![]() We know from chapter 10 (verses 32-34) that persecution was a problem for the recipients of this letter. ![]() All sorts of pressure would have been put on them to try and make them go back to where they had been before, to abandon this new-found movement with its strange claims and to take up again a position of living under God's law, the law given through Moses. Lots of their family members and friends and neighbors had not accepted Jesus as the long-awaited Messiah, and they regarded them as dangerous, misguided and disloyal to all that God had said earlier on. For many Jewish Christians things were not easy. This letter seems to be written not in the very earliest period of the church, but perhaps some time between A.D. Saying "Italy" instead of "Rome" may well be a note of caution, so as not to put Christians there in jeopardy should the letter fall into the wrong hands. The mention of those from Italy in 13:24 doesn't necessarily mean that the writer was in Italy at the time it might easily indicate that there was a small community, wherever he was, who had come from Italy-consisting perhaps of those, like the people mentioned in Ac 18:2, who had been expelled from Rome by Claudius. The sudden mention of Timothy in 13:23, and of his being released, links this letter to Paul's world, but frustratingly doesn't help us get much further with identifying its writer or place of origin. Maybe he is simply engaged in difficult work which prevents him from coming to them at the moment. Verse 19, which sounds similar to what Paul says in Phlm 22, may indicate that the writer is in prison, though nothing elsewhere in the letter leads us to suspect that. ![]() In the very last chapter, Heb 13, we have small indications of the situation of the writer and the readers. We don't know who wrote the letter of Hebrews, but we do know it was written to Jewish Christians (who of course formed the nucleus of the earliest church). Hebrews is written to urge its readers to not go back to their old ways. They could move on from the earlier stages of God's purpose and gladly live out the new one which had dawned. The wrapping of the old covenant and its sacrificial system had come off the present and the present was Jesus himself, God's own, unique son, sent to fulfill everything the law and the prophets had spoken of. The writer of the letter of Hebrews is anxious that the people it is written to should not make that same mistake. Many small children are so excited by the wrapping and the beautiful boxes that they almost ignore the present itself. Half the fun of Christmas morning, especially for young children, is the exciting packages in glittering wrapping, with ribbons and bows, all telling you something about how wonderful the present itself will be. Designed specifically for lay people to facilitate contemporary application of Scripture.Features the popular inductive Bible study method with notes and comments from a world-renowned New Testament scholar.Includes suggestions for individual and group study (with leader's guide). ![]() This volume also available as part of a money-saving bundle. In these studies, we find encouragement and assurance that pressing on, even in the face of such close and constant pressure to fall back, is its own reward. The letter to the Hebrews was written to show that you can't go back to an earlier stage of God's purposes but must press on eagerly to the one that is yet to come. Having accepted Jesus as the long-awaited Messiah, they were regarded by still-skeptical family, friends and neighbors as dangerous, misguided and even disloyal to all that God had said earlier on. For many Jewish Christians of the first century, living in the light of the gospel was challenging.
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