Introduction to Hebrews
Good morning! As I told you last week, we are beginning our study together of the book of Hebrews. We have been working through the works of Luke for the last little while, beginning with his gospel account and then the book of Acts. There is a case to be made that Luke was the human author of the book of Hebrews though it is not explicitly stated in this letter written around 60-70 AD. As interesting as a deep dive into the human authorship of this letter might be, it is more important for us to remember that the letter was inspired by the Holy Spirit and that makes Him the real author of this important work.
Let’s pray.
As with every book of the Bible, the author wrote for a reason. One of the best exercises I know of to consider the original author’s intent is to craft a simple author’s intent statement.
I do hope that you read this letter at least once this week in preparation.
An author’s intent statement works like this, like a 2 by 2. It’s actually one to and two by’s.
The original author’s intent was to: encourage Christians in times of trial
By: focusing on the supremacy of Christ, and,
By: focusing on the sufficiency of Christ.
See, one “to” and two “by’s”.
The supremacy of Christ, meaning that He is supreme, sovereign, and preeminent over all of creation, all of the spiritual realm, and over the church; and the sufficiency of Christ, meaning that He is completely enough to save, forgive, and equip every believer without any outside effort or religious ritual.
I think you will see that intent at work as we read this wonderful letter. That’s what we are going to do now. Since this was in fact a letter and the original audience would have sat down and listened to someone read it to them before they could read it for themselves or listen to teachers pull it apart one idea at a time.
So buckle up.
[Read Hebrews then close in prayer]
