Volume IV
The Epistle of Paul the Apostle to the Hebrews.
With John Brown’s marginal references, notes and reflections · Vol. IV, p. 456
Ancient copies and translations, the testimonies of the highest ancient and modern authorities, the style of the writer's quotations from the Old Testament, his method of reasoning from them, his imprisonment in Italy, his intimate connection with Timothy, ch. 13. 23, as well as the manner of his closing benedictions—all concur in testifying that Paul was the writer of this epistle. The omission of his name and office, as well as of the residence and characteristics of the parties to whom he wrote, contrary to his uniform custom in his other epistles, is an objection of no weight against all this array of testimony. That the parties to whom it was sent were well and personally known to the writer, appears from ch. 10. 34; 13. 18,19, 23; and that they were Jews converted to Christianity, is evident from the nature of the subjects handled, the scriptural evidence adduced, the hopes expressed, and the exhortations to constancy so earnestly enforced. That it was written from Italy appears from these words, 'they of Italy salute you,' and that it was near the end of his first imprisonment seems to be intimated by the confident manner in which he says, 'I beseech you the rather to do this, that I may be restored to you the sooner,' ch. 13. 19. The omission of the apostle's name and office, as well as of the parties to whom he wrote, has been accounted for on the supposition, that as the unconverted Jews were strongly prejudiced against Paul, and, by consequence, against his friends, nothing was put forward that might alarm their prejudices, and cause them to throw down the book unread. This supposition is highly probable; for the apostle, whom the light of Christianity had set free from all prejudices, felt great tenderness for the prejudices of others, and was always ready to sacrifice self, and, so far as a good conscience would permit, to become all things to all men, that he might gain some.
The substance of the epistle may be stated as follows:—1. The superiority of Christ's person, not merely above Moses, but above the angels, by whose ministry the Jewish institutions were promulgated—with the most careful enunciation, that while he was 'Jehovah who laid the foundations of the earth,' he was also 'partaker of flesh and blood.' These are the main objects of the first two chapters. 2. The superior dignity and perfect efficacy of Christ's priesthood, and the insufficiency of the priesthood of Aaron; together with the special advantages of Christ being a suffering Redeemer, instead of a temporal monarch, as the Jews had expected, occupy from the third to the end of the eighth chapter. 3. The emblematic nature and utter insufficiency of the Levitical ceremonies, farther than as shadows of the substance, copies of the original, with the perfect sufficiency of the sacrifice of Christ for the redemption of all that believe, is the purpose of the ninth and tenth chapters. 4. To obviate the Jewish objection, that to embrace Christianity was to apostatize from the religion of Moses, the old religion, he proceeds to show, in the eleventh chapter, that, since the beginning of the world, the servants of God have all acted upon one simple and identical principle—faith in the truth, promises, and, personal attributes of God; and, consequently, that to embrace Christianity, so far from being apostasy, was merely a farther and more noble extension of the original and unchangeable principle of all true religion. 5. In the last two chapters he follows up all his reasoning with directions and exhortations to patience under persecution for the truth's sake, and closes with the benediction 'Grace be with you all.' C.
The Epistle to the Hebrews is in some respects unique. It is different from all the other epistles in the New Testament canon. In Paul's other epistles the name of the author is the first word. The same is the case in the Epistles of James, Peter, and Jude. The Epistles of John, though in one sense anonymous, are yet, by incidental evidence, as clearly shown to be his writings as if his name were attached. This epistle, however, is not merely anonymous, but there is not a particle of direct evidence pointing to its author. All the other epistles assume the epistolary form at the outset. In Hebrews no individual and no church is mentioned. The opening sentences resemble the introduction to a set oration, or a philosophical essay, more than a simple pastoral. The style is different from, and it surpasses in beauty and power, anything in the New Testament. The words and clauses are arranged with strictest grammatical accuracy, and with great rhetorical skill. It is only towards the close we find a few incidental allusions, and forms of speech, which suggest the idea that it is a letter.
In matter the epistle does not yield in importance to any book in the Bible. The fundamental doctrines of Christianity are asserted, defined, and defended with a clearness and ability nowhere surpassed. The Deity of Christ, his humanity, his atonement and intercession, and his supreme headship, are most convincingly demonstrated. They are demonstrated in a way peculiar to this book,—by testimonies adduced from the Old Testament. The epistle shows the perfect harmony which subsists between the law and the gospel; it proves that the Jewish and Christian dispensations are essentially one—that the latter is the full development of the former. P.