Hebrews

Author: Unknown
Type of Book: Epistle
Date of Writing: AD 64
Theme: Jesus Christ, our High Priest and God

The book of Hebrews was written to Jewish Christians. They had related to God under the old covenant, but now Jesus had come and introduced a new covenant, which was confusing them.

The book outlines and establishes that Christianity is the natural successor to Judaism, and that Jesus is superior to angels, prophets, and past revelations of God. He is the fulfillment of the Law. Hebrews is one of the most systematic and doctrinal books in the New Testament, along with Romans. It paints a beautiful picture of Jesus Christ as our High Priest and God. For a Jewish audience, this book builds the bridge between the Old and New Testaments.

Hebrews also addresses a real danger to these new believers. As Christianity was regarded more and more as a cult by the Jewish establishment, and they were beginning to undergo severe persecution, there was a great temptation for Jewish Christians to return to Judaism and turn away from Christianity. There were also attempts to make Christianity more Jewish, in order to make it more palatable to the establishment. This book addresses and corrects these errors. Christianity did flow forth as the natural progression from Judaism, but it is much more. It is a new covenant.

The book was probably written before AD 70, when the temple was destroyed. As a book that had so much to say about the temple, such an event would likely have been mentioned. Tradition attributes its authorship to the apostle Paul, and that is who I believe wrote it. Its style varies somewhat from Paul's, but that is to be expected since he was writing to a different audience than those addressed in his other epistles. Hebrews certainly contains a lot of teaching that agrees with Paul's other writings, and according to Heb. 13:23 the author was working with Timothy, but whether or not Paul was the human author, what's more important is that the Holy Spirit inspired this book, and it is a treasure trove of blessing for us, as it paints a graphic picture of Jesus.

-from Pastor Chuck Smith from The Word for Today Bible