We don’t know who wrote it and don’t know who it was written to! Helen Miller explains how, despite this ignorance, we can still preach from this amazing book.
‘ In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son’ (Hebrews 1:1a). The Book of Hebrews is about Jesus. This is not a new insight, I realise. We could say the same of the whole New Testament. Indeed, according to Jesus, the Old Testament is about him too (Luke 24:27). Why start this article with such an obvious claim? For two reasons. First, Hebrews looks at Jesus from unique angles, illuminating aspects of Jesus’ work that are less evident elsewhere in the New Testament (particularly Jesus’ role as heavenly high priest). Secondly, in preaching, it is easy to become so focused on details within a text, or a pragmatic concern to engage and inform our listeners, that we lose sight of the central point. Hebrews’ focus is evident from the start: the centrality of Jesus in God’s redemptive plan.
In Hebrews, Jesus’ centrality is addressed from several angles. Jesus is the ultimate sacrifice and the heavenly high priest. He is fully God and fully man. He is the object of our faith and the model – the one in whom we put our faith and the one who perfectly exhibits faith. He illuminates the Old Testament and the Old Testament illuminates him. He is better than the angels, better than Moses and better than Melchizedek. He enables forgiveness, transformation and hope. He is judge and Saviour.
Given the depth and richness of Hebrews’ presentation of Jesus, we might wonder why we have not preached from Hebrews, or heard it preached, more often. Hebrews is not without its challenges, which may help to explain this. I’ll outline four challenges and then make two suggestions to help us expound Hebrews to others.
We don’t know who wrote it
There is an early, but not uniform, tradition that Paul wrote Hebrews. The theology aligns closely with his, and the reference to Timothy (13:23) sounds like Paul. However, there are problems with this view. Paul signs off his other letters. Why wouldn’t he indicate his authorship of Hebrews? Moreover, 2:3 suggests that Hebrews’ author heard the gospel via eyewitnesses of Jesus. In contrast, Paul’s faith resulted from an encounter with Jesus himself (for example, Galatians 1:12).
