1. Summary of Contents:
I. The Revelation of God in His Son (Heb 1:1-14-Heb 2:1-18).
1. Christ the completion of revelation (Heb 1:1-3).
2. Christ's superiority over the angels (Heb 1:4 ff).
(1) Because lie is a Son (Heb 1:4-6).
(2) Because His reign is eternal (Heb 1:7 ff).
3. The dangers of neglecting salvation through the Son (Heb 2:1-4).
4. The Son and humanity (Heb 2:5 ff).
(1) The lowliness and dignity of man (Heb 2:5-8).
(2) Necessity for the Incarnation (Heb 2:9 ff).
(a) To fulfill God's gracious purpose (Heb 2:9 f) .
(b) That the Saviour and saved might be one (Heb 2:11-15).
(c) That the Saviour may sympathize with the saved (Heb 2:16 ff).
II. The Prince of Salvation (Heb 3:1 through Heb 4:13).
1. Christ as Son superior to Moses as servant (Heb 3:1-6).
2. Consequences of Israel's unbelief (Heb 3:7-11).
3. Warning the "Hebrews" against similar unbelief (Heb 3:12 ff).
4. Exhortations to faithfulness (Heb 4:1-13).
(1) Because a rest remains for the people of God (Heb 4:1-11).
(2) Because the omniscient God is judge (Heb 4:12 f).
III. The Great High Priest (Heb 4:14 through Heb 10:18).
1. Christ's priesthood the Christian's confidence (Heb 4:14-16).
2. Christ has the essential qualifications for priesthood (Heb 5:1-10).
(1) Sympathy with men (Heb 5:1-3).
(2) God's appointment (Heb 5:4-10).
3. The spiritual dulness of the Hebrews (Heb 5:11 through Heb 6:12).
(1) Their lack of growth in knowledge (Heb 5:11 ff).
(2) "Press on unto perfection" (Heb 6:1-3).
(3) The danger of falling away from Christ (Heb 6:4-8).
(4) Their past history ground for hoping better things (Heb 6:9-12).
4. God's oath the ground of Christ's priesthood and of the believer's hope (Heb 6:13 ff).
5. Christ a priest after the order of Melchizedek (Heb 7:1 ff).
(1) The history of Melchizedek (Heb 7:1-3).
(2) The superiority of his order over that of Aaron (Heb 7:4-10).
(3) Supersession of the Aaronic priesthood (Heb 7:11-19).
(4) Superiority of Christ's priesthood (Heb 7:20-24).
(5) Christ a priest befitting us (Heb 7:24 ff).
6. Christ the true high priest (Heb 8:1 through Heb 10:18).
(1) Because He entered the true sanctuary (Heb 8:1-5).
(2) Because He is priest of the New Covenant (Heb 8:6 ff).
(3) A description of the old tabernacle and its services (Heb 9:1-7).
(4) Ineffectiveness of its sacrifices (Heb 9:8-10).
(5) Superiority of Christ's sacrifice (Heb 9:11-14).
(6) The Mediator of the New Covenant through His own blood (Heb 9:15 ff).
(7) Weakness of the sacrifices of the law (Heb 10:1-5).
(8) Incarnation for the sake of sacrifice (Heb 10:6-9).
(9) The one satisfactory sacrifice (Heb 10:10-18).
IV. Practical Exhortations (Heb 10:19 through Heb 13:25).
1. Draw near to God and hold fast the faith (Heb 10:19-23).
2. The responsibility of Christians and the judgment of God (Heb 10:24-31).
3. Past faithfulness a ground for present confidence (Heb 10:32 ff).
4. The household of faith (Heb 11:1 ff).
(1) What is faith? (Heb 11:1-3).
(2) The examples of faith (Heb 11:4-32).
(3) The triumphs of faith (Heb 11:33 ff).
5. Run the race looking unto Jesus (Heb 12:1-3).
6. Sufferings as discipline from the Father (Heb 12:4-11).
7. The duty of helping and loving the brethren (Heb 12:12-17).
8. Comparison of the trials and privileges of Christians with those of the Israelites (Heb 12:18 ff).
9. Various duties (Heb 13:1-17).
(1) Moral and social relations (Heb 13:1-6).
(2) Loyalty to leaders (Heb 13:7 f).
(3) Beware of Jewish heresies (Heb 13:9-4).
(4) Ecclesiastical worship and order (Heb 13:15-17).
10. Personal affairs and greetings (Heb 13:18 ff).
(1) A request for the prayers of the church (Heb 13:18 f).
(2) A prayer for the church (Heb 13:20 f) .
(3) "Bear with the word of exhortation" (Heb 13:22).
(4) "Our brother Timothy" (Heb 13:23).
(5) Greetings (Heb 13:24).
(6) Grace (Heb 13:25).
2. The Main Theme:
The theme of the epistle is the absoluteness of the Christian religion, as based-upon the pre-eminence of Jesus Christ, the one and only mediator of salvation. The essence of Christ's preeminence is that He fully realizes in His own person the principles of revelation and reconciliation. It is made manifest in His superiority over the Jewish system of salvation, which He therefore at once supersedes and fulfils. The author's working concept is the Logos-doctrine of Philo; and the empirical data to which it is related is the religious history of Israel, as it culminates in Christianity. He makes no attempt to prove either his ideal first principles or his historical premises, and his philosophy of religion takes no account of the heathen world. The inner method of his argument is to fit Judaism and Christianity into the Logos-concept; but his actual is related to the ideal in the way of Plato's antithesis, of shadow and reality, of pattern and original, rather than in Aristotle's way of development, although the influence of the latter method may often be traced, as in the history of faith, which is carried back to the beginnings of history, but is made perfect only in the Christian consummation (Heb 11:40). In a number of other ideas the teleological movement may be seen cutting across the categories of shadow and reality (Heb 1:3,10; 4:8 f; Heb 5:8 f; Heb 9:12; 10:12; 12:22).
3. Alexandrian Influences:
The form of the argument may be described as either rabbinical or Alexandrian. The writer, after laying down his proposition, proceeds to prove it by quotations from the Old Testament, taken out of their context and historical connection, adapted and even changed to suit his present purpose. This practice was common to Palestinian and Alexandrian writers; as was also the use of allegory which plays a large part in Hebrews (e.g. Heb 3:7 through Heb 4:11; 13:11 f). But the writer's allegorical method differs from that of the rabbis in that it is like Philo's, part of a conscious philosophy, according to which the whole of the past and present history of the world is only a shadow of the true realities which are laid up in heaven (Heb 8:5; 9:23 f; Heb 10:1). His interest in historical facts, in Old Testament writers, in Jewish institutions and even in the historical life of Jesus, is quite subordinate to his prepossession with the eternal and heavenly realities which they, in more or less shadowy fashion, represent. That the affinities of Hebrews are Alexandrian rather than Palestinian is further proved by many philological and literary correspondences with The Wisdom of Solomon and Philo. Most of the characteristic terms and phrases of the epistle are also found in these earlier writers. It has been argued that Hebrews and Wisdom came from the same hand, and it seems certain that the author of Hebrews was familiar with both Wisdom and the writings of Philo (Plumptre in The Expositor, I, 329 ff, 409 ff; von Soden in Hand-Commentar, 5-6). In Philo the dualism of appearance and reality finds its ultimate synthesis in his master-conception of the Logos, and although this term does not appear in Hebrews in Philo's sense, the doctrine is set forth in Philonic phraseology in the opening verses (1:1-4). As Logos, Christ excels the prophets as revealer of God, is superior to the angels who Were the mediators of the old Covenant, and is more glorious than Moses as the builder of God's true tabernacle, His eternal house; He is a greater Saviour than Joshua, for He brings his own to final rest; and He supersedes the Aaronic priesthood, for while they ministered in a "holy place made with hands, like in pattern to the true," under a "law having a shadow of the good things to come, not the very image of the things" (Heb 9:24; 10:1), He "having come a high priest of the good things to come, through the greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands .... nor yet through the blood of goats and calves, but through his own blood, entered in once for all into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption" (Heb 9:11 f).
4. The Christian Factor:
Yet it is possible to exaggerate the dependence of Hebrews on Alexandrian thought. Deeper than the allegorical interpretation of passages culled from the Septuagint, deeper than the Logos-philosophy which formed the framework of his thought, is the writer's experience and idea of the personal Christ. His central interest lies, not in the theoretical scheme which he adopts, but in the living person who, while He is the eternal reality behind all shadows, and the very image of God's essence, is also our brother who lived and suffered on earth, the author of our salvation, our "fore-runner within the veil," who "is able to save to the uttermost them that draw near unto God through him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them" (Heb 1:1-4; 2:14 ff; Heb 2:10; 5:7-9; 4:14-15; 6:20; 7:25). As in Paul and John, so in Hebrews, the historical and ever-living Christ comes in as an original and creative element, which transforms the abstract philosophy of Hellenistic thought into a living system of salvation. Because of His essential and personal preeminence over the institutions and personalities of the old Covenant, Christ has founded a new Covenant, given a new revelation and proclaimed a new gospel. The writer never loses sight of the present bearing of these eternal realities on the lives of his readers. They are for their warning against apostasy, for their encouragement in the face of persecution, and for their undying hope while they `run the race that is set before (them), looking unto Jesus the author and perfecter of .... faith (Heb 2:3; 3:12 ff; Heb 4:1 ff; Heb 10:28 ff; Heb 12:1 f,22 ff).
LITERATURE.
(1) Commentary by A. S. Peake, Century Bible; A.B. Davidson, Bible Handbooks; Marcus Dods, Expositor's Greek Test.; T.C. Edwards, Expositor's Bible; F. Rendall (London, 1888); Westcott3 (1903); von Soden, Hand-Commentar; Hollmann, Die Schriften des New Testament.
(2) Introductions by Moffatt, Introduction to the Lit. of the New Testament; A. B. Bruce in HDB; von Soden in EB; Zahn, Introduction to the New Testament; H.H.B Ayles, Destination, Date, and Authorship of the Epistle to the Hebrews; Harnack, "Probabilia, uber die Addresse und den Verfasser des Hebraerbriefes," ZNTW, I (1900); W. Wrede, Das literarische Ratsel des Hebraerbriefes (1906).
(3) Theology: Bruce, The Epistle to the Hebrews; Milligan, The Theology of the Epistle to the Hebrews; Menegoz, La theologie de l'epitre aux Hebreux. For fuller list, see Moffatt, in the work quoted
T. Rees