I've been leading a small group Bible study on Sunday evenings and we've been reading through the book of Hebrews. Since I'm a much better writer than I am a speaker, I thought I'd post the study here for a wider audience (though, perhaps my small group is larger than my reader base).
There are a few important things that need to be said about Hebrews before actually getting into the text itself. First, Hebrews was written with a Jewish-Christian congregation in mind. The Old Testament is quoted often and the author seems to take for granted a solid understanding of the context for those quotes and an understanding of Judaism in general on the part of his readers. Secondly, the letter is explicitly Christological (or Christo-centric). Except for the gospels, no other New Testament book digs deeper into the person and work of Jesus Christ. Lastly, this book is very covenantal. In Hebrews we are taught about Jesus’ relationship to both the Old and New Covenants (e.g. the priestly role that He plays) and we are taught about the relationship between the covenants themselves (e.g. the Old being a “shadow” and the New being the “reality”). All of these things need to be kept in mind when approaching Hebrews.
The first section of Hebrews that we studied was Hebrews 1-2:4. Here are the questions I asked:
1. What does it mean for God to have made the universe through Jesus? What are some of the implications of Jesus “sustaining all things” through the power of His word?
2. Is it significant that Jesus’ name is superior to the angels’ names? How so?
3. Why does the author quote so much from the OT? Read a few of the passages he quotes, are they clearly referring to Jesus? (Joshua 10:24; 2 Samuel 7:14; Psalm 2:7; 97:7; 102:15-27; 103:20; 104:4; Isaiah 51:6; 61:1, 3)
4. Is the question in verse 14 meant to be rhetorical? Why or why not?
5. What is “the word spoken through angels”?
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2 comments:
I think if you segmentalize like that: Jews understand the OT but Gentiles don't, so Hebrew is for Jews. Then you lose the knowledge of the Scriptures whole and entire. Hebrews is the beginning for the Gentile who doesn't understand the OT and will help him through it. Without Hebrews, the entire Bible, both Old and New Testaments is just gobbly-gook. Romans makes no sense without Hebrews. Not a word of it makes any good sense without Hebrews.
Just want to thank you for taking the time to post this. My small group is starting a study on the book of Hebrews and I have to lead the first week! I will post some responses after our small group meets.
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