Argument of the Epistle to the Hebrews

On June 25, 1954, I received an invitation from Dr. N. B. Stonehouse, our first General Editor, to undertake the volume on the Epistle to the Hebrews for the New International Commentary on the New Testament. Since then I have spent a good part of my time with this epistle, and have learned to appreciate increasingly the viewpoint and purpose of its unknown author-still as much unknown by name to me as when I embarked on the serious study of his work, but not, I think, completely unknown in other respects.

For many readers the Epistle to the Hebrews is among the more difficult books of the New Testament. Its magnificent style, to which King James's revisers (following in William Tyndale's footsteps) did full justice, can be more easily appreciated than the details of its argument, which call for a greater familiarity with its Old Testament background and a better understanding of certain phases-of first-century biblical exegesis than most readers possess. Sir Edmund Gosse in Father and Son tells of the difficulty which he found in his boyhood in following his father's reading and exposition of the epistle. "The melodious language, the divine forensic audacities, the magnificent ebb and flow of argument which make the `Epistle to the Hebrews' such a miracle, were far and away beyond my reach, and they only bewildered me."

To many people, it is said, the Epistle to the Hebrews is just "the book about Melchizedek"-although Melchizedek occupies only some twenty out of the epistle's more than three hundred verses. Others find themselves out of their depth when they come across references to "the blood of bulls and of goats and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling the unclean," and wonder what all this has to do with true religion. The writer to the Hebrews, in fact, is concerned to argue that all this has nothing to do with true religion; but he is dealing with people who had been brought up to think that it had much to do with it. But what has his argument to say to readers today who are not at all disposed to think that animal sacrifices play any part in the worship of God? It has this to say: that true religion or the worship of God is not tied to externalities of any kind. Our author is insisting on the inwardness of true religion, on the necessity of a purified conscience as the one indispensable condition for offering God acceptable worship in that true sanctuary which no human hands have built.

Moreover, this is the book which establishes the finality of the gospel by asserting the supremacy of Christ-his supremacy as God's perfect word to man and man's perfect representative with God. More than any other New Testament book it deals with the ministry which our Lord is accomplishing on his people's behalf now. In a day of shaking foundations it speaks of the kingdom which cannot be shaken. It reminds Christians that it is no part of their calling to settle down and be content with things as they are, but to press forward continually in God's advancing purpose, along the trail already blazed by the Pioneer of Faith. And when they are tempted to be discouraged and give up the onward march, it revives their drooping spirits and supplies many incentives to press on to that eternal commonwealth which is the true homeland of loyal souls. A book which does all this, no matter what imagery it uses, is a book which speaks to the condition of the church throughout the world in the second half of the twentieth century.

My debt to others in the following pages is enormous, and can be acknowledged only very inadequately. Among previous expositors Calvin and Westcott, James Moffatt and Geerhardus Vos have been of great help. C. Spicq's encyclopaedic commentary has always been within arm's reach. For drawing out and applying to the conscience the practical lessons of the epistle G. H. Lang has few rivals. And I am not the only writer on the epistle in recent years for whom William Manson has provided it with a more convincing life-setting than anyone else has done. But this list is not exhaustive. Others who have helped me clamor for admittance: A. B. Davidson, E. Riggenbach, and H. Windisch-but the author's preface is not the place for a bibliography.

I must add a word of thanks to the Very Reverend D. E. W. Harrison, Dean of Bristol. In the winter of 1955-56, when he was Archdeacon of Sheffield and I lived in the same city, he and I jointly conducted a study class on the Epistle to the Hebrews for the Extramural Department of Sheffield University. My understanding of the epistle was very considerably deepened as a result of this happy collaboration with him.

To Dr. Stonehouse my debt of gratitude is great indeed, for the invitation to write this commentary and for many other tokens of friendship and fellowship. In acknowledgment, but by no means in repayment, of this debt the finished work is dedicated to his memory.

PREFACE TO THE REVISED EDITION

The policy of keeping the commentaries in this series up to date has dictated the revision, after a quarter of a century, of this volume on Hebrews.

In these twenty-five years my general understanding of this epistle has not changed in any material respect, but I have profited from my own further study of it and still more from the publications of a number of colleagues which have appeared since the first edition was issued. If one of these colleagues may be singled out for special mention, I have been greatly indebted to the work of Pere Albert Vanhoye, S.J., of the Pontifical Biblical Institute. To his name I must add those of four former research students of mine from whom I have learned more about Hebrews than they ever learned from meBruce A. Demarest, Pauline Giles, David G. Peterson, and Norman H. Young. A teacher can have no greater satisfaction than to greet the output of students such as these.

As for all the original volumes of the New International Commentary on the New Testament, the American Standard Version of 1901 served as the basic text for the first edition of this. It has now been replaced by an ad hoc translation of my own.

ARGUMENT OF THE EPISTLE

TO THE HEBREWS

Heb. 1:1-2:18

God spoke in various ways to our fathers through the prophets, but now he has spoken his final word to us in his Son, his perfect representative. The Son of God is his agent not only in creation and revelation, but also-and preeminently-in the salvation of the human race. He is greater than any prophet; he is greater even than the angels, as the ancient scriptures abundantly testify. It was through angels that Moses' law was communicated, and its sanctions were severe enough; how much more perilous must it be to ignore the saving message brought by no angel, but by Jesus, the Son of God!

Jesus, the Son of God, is the one to whom the dominion of the world has been committed for all time to come. As the eighth psalm teaches us, God has put everything under the dominion of human beings, and it was the nature of humans-our nature-that the Son of God took upon himself in order to win back this dominion. To do this he had to conquer the devil who had usurped it, and rescue those whom he held in bondage; and he conquered the devil when in death he invaded the realm of death, which the devil had controlled until then. It is because Jesus is truly Man, moreover, that he is qualified to serve as high priest on his people's behalf; he knows all their trials from his own experiences and therefore can give them the timely help they need.

Heb. 3:1-4:14

But let us beware: those who rebelled against God in the days of the wilderness wanderings were excluded from his rest in the promised land. There is, however, a better rest than that which the Israelites found in Canaan; it is the rest which awaits the people of God. We must take care not to forfeit that rest by rebelling against God, when he speaks to us no longer through his servant Moses, as he did in those days, but through his Son, one greater than Moses.

III

Heb. 4:15-6:20

As has already been said, Jesus is our great high priest, able to sympathize with his people and help them. We may safely look for understanding and delivering grace to the one who endured the agony of Gethsemane. He has been called to his high-priestly office by God himself, as an inspired oracle makes clear: "The Lord has sworn and will not change his mind, `You are a priest for ever, after the order of Melchizedek."'

(I should like to enlarge on this subject, but really I do not know if I can; you are so spiritually immature. I must warn you solemnly that those who have once been baptized and tasted the blessings of the new age can never repeat the experience of repentance and conversion if they commit apostasy. Not that I think you actually mean to be apostates; I have better hopes of you than that. I want you rather to press on from the point you have reached, so as to attain full maturity, instead of sticking there, or slipping back.)

Heb. 7:1-28

Jesus, then, is by divine appointment a high priest of Melchizedek's order. You remember the story of Melchizedek, priest of God Most High. He appears suddenly in the sacred record, without antecedents, and nothing is said of his subsequent career. Yet he was a very great man; our father Abraham paid him tithes and received his blessing. You might even say that Levi, ancestor of the priestly families of Israel, paid Melchizedek tithes in the person of his great-grandfather Abraham. This implies that Melchizedek is greater than Levi, and Melchizedek's priesthood better than Aaron's. And indeed that is obvious, for if perfect access to God had been attainable under the Aaronic priesthood, why should God have acclaimed the Messiah as priest of a different order?

In many ways Jesus' priesthood after Melchizedek's order is superior to Aaron's priesthood. Jesus, unlike Aaron and his successors, was confirmed in office by the oath of God. Jesus is immortal, whereas the priests of Aaron's line die one by one. Jesus is sinless, whereas the priests of Aaron's line have to present a sin offering for their own cleansing before they can present one for the people. Their sacrificial service must constantly be repeated because it is never truly effective; Jesus, by the single sacrifice of himself, put away his people's sin forever.

Heb. 8:1-10:18

The Aaronic priests minister under the old covenant instituted at Mount Sinai; Jesus is the Mediator of the new covenant-the covenant whose inauguration Jeremiah foretold. The introduction of a new covenant means that the former one is obsolete. The old covenant made provision for the removal of external pollution by means of animal sacrifices and similar rites, but these things could never remove sin; under the new covenant Jesus, by yielding up his life to God as an acceptable and efficacious sacrifice, cleanses the conscience from guilt and thus abolishes the barrier between his people and God. The Aaronic priests minister in an earthly sanctuary belonging to the old order, where access to the divine presence is barred by a curtain; Jesus exercises his high priesthood in the heavenly sanctuary, where there is no such barrier between the worshipers and God. And this heavenly sanctuary in which direct access to God is accorded through Jesus is that spiritual and eternal order of which the earthly sanctuary is only a temporary and inadequate copy. For the new order into which Christ brings his people is to the old Levitical order as substance to shadow.

Heb. 10:19-12:29

Let us, then, abandon the old, obsolescent order and approach God along this new and living way which Jesus by his death has opened up for us. Let us maintain steadfast hope and faith in him. Thus we shall have a firm assurance of those eternal realities which are invisible to the outward eye; we shall be able to look forward with eager expectation to the sure advent of the Coming One. It was by such forward-looking faith that the saints of earlier days won the approval of God; they lived in the good of those promises whose fulfilment has come in our day. Let us follow their example; better still, let us follow the example of Jesus. He ran the race of faith from first to last, undeterred by the disgrace of the cross, and is now enthroned at God's right hand.

Let us not grow faint-hearted because of our trials: these trials are the proof that we are indeed the trueborn sons of God. And think of the glory which is our heritage in this age of fulfilment-something far surpassing what men and women of faith experienced in days gone by. How could we ever think of going back to the old ways?

VII

Heb. 13:1-25

So maintain your Christian confession in patience and hope; live as Christians should; and may God, who raised Jesus from the dead, help you to do his will in all things.'

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Argument of the Epistle to the Hebrews

Argument of the Epistle to the Hebrews

THE NEW INTERNATIONAL COMMENTARY ON THE NEW TESTAMENT

The Epistle to the

HEBREWS

Revised Edition

To the Memory of NED BERNARD STONEHO USE

PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION

PREFACE TO THE REVISED EDITION

ARGUMENT OF THE EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS

THE NEW INTERNATIONAL COMMENTARY

ON THE NEW TESTAMENT

To the Memory

of

NED BERNARD STONEHO USE

ARGUMENT OF THE EPISTLE

TO THE HEBREWS