Today, I am reading and commenting on  Hebrews 1-5.

I find the Book of Hebrews challenging because the writer chose to cover some rather advanced theology in his letter.  While Paul covers similarly advanced theology in some of his letters, we have more letters by Paul from which to learn to understand the way he words things.  The writer begins by pointing out that Jesus was distinct from the angels.  Jesus was not a special kind of angel, He was, and is, something completely different.  Angels are spirits sent by God to minister to and to serve those whom He has save by His grace.  The writer goes on from there to answer the question, “If Jesus is not an angel, what is He?”  Jesus became fully human. So, He was human, but He is also God.  More than any other writer in the Bible the writer of Hebrews tackles the fact that human comprehension cannot fully explain God.  We must be left with using metaphors and similes about God which we know do not fully explain any aspect of Him.  When the writer tells us that we need to work on consuming solid spiritual food rather than continuing to subsist on spiritual milk he is alluding to the fact that we must move beyond simple metaphors for God, that we must wrestle with explaining Him in better ways than that.  We may not succeed, but we should strive to wrap our heads around the infinite greatness which is God and His love.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Hebrews 12-13.

As I read today’s passage there were several things which I thought worth mentioning.  We will see how many of them I fit into today’s Bible Study.  The passage begins with the writer referring back to the people of faith about whom he wrote in yesterday’s passage, people of whom the world was not worthy.  To explain how we should act he uses the metaphor of one running a race, such as in the Olympic competitions.  Just as those who wish to succeed in world class athletic competition need to have a great trainer, and need to do what that trainer directs them to do, so to do we need a great spiritual trainer if we want to succeed in the spiritual race in which we find ourselves.  Fortunately, in Jesus Christ we have such a spiritual trainer.  A trainer who has proven their merit as a trainer by winning the highest possible spiritual honor.  In order for a physical trainer to train someone to succeed they must sometimes disciple their trainee when the trainee falls short.   In the same way, God will discipline us when we fall short of the spiritual exercises which He gives us.  God’s discipline is not evidence that He has given up on us.  Rather, it is evidence of His love for us.  So let us accept God’s discipline with joy, since it represents an expression of His love for us.

As you may notice, I did not fit many of the ideas I mentioned at the beginning into this study.

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Hebrews 10-11.

Jesus’ sacrifice once for all time means that we can confidently enter into God’s presence, knowing that our sins are forgiven through God’s grace.  Each time we fail to turn from sin we can confidently pick ourselves up and strive to do good once again.   As long as we put our faith in Christ, and not in our own works, we can be confident that God’s Spirit will dwell in us and transform us into His likeness.  The writer tells us that we must strive to encourage each other to good works and acts of love.  What he is saying is that there are two reasons we should gather with our fellow believers.  On the one hand we should gather so that we can motivate others to do God’s will.  On the other hand we should gather so that we can be motivated to do God’s will.  The writer goes on to give us examples of people who have done great works of faith throughout history.  He reminds us that some achieved great victories by their faith, but others suffered greatly.  However, he tells us that in both cases they changed the world through their faith and that the world was not worthy of them.  Let us strive to be worthy to be footnotes in their stories.

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Hebrews 6-9.

Interestingly, the translators’ notes in the footnotes says that the words translated here as “evil deeds’ literally translate as “dead works”.  Using that makes more sense of what the writer is saying than what they chose here: “So let us stop going over the basic teachings about Christ again and again. Let us go on instead and become mature in our understanding. Surely we don’t need to start again with the fundamental importance of repenting from dead works evil deeds and placing our faith in God.”   The writer appears to me to be telling his audience that they should be past arguing about the importance of rituals and particular actions.  In particular, the writer seems to be discussing the rituals and practices of Jewish Law, although I do not believe his point applies exclusively to them.  He goes on to point out how the high priest under Mosaic Law was so constrained to continually offer sacrifices that he was unable to truly intercede on our behalf with God.  Jesus does not suffer that liability, since His one time sacrifice was sufficient for eternity.  This means that Jesus can function as an advocate before God for us.  Just as each of us will die once, so Jesus died once.  And since Jesus was resurrected, we know that He will be there to bring us before God for resurrection if we put our faith in Him.

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Hebrews 12-13

In chapter 11, which we read yesterday, the writer referred to the many people who did great things, and/or experienced great suffering and persecution because of their faith.  We should be inspired by those people to remove from our lives any thing, thought, or activity which interferes with living a life which pleases God.  Look at your life and get rid of anything which takes away from doing God’s will.  Each and every one of us only has so much time or energy.  Spend that time and energy doing things which show God’s love to others.  If you find yourself sinning, fill up more of your time with doing good and soon you will not have time to sin.  And never allow yourself to feel bitter about anything.  Instead view those negative things which tempt you to be bitter as God’s loving discipline designed to goad you to do better.

Later, as part of his wrap up of the letter, the writer tells us to show hospitality to strangers because sometimes those strangers are God’s messengers.  Paul wrote that we should love one another.  The writer here is reminding us that we do not necessarily know who is, and is not, a member of that “one another”.  Further, the blessings we receive from showing love to those who may never return that love greatly exceeds the cost to us of doing so.  

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Hebrews 10-11

Under the Law of Moses only the High Priest could enter the Most Holy Place, could enter into the presence of God.  However, the writer of the Book of Hebrews tells us that under the new covenant entered into by Jesus’ sacrifice we can freely enter into God’s presence.  Under the old covenant regular and frequent sacrifices were required.  Under the new covenant, Jesus sacrificed Himself once for all time.  This should inspire us to strive to keep from sinning.  Under the old covenant, if you sinned again, you just offered another sacrifice.  Under the new covenant, the sacrifice has been offered.  When we sin again, it is as if we are asking Christ to once more go to the Cross.  We should associate with other believers so that we can encourage them, and be encouraged by them, to do acts of love and good works.  

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Hebrews 6-9

The writer says something here that I struggle with explaining.  Those who have known and accepted Christ and then rejected Him will never turn to Him once more.  The reason I struggle with this is that I have known some who turned away from God and then returned to be faithful servants to Him.  Yet, I also know several people who fit into exactly what the writer is describing.  They once fervently served Christ, but something happened and they chose to turn away from what they knew to be God’s will.  I still pray that I am mistaken and that the Holy Spirit will reach out and transform them, but looking at the decisions they have made I cannot see any way that they would ever return to God.  They knew the glory of Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit, but have chosen to reject both.  I hope with all that I am that I am wrong.

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Hebrews 1-5

As I started to read this I felt that Hebrews follows the letters of Paul in much the same way that the Gospel of John follows the other three Gospels.  The writer of Hebrews is concerned with the nature of Jesus and His relationship with God in much the same way that John is in his Gospel.  In fact, at some point I want to read the Book of Hebrews immediately after reading the Gospel of John.  I really think that the writer of Hebrews is saying the same thing about Jesus as the Gospel of John, just worded differently.  Both writers tell us that Jesus is God, but also a human being.  Together these two letters form the basis for the doctrine of the Trinity.

However, the writer of this letter wrote this to be about what that means for us, not to talk theology.  If Jesus is God, then we must pay even closer attention to what He taught than was called for by the teachings of the Law of Moses, which was communicated by angels (slight over simplification of his argument).  Those who spoke to Abraham, Moses, and the other prophets were God’s celestial messengers.  Jesus was God Himself.  So, on the one hand, Jesus’ teachings must be listened to because they are teachings directly from God.  But, Jesus was also a human being, so He understands how difficult following those teachings can be. 

I was hoping this would just follow on from the other things I wanted to write about this passage, but it did not.  Perhaps the most important part about the writer’s intent is what he writes at the end of this passage.  We need to stop relying on others to teach us again and again the basics of the Gospel.  We need to act on what we have learned and start teaching it to others.  Acting on what we have already learned about the Gospel is the only way to become able to understand and learn more.  The theology of the Trinity is only useful as it leads us to act, to do God’s will and show His love to those around us.