My wife used one of my radio broadcasts from Running Toward the Goal (no longer on the air) for her devotional for tomorrow morning. In it, I discuss Gideon as a “mighty man.” We tend to remember Gideon for his great deeds, but his story doesn’t start out so auspiciously. I wanted to call attention…
I’m going back now to fill in some of the blanks in my blogging on the book of Hebrews. My series of classes is finished, and I’ll focus just a little bit more narrowly than I did in a series of thematic classes taken from the book. Following his introductory long sentence (1:1-4) our author…
Hebrews 11 is one of those chapters that tends to get treated apart from its context. Many people who are largely unacquainted with the basic themes of book of Hebrews are nonetheless acquainted with this one chapter. But this chapter fulfills a specific purpose in the argument of the book as a whole. Without any…
There are three passages in Hebrews that are critical to the concept of Jesus as a priest who combines divine and human attributes. 17For this reason it was necessary for him to be like his brethren in all ways, so that he could become a merciful and faithful high priest concerning divine matters {matters dealing…
Again I’m addressing a very small portion of this chapter. To get the context in mind, please read my previous post Hebrews 6:1-3: Going On Toward Perfection. These three verses have generated a great deal of commentary, because they appear to be saying that if one falls away from the Christian walk he cannot return,…
1Therefore, leaving the beginning of the message of Christ, let us carry on to maturity, not re-laying the foundation of repentance from dead works, of faith in God, 2of the doctrine of baptism, of the laying on of hands, of the resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment. 3This we will do if God…
With the reference to Melchizedek (chapter 7), the author of Hebrews ties Jesus as King to his argument, though he doesn’t dwell on that. There is a key thought here that I would like to look at briefly. Often we find people disagreeing over just what type of person Jesus is. Is he the gentle,…
The author of Hebrews is at some pains to make it clear to us that we need a new priest and indeed a new priesthood. As I’ve noted in previous entries, he has specific characteristics he expects in this new priest. The heart of his argument for a new priesthood is contained in chapter 7….
I’m going to post next on the nature of the priesthood of Jesus, by looking at the major passages in the book of Hebrews. These especially chapter 2, 4:14-16, and 7. Obviously that list is not exhaustive, as priesthood is fundamental to most of the book, but those passages will get us started. First, however,…
A key element of the participatory study method is getting up close and personal with the application. Since God indicated in Exodus 19:6 that his intention for Israel was that they should be a nation of priests, and that a similar goal was expressed for Christians in 2 Peter 2:9, the question I want to…
