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The Book of Hebrews Paul's
Two-Fold Ministry God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son.—Hebrews 1:1,2 Tom Gilbert When we consider the ministry of the apostle Paul, we most often think of his special role as the apostle to the Gentiles. Indeed, God gave him that special designation. After arriving in Damascus, blind from his encounter with the glorified Lord Jesus on his way, Paul was visited by a disciple named Ananias, sent by God. Knowing Paul’s reputation as a persecutor of early Christians, Ananias expressed reservation about visiting Paul: “But the Lord said to Ananias, ‘Go! This man is my chosen instrument to carry my name before the Gentiles and their kings” (Acts 9:15).{FOOTNOTE: All Scripture citations are from the New International Version unless otherwise noted.} However, we might perhaps overlook the concluding phrase, “And before the people of Israel.” Paul was to minister to the Jews as well as the Gentiles. Paul understood the primacy of his ministry to the Jews, as confirmed in the events of the visit of himself and Barnabas to Antioch in Pisidia, recorded in Acts chapter 13. The record states that Paul and Barnabas went to the local synagogue on the Sabbath day. After the reading of the law and the prophets, the rulers of the synagogue invited the visitors to address the congregation if they so wished. Paul took advantage of the offer and stood up to speak. Evidently there were non-Jews in the audience, for he began by saying, “Men of Israel and you Gentiles who worship God, listen to me!” (Acts 13:16). The discourse that he gave is well-known to students of Bible chronology because in it he states that the length of the period of the Judges was 450 years. Notice, however, that Paul and Barnabas went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day—they went to the place where the Jews would be gathering in order to find an opportunity to preach the gospel to them. After Paul was finished and the service was over, the Bible says that as the people were leaving they asked Paul to speak further about these things the following Sabbath. Some of the Jews and Gentile converts to Judaism also followed along with Paul and Barnabas, discussing these matters further. Paul and Barnabas “urged them to continue in the grace of God” (Acts 13:43). The record of what transpired the following Sabbath is almost incredible: “On the next Sabbath almost the whole city gathered to hear the word of the Lord” (Acts 13:44). But the Jews were jealous and envious when they saw the multitudes of Gentiles coming to hear Paul. The Scriptures say that they “talked abusively against what Paul was saying. Then Paul and Barnabas answered them boldly: We had to speak the word of God to you first. Since you reject it and do not consider yourselves worthy of eternal life, we now turn to the Gentiles. For this is what the Lord has commanded us: I have made you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth” (Acts 13:45-47). From Paul himself we hear that he understood the first objective of his ministry was to bring the word of God to the Jews. The Gospel of Grace The Jews’ jealousy and envy stemmed from the Jewish perspective that Gentile converts to the Christian faith must first embrace the Jewish traditions and laws before going on to a relationship with God. Paul’s message, however, did not place that obstacle in the way of a Gentile who felt called into a relationship with Jehovah God and his son, Jesus Christ. Thus, many Jews stumbled over “the gospel of God’s grace” through Christ (Acts 20:24). This was a matter that the apostle Paul had to repeatedly address, and he spoke boldly about it. His letter to the Galatians pointedly addresses this issue. In the beginning of the letter he lays out his concern: “I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel—which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ” (Galatians 1:6,7). He made his point clearly later on in the letter: “I refuse to reject the grace of God. But if a person is put right with God through the Law, it means that Christ died for nothing! You foolish Galatians! Who put a spell on you? Before your very eyes you had a clear description of the death of Jesus Christ on the cross! Tell me this one thing: did you receive God’s Spirit by doing what the Law requires or by hearing the gospel and believing it? How can you be so foolish! You began by God’s Spirit; do you now want to finish by your own power? Did all your experience mean nothing at all? Surely it meant something! Does God give you the Spirit and work miracles among you because you do what the Law requires or because you hear the gospel and believe it?” (Galatians 2:21 to 3:5, TEV). Paul was concerned about this problem in the early Church. He was equally concerned about his fellow Jews who had embraced the Christian message, but whose new-found faith was constantly being challenged by their families as well as religious leaders in their communities. The questions and challenges directed at Jewish converts by their brethren were not frivolous—they were weighty matters. Those of us who have stepped away from some of the religious beliefs in which we were raised can perhaps most keenly appreciate the experiences of early Jewish Christians and the challenging nature of the questions and ridicule that came to their ears: w We are God’s chosen people. We have Abraham as the father of our nation. God spoke to him and promised to make a great nation from him. What lineage does your faith have and what promises do you have on which to base your future hopes? w We have a covenant relationship with God, mediated by his chosen prophet Moses. God gave us laws and ordinances through him. What special relationship do you have with God and who has mediated that for you? Who gave you the teachings you now obey? A carpenter? A crucified criminal? A fisherman? w We have the testimony of the Law and the prophets to guide us. What authorities do you have for what you claim to believe? w The Law was given through the agency of angels and accompanied with marvelous displays of God’s power. Have angels played a role in your faith to validate that it is from God? What supernatural events that all could see has God used to manifest his stamp of approval on your system of beliefs? w We have a magnificent temple designed by God himself and served by a priesthood instituted by God. Where are your temple and your priesthood? w We have services and sacrifices ordained by God, especially those on the Day of Atonement, that cleanse us from sin. You have no special services. How are you cleansed from your sins? w On the Day of Atonement, our high priest goes into the Most Holy where the very presence of God is manifested. Do you have the presence of God manifested somewhere, and who do you have that can intercede with God on your behalf? w Above all else, the future kingdom of God was promised to the Jewish nation and its capital will be Jerusalem. Why would you disassociate yourselves from this great privilege and honor? Epistle to the Hebrews Apparently, these types of challenges were swaying some of the Jewish Christians, causing them to abandon their new faith in Christ, so the apostle Paul wrote an open letter to the Hebrew Christians to answer these challenges and strengthen them in the faith. Paul wrote this letter to firmly establish from the Old Testament records and prophecies that there was to be a change of laws and covenants, that a new age of grace, not of works, had been ushered in. He understood clearly that a new age had dawned, allowing new dimensions in an individual’s relationship with Jehovah. Paul did not deny any of the special privileges and relationships the Jewish nation had with God. He affirmed those realities: “I ask, then: Did God reject his own people? Certainly not! … God has not rejected his people, whom he chose from the beginning. … For God does not change his mind about whom he chooses and blesses” (Romans 11:1,2,29, TEV). In his letter to the Hebrew Christians, Paul shows how every feature of the Christian faith had its foundation in the Jewish faith. But, more importantly, he also explains that the Christian faith represents the fulfillment of everything to which the Jewish faith was pointing. He argues that the mature, perfect relationship with God and cleansing from sin are to be found through belief in Christ and his sacrifice. Thus, the Christian faith was superior in every way to the Jewish faith and traditions. He hoped to persuade wavering Jewish Christians to remain steadfast in their new-found faith, and not turn back again to the traditions and practices of Judaism. It is a profitable study to consider the lines of reasoning in Paul’s letter. Not only does this letter historically present his ministry to Jewish converts, it has helped the church down through the Gospel age understand its Jewish roots and decipher the lessons contained in God’s dealings with that people. Superior to Prophets and Angels In the first two verses of Hebrews, Paul tells his readers (us) that Christ is superior to the prophets God used to convey his messages to the Jewish people. Not only is Jesus a spokesman or prophet conveying God’s message, he is God’s son. Even more, he has been appointed by God as the heir of all things—the heir of the promises to the seed of Abraham. He is the only prophet whom God has thus appointed. The remainder of chapter 1 and all of chapter 2 are devoted to the argument that Jesus was superior to the angels of God. The Jews had a high regard for angels and the role they played as God’s agents in their national heritage. They believed angels were the agents by which God delivered the law to Moses. Scripturally, that is clearly the case. Thus, it was important for Paul to demonstrate that Jesus is superior to them. He asks which of the angels did God call his “son” (1:5). He asks who the psalmist speaks of when he states: “Let all God’s angels worship him” (1:6, NIV). Paul seems at no great pains to prove that these clearly refer to Messiah. Thus, it must be presumed that he was using and applying Old Testament passages as they were commonly understood by the people. In verses 7 to 9 he contrasts the role of angels as servants of God (an inferior role) with the future kingly (superior) role of Messiah, one who has been anointed to a place higher than his fellow spirit beings. In verse 13, Paul asks which of the angels did God invite to sit at his right hand? No one other than Messiah. Jesus applied this verse (Psalm 110:1) to himself (Matthew 22:43,44). The apostle Peter also applied it to Jesus (Acts 2:34-36). Paul concludes his line of reasoning in Hebrews 2:1-4, saying that if now God is communicating his will through his own son, then we should give more attention to what the son has said than we give to the law delivered to the nation (through Moses) by angels. Then he answers an obvious objection—that Jesus walked here on earth as a mere man, clearly of a lower nature than angels. Paul explains that Jesus for a time did have a lower nature, but he willingly took on this lower nature to carry out two important purposes in God’s plan. Jesus needed to come down to earth as a man so that he could “taste death for every man” (2:9), and so that he could have experiences like the world of mankind and like those whom he would call to be his followers—his “brethren” (2:17,18). Superior to Moses and Joshua
In the first six verses of chapter 3, Paul demonstrates that Jesus is superior
to Moses, inasmuch as a son has a higher position than a servant in any
household. He says (3:5,6,
KJV): “Moses verily was faithful in all his
[God’s] house, as a servant … But Christ [was faithful] as a son over his From 3:7 to 4:14 Paul explains that those who had left Egypt could not enter the promised land. Because of their unbelief and lack of trust in him, God turned them back to wander forty years in the wilderness where they all died. Consequently, they did not enter into the “rest” that God had planned for them. Paul then cites David’s statement in Psalm 95:7-11 that clearly implies that there remains a rest for the people of God. Paul says that the word, “Today … applies to us” (3:13, TEV)—we who are the followers of Christ. If Christ is yet able to bring us into that rest prepared by God, then Christ is superior to Joshua. What is that rest for the people of God? Its ultimate, primary meaning is the heavenly rest of being joint-heirs with our Redeemer, having the divine nature. However, there is a present fulfillment for the followers of Christ also. It is the rest of faith in Christ, the rest of heart and mind, the peace of God which passes all understanding (Philippians 4:7). A Superior High Priest Paul answers the challenge of who is our High Priest beginning in 4:14. He again cites Psalm 110, as he did in chapter 1, a passage all would agree applies to Messiah. Verse 4 reads, “You are a priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek.” He asks the logical question (7:11), “If perfection could have been attained through the Levitical priesthood (for on the basis of it the law was given to the people), why was there still need for another priest to come—one in the order of Melchizedek, not in the order of Aaron?” He then says that since a priest has arisen after the order of Melchizedek, then there has been a change in the priesthood of God, and consequently a change of law. He points out another reason that Christ is superior to the Levitical priesthood—Christ will continue as the high priest forever because of his endless life, whereas those who served in the Levitical priesthood were prevented from doing so by their mortality—they died. Therefore, Christ as high priest always lives to intercede on behalf of those who come to God through him (7:25). Paul says (7:19) that the Law could not make anything perfect, but now “a better hope is introduced” through Christ. Jesus became a priest by an oath sworn by God (7:21). “Because of this oath, Jesus has become the guarantee of a better covenant” (7:22, NIV). As another line of reasoning that Christ is superior to Aaron and the Levitical priesthood, he explains that Abraham paid a tenth of all his spoils to Melchizedek after rescuing his nephew, Lot, and defeating the kings who had taken him captive (Genesis 14:20). Paul reasons that if Abraham paid tithes to Melchizedek, then Melchizedek is greater than Aaron, the high priest, and the Levitical priesthood that arose from Abraham’s lineage. Melchizedek also blessed Abraham on that occasion, and Paul appropriately reasons that the one who blesses is greater than the one who is blessed. Therefore, he concludes, Jesus the Messiah, who is a high priest of the Melchizedek order, is superior to Aaron and the Levitical priesthood. In chapter 8, Paul says that Jesus serves as the high priest of the true, heavenly tabernacle built by God, not by man. The tabernacle built by Moses was “a copy and shadow of what is in heaven” (8:5). Then, in a sweeping statement of the superiority of the Christian faith, Paul says: “But the ministry Jesus has received is as superior to theirs as the covenant of which he is mediator is superior to the old one, and it is founded on better promises” (8:6). Better ministry, better covenant, better promises. He argues that the promise by God of a new covenant proves that the first was flawed: “For if there had been nothing wrong with that first covenant, no place would have been sought for another. But God found fault with the people and said: The time is coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah” (Hebrews 8:7,8; cf., Jeremiah 31:31). A Superior Tabernacle
In chapters 9 and 10 Paul continues his comparison of the true tabernacle—the
one in heaven that is not man-made—with the one built in the wilderness under
the direction of Moses. He proceeds to compare the sacrifices offered in each.
He explains that the high priest of the man-made tabernacle went into the Most
Holy once each year with the blood of a young bull to atone for the sins of
himself and the people, and consequently the Israelites were outwardly clean.
But, he says, the sacrificial blood of bulls and goats could not actually
cleanse or perfect the heart or conscience. In contrast to this, Jesus as our
high priest has entered the heavenly tabernacle with his own sacrificial blood
and appeared before God himself to atone for the sins of the people (the world)
and obtain eternal redemption. Jesus has done this once, and it is effective for
all people and all time, never needing to be repeated. His sacrifice actually
cleanses the heart and conscience. Paul says that Christ has provided a better
sacrifice, and consequently he has become the mediator of a new, better
covenant. The Conclusion Paul reaches the conclusion of his comparisons in chapter 10 and gives this encouragement to his readers in verses 19 to 25: “Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.” In this letter to the Hebrew Christians, the apostle Paul faithfully carried out his ministry to the Jew first, but in doing so he has performed an invaluable ministry to all Gentile Christians down through the Gospel age. By explaining and comparing the arrangements God made for his chosen people, Israel, with those that he established through the ministry and sacrificial death of his son, the apostle has enabled us to see and understand the purpose of the former and their link with the latter. Consequently, we are able to see the full, integrated scope of God’s dealings with mankind down through the ages. How grateful we are to the apostle Paul for this important lesson and the faithful way he carried out his two-fold ministry! |