What is your opinion? - The intended readership of Hebrews.

Messianic Israelites; Hebrews.

Good thread - but as we shall see - the NT evidence may not be going where you were thinking on this topic.

Xeno.of.athens said:

What is your opinion?

Hebrews is written to whom? And does its intended readership shape the way you will interpret its words?

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It is written to a specific audience - what Paul considers "first class Christian citizens" -- Christian Jews. Paul considers the Christian Jews as natural branches in the kingdom of God (see Rom 11) and gentile converts "wild vines" unnatural branches.

{But the "US" in the verse you reference - is everyone.)

In 1 Cor 8:
4 Therefore concerning the eating of things sacrificed to idols, we ( Christian Jews) know that there is no such thing as an idol in the world, and that there is no God but one. 5 For even if there are so-called gods whether in heaven or on earth, as indeed there are many gods and many lords, 6 yet for us (Christian Jews) there is but one God, the Father, from whom are all things and we exist for Him; and one Lord, Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we exist through Him.


7 However not all men have this knowledge; but some, being accustomed to the idol until now, (i.e. Gentile Christians) eat food as if it were sacrificed to an idol; and their conscience being weak is defiled.

Xeno.of.athens said:

God, having spoken long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, in these last days spoke to us (Christian Jews) in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds, who is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power; who, having accomplished cleansing for sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become so much better than the angels, as He has inherited a more excellent name than they.
Heb 1:1-4 LSB

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In the broadest sense "us" in vs 1 is everyone - since God's inspired text is given to mankind for evangelism and instruction.

It can also be viewed as "all the saints", "us Christians". God's people whom He calls saints. The verse talks about God as Creator - that is the broadest possible scope.

Who is telling that "Jesus is God's Son and through Jesus God created the worlds"? Answer - all mankind.

But the book is written to Jewish Christians such that Paul is more free to speak as if the audience is Biblically literate.

The Book of Hebrews - is written to Christian Jews - a group of the saints that Paul regards as having access to scripture - he speaks of Jews not former pagans

Xeno.of.athens said:

God spoke to US in His Son ... Is that phrase sufficient to identify the intended readership? Who is "us"?

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US -- as in 1 Cor 8 -- is a reference to the saints.

But neither the book of Corinthians or the book of Romans (We see Paul use the same terms we/us in Romans ) - are intended to be kept a secret from gentile Christians.

Xeno.of.athens said:

What is your opinion?

Hebrews is written to whom? And does its intended readership shape the way you will interpret its words?

God, having spoken long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, in these last days spoke to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds, who is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power; who, having accomplished cleansing for sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become so much better than the angels, as He has inherited a more excellent name than they.
Heb 1:1-4 LSB

God spoke to US in His Son ... Is that phrase sufficient to identify the intended readership? Who is "us"?

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I think it is written to those of Hebrew heritage, as the title suggests. I think the "us" is indicative of the writer's Hebrew heritage, as are the mentions of "the Fathers" and "the prophets" (which were all of Hebrew heritage). But I don't think this wording is despositive. I think the content of the book (discussed briefly below) plus the title and the wording of the introduction make a strong case that it was written to those of Hebrew heritage. However, I do believe the content of the book is valid for all people today who are teeter-tottering on faith in Christ, not just the ancient Hebrews.

The content I find most compelling in respect to your question is 1) all the references to Christ being the fullness of what was only pictured in the OT (which Hebrews would be familiar with), and 2) the many calls for the readers to not just hear the message that Christ fulfills the OT pictures, but to go all-in and rest all their hope in Christ. The most poingnant example of this would have been very familiar to those of Hebrew heatige - the failure of their ancestors to enter the promised land through disobedience grounded in unbelief. Over-and-over in Hebrews we read the same message... "Today, if you will hear His voice, Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion" (Heb 3:7–8), and "And to whom did He swear that they would not enter His rest, but to those who did not obey? So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief." (Heb 3:18–19)

I think there is a strong argument to make that we see the same things playing out in church today, where people are coming face to face with the good news that Jesus paid the price for their sins. But many refuse to rest all their hope in Christ, and as a result fail to enter His rest. It is sad to think about this being a possibility, but the answer is still the same as it was way back then... Jesus is our High Priest. He entered the singularly most holy place in the universe with His own blood, and by the Spirit He offered Himself without spot to God for our sins (Heb 9:12-14). He can be (and must be) trusted with the safekeeping of our souls (Heb 10:19-23). And we who have taken refuge in Him are greatly comforted and have taken hold of the hope set before us. And this hope is a sure and steadfast anchor of our souls (Heb 6:18–19).

Xeno.of.athens said:

What is your opinion?

Hebrews is written to whom? And does its intended readership shape the way you will interpret its words?

God, having spoken long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, in these last days spoke to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds, who is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power; who, having accomplished cleansing for sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become so much better than the angels, as He has inherited a more excellent name than they.
Heb 1:1-4 LSB

God spoke to US in His Son ... Is that phrase sufficient to identify the intended readership? Who is "us"?

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The book of Hebrews is addressed to Hebrews.
But the rest of the world can sure learn a lot from it.

Xeno.of.athens said:

What is your opinion?

Hebrews is written to whom? And does its intended readership shape the way you will interpret its words?

Click to expand...

It is written to Jewish converts, which will inform your understanding of the issues and the correct response to them.

Xeno.of.athens said:

God, having spoken long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, in these last days spoke to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds, who is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power; who, having accomplished cleansing for sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become so much better than the angels, as He has inherited a more excellent name than they.
Heb 1:1-4 LSB

God spoke to US in His Son ... Is that phrase sufficient to identify the intended readership? Who is "us"?

Click to expand...

The intended readership are the Jewish converts, the "us" are the people of God, the Jews.

Xeno.of.athens said:

What is your opinion?

Hebrews is written to whom? And does its intended readership shape the way you will interpret its words?

God, having spoken long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, in these last days spoke to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds, who is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power; who, having accomplished cleansing for sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become so much better than the angels, as He has inherited a more excellent name than they.
Heb 1:1-4 LSB

God spoke to US in His Son ... Is that phrase sufficient to identify the intended readership? Who is "us"?

Click to expand...

ONLY for Israel , PERIOD !!

dan p

BobRyan said:

It is written to what Paul considers "first class Christian citizens" -- Christian Jews.

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You don't explicitly say this, but I think you are operating under the assumption that Paul wrote the book of Hebrews. I think that most believe this, but not all. I found this article that discusses why some wonder if someone else wrote it.

Not that it matters when addressing the OP's question. On that, my thought is that there are not two different classes of members of God's Kingdom. I.e. Advise given to Jewish converts shouldn't be applied to Gentiles, and vice versa. We are all supposed to be pulling together into one body in Christ. So trying to figure out if the text is "for" Jews or "for" Gentiles is missing the point.

Best wishes,
KT

KevinT said:

You don't explicitly say this, but I think you are operating under the assumption that Paul wrote the book of Hebrews.

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True that is my POV even though it does not say it explicitly in the book.
I think everyone agrees that it was written by someone - and that someone did not put his name in the book.

KevinT said:

I think that most believe this, but not all. I found this article that discusses why some wonder if someone else wrote it.

Not that it matters when addressing the OP's question. On that, my thought is that there are not two different classes of members of God's Kingdom. I.e. Advise given to Jewish converts shouldn't be applied to Gentiles, and vice versa. We are all supposed to be pulling together into one body in Christ. So trying to figure out if the text is "for" Jews or "for" Gentiles is missing the point.

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I agree.

My point is that the examples given shows that Paul thought Jewish Christians were much better informed and had less pagan-background-issues to deal with than the gentile Christians.

But obviously Luke and others were viewed as well-informed gentiles and top-level Christians as well.

Xeno.of.athens said:

The "us" means "Jews"?

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But it is not saying "only Jewish Christians can read this".

What it does say is that Jewish Christians were in the best position to understand the message that it teaches in places like Heb 4,7,8,9,10,11,12 etc because they have the biblical background to know what Paul is talking about.

by contrast as Paul points out in 1 Cor 8 many of the Christian gentiles were fresh out of paganism and did not have the maturity and background to understand many of the Bible concepts/references in the letter to the Hebrews.

As a gentile I can confidently say that many of us have progressed a long way from that humble origin.

Jewish believers, converts.

Xeno.of.athens said:

I read a comment by a Calvinist chap who says there were three classes, Jews who believed, Jews who heard and almost believed, and Jews who heard and were only interested.

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It would seem the writer was confirming Jewish believers since the word "us" was used in relationship to Christians in general.

Xeno.of.athens said:

Who is the "us" ?

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The addressed Hebrews.

I think it was written to Jewish converts, whether Paul wrote it or not.

Obviously we can all learn from it, but the writer seems to assume his audience will have a strong background in Jewish traditions.

There's a "Catholic" take on the book here, although the analysis of the book is the same no matter which denomination we might belong to.


I don't think Paul wrote it but whoever it was knew his Greek.

LANGUAGE AND STYLE.—Even in the first centuries commentators noticed the striking purity of language and elegance of Greek style that characterized the Epistle to the Hebrews (Clement of Alexandria in Eusebius, “Hist. Eccl.”, VI, xiv, n. 2-4; Origen, ibid., VI, xxv, n. 11-14). This observation is confirmed by later authorities. In fact the author of the Epistle shows great familiarity with the rules of the Greek literary language of his age. Of all the New-Testament authors he has the best style.

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As regards language, the letter is a treasure-house of expressions characteristic of the individuality of the writer. As many as 168 terms have been counted which appear in no other part of the New Testament, among them ten words found neither in Biblical nor classical Greek, and forty words also which are not found in the Septuagint. One noticeable peculiarity is the preference of the author for compound words (cf. E. Jacquier, “Histoire des livres du N. T.”, I, Paris, 1903, 457-71; Idem in Vig., “Dict. de la Bible“, III, 530-38). A comparison of the letter as regards language and style with the other writings of St. Paul confirms in general the opinion of Origen that every competent judge must recognize a great difference between them (in Eusebius, “Hist. Eccl.”, VI, xxv, n. 11).

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Bob Crowley said:

I think it was written to Jewish converts, whether Paul wrote it or not.

Obviously we can all learn from it, but the writer seems to assume his audience will have a strong background in Jewish traditions.

There's a "Catholic" take on the book here, although the analysis of the book is the same no matter which denomination we might belong to.

Epistle to the Hebrews

Hebrews, EPISTLE to the.—This will be considered under eight headings: (I) Argument; (II) Doctrinal Contents; (III) Language and Style; (IV) Distinctive Charact...

www.catholic.com

I don't think Paul wrote it but whoever it was knew his Greek.

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I think it is a case of Paul exercising more scholarly freedom in Hebrews than he would permit himself with biblically illiterate audiences.

Compare Paul's sermon in Acts 17:16-32 - (where the audience is nothing but pagan) to the book of Hebrews or Romans where as we see in Rom 2 and 3 - Paul knew he was writing to Biblically educated Jews and also (as we see in Rom 11) to biblically illiterate pagans -

Xeno.of.athens said:

The "us" means "Jews"?

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C'mon, guy.

Read it again.

Bob Crowley said:

I think it was written to Jewish converts, whether Paul wrote it or not.

Obviously we can all learn from it, but the writer seems to assume his audience will have a strong background in Jewish traditions.

There's a "Catholic" take on the book here, although the analysis of the book is the same no matter which denomination we might belong to.

Epistle to the Hebrews

Hebrews, EPISTLE to the.—This will be considered under eight headings: (I) Argument; (II) Doctrinal Contents; (III) Language and Style; (IV) Distinctive Charact...

www.catholic.com

I don't think Paul wrote it but whoever it was knew his Greek.

Click to expand...

Bob Crowley said:

I think it was written to Jewish converts, whether Paul wrote it or not.

Obviously we can all learn from it, but the writer seems to assume his audience will have a strong background in Jewish traditions.

There's a "Catholic" take on the book here, although the analysis of the book is the same no matter which denomination we might belong to.

Epistle to the Hebrews

Hebrews, EPISTLE to the.—This will be considered under eight headings: (I) Argument; (II) Doctrinal Contents; (III) Language and Style; (IV) Distinctive Charact...

www.catholic.com

I don't think Paul wrote it but whoever it was knew his Greek.

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And without a doubt , the apostle Paul wrote it and was written to Israel !!

dan p