Posted on 01/15/2019 9:01:47 AM PST by Salvation
The Message of the Letter to the Hebrews
Msgr. Charles Pope • January 14, 2019 •
This week in daily Mass, we are reading from The Letter to the Hebrews, one of the most underappreciated books of the New Testament. It has long been one of my favorites from which to teach; in it we are summoned to faith in Jesus, our Savior and Great High Priest.
The opening lines in the Latin Vulgate are exquisite, particularly to those who can read and recite Latin well.
Multifáriam, multísque modis, olim Deus lóquens pátribus in prophétis. Novíssime, diébus istis locútus est nobis in Fílio. (In many and varied ways, God once spoke to our fathers through the prophets. In these last days, he has spoken to us through the Son.)
Though many doubt that St. Paul wrote Hebrews, I believe he did; it is here that we best see his priestly identity as an apostle, his deep knowledge of the Temple rituals and how they pointed to Christ and are perfected by Him.
The Letter to the Hebrews does not begin with the usual epistolary greetings and salutations, though it does end with them. Throughout, the text “sounds” more like a sermon. The audience of the letter is clearly Jewish Christians; the writer is exhorting them not to fall back on Jewish rituals, which cannot save, but rather to cling ever more closely to Christ, who alone is savior and Lord.
Hebrews was surely written before the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple in 70 A.D. (References to the Temple speak of sacrifices as still going on there.) It occurs to me that the context of Hebrews is that of the years from 65-70 A.D., a time during which wars and rumors of wars were growing. Indeed, the tragic Jewish war began in 66 A.D. The Romans had had more than enough of Jewish Messianism and uprisings. It was a horrible, bloody war that cost the lives of more than one million Jews. During this period, Jewish nationalism was on the rise, likely even among those who had become Christians.
Politics has a strong pull, and it is in this context that the author addresses his audience. In effect, his position is that they should not return to what cannot save merely out of some sense of loyalty to a doomed nation. Jesus had prophesied the tragic destruction of Jerusalem in the Mount Olivet discourse recorded in the Synoptic Gospels (Matthew 24 and 25, Mark 13, and Luke 21). With the war clouds gathering, this was the time to cling to Him ever more!
What follows is a quick summary of the exhortation in the Letter to the Hebrews. (In most cases I have not cited chapter and verse below because I pulled from many parts at once.)
Jesus is Lord: Particularly in the first three chapters of Hebrews, the author reminds his audience of the glory of Christ.
Jesus Christ is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of His nature, upholding all things by His powerful word. Having provided purification for sins, He now sits at the right hand of the Majesty on high. Christ is far superior to the angels, as the name He has inherited is excellent beyond theirs. To which of the angels did God ever say, “You are My Son; today I have become Your Father,” or “I will be His Father, and He will be My Son”? When God brings His firstborn into the world, He says: “Let all God’s angels worship Him.”
Yes, God has subjected all things to Him, leaving nothing outside of His control. Christ is crowned with glory and honor because He suffered death so that by the grace of God He might taste death for everyone, bringing many sons to glory. By His death Christ destroyed him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil—and freed those were held in slavery by the fear of death.
Jesus is the True High Priest: The author of the Letter to the Hebrews then goes on to describe how Jesus has a true priesthood, greater than that of the priests in the Temple.
Jesus has been counted worthy of greater glory than Moses. He is the great high priest who has passed through the heavens, entering the inner sanctuary behind the curtain. Jesus has entered on our behalf. He has become a high priest forever in the order of Melchizedek. Indeed, God the Father says of Jesus His Son, “You are a priest forever in the order of Melchizedek.”
If perfection could have been attained through the Levitical priesthood, why would there have been a need for another priest to appear, one in the order of Melchizedek and not in the order of Aaron?
Jesus is the Perfection that was Promised: The Letter to the Hebrews is essentially an exhortation not to leave the perfect to go back to the imperfect. The Temple and what takes place there is now no more than a movie set filled with actors playing their roles. Jesus is the true and perfect High Priest, who enters into the true and actual Holy of Holies. The Temple rituals merely point to what Jesus actually does:
Jesus is the true High Priest, who sat down at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in Heaven and who ministers in the sanctuary and true tabernacle set up by the Lord, not man. He entered the greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made by hands (that is, not of this creation).
Because every high priest is appointed to offer both gifts and sacrifices, it was necessary for this One also to have something to offer. He did not enter by the blood of goats and calves, but He entered the Most Holy Place once for all by His own blood, thus securing eternal redemption. If the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkled on those who are ceremonially unclean sanctify them so that their bodies are clean, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself unblemished to God, purify our consciences from works of death so that we may serve the living God?
Jesus has established the New Covenant in His Blood: The author exhorts his audience not to return to the Old Covenant from the New Covenant. To this he adds this warning:
By speaking of a new covenant, He has made the first one obsolete, and what is obsolete and aging will soon disappear (Heb 8:13).
Anyone who rejected the Law of Moses died without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. How much more severely do you think one deserves to be punished who has trampled on the Son of God, profaned the blood of the covenant that sanctified Him, and insulted the Spirit of grace?
Do not throw away your confidence; it holds a great reward. You need to persevere, so that after you have done God’s will, you will receive what He has promised.
What is the meaning of this letter for us who read it so long after the Jewish war of 70 A.D? It is simply this:
We are easily mesmerized by politics and cultural movements, exhibiting more loyalty to them that to our Savior and Lord, Jesus Christ. Distracted by modern ideas and urgencies, we forsake the message of Christ. We’ll salute Christ, but only if His message agrees with our views and priorities. The Letter to the Hebrews tell us not to give our heart to what cannot save, not to return to the obsessions of a worldly kingdom of darkness now that we have been summoned to the Kingdom of Light.
Jesus deserves your highest loyalty; He alone can save you. Put not your trust in princes and in mortal men in whom there is not help (Psalm 146:3-4). If we forsake Christ for something lesser, do we not treat lightly His blood, which sanctified us, and insult the spirit of grace? Are you worthy of Jesus Christ or are you just worthy of a political party or some popular ideologies of this passing world?
Even the book that Rome assembled, quotes The First Pope on this:
2 Peter 1:3His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.
The idea that Paul wrote Hebrews has been largely discredited. There are several clues in the book itself. For example Hebrews states:
Heb 2:3 how shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation? It was declared at first by the Lord, and it was attested to us by those who heard,
2) Hebrews is an evangelistic call to the Jews. While Paul early on went to the Jews, later he viewed his ministry as to the Gentiles leaving the Jews to Peter.
3) The writer of Hebrews style is very different than that of Paul's letters especially the introduction and the ending.
4) The writer is apparently a "second" generation Christian as the information was "attested" to those who heard. This would be why the writer would have considered Timothy a "brother". He would have been at the same generational line as Timothy.
5) Even the early church fathers Origen and Clement of Alexander had doubts but they went along with the crowd at that time.
There are various theories who MIGHT have written Hebrews but only God knows.
HIS Word contains all necessary for salvation, assurance and instruction in godliness.
That is, if one listens, accepts and follows the words of Jesus. I hope that you believe in all of God’s words in the Bible as they were meant, and not just someone’s personal interpretation.
Jesus said about His Church: ‘Whoever listens to you listens to me. Whoever rejects you rejects me. And whoever rejects me rejects the one who sent me.”
“If he refuses to listen to them, tell the church.* If he refuses to listen even to the church, then treat him as you would a Gentile or a tax collector.”
Your comment: “every church and every man gets things wrong in every age - and this is especially true of Rome.”
Then, it must be especially true for you too.
to which I claim to belong, as a citizen of the Kingdom of Christ, which is not of this world..
"πανηγυρει και εκκλησια πρωτοτοκων εν ουρανοις απογεγραμμενων" (Heb. 12:23a Textus Receptus)
It is to a local Induction and Training Center with a particular local title (there are many such, globally) to which I report to continue stedfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers. The regenerated constituents are presumed with confidence to pass on to the Lord's Presence in the Paradise of Heaven upon graduation from the earthly discipleship phase.
That is the appropriate Assembly, founded upon The Lord Jesus Christ, to which the spiritually regenerate one belongs. Nowhere in the Bible in any plenarily inspired infallible properly and faithfully preserved and translated text do I find a locally instituted, enrolled, regularly summoned, and corporately gathered Christian Company with the adjective "Catholic" included in its title.
2 TIMOTHY 2:15 holds the answers.
Yes. Jesus gave us the Holy Spirit at Pentecost that enabled Christ’s Catholic Church and gave it’s leaders the ability to “preach and Baptize”. Jesus gave His life for our sins and His Body and Blood in the Sacrament of the Eucharist to become one with Jesus.
May you find God’s Truth in the Catholic Church!
Peace be with you.
Believers in Christ are commanded to "love Him with all their mind..."Jesus said about His Church: ‘Whoever listens to you listens to me. Whoever rejects you rejects me. And whoever rejects me rejects the one who sent me.”
Believers are commanded to "Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, handling accurately the word of truth."It is the responsibility of the Christian to work hard to understand and interpret God's Word.
No, dear ADSUM... He didn't say it "about His Church". There was no church when He said this.“If he refuses to listen to them, tell the church.* If he refuses to listen even to the church, then treat him as you would a Gentile or a tax collector.”Now is a great time for you to "Study to show yourself approved..."
Look back on the context - when did He say this, why did He say this, about who did He say this?
Completely about church discipline in the local assembly.Your comment: “every church and every man gets things wrong in every age - and this is especially true of Rome.” Then, it must be especially true for you too."Study to show youself approved."
Not especially. I've benefited from incredible teachers of God's Word, deep training, hard work, love of His Word.That said, everyone is subject to error, but the ultimate mistake is to substitute man's silly rituals for God's declaration.
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+1
You are observing an AI Random Verse Generation Program that appears on certain accounts...
One reason why the local churches cannot be completely autonomous, is that the teachings of the Church --- that is to say, not opinions of this or that cleric, this or that theologian, but the officiai doctrines -- are authoritative; if they were not, Christ would not have told us to resolve conflicts among the brothers by listening to the Church.
You posit that "the churches cannot be autonomous, ... because the official doctrines of a larger assembly are authoritative."
Then you bring up local church discipline.
Local assemblies *following God's Word* in matters of church discipline need no Roman hierarchy to carry out the Word of God.
I've witnessed successful churches do this in person over (too many) decades.
In practice, very few churches are in isolation. Most belong to a fellowship of like-minded churches, who share a common doctrinal statement that each adheres to locally.
Matthew 23:1-12 Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples, “The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses' seat, so do and observe whatever they tell you, but not the works they do. For they preach, but do not practice.
They tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on people's shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to move them with their finger. They do all their deeds to be seen by others. For they make their phylacteries broad and their fringes long, and they love the place of honor at feasts and the best seats in the synagogues and greetings in the marketplaces and being called rabbi by others.
But you are not to be called rabbi, for you have one teacher, and you are all brothers. And call no man your father on earth, for you have one Father, who is in heaven. Neither be called instructors, for you have one instructor, the Christ. The greatest among you shall be your servant. Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.
In a nutshell:
A. Both of Peter's letter are, according to his ministry to "the Circumcision," addressed specifically and narrowly to the Hebrew Christians scattered in the Diaspora, and in the very provinces that were the core of Paul's church-planting efforts.
B. In 2 Peter 3:15 Peter writes:
And account that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation; even as our beloved brother Paul also according to the wisdom given unto him hath written unto youplural;This says that Paul did write to these same Hebrews in the same area.
C. Furthermore, Peter says also that what Paul wrote to them as no just a note, but inspired Scripture according to the wisdom given to him, necessarily by God the Holy Ghost:
As also in all his epistleswhich were later agreed to be canonical, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scripturesOT, of equivalent cananicity, unto their own destruction.Paul's other writings were specifically toward particular individuals or particular churches, but Peter equates them as inspired writing.
D. So it may be postulated that: (a) Hebrews is a document that was addressed to the same kind of narrow audience as Peter's was; (b) Paul was a recognized author of inspired Scripture; and (c) therefore Peter is essentially saying that Paul is the author of the Hebrewa letter.
Well, this might be interpreted that the Christian Jews in the mixed churches of Asia Minor were conjointly addressed with the Gentiles in the church by the same epistles, and thus a part of Peter's "you". But what other writer is a Sanhedrin-bent qualified Hebrew scholar and apostle of the first or second water capable of explaining the NT mysteries hidden in the OT but revealed by inspired interpretation in the New?
That is, if one listens, accepts and follows the words of Jesus. I hope that you believe in all of God’s words in the Bible as they were meant, and not just someone’s personal interpretation.
***
I do believe and follow the words of Jesus.
That’s why I’m not Roman Catholic, because I’m not going to believe in any organization that ‘interprets’ Scripture to mean the exact opposite of what it actually says.
Any organization that claims that, “By grace you have been saved” really means, “By grace you might be saved if your works are good enough,” is no church at all.
“Any organization that claims that, “By grace you have been saved” really means, “By grace you might be saved if your works are good enough,” is no church at all.”
+1
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To which we must add the works of Rome are an abomination.
Rome has destroyed more children’s lives than any religious scandal in history.
Rome knowingly and willingly covered its perversity.
Rome is the gayest religion on the earth, employing gays from the Vatican Dow to the parish level.
The priest doesn’t comprehend that Jesus did not establish an institution, He established ‘a body’ of believers. GOD knows that only pride benefits from joining an org, like Roman Catholiciism. That is why HE did not establish an org.
Bless your confused priest heart, the word church is an English term, translating ‘ekklesia’ which in Greek is BODY OF BELIEVERS, not Roman Catholic Church, body of ALL believers.
You seem to have skipped over #39 and 40.
(Skipped over is less judgmental than ignored; don’t you think?)
Placemarker...
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