Other Epistles of the New Testament: Hebrews

Many scholars have written fine commentaries on Hebrews,and Mitchell stands on their shoulders,noting where he proposes alternate interpretations.Mitchell pays particular attention to the reliance of the author of Hebrews on the Greek Old Testament(the Septuagint).He also compares the language of Hebrews with similar usage and ideas of first-century Hellenistic Jewish authors,notably Flavius Josephus and Philo of Alexandria.Furthermore,he situates Hebrews against the background of the tradition of Hellenistic moral philosophy, where that is appropriate.Mitchell thus locates Hebrews in its proper thought world,something that is essential for the modern reader in dealing with some of the thornier questions raised by this Biblical book.Chief among these are the role of sacrificial atonement,the question of "second repentance",and the spiritual and moral formation of the Roman Christians who were its recipients.

Any reader who has been frustrated with a Bible commenatry which ignores the knotty problems in the text will be delighted to discover the thorough and responsible way this work deals with every phrase of every verse.Careful students will appreciate Dr.Lane's ability to shine light on difficult passages by identifying in their words the echoes of Judaic thought and language from the years just before Jesus birth,or by calling attention to subtle shifts in syntax and vocabulary from the Old Testament times to the days of the early church when Hebrews was written.

Dr. F.F.Bruce has constructed his commenatry from a careful and thorough examination of the original Greek text,and has made every effort to ensure that the exegesis reflects not only the best readings of the text,but also the great advances in the understanding of the language which have resulted from the discovery and study of contemporary non-literary evidence.

Luke Timothy Johnson's Hebrews:A Commentary in the New Testament Library offers a thorough and careful commentary on the complicated book of Hebrews,showing its meaning within the context of ancient culture and the theological development of the early church .Written by one of the leading New Testament scholars of the present generation,this commenatry offers remarkable insights into this challenging text's Hellenistic,Roman,and Jewish contexts.

Distinctive in form, content and style, the epistle to the Hebrews offers a profound high Christology and makes an awe-inspiring contribution to our understanding of Jesus as our High Priest. The earliest extant commentary on the letter comes to us in thirty-four homilies from John Chrysostom. These homilies serve to anchor the excerpts chosen by the editors of this volume because of their unique place in the history of interpretation. In addition to being the first comprehensive commentary on the letter, they deeply influenced subsequent interpretation in both the East and the West, and their rhetorical eloquence has long been acknowledged. As in other Ancient Christian Commentary volumes, the excerpts chosen range widely over geography and time from Justin Martyr and Clement of Rome in the late first and early second century to The Venerable Bede, Isaac of Nineveh, Photius and John of Damascus in the eighth and ninth centuries. The Alexandrian tradition is well represented in Clement of Alexandria, Origen, Athanasius, Didymus and Cyril of Alexandria, while the Antiochene tradition is represented in Ephrem the Syrian, Theodore of Mopsuestia, Severian of Gabala and Theodoret of Cyr. Italy and North Africa in the West are represented by Ambrose, Cassiodorus and Augustine, while Constantinople, Asia Minor and Jerusalem in the East are represented by the Great Cappadocians--Basil the Great, Gregory of Nazianzus and Gregory of Nyssa--Eusebius, Cyril of Jerusalem and Jerome. Edited by Erik M. Heen and Philip D. W. Krey, this volume offers a rich treasure of ancient wisdom from Hebrews for the enrichment of the church today.

"Reading the Epistle to the Hebrews: A Resource for Students" addresses major issues in the interpretation of this important but complex biblical text and provides an introduction to contemporary scholarship on Hebrews.With contributions from leading scholars on Hebrews and in related fields,this volume reflects the most recent trends in the study of Hebrews and is designed for classroom use by students in both undergraduate and graduate programs.

The New Testament letter to the Hebrews carried much-needed encouragement and advice for Jewish converts to Christianity in the late first century. Composed in an exquisite style, Hebrews urged new Christians to hold fast to their new faith lest they lose their opportunity to witness the long-awaited fulfillment of God's covenant with Israel. The sage and persuasive Christian writer draws analogies between the heroes and drama of Jewish sacred Scriptures and first-century Christian experience. With the rich heritage of Jewish Christians in mind, he implores his readers not to lose faith during trials and tribulations. The unswerving faith of Noah, Abraham, Moses, Joshua, and the prophets serves as an example for them not to forsake God's covenant and incur God's judgment. He praises Jesus as the ultimate, once-and-for-all sacrifice for the sins of the world, the means of a renewed relationship with God.

St.Thomas divides Hebrews into a treatment first of the excellence of Christ and then of faith.In the first place,he demonstrates the excellence of Christ over the angels,over Moses,and over the priests of the Old Testament. Accordingly,more reverence is to be given to the New Testament than the Old,and more obedience to Christ than to the priests of old,or even to Moses.

This volume of the New Testament Library offers a thorough and careful commentary on the complicated book of Hebrews, showing its meaning within the context of ancient culture and the theological development of the early church. Written by one of the leading New Testament scholars of the present generation, this commentary offers remarkable insights into the Hellenistic, Roman, and Jewish contexts of the book of Hebrews.

The epistle to the Hebrews is a sermon of the sort preached in the earliest Christian churches. The preacher is addressing an urgent problem, one that is still common today: the congregation is exhausted; it has gone through great distress; and it is having difficulty holding on to its faith. The people are weary and disheartened. Thomas Long shows how the epistle to the Hebrews combines theological teaching and advice about ethical action to speak to the church today as it confronts and responds to today's challenges.

The Epistle to the Hebrews provides a window into how the larger society applied pressure to early Christians to shame them back into conformity with their neighbors, as well as into one Christian leader's strategies for insulating his readers from those pressures. As such, Hebrews becomes an illuminating text for considering how, in every age, to sustain commitment to the Christian world-view.

The second annual St. Andrews Conference on Scripture and Theology brought leading biblical scholars and systematic theologians together in conversation, seeking to bridge the growing gap between these disciplines. Reflecting the convergence of the Old Testament’s cultic theology, Hellenistic ideas, and early Christian thinking, the epistle to the Hebrews provides a perfect foundation for this fruitful dialogue. The contributors examine a number of key theological themes in the letter to the Hebrews: the person and nature of the Son, his high-priestly work, cosmology, the epistle’s theology of Scripture, supersessionism, the call to faith, and more. Unlike many modern treatments, this substantial volume considers Hebrews in both its ancient context and against our modern backdrop. Edward Adams, Loveday Alexander, Harold W. Attridge, Richard Bauckham, Markus Bockmuehl, Daniel Driver, Douglas Farrow, Trevor Hart, Richard B. Hays, Stephen R. Holmes, Morna D. Hooker, Edison M. Kalengyo, Mariam J. Kamell, Bruce L. McCormack, Nathan MacDonald, I. Howard Marshall, R. Walter L. Moberly, Carl Mosser, Mark D. Nanos, Nehemia Polen, John Polkinghorne, Ken Schenck, Oskar Skarsaune, Daniel J. Treier, John Webster, Ben Witherington III, Terry J. Wright.

Respected New Testament scholar Karen Jobes explores the cultural and theological background of Hebrews and the general epistles (James through Jude) in this rich commentary. Writing from an evangelical perspective, Jobes addresses issues of historical relevance as well as how these ancient books connect with Christian faith and practice today. Letters to the Church includes: historical background for each book focusing on authorship, genre, date, and content; an exploration of the major themes in each book and detailed commentary on key passages; boxes with chapter goals, outlines, challenges, and significant verses; sidebars addressing difficult passages or ideas; maps, photographs, charts, and definitions; questions for discussion, reflection, and testing; a comparison of the teachings about Christ in each of the letters. Pastors, professors, students, and laypeople interested in deeper biblical study will find this an invaluable resource that offers well-researched commentary in an accessible, spiritually meaningful form.

This book seeks a more comprehensive understanding and appreciation for the Letter to the Hebrews by examining it from the viewpoint of its prominent theme of worship. It aims to demonstrate the topic of worship in all of its rich and varied dimensions provides the major concern and thrust that embraces Hebrews from start to finish. The author of Hebrews encourages his audience to hold on to the letter he has written to them as "the word of the encouragement" (Heb 13:22). In a very carefully concerted and masterfully artistic way, the letter persistently encourages the members of its audience with regard to their worship. Indeed, Hebrews was intended to be presented orally in a public performance as a liturgical or homiletic letter, an act of worship in itself, heard by its audience gathered together as a worshiping assembly. Hebrews exhorts the members of its audience not only with regard to their liturgical worship in which they engage during their communal gatherings, but also with regard to their ethical or moral worship in which they engage by the way they conduct themselves outside of their communal gatherings. This close examination of Hebrews through the lens of worship is intended to inform and enrich the worship of Christians today. Hebrews presents important and unique points about worship not found in any other New Testament writing. The goal is to illustrate and illuminate these points for the benefit of those who desire to deepen their worship as Christians by deepening their understanding of the magnificent literary masterpiece that the poetically lively letter to the Hebrews articulates for all Christians.

The book of "Hebrews" has often been the Cinderella of the New Testament, overlooked and marginalized; and yet it is one of the most interesting and theologically significant books in the New Testament. This book examines the theology of the book in the light of its ancient historical context.

This book offers a thesis about the interests underlying the Epistle. Dr Hughes argues that the major concern of the author has been to achieve a theological understanding of the relationship between the now out-moded forms and institutions of Old Testament worship and those of the distinctively new (yet not unrelated) Christian faith in which he now finds himself.

This work is a comprehensive treatment of one of the most intriguing questions of modern New Testament study: what kind of person could have produced the mysterious document known today as the Epistle to the Hebrews? While other studies of Hebrews have tended to focus either on the question of the identity of the writer and of the letter's recipients, or on individual issues such as the writer's view of priesthood, religious pilgrimage or christology, Dr Hurst provides the first work to explore in a comprehensive way the important question of what specifically identifiable milieus might have produced a document which for many people seems something of an alien presence within the New Testament. The book is organised around the widely differing backgrounds of thought which have to be considered - such as Platonism, the beliefs of the Dead Sea Sect and of the early gnostics (as well as those of St Stephen and St Paul) - and it explores in depth the major theological and philosophical problems faced by first-century Christians.

One of the focal issues surrounding contemporary studies of Hebrews concerns the book's elusive structure. This volume presents an examination of previous proposals and a fresh attempt at unlocking Hebrews' organizational principles." "The first part of the volume critically assesses past efforts at outlining Hebrews. Following a history of investigation, the various approaches to the structure of Hebrews are categorized and evaluated for both strengths and weaknesses. Methodologies considered include thematic analysis, literary analysis, rhetorical analysis, and linguistic analysis. Part two of the volume offers a text-linguistic analysis of Hebrews, utilizing both modern linguistic theory and insight into ancient oratorical conventions. This book presents advances in text-linguistic analysis and a compelling proposal concerning the structure of Hebrews.

Examines one theme, 'the Name of Christ' that offers a general and contemporary Christology. This title provides an analysis of the text known as the Epistle to the Hebrews that enables us to conclude without a shadow of a doubt that this is the full text of a splendid Christian preaching.