Hebrews is an extraordinarily important and highly influential book in the New Testament. It’s probably safe to say that it’s second only to the Epistle to the Romans in its impact on Christian thinking from the earliest centuries. The oldest manuscript we have of it, dating to around AD 200, places Hebrews right after Romans in the arrangement of the New Testament.

It has shaped and influenced Christian theology through the centuries in many ways. The brilliant scholar and perhaps the first real theologian of the church, Origen of Alexandria, cited Hebrews as justification for his method of allegorizing the Tanakh (O.T.), a technique which, of course, became pervasive in church history and is still used today.

It has always been noted for its elegant use of language—the best Koine Greek anywhere in the New Testament. It is graceful and moving. Hebrews is also remarkable for its high rhetorical skills. We know much today about rhetoric, public speaking, and argument within the Greco-Roman culture. The writer utilizes numerous rhetorical techniques of the time with great skill and to great effect.

Another notable feature of Hebrews is its words of comfort, especially following corrections or warnings.

The author describes the whole letter as a word of consolation, of exhortation. I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, bear with my word of exhortation, for I have written to you briefly. Grace be with all of you (Heb 13:22, 25).

The author employs many memorable metaphors. Have you ever heard this before? Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares (13:2). How about this architectural metaphor: For here we have no lasting city, but we seek the city that is to come (13:14). Or this one from athletics, Let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us (12:1).

You might be surprised how many scriptural phrases you know come from the Book of Hebrews. Let me give you a quick sampling to stir your heart and prove the point. I’ll begin the phrase, and you finish it (translations vary, but you’ll get the gist).

Jesus is the radiance of the glory of God and… the exact representation of his nature (1:3)

How shall we escape if we neglect… such a great salvation? (2:3)

Today, if you hear his voice… do not harden your heart (3:15)

So then, there remains a… Sabbath rest for the people of God (4:9)

For the word of God is living and active… sharper than any two-edged sword (4:12)

Let us, with confidence, draw near to the throne of grace… that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need (4:16)

Although Jesus was a son, he learned obedience… through what he suffered (5:8)

By this time you ought to be teachers, but you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God… You need milk, not solid food (5:12)

Without the shedding of blood… there is no forgiveness of sins (9:22)

It is appointed for man to die once… and after that comes judgment (9:27)

It is a fearful thing to fall… into the hands of the living God (10:31)

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for… the evidence of things not seen (11:1)

Without faith… it is impossible to please God (11:6)

I love this and could go all night. We’ll end with this one.

Jesus Christ is the same… yesterday, today, and tomorrow (13:8)

Let us all speak Hebrew and say: Amen! And, amen.

The Book of Hebrews is profound and influential. Yet, it is also filled with puzzles, problems, and paradoxes.

Here are some of the puzzles:

1. The author is unknown. There has always been speculation, but even despite a flurry of recent scholarship, the author cannot be identified with certainty.
2. The specific audience is unknown: who they are, where they are, and when it was written.
3. The author’s reason for writing to this group is unknown, and the letter’s primary purpose is open to speculation.

Here are some of the problems, particularly for those Christians who value their Hebraic heritage:

• The Book of Hebrews quotes exclusively from the Septuagint, a 3rd Century BC Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible. Yet the Septuagint has many scribal errors and several mistranslations of the Masoretic Text and is not used in mainstream Rabbinic Judaism today.
• Hebrews makes what seem to be some of the harshest statements in the New Testament regarding the Torah and the Mosaic Covenant. For example, when there is a change in the priesthood, there is necessarily a change in the law as well (7:12), and the Torah is but a shadow of the good things to come (10:1).
• So much so, a fairly well-known leader in the Messianic movement has boldly stated that Hebrews should not even be in the canon of Scripture because it is (again, seemingly) anti-Torah. He makes that troubling and erroneous claim based on misunderstanding verses like this: In speaking of a new covenant, he makes the first one obsolete (8:13).

This study will address the puzzles and problems while seeking clarity because Hebrews is also a letter full of paradoxes.

It is steeped in the Jewish scriptures. Hebrews contains more citations and allusions to the Old Testament than any other New Testament book. Yet, as I mentioned, it draws exclusively from the Septuagint and frames its concepts in Platonic and Hellenistic categories. That is a paradox.

The author is clearly well-versed in Jewish thought of the day, yet Hebrews has the most pervasive Hellenistic worldview and the most extensive use of Greek rhetoric of any other document in the New Testament. That is a paradox.

The writer of Hebrews employs the Jewish sages’ modes of argument and exegesis of Scripture.

He uses interpretive methods like arguing from the minor to the major, verbal analogies, and chaining texts, all Jewish ways of interpreting Scripture. One scholar has identified 35 quotations from the Tanakh (Old Testament), 34 allusions, 19 summaries, and 13 echoes of the Jewish scriptures in Hebrews. Yet, it is the most Hellenistic book in the New Testament. That is a paradox.

Let me whet your appetite for our study with one final paradox. On the one hand, no other book, with the exception of the Gospel of John, has such an exalted Christology, such a high view of Jesus as God’s divine Son. On the other hand, no other letter in the New Testament is more focused on or talks so much about Yeshua’s humanity.

In the Book of Hebrews, we get glimpses into the fertile world of the early decades of Christianity, in which a remarkable Jewish mind and heart interprets the significance of Messiah Jesus’s life, death, and resurrection in the light of the Jewish scriptures and within the framework of his Greco-Roman worldview.

And so the invitation is on; together, let’s wrestle with Hebrews!