Threads from Henry's Web

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  • Hebrews 2:1-4: Such a Great Salvation

    [Note: The reason I am jumping from 1:1-4 to 2:1-4 is that my study guide is thematic rather than verse by verse. Hebrews 1:5-14 is part of the reading for lesson 5. I am not including a post on textual issues in this passage, because there are no substantial textual issues.]

    Because this passage is packed quite tightly, let me phrase it first:

        1Because of this
    we need to pay even greater heed
        to the things which we have heard
        so that we won’t drift away.
    2The message
        brought by angels {ref: Galatians 3:19}
            was firm,
            and every transgression and disobedience received its just punishment.
    3How then shall we escape
        after neglecting such a tremendous deliverance?
            The Lord spoke of this deliverance first,
            then it was confirmed to us by those who heard him.
            4God also confirmed their testimony
            with signs and wonders and various powerful deeds,
            and with the Holy Spirit
                apportioned according to his will.

    There are quite a number of ways this could be done, but this should give a picture of the elements of the passage.

    This passage has a fairly simple basic meaning: The law is good, but the message brought by Jesus is better. In the section I skipped over, 1:5-14, our author has established that Jesus is greater than the angels. Now we start to see the purpose of those passages. (While I recommend reading the entire book of Hebrews each week during this study, at a minimum, read from the beginning of the book to 2:4.) As modern Christians, this argument seems redundant. We’re used to seeing Jesus as greater than the angels; as trinitarian Christians we are used to seeing him as God incarnate, so it seems redundant to spend all this time establishing that he is greater than the angels. But remember that when Hebrews was written, all of this was still rather controversial. It would be centuries before the precise definition of the trinity and the details of the incaranation as we know them today were defined.

    So relying on the tradition that the law was mediated by angels (Galatians 3:19), originally intended to honor the law, our author now states that the message that Jesus has brought is greater, primarily because of the messenger. But he also introduces the specific problem he’s writing this letter to correct. There are people in the audience who are in danger of giving up and straying from the faith, probably because they feel that the reward is too long in coming.

    pay even greater heed. This is a call to both pay attention to the word and also to keep it. See Deuteronomy 32:46, which uses the same Greek word for “paying heed” as does this verse.

    to the things which we have heard. The gospel message, passed on by those who first preached the message to them. It is possible that this community was established by eyewitnesses to the ministry of Jesus (see below).

    so that we won’t drift away. “Drift away” is a nautical term. It is likely that our author is developing a nautical metaphor here, combining the Greek words for “paying heed” or “holding fast” and “drift away.” Barclay says:

    But both these words have also a nautical sense. Prosechein can mean to moor a ship; and pararrein can be used of a ship which has been carelessly allowed to slip past a harbour or a haven because the mariner has forgotten to allow for the wind or the current or the tide. So, then, this first verse could be very vividly translated: “Therefore, we must the more eagerly anchor our lives to the things taht we have been taught lest the ship of life drift past the harbour and be wrecked.” It is a vivid picture of a ship drifting to destruction because the pilot sleeps. (William Barclay, the Letter to the Hebrews [Revised Edition], p. 21.)

    every transgression and disobedience received its just punishment. The law had required punishments, and was very strict. Christians often view the New Testament as much easier and lighter. In some ways this will be expressed in Hebrews as well, but the way in which it is “easier” is not that the requirements or less or that it is less important. It is not an easier path; it is, in fact, even harder. But what makes it so much better is the help that we have. Jesus is our pioneer, our advocate, and so we have a much better path and a much better guide.

    How then shall we escape after neglecting such a tremendous deliverance? The new message provides greater requirements, a greater goal, but also a greater possibility. Think of a person trapped by a flood. They try to swim, but fail, and turn back. They try a boat, but it sinks. Then someone provides a full pontoon bridge over which they can cross to dry ground without even getting wet, and a vehicle to ride in. If the person who is captured then fails to go to safety, what can possibly be done? This is essentially what our author is starting to say here: Jesus has provided a way that is so much better that he cannot imagine anything else that one can do. If we neglect this salvation, we’re just going to drown!

    What makes the way better? That is the message of the latter part of verse 3 and of verse 4:

    • The Lord spoke of this deliverance first,
      The message was brought by the Son (1:1-4). The greater message is carried by a greater messenger.
    • then it was confirmed to us by those who heard him.
      We received the confirmation from eyewitnesses who heard the words spoken.
    • 4God also confirmed their testimony
      In case we doubt their word, God confirms it. The term is a rare one and probably has a legal sense of “corroborate.”
    • with signs and wonders and various powerful deeds,
      The signs and wonders that followed the apostles confirm the message. But more importantly the gospel transforms lives. I’m writing this on the Saturday of Easter weekend, and so the cross’s transforming power is in my mind. The transforming power of the cross is demonstrated in its own transformation. (See my Good Friday meditation on Threads from Henry’s Web, Transforming the Cross.)
    • and with the Holy Spirit apportioned according to his will.
      The presence and gifts of the Holy Spirit, given according to God’s will in order for his church to accomplish the gospel commission, are evidences of the reality of the message of the gospel.

    More powerful message = greater necessity for obedience.

  • Why Doesn’t God Speak Directly?

    Note: I strongly recommend that if you are taking my class in Hebrews, or who are following my study guide through the book answer the study guide questions before reading this entry. The purpose of the thought questions is to provide an opportunity to think. These are just some of my own thoughts on the question.

    Q#2: Why does God use prophets rather than speaking to everyone?

    The actual genesis of this question was in a small study group I was leading several years ago. Part of the group program was that we would take however much time the members wanted to and work through the meaning of each passage as long as the group cared to do so. This led to some rather lengthy arguments, and often to nitpicking the meaning. (You should only use this kind of approach in a study group if everyone truly wants to do it.) In one such session we were debating some passages in Revelation, and one of the members finally gave in to frustration and said, “Why can’t God just write all this out in the sky clearly, so that we would know beyond any doubt what it meant?”

    Now that’s not the same question I’m asking, but it’s related. We’re starting the study of Hebrews, and the key passage for this first lesson is Hebrews 1:1-4. God has spoken at various times and in various ways through the prophets. Now, in the last days, he has spoken by means of his Son. But you and I still have to listen to God speak to someone else. We don’t see a physical Jesus or hear him preach. Instead we read reports of what he said to other people 2,000 years ago. We don’t even get to listen to the author of Hebrews; indeed, we can’t seem to agree on who he (or some say she) is. So again we’re hearing him speak to other people, and we are kind of eavesdropping. Why doesn’t God make it clearer? Why doesn’t it speak directly to me?

    It’s not just speaking directly, though. It’s the clarity that’s important. If God would just make the message personal, we would not have to consider just what the principles are, and how to apply them to our own lives–we’d know!

    Personally I believe that God does speak to each person directly, but clarity is another matter. In doing prayer ministry, one reason people will ask me to pray with them is that they believe they have heard from God, but they’re not sure that it is God, or they’re not sure just how to put it into practice.

    This is not a question that we can resolve in a single blog entry, but it’s a good question to think about. Let me make some suggestions to think about, and then also provide links to some other things I have written on the same subject.

    1. God wants us to learn to think. We often treasure the work of the prophets, and we like the results of the wisdom writers, but are we willing to do the work that goes behind wisdom? Hebrews 5:14 tell us: “14Solid food is for the mature, for those who through practice have exercised their understanding to distinguish good and evil.” God may well want us to practice our own judgment and discernment and grow in wisdom.
    2. God wants us to hear from him in a community. Any one of us can go wildly astray on our own, but when we have accountability to brothers and sisters, at a minimum we have to consider the response of those close to us to what we say. Even writing this blog entry has made me give new consideration to this particular question.
    3. God wants to leave us free to make unpressured decisions. This is hard for some of us to understand, because we think we want to know and do precisely what God commands. But if God made himself too obvious, we might feel pressured just by his obvious presence, sort of like having the boss breathing down our neck.
    4. Those who actually listen to God are rare. It’s possible that God is speaking a great deal more than we are hearing, and that the prophets are the ones who listen more. If this one sounds good to you, make sure to consider the idea of the prophetic call Ezekiel 1 or Isaiah 6, for example, in this connection. Is it possible God calls many, and only a few hear and report the situation?

    Now let me provide a few links to material on this topic.

    For inspiration and testing claims that someone is speaking for God read my series that starts with The One Ended Crod. In addition, the Participatory Study Series pamphlets What is the Word of God?, The Authority of the Bible, and Spiritual Gifts: Prophecy.

    On the possibility that God prefers freedom to security and certainty, see my entry Evolution, Theology, and Respect.

  • Hebrews 1:1-4: Jesus and the Word

    We now start on the meat of Hebrews 1:1-4. I will refer back to this verse a number of times and expand on comments I make in this entry, but I want to provide a fairly clear, point by point summary of what we can learn from these verses.

    Introductory Notes

    Let me display the text in close to the order of the Greek text, phrased. (I prefer outlining, but I don’t have any really good way to display outlines as part of the blog.) Remember that I mentioned previously that these four verses constitute one long sentence in Greek.

    in many portions

    and

    in various ways

    in ancient times

    God spoke

    by the prophets

    in these last days

    he spoke

    to us

    by a son

    whom he made heir of everything

    by whom also he made the universe

    who is the brightness of his glory

    and

    the exact representation of his real essence

    who carries everything by his powerful word

    who when he had made purification of sins

    sat down at the right hand of the majesty in high places

    thus becoming as much greater than the angels

    as the name he has inherited is greater than theirs.

    There are several places where my phrasing might be questioned, but I think the structure is fairly clear. This phrasing tends to show the entire sentence aiming like an arrow to the key statement of verse 4, which leads into the argument from verse 5 and following. You might want to look again at my comments about translation. I suggested that verse four should be separated in an English translation from verses 1-3, in order to show how it both concludes verses 1-3, and also points forward to verse 5. In other words, it should be connected equally to both passages. I still think that, but one might call my position some interpretive structuring of the text. But is there any way you could structure verses 1-3 that doesn’t bear on interpretation?

    Key Elements

    There are several key elements of this passage that we need to notice. These will form a foundation for our study of the rest of the book, as they formed the author’s introduction to his topic.

    The Word of God

    The word of God has come at various times or portions, and in different ways. This is an essential point for the book of Hebrews because our author is going to try to establish firmly the idea that in his day, the word of God came in yet another way, by a son. Translators often say “by the son,” or “by the Son” but I leave out the article in English, a valid option based on the lack of the article in Greek. (Greek and English use of the article is not identical. Here I’m suggesting it refers to quality.) God is speaking now in a fundamentally different way, using Jesus, a son, albeit the only son. That is an important point. In later chapters, he will argue that the son has brought a new covenant, and a new law, and that his revelation is superior to the Torah. But the foundation is laid here by talking about the different portions and different ways in which the word is delivered.

    To our author there is not just Torah, with all else being secondary and commentary. Rather, the revelation of God’s word came through various prophets at various times. Indeed, he treats all Old Testament passages equally. Thus God is simply continuing a pattern he has already established when he now presents another portion (the perfect portion as far as our author is concerned) and does so in a different way.

    What are some of the ways God had already used to present his word?

    • Creation itself
    • Historical events, and God’s intervention in them
    • Messages given to prophets
    • Dreams
    • Visions
    • A talking donkey
    • Legislation
    • Common wisdom

    This list is not necessarily exhaustive. I like to consider some modern methods to put with those:

    • Artistic banners
    • Art
    • Movies
    • Scientific discoveries
    • Music

    Do you think these should be included as means that convey the word of God? How would they relate to the perfect revelation of Jesus? These are some questions to think about as we follow the argument of this book.

    The key here, however, is that the greatest “portion” as presented in these verses, is Jesus, the Son, a revelation that is different in nature from any before and has revolutionary importance to the world and especially to the group of Christians who are being addressed.

    For some more thoughts on the word of God, see What is the Word of God?.

    Who is Jesus?

    Having introduced Jesus as the culmination of a chain of revelations of God’s word, our author immediately moves to giving the characteristics of Jesus.

    • Heir of everyting
    • Agent of creation
    • Brightness of God’s glory
    • Exact representation of who God is
    • Upholds everything by his own word
    • Provided a means to deal with sin
    • Is now sovereign (sitting at the right hand of God)

    With all those characteristics, he is clearly much greater than the angels. Chapters 2 & 3 will continue the argument about Jesus and his superiority to the angels. It is interesting that our author first establishes that Jesus is greater than the angels, and then discusses his relationship to Moses. What he wants to do is establish superiority to Moses, and at the same time the superiority of Jesus to the Torah. Just as the Torah is the central revelation of Judaism, against which all else is tested, so Jesus is the central revelation of Christianity, against which all else is tested.

    The characteristics of Jesus can be divided into two parts: Creation and Redemption. For creation, let me reference another post of mine, Biblical Doctrine of Creation, and also one of my Participatory Study Series pamphlets, God the Creator. For the doctrine of redemption, let me reference What is the Good News?. These are just starting points, as the notion of redemption is going to be our topic in practically every chapter, but it is nice to get at least to the same starting point. I can’t help seeing a summary of Paul’s teaching in Philippians 2:5-11 here where the glorification comes from, and after, the activities of redemption.

    Before I go on to verse 5 I will be posting some other material on the word of God based on the suggested reading for lesson #1 of my study guide, and also from the thought questions there.

  • Introduction to Hebrews

    Many introductions to Hebrews spend a great deal of time on the date, authorship, and audience of the book. I’m not so sure that these questions can be answered with any degree of certainty, so I tend to focus on what we can come to understand from the structure and content, and the theology we can picture clearly from them.

    To supplement this introduction with the kind of details one normally finds in an introduction, try one of the following introductions:

    There are many other fine Bibles with study notes and good introductions. These are just some suggestions. In addition, you might want to consider a couple of commentaries, such as the Anchor Bible volume on Hebrews by Craig R. Koester, or the New International Commentary on the New Testament volume Hebrews by F. F. Bruce. My study guide includes a translation with some notes, but it is intended to supplement the study guide, and does not replace any of these fine resources. My translation is, of course, a one person translation, and I strongly recommend committee translations for the best balance. (See What’s in a Version? (Pamphlet) or What’s in a Version? (Book), both from Energion Publications.)

    Also, please note that I’m going to try to keep these entries reasonably short, something I’m not really that good at, and so I will probably split them up to some extent. All scripture links are to my Totally Free Bible Version project, which is really simply me posting my ongoing translations online. I use this because of copyright considerations. I recommend you use your own favorite version, or access one of the online options linked from that site.

    Now let me highlight just three portions of the book that I think point us to the general theme. There are many individual arguments, but it is helpful to keep in mind just what the author is trying to get across to his readers. I believe that he has a single central point in mind, and that the book of Hebrews is unusually systematic and theological amongst the books of the New Testament. (You can find my translation and outline here.)

    1. Hebrews 1:1-4
      This passage really sets the theme; we are going to be talking about who Jesus is and the importance of his mission on earth and his position in heaven. We are not told in this passage precisely why the author is focussing in this way on the person of Jesus. We also see a part of the author’s method, which is use of and application of the scriptures of the Old Testament. This is lesson #1 in my study guide.
    2. Hebrews 5:11-6:12
      I believe that this is where we get to the key issue of the book in practical terms. The author wants to challenge his readers with the importance of following this greater revelation provided in and through Jesus, and this greater salvation, and to endure in it until the reward is reached. He is letting his audience know that they aren’t there yet, but they need to keep on moving, because the reward is sure for those who are faithful. This is lesson #7 in my study guide.
    3. Hebrews 12:1-12; 13:1-16
      The final message is on who we are and how we are to behave as recipients of the ministry of Jesus as described earlier in the book. How are Christians to behave? This is lesson #13 (of 13) in my study guide.

    This general structure makes me believe that the central issue is endurance, but an endurance that is filled with hope and backed by history.

    I will begin in my next entry with looking at Hebrews 1:1-4, and applying this structure to understanding the individual elements of each passage.

  • Welcome!

    I’m Henry Neufeld, and I have been blogging on Threads from Henry’s Web since September, 19952005. This new blog is specifically for me to follow my heart which is in critical and exegetical Bible study that leads to exposition and application. I’m the author of two study guides, To the Hebrews: A Participatory Study Guide, and Revelation: A Participatory Study Guide. I’m going to begin this blog by going through the book of Hebrews.

    I will be teaching a several week class at a local church using my study guide, and I will blog here about the passages first. You can follow the entire discussion here, although for those who want to learn the Bible for themselves, I strongly recommend studying the passages I am writing about before you read what I write. You don’t have to buy and use my study guide, but obviously I wouldn’t mind if you do! I will be discussing the major questions and projects mentioned in that book. My Bible study method is available briefly on the web at I Want to Study the Bible!, and in more detail at The Participatory Bible Study Method.

    Comments are open! Join me in this important study.

    Note: Nobody caught me, but let me correct “1995” to “2005.” I’ve been blogging since 2005. I have, in fact, been online since before 1995, since I first got online with a 300 baud modem in 1983, I think. It could have been 1984. 🙂