What Is Distinct about the Theology of Hebrews?
This article is part of the Distinctive Theology series.
The Only Mediator
The theology of the book of Hebrews is distinct in that it draws together so many of the greatest truths revealed in God’s word to address the deepest of human needs. Hebrews introduces us to the only mediator who can reconcile sinful human beings to the infinitely holy God. Specifically, Hebrews displays the superiority of Jesus’s priestly ministry and his once-for-all sacrifice of himself, which cleanses our consciences and opens access to the presence of God. Hebrews orients us to the flow of God’s agenda for history, alerting us to how his covenantal bond with his people structures the outworking of his redemptive plan. As Hebrews unveils the connection between redemptive accomplishment and revelatory completion, this book shows us how to interpret the Old Testament as believers living in “these last days” in which God has spoken, climactically, in his Son. To Christians experiencing misgivings in the face of social rejection, financial loss, and physical threat, Hebrews offers the remedy of robust theology, calling them to “consider Jesus, the apostle and high priest of our confession” (Heb. 3:1) and to look to Jesus, “the founder and perfecter of faith” (Heb. 12:2).
Perfect Priest for Weary Pilgrims
Dennis E. Johnson, Thomas R. Schreiner, Brian S. Rosner
Drawing on the dominant biblical-theological themes of Hebrews, this addition to the New Testament Theology series explores how Jesus fulfills perfect priesthood as he calls believers to hold fast to him amid persecution.
The Letter That Is a Sermon
In our New Testament, Hebrews is grouped among other “general epistles” (James, 1 and 2 Peter, 1–3 John, and Jude). In fact, it is neither “general” nor, precisely, an “epistle.” It is addressed to a specific congregation whose history and present situation the author knows well and to whom he hopes to return (Heb. 6:9–12; 10:32–36; 13:23). Unlike an epistle, it opens not with the names of author and audience nor with preliminary blessing and prayer but with an elegant prologue that draws us into the theme: the superiority of the Son in whom God has spoken in “these last days” (Heb. 1:1–4). (Admittedly, Hebrews concludes as apostolic epistles often do, with assorted exhortations, prayer requests, travel plans, and benedictions [Heb. 13].)
The author calls Hebrews a “word of exhortation” (Heb. 13:22)—the term used by a synagogue leader when, after Scriptures were read, he invited Paul to present a discourse (a sermon) (Acts 13:15). Paul’s “word of exhortation” explained Old Testament texts and issued an exhortation to trust in Jesus (Acts 13:15–40). Although Acts includes digests of the apostles’ evangelistic sermons to the unbelieving audiences, Hebrews is the only post-Pentecost sermon to a Christian congregation in the New Testament.
Consistent with its character as “exhortation,” Hebrews interweaves indicative and imperative throughout. Repeatedly, robust doctrinal truth issues in heart-searching application: Since the Son is better than angels (Heb. 1:4–14), we must pay attention to the message of salvation spoken in the Son, which is even greater than the law spoken through angels (Heb. 2:1–4). Since the Son is better than Moses (Heb. 3:1–6), we must hear and heed his voice (Heb. 3:7–4:13). Since Jesus’s priesthood is superior to Aaron’s (Heb. 7) and his sacrifice cleanses more thoroughly and permanently than animals’ blood (Heb. 9:13–10:18), we must draw near to God’s throne of grace in confidence and reverent worship (Heb. 4:14–16; 10:19–39). Paul’s epistles typically “frontload” doctrinal instruction (for example, Rom. 1–11, Eph. 1–3), after which he draws ethical implications from gospel truths (Rom. 12–15, Eph. 4–6). Hebrews, one the other hand, applies each aspect of Jesus’s superiority—in revelation, in reconciliation, as the champion who leads us into God’s rest—with step-by-step in exhortations, all along the way.
The God Who Spoke Still Speaks
Hebrews is brim-full of quotations from the ancient Scriptures that God gave to Israel “long ago” (Heb. 1:1). These citations are typically introduced not with the formula “it is written” that we find elsewhere in the New Testament, but rather with present-tense verbs of speaking: “the Holy Spirit says, ‘Today if you hear his voice . . . ’” (Heb. 3:7); “He finds fault with them when he says, ‘Behold the days are coming . . . . ’” (Heb. 8:5); “the Holy Spirit also bears witness to us . . . . ” (Heb. 10:11).
Hebrews discloses the forward-looking perspective of the Old Testament scriptures. Moses’s ministry as a servant in God’s house was “to testify to things that were to be spoken later” (Heb. 3:5-6; see Luke 24:25–27; John 5:45–47). The law’s animal sacrifices were merely “a shadow of the good things to come,” the conscience-purifying blood and body of Jesus (Heb. 10:1; 9:10–14). Because Israel violated the covenant that Moses mediated, God promised a new covenant (Jer. 31:31–34), mediated and guaranteed by Jesus, to replace the old and obsolete Sinai covenant (Heb. 8:8–13). Hebrews shows us how to recognize the ancient prophets’ testimony to the Son.
Our Divine and Human Champion
In concert with the rest of the New Testament, the Christology of Hebrews asserts Jesus’s full deity and his full humanity. Moreover, Hebrews shows why only this unique divine-and-human mediator could reconcile us to God. Like Paul (Rom. 9:5; Phil. 2:6; Col. 1:15–17), John (John 1:1-3, 14), and Jesus’s own self-testimony (John 8:58; 10:30; 14:9–10), Hebrews affirms that the Son is the radiance of God’s glory, the divine agent of creation, and the sustainer of his universe (Heb. 1:2–3). Although the earth and heavens change, the Son, their Creator, remains immutably “the same” (Heb. 1:10–12). By virtue of his “indestructible life,” he “holds his priesthood permanently” and saves “to the uttermost . . . since he always lives to make intercession” for us (Heb. 7:16–17, 24–25).
Jesus offered his body and blood once-for-all, the sacrifice that needs no repetition . . .
Like Paul (Gal. 4:4; Phil. 2:6–8; Rom. 1:2; 9:5) and the Gospels (Matt. 1; Luke 1–2), Hebrews attests that for our salvation the Son has partaken of our human “flesh and blood,” being “made like his brothers in every respect” (except our sin) and experiencing suffering and temptation as we do (Heb. 2:14–18; 4:14–15). Jesus’s tearful pleas for deliverance from death were answered in his resurrection and ascension, whereby he “became the source of eternal salvation” (Heb. 5:7–10; Mark 14:32–36). He identifies with us, calling us “brothers,” and intercedes as our merciful and sympathetic priest (Heb. 2:12, 17; Heb. 4:15).
The Perfect Priest Who Perfects His People
The heart of this sermon elaborates Jesus’s priestly ministry—his credentials, sanctuary, sacrifice, and the new covenant he guarantees—in a depth unparalleled in the rest of God’s word (Heb. 4:14–10:25). Jesus, like Aaron, has been chosen by God (Heb. 5:1–6); but Jesus’s appointment is by divine oath, not mere ancestry (Heb. 7:11–22). Jesus now ministers in “the true tent that the Lord set up, not man,” “heaven itself,” the eternal archetype of the mutable earthly sanctuary in which Aaronic priests served (Heb. 8:2–5; Heb. 9:11, 24). Jesus offered his body and blood once for all, the sacrifice that needs no repetition (unlike bulls and goats slain by Aaronic priests) because it cleanses and perfects worshippers’ consciences forever (Heb. 9:11–14, 25–28; Heb. 10:1–14). By his all-sufficient sacrifice and ceaseless intercession, Jesus not only mediates the new covenant but also guarantees its blessings for those who approach God through him (Heb. 7:22; 8:6; 9:15; 10:15–18; 12:24). Both Jesus and Paul reveal the significance of the new covenant promise of Jeremiah 31 (Luke 22:20; 2 Cor. 3; Gal. 3–4 ). But it is Hebrews that gives us the fullest understanding of the covenantal structure of God’s plan of redemption and revelation (Heb. 8:4–10:18).
By making its case for the superiority of Jesus’s priestly ministry to every aspect of the old covenant’s provision for reconciliation with God and access to God, Hebrews provides the Bible’s fullest explanation of the significance of the Law’s instructions for the tabernacle’s design and rituals (Ex. 25–31; 35–40; Lev. 1–9; 16–17; 21–25; Num. 2–10; 15–19; 28–29; Deut. 12; 14–18). Hebrews navigates the Law’s puzzling complexities for us, leading us to their fulfillment in Jesus.
Our Pilgrimage from Slavery to Homeland
While Hebrews urges us to fix our hearts and hopes on Jesus, who sits at God’s right hand in heaven (Heb. 12:1–2), our preacher is vividly aware of the faith-threatening challenges that confront his hearers on this sin-sick earth. The original congregation had endured the loss of social acceptance, property, physical safety, and freedom (Heb. 10:32–34; 13:3, 11–14). In the face of ongoing pressure to return to tangible and familiar old covenant rites, they needed encouragement to endure in their trust in Christ (Heb. 10:35–12:13). The trials of Israel in the wilderness, between exodus from slavery and entrance into God’s rest, soberly foreshadowed the trajectory of the new covenant church from slavery to sin and our final entrance into God’s rest (Heb. 3–4).
Our destiny is a heavenly homeland, an abiding city “whose designer and maker is God” (Heb. 11:10, 16; Heb. 13:14). But at present we are pilgrims in the wilderness, summoned to endure by the example and testimony of ancient people of faith who lived and suffered in hope, trusting God’s promises about things not yet seen (Heb. 11). By focusing on their faith, Hebrews provides the lens through which we should view—and learn from—OT historical narratives and the checkered characters they describe.
Dennis E. Johnson is the author of Perfect Priest for Weary Pilgrims: A Theology of Hebrews.
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