The Epistle to the Hebrews

Angebote / Angebote:

Excerpt from The Epistle to the Hebrews: With Introduction and NotesThere is nothing to determine in which of these senses the term is used in the superscription to the Epistle. The Alexandrians understood by it Palestinian Jews, but this is merely their interpretation, and can hardly be assumed to rest on tradition. The phrase "To the Hebrews" might mean of itself that the Epistle was addressed to all Christians of Jewish extraction, but the local colour of the Epistle is very distinct, and the allusions are of such a kind as to make it certain that the Epistle was addressed to "Hebrews" in a particular locality. No allusion is made in the Epistle to Gentile believers, and this seems to imply that it was written to a community consisting exclusively of Jewish Christians, or one at least in which the Hebrew element very greatly predominated. The Author's view is no doubt that the Hebrews to whom he writes are the true and rightful successors of the Old Testament church, they are "the People" of God, and they are so as believing Hebrews. But this way of regarding them, even though it be based on principles recognised in other New Testament writings (Rom. xi.), would have had something unnatural in it if they had been a minority in the church or circle of churches to which the letter was addressed. Thus all the information which we gather from the inscription to the Epistle is, that it was addressed to Christian believers of the race of Israel - a conclusion which we could have reached apart from any inscription.2. Their circumstances. - The Hebrews to whom the Epistle was addressed had not been themselves hearers of the Lord, but had received the gospel from those who heard Him (ii. 3), and who worked many wonders in attestation of their preaching (ii. 4). The church had not apparently been founded by mere believers from Palestine congregating in numbers in the locality, but by some apostolic missionaries, themselves direct hearers of the Lord (ii, 3, xiii. 7, comp. x. 32, where their enlightenment is referred to as a distinct historical event).About the PublisherForgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.comThis book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully, any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.