HEBREWS 1 — THE SUPREMACY OF THE SON

Hebrews is a unique New Testament book. It has no opening greeting, no named author, and no named recipients, and it describes itself as a "word of exhortation" (13:22), which suggests that it was originally a sermon that was circulated as a letter. Its author is unknown. The early church debated the question: in the East it was often attributed to Paul, while in the West it was long doubted, and Origen famously said that only God knows who wrote it. Barnabas, Apollos, Priscilla, Luke, and Clement of Rome have all been suggested. The book's polished Greek, its distinctive style and vocabulary, and its method of argument differ from Paul's letters, though it shares the circle of Paul's associates (13:23). This commentary does not claim to know the author and treats the book as inspired Scripture on the basis of its content and the church's recognition. The original readers were probably Jewish Christians, perhaps in Rome (13:24), who were facing pressure and persecution and were tempted to drift back into Judaism or to give up their confession of Christ. The temple and its sacrifices appear to be still operating, which suggests a date before the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70, probably in the 60s. The central theme is the superiority of Christ over every Old Testament figure and institution: angels, Moses, the priesthood, the covenant, and the sacrifices. The book contains five solemn warnings against falling away, and it combines high doctrine with urgent pastoral concern. Chapter 1 establishes the foundation: who the Son is.

The opening of Hebrews is among the clearest early statements of the deity of Christ, and it was written within about thirty to forty years of the crucifixion by a writer who was thoroughly Jewish and committed to monotheism. The author assigns to the Son the functions that the Old Testament reserves for God: the creation of the world, the sustaining of the universe, the reception of worship, and eternal reign. He does so by quoting Old Testament texts that originally referred to God, such as Psalm 102, and applying them to Jesus. This method shows that the early Christians read the Old Testament as a testimony to Christ and found in it the evidence of His divine identity. The discussion of angels also has a historical background. Jewish literature of the period, including some of the Dead Sea Scrolls, gives great importance to angels. One text from Qumran, the Melchizedek scroll (11Q13), portrays Melchizedek as a heavenly figure who carries out the judgment of God, and the author of Hebrews, who is about to discuss Melchizedek, argues that the Son is far greater than any such being. Larry Hurtado and Richard Bauckham have shown that early Christian worship of Jesus as divine, which is reflected in the command that angels worship Him, arose within a Jewish setting where only the one God could be worshiped. This is a major historical fact that needs explanation. The explanation given by the New Testament authors is that the resurrection and exaltation of Jesus demonstrated that He shares in the divine identity.