Hebrews
A long sermon to people tempted to quit, on why Jesus is worth staying for.
Who wrote it: Anonymous. Old guesses include Paul, Barnabas, Apollos, Luke and Priscilla; Origen said only God knows. Probably written before 70 AD, since it speaks of the temple sacrifices as still happening.
What it is
Hebrews does not start like a letter. There is no 'from' or 'to'. It launches straight in: God used to speak through prophets, and now he has spoken through a Son. It reads like a sermon written down, and the author calls it a 'word of exhortation'. The audience seems to be Jewish Christians who had suffered for their faith, seen their property seized, and were now, years later, drifting. Some had stopped meeting. Some were thinking about going back to the synagogue, where things were safer and the rituals were familiar.
The argument is one word repeated: better. Jesus is better than the angels. Better than Moses. A better rest than the promised land. A better high priest than Aaron, in the order of Melchizedek, a mysterious figure from Genesis 14. A better covenant. A better sacrifice, offered once rather than every year, that actually deals with sin instead of reminding you of it. The writer knows the Old Testament inside out and builds every point from it, so this is the book that shows you how the earliest Christians read their Bible.
Woven between the arguments are warnings, and they are severe. Don't drift. Don't harden your heart. If we deliberately keep sinning after knowing the truth, there is no other sacrifice left. These passages have frightened people for centuries, and Christians disagree about whether they describe a real possibility of losing salvation or a warning that keeps true believers from doing so. What is not in doubt is that the writer thought the danger was real enough to warn about.
Then chapter 11, the roll call of faith. Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Sarah, Moses, Rahab, and a list that runs out of time: people who trusted God without seeing what he had promised, some of whom conquered kingdoms and some of whom were sawn in two. Chapter 12 turns to the reader: you are surrounded by all of them, so throw off what weighs you down and run, looking at Jesus. Discipline is hard but it means you are a son. The book ends with a run of practical instructions, one of the most beautiful blessings in the Bible, and the line that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever.
Verses worth keeping
1God, having in the past spoken to the fathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, 2has at the end of these days spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, through whom also he made the worlds.
Gen Zsame meaning, your wordsLong ago God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets, in many pieces and in many ways. But in these last days he has spoken to us through his Son, whom he made heir of everything, and through whom he made the universe.
The opening. The whole book's claim is that the Son is not one more messenger. He is the message.
15For we don’t have a high priest who can’t be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, but one who has been in all points tempted like we are, yet without sin. 16Let’s therefore draw near with boldness to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and may find grace for help in time of need.
Gen Zsame meaning, your wordsWe don't have a high priest who can't feel what our weakness is like. We have one who was tested in every way we are, and never sinned. So let's come right up to the throne of grace with confidence, so that we can receive mercy and find grace to help exactly when we need it.
'Tempted in all points like we are' is the claim. He knows what it is like from the inside.
24Let’s consider how to provoke one another to love and good works, 25not forsaking our own assembling together, as the custom of some is, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.
Gen Zsame meaning, your wordsLet's think about how to spur each other on to love and doing good. Don't give up meeting together, the way some people have got into the habit of doing. Encourage each other instead, and all the more as you see the Day getting closer.
Some of the original readers had already stopped showing up. This is why the writer cared.
1Therefore let’s also, seeing we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, lay aside every weight and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let’s run with perseverance the race that is set before us, 2looking to Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising its shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
Gen Zsame meaning, your wordsSo, since we've got such a huge crowd of witnesses all around us, let's throw off everything that weighs us down and the sin that tangles us up so easily, and run the race in front of us with endurance, eyes fixed on Jesus, the one who started our faith and brings it to the finish. For the joy waiting for him he endured the cross, shrugged off its shame, and has sat down at the right hand of God's throne.
The witnesses are chapter 11's list. The point is not that they are watching you. It is that they made it.
- Gen Zsame meaning, your words
Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.
Said to people whose leaders had died and whose circumstances kept changing. One thing hadn't.
Read Hebrews
The full text, every chapter, from the World English Bible, a modern public-domain translation. Pick a chapter below. The highlighted verses are the place to start if you have never read it.
Hebrews 11
1Now faith is assurance of things hoped for, proof of things not seen. 2For by this, the elders obtained approval. 3By faith we understand that the universe has been framed by the word of God, so that what is seen has not been made out of things which are visible.
4By faith Abel offered to God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, through which he had testimony given to him that he was righteous, God testifying with respect to his gifts; and through it he, being dead, still speaks.
5By faith Enoch was taken away, so that he wouldn’t see death, and he was not found, because God translated him. For he has had testimony given to him that before his translation he had been well pleasing to God. 6Without faith it is impossible to be well pleasing to him, for he who comes to God must believe that he exists, and that he is a rewarder of those who seek him.
7By faith Noah, being warned about things not yet seen, moved with godly fear, prepared a ship for the saving of his house, through which he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness which is according to faith.
8By faith Abraham, when he was called, obeyed to go out to the place which he was to receive for an inheritance. He went out, not knowing where he went. 9By faith he lived as an alien in the land of promise, as in a land not his own, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise. 10For he was looking for the city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God.
11By faith even Sarah herself received power to conceive, and she bore a child when she was past age, since she counted him faithful who had promised. 12Therefore as many as the stars of the sky in multitude, and as innumerable as the sand which is by the sea shore, were fathered by one man, and him as good as dead.
13These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them and embraced them from afar, and having confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. 14For those who say such things make it clear that they are seeking a country of their own. 15If indeed they had been thinking of that country from which they went out, they would have had enough time to return. 16But now they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed of them, to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.
17By faith, Abraham, being tested, offered up Isaac. Yes, he who had gladly received the promises was offering up his only born son, 18to whom it was said, “Your offspring will be accounted as from Isaac,” 19concluding that God is able to raise up even from the dead. Figuratively speaking, he also did receive him back from the dead.
20By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau, even concerning things to come.
21By faith Jacob, when he was dying, blessed each of the sons of Joseph, and worshiped, leaning on the top of his staff.
22By faith Joseph, when his end was near, made mention of the departure of the children of Israel, and gave instructions concerning his bones.
23By faith Moses, when he was born, was hidden for three months by his parents, because they saw that he was a beautiful child; and they were not afraid of the king’s commandment.
24By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, 25choosing rather to share ill treatment with God’s people than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a time, 26considering the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt; for he looked to the reward. 27By faith he left Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king; for he endured, as seeing him who is invisible. 28By faith he kept the Passover and the sprinkling of the blood, that the destroyer of the firstborn should not touch them.
29By faith they passed through the Red Sea as on dry land. When the Egyptians tried to do so, they were swallowed up.
30By faith the walls of Jericho fell down after they had been encircled for seven days.
31By faith Rahab the prostitute didn’t perish with those who were disobedient, having received the spies in peace.
32What more shall I say? For the time would fail me if I told of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel, and the prophets— 33who through faith subdued kingdoms, worked out righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, 34quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, from weakness were made strong, grew mighty in war, and caused foreign armies to flee. 35Women received their dead by resurrection. Others were tortured, not accepting their deliverance, that they might obtain a better resurrection. 36Others were tried by mocking and scourging, yes, moreover by bonds and imprisonment. 37They were stoned. They were sawn apart. They were tempted. They were slain with the sword. They went around in sheep skins and in goat skins; being destitute, afflicted, ill-treated— 38of whom the world was not worthy—wandering in deserts, mountains, caves, and the holes of the earth.
39These all, having been commended for their faith, didn’t receive the promise, 40God having provided some better thing concerning us, so that apart from us they should not be made perfect.
Questions about Hebrews
Who wrote Hebrews?
Nobody knows. The book is anonymous, and the Greek is the most polished in the New Testament, unlike Paul's. Older Bibles put Paul's name on it; almost no scholar today thinks he wrote it. Apollos, the eloquent Alexandrian from Acts 18, is a popular guess. Priscilla has been suggested, partly to explain why the name was dropped. Origen in the third century said the truth is known to God alone, and nothing has changed since.
Does Hebrews 6 say you can lose your salvation?
Hebrews 6:4-6 says it is impossible to restore to repentance those who were once enlightened and then fell away. Some Christians read this as a real warning that faith can be abandoned. Others read it as hypothetical, or as describing people who were never truly converted, and point to the writer's own confidence in 6:9 that the readers are not in that category. This is one of the oldest disagreements in the church. Both sides agree the passage is there to stop you drifting, not to make you despair.
Who is Melchizedek and why does he matter?
A priest-king who blesses Abraham in Genesis 14 and is mentioned once more in Psalm 110. Hebrews notices that he has no recorded genealogy, that Abraham paid him a tithe, and that the psalm promises a priest 'in the order of Melchizedek' who is not from the priestly tribe. The writer uses him to argue that Jesus can be a high priest without being a descendant of Aaron. It is a clever piece of first-century Bible reading and it takes chapter 7 to work through.
Why is Hebrews so hard to read?
Because it assumes you know Leviticus. The tabernacle, the day of atonement, the high priest going behind the curtain once a year with blood: the writer is explaining what all of that was pointing at. If you have never read the Old Testament, read Leviticus 16 first and Hebrews 9 and 10 will suddenly make sense.