous:
a. To prevent Jewish prejudice against himself causing a reaction against the teaching of the epistle. Many Jews denied Paul’s apostleship and accused him of seeking to destroy the Levitical system.
b. His great love for the Jews, his brethren according to the flesh, would cause him to write to those who professed salvation (Rom. 10:1-2), though they might have prejudices against him.
c. He no doubt realized that appeals to the OT Scriptures would be more convincing to Jewish converts than would an appeal to his own apostolic authority.
6. God, knowing the temple was soon to be destroyed and the Jews scattered, may have chosen the eminently qualified Paul while the types were fresh in their minds.
a. He had extensive and accurate knowledge of the OT and of the temple service and ritual (Acts 22:3).
b. His unique conversion suited him to write of the opened heavens and of the exalted and glorified Christ (Acts 26:13-19).
7. The nature of the epistle, which presents Christ as the Apostle and High Priest of our confession (3:1), forbids emphasis on human apostleship.
Date
Probably between 60 and 65 ad. Internal evidence indicates the temple was still standing, necessitating a date earlier than 70 ad when it was destroyed by Titus.
Persons Addressed
Primarily Hebrew converts to Christianity are addressed, but it is full of helpful commentary on the OT types and shadows for us today. We would miss a significant portion of divine revelation if we failed to identify ourselves with our Jewish brethren in leaving “the camp” and going to our blessed Lord in His rejection until the glory He now bears in heaven is revealed to all the world. “Your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with Him in glory” (Col. 3:3-4).