Acts Chapter 15 records that by the time the early church was formed, James the half-brother of Jesus was then in charge of and leading the church that was in Jerusalem. In Galatians 1:19, Paul says that when he went into Jerusalem, he looked for the leaders and he spent time with James the Lord's brother.
So, scripture, as well as tradition, backs up the fact that we are studying a letter that was written by the half-brother of Jesus Christ, a natural born child to Joseph and Mary, and who is the head of the church in Jerusalem.
There is also another letter in the New Testament that was written by a half-brother of Jesus and that is the book of Jude. It is a one-chapter book right before the book of Revelation. So, we have actually 2 letters in the New Testament by believing half-brothers of Jesus Christ.
And none of them of course pulled the "I'm the brother of Jesus" card to bring out their superiority or even to get favoritism from the early church. They all presented themselves as the servant and slave of Jesus Christ.
Can you imagine if your half-brother turned out to be the Messiah, God Himself in the flesh? "I knew there was something about that brother of mine. I mean, he never did anything wrong!" And then they still didn't believe until after His resurrection when He appeared to them. Then they believed.
But then can you imagine yourself living out your life saying that I am a slave to my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ my half-brother? It just doesn't sound right, you know? But that's what they had to go through. And none of them pulled rank within the body of Christ that they should be treated better or different than anybody else!
The writer of James is introduced to us in Verse 1. The Greek word for James is the Hebrew name for Jacob. There are four prominent people in the New Testament by the name of James. The first one is James, who with his brother John, are known as the sons of Zebedee. They are presented to us in Mark 1:19.
This James was put to death by Herod Agrippa as recorded in Acts 12:2. So he is not the writer of this letter. Secondly, there is James the son of Alphaeus. He is presented to us in Mark 3:18 as one of the disciples. We don't have any more information about James the son of Alphaeus.
The third one is presented to us in Luke 6:16 where we are told about Judas the son of James. This Judas in not Judas Iscariot. Since this James is the father of one of the disciples mentioned in Luke 6:16, he would have been too old or even dead by the time James was written therefore he cannot be the author.
Fourthly, James that is given to us in the New Testament and by tradition as well as scripture itself, it is presented to us as the writer of this letter. The tradition from Jerome, Augustine, and other writers says James the writer of the Letter of James is the half-brother of Jesus.
In Mathew 13:55, it tells us that Mary and Joseph, after the birth of Jesus Christ, gave birth to other children. There are four brothers mentioned along with sisters. James is listed first so he must have been the oldest.
John 7:5 tells us that during Jesus' earthly ministry, His earthly brothers were taunting Him and did not believe in Him.
I Corinthians 15:5 tells us that after Jesus died and rose from the dead, He appeared to James His brother, as well as the other disciples and His family, and they became believers in Jesus Christ as the Savior and Messiah.
The Book of James is not a doctrinal book. James is a commentary on the Sermon on the Mount given by Jesus in Matthew Chapters 5 through 7. Everything that Jesus taught in the Sermon on the Mount is found in the letter of James.
The letter of James is made up of a series of tests by which the genuineness of salvation can be determined.
IV. DATE OF THE WRITING:
It was written around 45 A.D. Some even think it might be one of the first letters written in the New Testament, right after the persecution in Acts Chapter 7. Josephus the church historian tells us James was martyred in 62 A.D.
V. TO WHOM IT WAS WRITTEN:
James 1:1 tells us that James was written to the Twelve Tribes which were scattered. These were Jewish believers who had scattered outside of Israel because of persecution. This group is officially known as the DIASPORA. That's a Greek word that means scattering. They were the scattered ones.
So, all Jews who had to leave Jerusalem and Israel because of persecution, they are all called the Diaspora, even to this day.
I'll also give you another hint. It is faith without works. It doesn't say people without faith. It's faith that works, not people. I hope you understand what I am saying here. It's not me producing faith that produces works, because if I have to produce it, then it's works.
That's in all of Paul's arguments, is that faith, a fruit of God's Spirit, without activity is a dead faith because God's Spirit is active. So, if a person doesn't have that activity in their life, they have a dead faith, and they're not saved!
Interesting too that James, like the writer of Hebrews, is speaking to Jewish people who are displaced from their homeland, and they're going through hard times. And later on, James is going to tell them, you're going through the most difficult times that a human being could go through, yet you're going through it which proves you're saved. You're trusting the Lord even though you are hurting, and you are suffering, and you can only do that because God is in your life sustaining you.
So, you are of the faith. You're listening to God's Spirit encourage you, whom you can't see, and you can't feel, yet He's ministering to you and encouraging you. Yet you have all these feelings and all these circumstances around you that you can see and feel and know as a human being. And yet you've got to trust that still small voice that says I'm with you, I will never leave you nor forsake you. Trust me!
And of course, the characteristic, according to the bible in Matthew Chapter 24, and we'll also see it in James that the characteristic of someone who is saved is enduring till the end. That's not a human effort. That's a guarantee. If you have God's Spirit, you're going to make it till the end. He didn't say how. Some of us might crawl over the finish line, but God's going to get us there. That's His promise!
The Book of James is part of a collection of books in the New Testament that are called the Jewish Literature. The Jewish Literature begins with the Book of Hebrews and continues through to the end of the Book of Revelation.
II. THE THEME OF THE BOOK:
The theme of the book is found in James 2:20, "Faith without works is dead."
Let me just give you a small explanation of where I'm going with this. In the book of Hebrews, there is so much to study about faith. From a language standpoint, from a biblical standpoint, the word faith, PISTIS in Greek, means persuasion. It is a word that describes the influence and the ministry of God's Spirit over our lives. He's persuading us. He's ministering to us.
And so, when James says faith without works is dead, and you might pencil in there if you are a note taker that the word "works," when we see it in Chapter 2 means activity. Faith without activity is dead. He'll even say in Chapter 2, if you say you have the faith but there's no activity, can that faith save you?
And the answer is no. He even includes the answer in his question. He says no, it can't. That's just human faith. That's just an intellectual belief and agreement.
Since faith is a word that describes the presence and activity of God's Spirit in a person's life, faith without activity is a dead faith. With faith being the moving and ministering of God's Spirit, if God's Spirit isn't there and active in your life, you have a dead faith.
That's from a biblical perspective. That's not religious, and especially here in America, where faith is being promoted as coming from man, human beings, that we produce the faith, that we have to believe in order for God to bless us. Faith without works is dead.
But James has some very, very hard and very deep teachings for us, even to the point that he says that if you become a friend to this world, you have placed yourself as an enemy of God.
So which one do you want to do? Do you want Satan to be your enemy where all he can do is rattle our cages in the physical realm. He can't stop us from following Christ. He can't stop us from having a relationship with Christ. He can't take us away from Christ. He can just hassle us.
So, would I rather have Satan be my enemy, or God? And that's the question and the encouragement that these believing Jews were given, which means that there's going to be teaching and encouragement that even goes beyond what we need to know, because we don't have their difficult circumstances.
But the teachings are good. They're true, and especially when he's teaching about faith. This entire book is on faith. But after Paul's writings comes the Jewish literature. That would be the book of Hebrews through the book of Revelation. Under the Jewish literature, you'll see all of the Jewish literature, Hebrews, James, 1 and 2 Peter, 1, 2, 3 John, Jude, and Revelation.
And again, the book of Revelation is best understood from a Jewish perspective, because of the 404 verses in the book of Revelation, there are 800 allusions and quotes from the Old Testament brought over into the book of Revelation.
The book of Revelation was written because of Jewish believers who were suffering and even some sitting in prison waiting to die. The book of Revelation is to show them that even if they did die for their faith, the victory would be later when Jesus comes back.
So, it's the whole panorama of what we have in the scriptures of everything from creation to the end of the world in one book. And we have to handling these from a Jewish perspective. And I think that you will see that it makes more sense that way than to say that James is writing to the Christians in our day.
As we get more into 1 Peter, he says don't think it's strange that you're going through fiery trials, because in the physical, there's going to be a challenge by Satan to get us to stop trusting the Lord. Because of our natural human senses that we function in naturally, we have a tendency to judge the Lord and His faithfulness based on the help we receive in our physical circumstances.
And these brothers are turning it around and saying no, the difficult circumstances, and we see this in 1 Peter Chapter 4, that difficulty accompanies salvation because we're talking about two different realms. We're talking about the teaching of scripture that tells us that Satan is the god of this world, the physical realm that we live in. Satan is the spiritual force that's energizing this worlds system and all the physical things around us.
So, once we switch from living according to our fleshly desires, and we surrender our life to Christ, then everything is reversed. We're no longer at war with God. We're now at war with Satan, or else he is with us, because we have said I'm out of your system and I now belong to Christ. But I still physically live in Satan's system. It's just that he does not own me, he does not possess me. But I still have to go out into his system and trust the Lord.
So, everything is reversed once you get saved. What used to be friendly to you in the physical realm, even the people who used to be friendly to you in the physical realm, they will no longer be friendly. And the circumstances will be very difficult, trying to get us to the point where we get discouraged and just quit in our trusting of the Lord because we think trusting the Lord is going to change our physical circumstance. And we get tired of waiting, and sometimes the circumstances get worse. So, we say "Why trust the Lord?"
Before I share the introduction to the book of James, I just want to mention a few things. In case you haven't noticed, the further we get into the New Testament, the deeper the teaching is, as far as for believers. Starting with the book of Hebrews, and going through the book of Revelation, this is what is called the Jewish Literature section of the bible.
And what makes it so good for us to study is that these letters are written to Jews who believe, but who have been scattered from their homeland.
So, we are studying teaching and instruction given by, in this instance, the leader of the church in Jerusalem, to all of the Jews who have been scattered from out of their homeland and away from their families.
Some of them had to leave with just the clothes on their back. Most of them were very poor because they were in a foreign place with Gentiles. So, the overall circumstance in which they are in is very, very difficult. And that's why these letters written to the believing Jews emphasize faith, because that's what's being challenged in the book of Hebrews.
Faith was challenged because the writer of Hebrews said that the just shall live by faith. But some of those Hebrew or Jewish people were thinking of going back into the old religious system of Judaism because of how difficult it is to follow Christ. And so, it emphasizes to live by faith means to trust the Lord no matter how difficult the circumstances, or to put it another way, to trust the Lord in the most difficult of circumstances.
The early church fathers were refuting false teachings I mentioned in my post. Such false teachings were taken seriously and addressed strongly by these leaders. Today we more than likely agree to disagree, but at that time, the defense of the faith passed down from the apostles was very important and paramount to the spiritual health and well-being of the church. I wish more of this was done in today's churches by leaders.
You can also look up: "A list of Christological heresies" and find a chart or listing of the false teachings that arose in the early centuries. (Some of these I listed). This is our history, the history of the body of Christ. Just as we read of the history of the people of God in the Old Testament and the New Testament, we can benefit by learning about church history after the apostles up to this time. Of course, I agree that the OT and NT are inspired by God, but factual history is not outside of what we can use to learn more about the church. We use science to find out about our world and photography to see parts of our world that we have not visited and take these as factual. So, we can also find out facts about church history. None of these are forbidden in Scripture.
Jema, I am a pretty open-minded person and learn much from others, whether the other person is alive now or deceased. We are given to one another in Christ to help one another. That is the aim of my post to you. God's blessings to you today.
The reason that I used an historical source is that the church continued after the death of all the apostles and the writing of the NT Scriptures. The first council was the one in Jerusalem, probably about 50 A.D. in Acts 15 where the topic of what of the Mosaic Law the Gentile believers were to follow. Paul and Barnabas attended this council, meeting with Peter, James, and perhaps a few others. The topic of the Trinity or divinity of Jesus was not discussed at this one. You can find out what the early bishops (the first ones appointed by the apostles and subsequent ones by the preceding bishops) spoke about these two topics but you will not find the writings of these bishops in the Bible.
I adhere to the teaching of the Word. It is my source for God's revelation to man. However, History is source to discover how the early saints believed and how the church functioned over the centuries. learning such history is not contrary to learning the Word nor is it forbidden by the Word.
I looked up the teachings of Polycarp, Irenaeus, Tertullian, Justin Martyr, for example, to find out what they taught on these topics. They lived in the late first century into the second century. For me, what they taught is important because they were so close in time to the teachings of the apostles and it gives us information about what was passed down to them before the NT was compiled and there were just the letters/writings of the apostles copied and passed to the churches.
If we look at what is taught in the churches today and compare that to what was taught in the Scriptures and practiced in the early church years we can see that what we do today is very different from then. This does not mean that all of what we do today is wrong. It just contrasts what was practiced early on.
The early church leaders did need to refute false doctrines as the Scriptures instructed. See Titus 1:10-16; 2 Peter 2; all of Jude; 1 John 4:1; 1 Tim. 6:3. ... cont.
More than opinion is revelation. Matthew 24 has in part been LITERALLY fulfilled. In the year 70AD, verses 1 and 2 were fulfilled with the destruction of the Temple of Jerusalem and the dispersion of the Jews throughout the world during 1878 years of severe plagues and curses, in addition to insufferable pain, according to Deuteronomy 28:15-68, 53 verses of strong and severe punishments.
Now, verses 3 to 8 are being fulfilled, the beginning of sorrows, and the decay of the Churches with the development of apostasies and iniquities-verses 9 to 14.
Then, the last week- Daniel 9:27- is about to start and with this event the persecutions of the first half of the week-42 months- Revelation 13:5- by the Beast of sea, culminating with the establishment of the Abomination of Desolation for 1,290 days in the second half of the week (plus 30 days)-verses 15 to 27 combined with Daniel 12:11 and 11:v.31. It is the END of this world and a sign of the coming of JESUS: Matthew 24:3 combined with Revelation 11:15-18. Blessed is he who waits and comes at 1335 days- Daniel 12:12 , 45 days after finishing the Abomination of Desolation. GET READY
To quote you "The Gospel that was 'preached as well unto them' contained nothing of Christ's Sacrifice."
But Chris, Everything, and I mean everything, in the Ceremonial Laws was all about Christ's Sacrifice, God's Judgment and Salvation plan for Mankind. And that is what the book of Hebrews, and in fact, the whole Bible, is all about.
I am sorry to say that the more we discussed these things, The more convinced I am that we have a very different view of the nature of the Bible and the nature of salvation. And I have to confess that I shudder at some of the things that I read in your comments, particularly this last one.
God's elect are not limited to those from national Israel. The elect of God are all of those whom God chose to save from before the foundation of the world, and for whom Christ paid for their sins. The elect of God includes all true believers throughout time from any nation whom God saves. Jew and Gentile alike. And that Salvation is 100% the work of God.
Thank you so much for your kindness and encouragement :) , I really needed to hear that , I always read and appreciate all your posts . Keep up the good work please :) .
The REST of Hebrews 4 is the REST of Salvation where we cease trusting in any work the we do and REST only in the WORK of God of Christ to save us. And that is the GOSPEL that was preached to them and us.
Dear Gigi , I read your reply to me but you didn't tell me your source for all that information . You said a lot of things but you didn't quote your source , I know that your source was human and the Bible is divine , so , please pardon me if I don't take a lot of notice of what you said and just stick with my Bible . I'm sorry if I offend you , I have heard all the arguements for the trinity over the last few decades of my life and I try very hard to keep out of them . As I said in my earlier post , humans will not convince me , only the Bible can do that . Thank you for your time and energy but this is not something I'm interested in debating . We shall have to agree to disagree on this one :) hope you are ok with that .
But those sacrifices could not bring cleansing of the heart & conscience, which only Christ's shed Blood could. They remained in limbo - God accepting their sacrifices, pleased to abide with them, yet looking ahead when His Own Sacrifice would bring full cleansing, new life, & a permanent rest for their souls.
The Gospel of 'Rest' that was promised to them, was not just of entering Canaan ( Deuteronomy 12:9-11; Joshua 22:43-45), but was spoken of a future Rest ( Hebrews 4:8,9; Isaiah 11:10 (both in the first & second comings of Jesus)). This was always God's Plan, even to include Gentiles in such blessing - and Jesus only could be the Sacrifice that would bring true & lasting rest for all. All the sacrifices pointed to Him & the temporary rest that Israel enjoyed (when they were faithful), could only be fully realized when Christ's Blood also applied to them, yet future. Present-day Israel is in turmoil (spiritually, physically, nationally), having rejected their Messiah. They will never have God's Rest whilst in this state. But when they see their Messiah coming in the clouds, come to Him in brokenness & repentance, having their hearts cleansed by His Blood not by sacrifices, then Hebrews 4:9 will be fully realized, "There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God."
Thanks again David0921 for these Scriptures, & of course, I don't share in your understanding of them. I will look at the main one: Hebrews 4:1-3.
You understand this passage as referring to the Gospel that was delivered to us, that it was the same as they (OT Israel) also received. However, this passage is not talking about the Gospel of Salvation through a Redeemer, but about the Gospel that was ordained before the worlds were framed together - and that is, that God's Plan was for all (Jew & Gentile) to enter into HIS REST. And that is what the Gospel is: for us, we know that perfect rest (from our struggle with sin, of certain judgement for it, of being accepted by God & receiving His Peace) can only be attained through the Cross & looking unto it.
The Gospel that was 'preached as well unto them' contained nothing of Christ's Sacrifice. To force the word 'Gospel' in the OT to mean the same as in the NT, is to misapply the meaning & understanding of Scripture. When the Gospel came to us, we were dead in our sins & in desperate need of redemption & only through Christ's death we could have any hope. When the Gospel came to them, they were already the elect, chosen of God, to remain faithful to God, obeying His Commands, & observing the Sacrifices & associated laws. If they exercised faith & looked only unto God & none other, they would be saved; just as Abraham, Moses, & others were. Which also agrees with the translation of Enoch & Elijah, where these men were counted faithful & for God's Own purpose, were removed from the Earth. But then the question: 'weren't these also sinners, though being the Elect, needing cleansing; how could faith & sacrifice only save them?' Hebrews 9:13,14: these sacrifices only sanctified the people to the "purifying of the flesh"; God instituted this that they may be forgiven & He could dwell in the midst of them & be their constant Guide, providing them that temporary covering for their sin. Onto Page 2.
I'm astonished/surprised by the fact of the readers /students of the Bible don't discern that MAN already existed before GOD said: "Let us make MAN in our image, after our likeness: and ... "
Yes man already EXISTED, but NOT in the IMAGE of GOD; MAN was only and only made of the dust of the earth whose breath was in his nostrils- Genesis 2:7 and 15-17, and Isaiah 2:22.
Well, only after the fall GOD planned(GENESIS) to make man in His image, but how? GOD is Spirit, invisible. What is the image of a spirit?
First step: GOD's decision. Genesis 1:26-GOD said(to JESUS, the beginning), Let us make man in OUR image, after OUR likeness( Hebrews 1:3 combined with John 5:17 and John 1:11-13): and let them have dominion over the ...
2nd step: Execution of GOD's plan: Genesis 1:27 -So GOD created man in His own image, in the image of GOD created he him; male and female created He them. John 1:11-13 and John 5:17
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Remember: 1 Corinthians 15:45-47
47 The first MAN is of the earth, earthy; the second MAN is the Lord from heaven(is from a celestial /spiritual environment)
45 The first MAN Adam was made a living soul(whose breath is in his nostrils- Isaiah 2:22); the last Adam was made a quickening spirit.
46 Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual
Genesis 1:31
And GOD saw every thing that He had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day. (This sixth GOD's Day just finished)
Revelation 11:15-18
15...The kingdoms OF THIS WORLD are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of His Christ; and He shall reign for ever and ever
...
And the nations will be angry, and GOD's wrath is come, and the time of the dead, that they should be Judged, and that should give reward unto the servants the prophets, and to the saints, and them that fear His name, small and great; and should destroy them which destroy the earth
So, as for 6:22-23, Jesse has answered you well. The eye is often thought of as the window to your soul. In these verses the eye is said to be a light into one's body, so perhaps in this instance, if your eye is evil it reveals the darkness in your being, but if it is single, then it shows the light/goodness in your being. I understand that by saying that the eye is 'single" Jesus means without deceit, malice, or ill will towards one's neighbor or rebellion towards God. Truly, only believers in Christ can have a 'single' eye because non-believers are in darkness of sin and separated from the eternal light and life of God. But in Christ, we are in the light as He is in the light and have our consciouses cleansed by the removal of our sin by Christ's sacrifice. Therefore, a believers has the light of Christ in our beings and His eye was truly "single", without any semblance of actual sin in Himself. He was truly the light of the world and when we are in Him, we too have that eternal light of life in us, too. We, too, can love God and our neighbor as Jesus is explaining in this Sermon on the Mount.
CHAPTERS 5-6: The Superiority of Jesus Christ to Aaron. He's a Levite, and a high priest, and the head of the Aaronic Priesthood.
CHAPTERS 7-10: The Superiority of the Priesthood of Jesus Christ Himself.
First the superiority of His person compared to other persons in the Jadaistic system. And now the superiority of His priesthood.
CHAPTER 7: The Superiority of the Priesthood of Melchizedek.
He's a very interesting character from the Old Testament that we know some information about him. Nobody knows where he came from or where he went. He just appeared on the scene. And the book of Hebrews says that the Lord's priesthood is according to the order of Melchizedek, not according to Aaron. And the second shocking thing about those statements is that Melchizedek is a Gentile. The Lord's priesthood is according to Melchizedek, not according to Aaron.
CHAPTER 8: The Superiority of the New Covenant, in its comparison to the old.
CHAPTER 9: The Superiority of the Heavenly Sanctuary, where the Lord is serving now, versus the earthly sanctuary.
And by the way, many scholars believe the book of Hebrews is the fifth gospel in the New Testament, and that the four gospels at the beginning of the New Testament present the Lord's ministry on the earth, and the book of Hebrews presents the Lord's ministry in heaven.
"The just shall live by faith." That's presented three times in the New Testament. Hebrews 10:38.
Faith is what this book is all about. If you live by faith, then you have to accept the consequences because there's no in between.
VI. THE OUTLINE OF HEBREWS:
CHAPTERS 1-6: The Superiority of the Person of Jesus Christ.
CHAPTER 1:1-3: The Superiority of Jesus Christ to the Prophets.
CHAPTER 1:4-2:18: The Superiority of Jesus Christ to the Angels.
The Jews believed that the angels were higher than man, and some even believed that Michael the Archangel was higher than the Messiah.
CHAPTER 3: The Superiority of Jesus Christ to Moses, in Chapter 3.
CHAPTER 4: The Superiority of Jesus Christ to Joshua, in Chapter 4.
And when you get to Chapter 4, I think you will be in for an interesting surprise. I would encourage you before you read Chapter 4 to read the account of creation in Genesis Chapter 1, and the first part of Chapter 2, especially from the standpoint that after each day of creation, it says, "and it was the first day," and "it was the second day," and so on.
But you will notice in Genesis Chapter 2, at the seventh day, it never says "and it was the seventh day." Hebrews Chapter 4 tells us that the seventh day never ended.
So, the superiority of Jesus Christ to Joshua, the Lord has a better day of rest than what Joshua presented.
To warn against apostasy during persecution. It's when believers suffer that believers consider to stop following Christ or consider compromising in their walk with the Lord when things get tough.
There are three groups addressed by the Book of Hebrews. Now in order to understand the various passages and the various sections of Hebrews, we have to understand these three groups to whom it was written:
1) To Hebrew believers.
2) To Hebrews who have an intellectual understanding of Christ but have not been saved, and they are considering going back to the religious system of Judaism because of the persecution for identifying with Hebrew believers.
So, these are Hebrews who understand what's being taught, and they intellectually agree with it, but they have never received Christ. And Chapter 10 is going to tell us that after they identified with the Hebrew believers and they went home, their possessions were stolen.
And their fellow Jewish comrades were kicking them out of the temples, and it would cause some of them to lose their jobs. Some of their friends would disown them. So, you can imagine a Jewish person, right at that place where you understand and you agree with it, but you haven't received Christ.
But you have this persecution going on and you say "If I go all the way with this thing, this is what's going to happen. Everybody is going to disown me." Some of them were considering going back into the old religious system of the Old Testament.
3) There were also Hebrew unbelievers.
These were those who were at these meetings, those who were in the crowd that just did not believe. So, if we understand these three groups, we can better understand some of the scriptures that are being presented. There are sections of scriptures to each one of these three groups in the book of Hebrews.
Right now, Apollos is the most popular theory. The more they study the texts, the more Apollos stands out. Apollos was one of those who passed through Corinth. And Pricilla and Aquila heard him preach. He was very eloquent in his preaching.
But he wasn't complete in his knowledge and understanding of Christ, so they took him aside and taught him about Christ more accurately. Well, because of the eloquence of the Greek style of Hebrews, and the organization of the letter to the Hebrews, many believe Apollos wrote it.
In Acts 18:24-28, this tells us he was a Jewish Christian from Alexandria. So, he knows about the Jewish rituals and ceremonies, and he's from Alexandria, and many theorize that the letter was written from Alexandria.
Another indication that Apollos might have written it, is that the Old Testament quotes in Hebrews are taken from the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Hebrew Old Testament.
So, no quotations and references to the Hebrew text, but actually to the Old Testament text from the Septuagint. Jesus Himself quoted from the Septuagint, so it should at least be taken into consideration.
There are some difficulties with the theory of Paul. And by the way, many scholars now do not hold that view because of all the difficulties.
For example, the letter was written by a second-generation Christian because of what he stated in Hebrews 2:3 which says, "how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation, which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord and was confirmed unto us by them that heard Him."
Whoever wrote Hebrews did not hear the Lord directly, nor receive from the Lord directly, but received and was confirmed and established for us, he being one of them, by those that heard Him. So, this is just one of the problems.
Paul himself, as stated in Galatians 1:11-12 said, but I certify to you brethren that the gospel which was preached of me is not after man, for I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ. So, Paul is not a second generation Christian, and whoever wrote Hebrews is a second generation Christian.
Another theory was that it was Barnabas, because the letter appears to have been written by a Levite. Now a Levite, from the tribe of Levi, they were those who worked the temple. They were the priests. And they are the ones who took care of the temple.
The letter appears to have been written by a Levite because of the familiarity with the temple functions and rituals. According to Acts 4:36, Barnabas was a Levite. So, some people theorize that Barnabas wrote it.
The name Barnabas means "Son of Encouragement." The writer states in Hebrews 13:22 that he encourages them to endure the word of encouragement. Even the writer is saying he's giving encouragement to them, and he encourages them to endure. So, Barnabas was the encourager, another point that people make who theorize that Barnabas wrote the book.
Some say Luke wrote Hebrews. Some scholars believe that Luke took a Hebrew version of the Book of Hebrews and translated it into Greek.
The writer knows Timothy. We know from Hebrews 13:23 that he knew Timothy. He says, "know you not that our brother Timothy is set at liberty." That's because Timothy was put into prison. He says with whom if he comes shortly, I will see you. So, the writer of the book of Hebrews knew Timothy.
The writer was with believers who were from Italy, which is found in Hebrews 13:24. The writer was with the Italians, with the Jews from Italy.
In his salutation, he says salute all them that have the rule over you, and all the saints. They of Italy salute you. The word "of" in the Greek text is literally the word from. And that poses a problem. The scholars that have gone by the English text say that the writer wrote it from Italy, probably Rome. The problem is that he is with the Jews "from" Italy, not "in" Italy.
So, it's too ambiguous to nail it down and say he's writing from Rome, but he definitely is with Hebrew believers who are from Italy, wherever he is writing this letter from.
Several people have been named as possible authors:
Paul is the most common one. In fact, if you have a King James Bible, it will probably say in there that this is the book of Hebrews written by Paul. Remember I said that the title "To the Hebrews" was not put on it until the 2nd century. But there was no inscription about Paul until about the third century when the Council of Carthage added it to the book and claimed that Paul had written the letter.
So, there was no claim on the letter itself that it was written by Paul until the 3rd century. And by the way, this was the Eastern Church. The Western Church didn't even accept it as being inspired by God until the 4th century, and they too accepted it as written by Paul.
VII. OUTLINE OF THE BOOK OF JAMES:
CHAPTER 1: The development of faith
CHAPTER 2: The activity of faith
CHAPTER 3: The maturity of faith
CHAPTER 4: The enemy of faith
CHAPTER 5: The function of faith
Do you think the book of James might be about faith?
I will share my introduction to 1 Peter, and also 2 Peter soon. God Bless!!!
Acts Chapter 15 records that by the time the early church was formed, James the half-brother of Jesus was then in charge of and leading the church that was in Jerusalem. In Galatians 1:19, Paul says that when he went into Jerusalem, he looked for the leaders and he spent time with James the Lord's brother.
So, scripture, as well as tradition, backs up the fact that we are studying a letter that was written by the half-brother of Jesus Christ, a natural born child to Joseph and Mary, and who is the head of the church in Jerusalem.
There is also another letter in the New Testament that was written by a half-brother of Jesus and that is the book of Jude. It is a one-chapter book right before the book of Revelation. So, we have actually 2 letters in the New Testament by believing half-brothers of Jesus Christ.
And none of them of course pulled the "I'm the brother of Jesus" card to bring out their superiority or even to get favoritism from the early church. They all presented themselves as the servant and slave of Jesus Christ.
Can you imagine if your half-brother turned out to be the Messiah, God Himself in the flesh? "I knew there was something about that brother of mine. I mean, he never did anything wrong!" And then they still didn't believe until after His resurrection when He appeared to them. Then they believed.
But then can you imagine yourself living out your life saying that I am a slave to my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ my half-brother? It just doesn't sound right, you know? But that's what they had to go through. And none of them pulled rank within the body of Christ that they should be treated better or different than anybody else!
VI. THE AUTHOR:
The writer of James is introduced to us in Verse 1. The Greek word for James is the Hebrew name for Jacob. There are four prominent people in the New Testament by the name of James. The first one is James, who with his brother John, are known as the sons of Zebedee. They are presented to us in Mark 1:19.
This James was put to death by Herod Agrippa as recorded in Acts 12:2. So he is not the writer of this letter. Secondly, there is James the son of Alphaeus. He is presented to us in Mark 3:18 as one of the disciples. We don't have any more information about James the son of Alphaeus.
The third one is presented to us in Luke 6:16 where we are told about Judas the son of James. This Judas in not Judas Iscariot. Since this James is the father of one of the disciples mentioned in Luke 6:16, he would have been too old or even dead by the time James was written therefore he cannot be the author.
Fourthly, James that is given to us in the New Testament and by tradition as well as scripture itself, it is presented to us as the writer of this letter. The tradition from Jerome, Augustine, and other writers says James the writer of the Letter of James is the half-brother of Jesus.
In Mathew 13:55, it tells us that Mary and Joseph, after the birth of Jesus Christ, gave birth to other children. There are four brothers mentioned along with sisters. James is listed first so he must have been the oldest.
John 7:5 tells us that during Jesus' earthly ministry, His earthly brothers were taunting Him and did not believe in Him.
I Corinthians 15:5 tells us that after Jesus died and rose from the dead, He appeared to James His brother, as well as the other disciples and His family, and they became believers in Jesus Christ as the Savior and Messiah.
III. THE STYLE OF THE BOOK:
The Book of James is not a doctrinal book. James is a commentary on the Sermon on the Mount given by Jesus in Matthew Chapters 5 through 7. Everything that Jesus taught in the Sermon on the Mount is found in the letter of James.
The letter of James is made up of a series of tests by which the genuineness of salvation can be determined.
IV. DATE OF THE WRITING:
It was written around 45 A.D. Some even think it might be one of the first letters written in the New Testament, right after the persecution in Acts Chapter 7. Josephus the church historian tells us James was martyred in 62 A.D.
V. TO WHOM IT WAS WRITTEN:
James 1:1 tells us that James was written to the Twelve Tribes which were scattered. These were Jewish believers who had scattered outside of Israel because of persecution. This group is officially known as the DIASPORA. That's a Greek word that means scattering. They were the scattered ones.
So, all Jews who had to leave Jerusalem and Israel because of persecution, they are all called the Diaspora, even to this day.
I'll also give you another hint. It is faith without works. It doesn't say people without faith. It's faith that works, not people. I hope you understand what I am saying here. It's not me producing faith that produces works, because if I have to produce it, then it's works.
That's in all of Paul's arguments, is that faith, a fruit of God's Spirit, without activity is a dead faith because God's Spirit is active. So, if a person doesn't have that activity in their life, they have a dead faith, and they're not saved!
Interesting too that James, like the writer of Hebrews, is speaking to Jewish people who are displaced from their homeland, and they're going through hard times. And later on, James is going to tell them, you're going through the most difficult times that a human being could go through, yet you're going through it which proves you're saved. You're trusting the Lord even though you are hurting, and you are suffering, and you can only do that because God is in your life sustaining you.
So, you are of the faith. You're listening to God's Spirit encourage you, whom you can't see, and you can't feel, yet He's ministering to you and encouraging you. Yet you have all these feelings and all these circumstances around you that you can see and feel and know as a human being. And yet you've got to trust that still small voice that says I'm with you, I will never leave you nor forsake you. Trust me!
And of course, the characteristic, according to the bible in Matthew Chapter 24, and we'll also see it in James that the characteristic of someone who is saved is enduring till the end. That's not a human effort. That's a guarantee. If you have God's Spirit, you're going to make it till the end. He didn't say how. Some of us might crawl over the finish line, but God's going to get us there. That's His promise!
NOW WE HAVE THE INTRODUCTION TO JAMES:
I. JAMES IN THE NEW TESTAMENT:
The Book of James is part of a collection of books in the New Testament that are called the Jewish Literature. The Jewish Literature begins with the Book of Hebrews and continues through to the end of the Book of Revelation.
II. THE THEME OF THE BOOK:
The theme of the book is found in James 2:20, "Faith without works is dead."
Let me just give you a small explanation of where I'm going with this. In the book of Hebrews, there is so much to study about faith. From a language standpoint, from a biblical standpoint, the word faith, PISTIS in Greek, means persuasion. It is a word that describes the influence and the ministry of God's Spirit over our lives. He's persuading us. He's ministering to us.
And so, when James says faith without works is dead, and you might pencil in there if you are a note taker that the word "works," when we see it in Chapter 2 means activity. Faith without activity is dead. He'll even say in Chapter 2, if you say you have the faith but there's no activity, can that faith save you?
And the answer is no. He even includes the answer in his question. He says no, it can't. That's just human faith. That's just an intellectual belief and agreement.
Since faith is a word that describes the presence and activity of God's Spirit in a person's life, faith without activity is a dead faith. With faith being the moving and ministering of God's Spirit, if God's Spirit isn't there and active in your life, you have a dead faith.
That's from a biblical perspective. That's not religious, and especially here in America, where faith is being promoted as coming from man, human beings, that we produce the faith, that we have to believe in order for God to bless us. Faith without works is dead.
But James has some very, very hard and very deep teachings for us, even to the point that he says that if you become a friend to this world, you have placed yourself as an enemy of God.
So which one do you want to do? Do you want Satan to be your enemy where all he can do is rattle our cages in the physical realm. He can't stop us from following Christ. He can't stop us from having a relationship with Christ. He can't take us away from Christ. He can just hassle us.
So, would I rather have Satan be my enemy, or God? And that's the question and the encouragement that these believing Jews were given, which means that there's going to be teaching and encouragement that even goes beyond what we need to know, because we don't have their difficult circumstances.
But the teachings are good. They're true, and especially when he's teaching about faith. This entire book is on faith. But after Paul's writings comes the Jewish literature. That would be the book of Hebrews through the book of Revelation. Under the Jewish literature, you'll see all of the Jewish literature, Hebrews, James, 1 and 2 Peter, 1, 2, 3 John, Jude, and Revelation.
And again, the book of Revelation is best understood from a Jewish perspective, because of the 404 verses in the book of Revelation, there are 800 allusions and quotes from the Old Testament brought over into the book of Revelation.
The book of Revelation was written because of Jewish believers who were suffering and even some sitting in prison waiting to die. The book of Revelation is to show them that even if they did die for their faith, the victory would be later when Jesus comes back.
So, it's the whole panorama of what we have in the scriptures of everything from creation to the end of the world in one book. And we have to handling these from a Jewish perspective. And I think that you will see that it makes more sense that way than to say that James is writing to the Christians in our day.
As we get more into 1 Peter, he says don't think it's strange that you're going through fiery trials, because in the physical, there's going to be a challenge by Satan to get us to stop trusting the Lord. Because of our natural human senses that we function in naturally, we have a tendency to judge the Lord and His faithfulness based on the help we receive in our physical circumstances.
And these brothers are turning it around and saying no, the difficult circumstances, and we see this in 1 Peter Chapter 4, that difficulty accompanies salvation because we're talking about two different realms. We're talking about the teaching of scripture that tells us that Satan is the god of this world, the physical realm that we live in. Satan is the spiritual force that's energizing this worlds system and all the physical things around us.
So, once we switch from living according to our fleshly desires, and we surrender our life to Christ, then everything is reversed. We're no longer at war with God. We're now at war with Satan, or else he is with us, because we have said I'm out of your system and I now belong to Christ. But I still physically live in Satan's system. It's just that he does not own me, he does not possess me. But I still have to go out into his system and trust the Lord.
So, everything is reversed once you get saved. What used to be friendly to you in the physical realm, even the people who used to be friendly to you in the physical realm, they will no longer be friendly. And the circumstances will be very difficult, trying to get us to the point where we get discouraged and just quit in our trusting of the Lord because we think trusting the Lord is going to change our physical circumstance. And we get tired of waiting, and sometimes the circumstances get worse. So, we say "Why trust the Lord?"
Before I share the introduction to the book of James, I just want to mention a few things. In case you haven't noticed, the further we get into the New Testament, the deeper the teaching is, as far as for believers. Starting with the book of Hebrews, and going through the book of Revelation, this is what is called the Jewish Literature section of the bible.
And what makes it so good for us to study is that these letters are written to Jews who believe, but who have been scattered from their homeland.
So, we are studying teaching and instruction given by, in this instance, the leader of the church in Jerusalem, to all of the Jews who have been scattered from out of their homeland and away from their families.
Some of them had to leave with just the clothes on their back. Most of them were very poor because they were in a foreign place with Gentiles. So, the overall circumstance in which they are in is very, very difficult. And that's why these letters written to the believing Jews emphasize faith, because that's what's being challenged in the book of Hebrews.
Faith was challenged because the writer of Hebrews said that the just shall live by faith. But some of those Hebrew or Jewish people were thinking of going back into the old religious system of Judaism because of how difficult it is to follow Christ. And so, it emphasizes to live by faith means to trust the Lord no matter how difficult the circumstances, or to put it another way, to trust the Lord in the most difficult of circumstances.
The early church fathers were refuting false teachings I mentioned in my post. Such false teachings were taken seriously and addressed strongly by these leaders. Today we more than likely agree to disagree, but at that time, the defense of the faith passed down from the apostles was very important and paramount to the spiritual health and well-being of the church. I wish more of this was done in today's churches by leaders.
You can also look up: "A list of Christological heresies" and find a chart or listing of the false teachings that arose in the early centuries. (Some of these I listed). This is our history, the history of the body of Christ. Just as we read of the history of the people of God in the Old Testament and the New Testament, we can benefit by learning about church history after the apostles up to this time. Of course, I agree that the OT and NT are inspired by God, but factual history is not outside of what we can use to learn more about the church. We use science to find out about our world and photography to see parts of our world that we have not visited and take these as factual. So, we can also find out facts about church history. None of these are forbidden in Scripture.
Jema, I am a pretty open-minded person and learn much from others, whether the other person is alive now or deceased. We are given to one another in Christ to help one another. That is the aim of my post to you. God's blessings to you today.
The reason that I used an historical source is that the church continued after the death of all the apostles and the writing of the NT Scriptures. The first council was the one in Jerusalem, probably about 50 A.D. in Acts 15 where the topic of what of the Mosaic Law the Gentile believers were to follow. Paul and Barnabas attended this council, meeting with Peter, James, and perhaps a few others. The topic of the Trinity or divinity of Jesus was not discussed at this one. You can find out what the early bishops (the first ones appointed by the apostles and subsequent ones by the preceding bishops) spoke about these two topics but you will not find the writings of these bishops in the Bible.
I adhere to the teaching of the Word. It is my source for God's revelation to man. However, History is source to discover how the early saints believed and how the church functioned over the centuries. learning such history is not contrary to learning the Word nor is it forbidden by the Word.
I looked up the teachings of Polycarp, Irenaeus, Tertullian, Justin Martyr, for example, to find out what they taught on these topics. They lived in the late first century into the second century. For me, what they taught is important because they were so close in time to the teachings of the apostles and it gives us information about what was passed down to them before the NT was compiled and there were just the letters/writings of the apostles copied and passed to the churches.
If we look at what is taught in the churches today and compare that to what was taught in the Scriptures and practiced in the early church years we can see that what we do today is very different from then. This does not mean that all of what we do today is wrong. It just contrasts what was practiced early on.
The early church leaders did need to refute false doctrines as the Scriptures instructed. See Titus 1:10-16; 2 Peter 2; all of Jude; 1 John 4:1; 1 Tim. 6:3. ... cont.
Now, verses 3 to 8 are being fulfilled, the beginning of sorrows, and the decay of the Churches with the development of apostasies and iniquities-verses 9 to 14.
Then, the last week- Daniel 9:27- is about to start and with this event the persecutions of the first half of the week-42 months- Revelation 13:5- by the Beast of sea, culminating with the establishment of the Abomination of Desolation for 1,290 days in the second half of the week (plus 30 days)-verses 15 to 27 combined with Daniel 12:11 and 11:v.31. It is the END of this world and a sign of the coming of JESUS: Matthew 24:3 combined with Revelation 11:15-18. Blessed is he who waits and comes at 1335 days- Daniel 12:12 , 45 days after finishing the Abomination of Desolation. GET READY
Thank you, it has been a while and it is always good to fellowship with everyone here.
To quote you "The Gospel that was 'preached as well unto them' contained nothing of Christ's Sacrifice."
But Chris, Everything, and I mean everything, in the Ceremonial Laws was all about Christ's Sacrifice, God's Judgment and Salvation plan for Mankind. And that is what the book of Hebrews, and in fact, the whole Bible, is all about.
I am sorry to say that the more we discussed these things, The more convinced I am that we have a very different view of the nature of the Bible and the nature of salvation. And I have to confess that I shudder at some of the things that I read in your comments, particularly this last one.
God's elect are not limited to those from national Israel. The elect of God are all of those whom God chose to save from before the foundation of the world, and for whom Christ paid for their sins. The elect of God includes all true believers throughout time from any nation whom God saves. Jew and Gentile alike. And that Salvation is 100% the work of God.
The REST of Hebrews 4 is the REST of Salvation where we cease trusting in any work the we do and REST only in the WORK of God of Christ to save us. And that is the GOSPEL that was preached to them and us.
But those sacrifices could not bring cleansing of the heart & conscience, which only Christ's shed Blood could. They remained in limbo - God accepting their sacrifices, pleased to abide with them, yet looking ahead when His Own Sacrifice would bring full cleansing, new life, & a permanent rest for their souls.
The Gospel of 'Rest' that was promised to them, was not just of entering Canaan ( Deuteronomy 12:9-11; Joshua 22:43-45), but was spoken of a future Rest ( Hebrews 4:8,9; Isaiah 11:10 (both in the first & second comings of Jesus)). This was always God's Plan, even to include Gentiles in such blessing - and Jesus only could be the Sacrifice that would bring true & lasting rest for all. All the sacrifices pointed to Him & the temporary rest that Israel enjoyed (when they were faithful), could only be fully realized when Christ's Blood also applied to them, yet future. Present-day Israel is in turmoil (spiritually, physically, nationally), having rejected their Messiah. They will never have God's Rest whilst in this state. But when they see their Messiah coming in the clouds, come to Him in brokenness & repentance, having their hearts cleansed by His Blood not by sacrifices, then Hebrews 4:9 will be fully realized, "There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God."
Thanks again David0921 for these Scriptures, & of course, I don't share in your understanding of them. I will look at the main one: Hebrews 4:1-3.
You understand this passage as referring to the Gospel that was delivered to us, that it was the same as they (OT Israel) also received. However, this passage is not talking about the Gospel of Salvation through a Redeemer, but about the Gospel that was ordained before the worlds were framed together - and that is, that God's Plan was for all (Jew & Gentile) to enter into HIS REST. And that is what the Gospel is: for us, we know that perfect rest (from our struggle with sin, of certain judgement for it, of being accepted by God & receiving His Peace) can only be attained through the Cross & looking unto it.
The Gospel that was 'preached as well unto them' contained nothing of Christ's Sacrifice. To force the word 'Gospel' in the OT to mean the same as in the NT, is to misapply the meaning & understanding of Scripture. When the Gospel came to us, we were dead in our sins & in desperate need of redemption & only through Christ's death we could have any hope. When the Gospel came to them, they were already the elect, chosen of God, to remain faithful to God, obeying His Commands, & observing the Sacrifices & associated laws. If they exercised faith & looked only unto God & none other, they would be saved; just as Abraham, Moses, & others were. Which also agrees with the translation of Enoch & Elijah, where these men were counted faithful & for God's Own purpose, were removed from the Earth. But then the question: 'weren't these also sinners, though being the Elect, needing cleansing; how could faith & sacrifice only save them?' Hebrews 9:13,14: these sacrifices only sanctified the people to the "purifying of the flesh"; God instituted this that they may be forgiven & He could dwell in the midst of them & be their constant Guide, providing them that temporary covering for their sin. Onto Page 2.
Greetings in Christ JESUS
I'm astonished/surprised by the fact of the readers /students of the Bible don't discern that MAN already existed before GOD said: "Let us make MAN in our image, after our likeness: and ... "
Yes man already EXISTED, but NOT in the IMAGE of GOD; MAN was only and only made of the dust of the earth whose breath was in his nostrils- Genesis 2:7 and 15-17, and Isaiah 2:22.
Well, only after the fall GOD planned(GENESIS) to make man in His image, but how? GOD is Spirit, invisible. What is the image of a spirit?
First step: GOD's decision. Genesis 1:26-GOD said(to JESUS, the beginning), Let us make man in OUR image, after OUR likeness( Hebrews 1:3 combined with John 5:17 and John 1:11-13): and let them have dominion over the ...
2nd step: Execution of GOD's plan: Genesis 1:27 -So GOD created man in His own image, in the image of GOD created he him; male and female created He them. John 1:11-13 and John 5:17
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Remember: 1 Corinthians 15:45-47
47 The first MAN is of the earth, earthy; the second MAN is the Lord from heaven(is from a celestial /spiritual environment)
45 The first MAN Adam was made a living soul(whose breath is in his nostrils- Isaiah 2:22); the last Adam was made a quickening spirit.
46 Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual
Genesis 1:31
And GOD saw every thing that He had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day. (This sixth GOD's Day just finished)
Revelation 11:15-18
15...The kingdoms OF THIS WORLD are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of His Christ; and He shall reign for ever and ever
...
And the nations will be angry, and GOD's wrath is come, and the time of the dead, that they should be Judged, and that should give reward unto the servants the prophets, and to the saints, and them that fear His name, small and great; and should destroy them which destroy the earth
GOD BLESS
I commented on 5:22-23
So, as for 6:22-23, Jesse has answered you well. The eye is often thought of as the window to your soul. In these verses the eye is said to be a light into one's body, so perhaps in this instance, if your eye is evil it reveals the darkness in your being, but if it is single, then it shows the light/goodness in your being. I understand that by saying that the eye is 'single" Jesus means without deceit, malice, or ill will towards one's neighbor or rebellion towards God. Truly, only believers in Christ can have a 'single' eye because non-believers are in darkness of sin and separated from the eternal light and life of God. But in Christ, we are in the light as He is in the light and have our consciouses cleansed by the removal of our sin by Christ's sacrifice. Therefore, a believers has the light of Christ in our beings and His eye was truly "single", without any semblance of actual sin in Himself. He was truly the light of the world and when we are in Him, we too have that eternal light of life in us, too. We, too, can love God and our neighbor as Jesus is explaining in this Sermon on the Mount.
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CHAPTER10: The Superiority of the Sacrifice of Jesus Christ, to the sacrifices of the Old Testament law.
CHAPTERS 11-13: The Special Encouragements to Believers.
CHAPTER 11: The Encouragement from the People of Faith.
It's interesting to realize that all the people presented who are living by faith, in which we will be encouraged to do, are all Old Testament people.
CHAPTER 12: The Encouragement from the Pattern of Faith.
CHAPTER 13:1-23: The Encouragement from the Procedure of Faith.
CHAPTER 13:24-25: The Salutation.
So that covers Hebrews. I will share my introduction to James soon, Lord willing!
God Bless!!!
CHAPTERS 5-6: The Superiority of Jesus Christ to Aaron. He's a Levite, and a high priest, and the head of the Aaronic Priesthood.
CHAPTERS 7-10: The Superiority of the Priesthood of Jesus Christ Himself.
First the superiority of His person compared to other persons in the Jadaistic system. And now the superiority of His priesthood.
CHAPTER 7: The Superiority of the Priesthood of Melchizedek.
He's a very interesting character from the Old Testament that we know some information about him. Nobody knows where he came from or where he went. He just appeared on the scene. And the book of Hebrews says that the Lord's priesthood is according to the order of Melchizedek, not according to Aaron. And the second shocking thing about those statements is that Melchizedek is a Gentile. The Lord's priesthood is according to Melchizedek, not according to Aaron.
CHAPTER 8: The Superiority of the New Covenant, in its comparison to the old.
CHAPTER 9: The Superiority of the Heavenly Sanctuary, where the Lord is serving now, versus the earthly sanctuary.
And by the way, many scholars believe the book of Hebrews is the fifth gospel in the New Testament, and that the four gospels at the beginning of the New Testament present the Lord's ministry on the earth, and the book of Hebrews presents the Lord's ministry in heaven.
V. THE THEME OF HEBREWS:
"The just shall live by faith." That's presented three times in the New Testament. Hebrews 10:38.
Faith is what this book is all about. If you live by faith, then you have to accept the consequences because there's no in between.
VI. THE OUTLINE OF HEBREWS:
CHAPTERS 1-6: The Superiority of the Person of Jesus Christ.
CHAPTER 1:1-3: The Superiority of Jesus Christ to the Prophets.
CHAPTER 1:4-2:18: The Superiority of Jesus Christ to the Angels.
The Jews believed that the angels were higher than man, and some even believed that Michael the Archangel was higher than the Messiah.
CHAPTER 3: The Superiority of Jesus Christ to Moses, in Chapter 3.
CHAPTER 4: The Superiority of Jesus Christ to Joshua, in Chapter 4.
And when you get to Chapter 4, I think you will be in for an interesting surprise. I would encourage you before you read Chapter 4 to read the account of creation in Genesis Chapter 1, and the first part of Chapter 2, especially from the standpoint that after each day of creation, it says, "and it was the first day," and "it was the second day," and so on.
But you will notice in Genesis Chapter 2, at the seventh day, it never says "and it was the seventh day." Hebrews Chapter 4 tells us that the seventh day never ended.
So, the superiority of Jesus Christ to Joshua, the Lord has a better day of rest than what Joshua presented.
IV. THE PURPOSE OF THE LETTER:
To warn against apostasy during persecution. It's when believers suffer that believers consider to stop following Christ or consider compromising in their walk with the Lord when things get tough.
There are three groups addressed by the Book of Hebrews. Now in order to understand the various passages and the various sections of Hebrews, we have to understand these three groups to whom it was written:
1) To Hebrew believers.
2) To Hebrews who have an intellectual understanding of Christ but have not been saved, and they are considering going back to the religious system of Judaism because of the persecution for identifying with Hebrew believers.
So, these are Hebrews who understand what's being taught, and they intellectually agree with it, but they have never received Christ. And Chapter 10 is going to tell us that after they identified with the Hebrew believers and they went home, their possessions were stolen.
And their fellow Jewish comrades were kicking them out of the temples, and it would cause some of them to lose their jobs. Some of their friends would disown them. So, you can imagine a Jewish person, right at that place where you understand and you agree with it, but you haven't received Christ.
But you have this persecution going on and you say "If I go all the way with this thing, this is what's going to happen. Everybody is going to disown me." Some of them were considering going back into the old religious system of the Old Testament.
3) There were also Hebrew unbelievers.
These were those who were at these meetings, those who were in the crowd that just did not believe. So, if we understand these three groups, we can better understand some of the scriptures that are being presented. There are sections of scriptures to each one of these three groups in the book of Hebrews.
Apollos:
Right now, Apollos is the most popular theory. The more they study the texts, the more Apollos stands out. Apollos was one of those who passed through Corinth. And Pricilla and Aquila heard him preach. He was very eloquent in his preaching.
But he wasn't complete in his knowledge and understanding of Christ, so they took him aside and taught him about Christ more accurately. Well, because of the eloquence of the Greek style of Hebrews, and the organization of the letter to the Hebrews, many believe Apollos wrote it.
In Acts 18:24-28, this tells us he was a Jewish Christian from Alexandria. So, he knows about the Jewish rituals and ceremonies, and he's from Alexandria, and many theorize that the letter was written from Alexandria.
Another indication that Apollos might have written it, is that the Old Testament quotes in Hebrews are taken from the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Hebrew Old Testament.
So, no quotations and references to the Hebrew text, but actually to the Old Testament text from the Septuagint. Jesus Himself quoted from the Septuagint, so it should at least be taken into consideration.
There are some difficulties with the theory of Paul. And by the way, many scholars now do not hold that view because of all the difficulties.
For example, the letter was written by a second-generation Christian because of what he stated in Hebrews 2:3 which says, "how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation, which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord and was confirmed unto us by them that heard Him."
Whoever wrote Hebrews did not hear the Lord directly, nor receive from the Lord directly, but received and was confirmed and established for us, he being one of them, by those that heard Him. So, this is just one of the problems.
Paul himself, as stated in Galatians 1:11-12 said, but I certify to you brethren that the gospel which was preached of me is not after man, for I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ. So, Paul is not a second generation Christian, and whoever wrote Hebrews is a second generation Christian.
Another theory was that it was Barnabas, because the letter appears to have been written by a Levite. Now a Levite, from the tribe of Levi, they were those who worked the temple. They were the priests. And they are the ones who took care of the temple.
The letter appears to have been written by a Levite because of the familiarity with the temple functions and rituals. According to Acts 4:36, Barnabas was a Levite. So, some people theorize that Barnabas wrote it.
The name Barnabas means "Son of Encouragement." The writer states in Hebrews 13:22 that he encourages them to endure the word of encouragement. Even the writer is saying he's giving encouragement to them, and he encourages them to endure. So, Barnabas was the encourager, another point that people make who theorize that Barnabas wrote the book.
Some say Luke wrote Hebrews. Some scholars believe that Luke took a Hebrew version of the Book of Hebrews and translated it into Greek.
III. THE AUTHOR:
The author of Hebrews is unknown.
The writer knows Timothy. We know from Hebrews 13:23 that he knew Timothy. He says, "know you not that our brother Timothy is set at liberty." That's because Timothy was put into prison. He says with whom if he comes shortly, I will see you. So, the writer of the book of Hebrews knew Timothy.
The writer was with believers who were from Italy, which is found in Hebrews 13:24. The writer was with the Italians, with the Jews from Italy.
In his salutation, he says salute all them that have the rule over you, and all the saints. They of Italy salute you. The word "of" in the Greek text is literally the word from. And that poses a problem. The scholars that have gone by the English text say that the writer wrote it from Italy, probably Rome. The problem is that he is with the Jews "from" Italy, not "in" Italy.
So, it's too ambiguous to nail it down and say he's writing from Rome, but he definitely is with Hebrew believers who are from Italy, wherever he is writing this letter from.
Several people have been named as possible authors:
Paul is the most common one. In fact, if you have a King James Bible, it will probably say in there that this is the book of Hebrews written by Paul. Remember I said that the title "To the Hebrews" was not put on it until the 2nd century. But there was no inscription about Paul until about the third century when the Council of Carthage added it to the book and claimed that Paul had written the letter.
So, there was no claim on the letter itself that it was written by Paul until the 3rd century. And by the way, this was the Eastern Church. The Western Church didn't even accept it as being inspired by God until the 4th century, and they too accepted it as written by Paul.