Epistle of Paul to the Hebrews.
THIS epistle has been the source of more controversy than any other book
of the New Testament. It has been the cause of much useless labor
and unprofitable research. In the first place, was Paul the author?
Tertullian ascribes it to Barnabas; Grotius to St. Luke, and Luther the
reformer thought it was written by Apollos, mentioned in the Acts; but
the testimony of ecclesiastical antiquity is all in favor of Paul as the
author. Allusions are made to it in the epistles of Ignatius about A. D.
107. It is also referred to by Polycarp, Bishop of Smyrna in the year A.
D. 108.
Internal evidence, supplied by the epistle itself, is conclusive that
Paul was the writer. No one better than he understood the veneration in
which the Levitical law was held by the Jewish people, and the tenacity
with which they adhered to it. As he believed that this law had passed
away, and that the Lord had made a new covenant with the Jewish nation,
it was natural for him to labor to open the eyes of his countrymen,
and bring them under the light of the new dispensation. It was for this
reason, when he entered into a place for the first time, that he always
began to teach in the synagogue. If Paul wrote to the Hebrews at all, it
would be just such an epistle as the one ascribed to him, except
certain portions, which were clearly written after the Pauline period of
Christianity had passed away.
Again, it has been a question as to the language in which this epistle
was first written. At the time of Paul, the original Hebrew was
understood by few, and had ceased to be the language of the Jews. The
original Hebrew was broken in upon by several dialects--such as the
East Aramaean, or Chaldee, and the West Aramaean, or Syriac. The universal
language of the day was Greek, and no doubt Paul adopted it in writing
to the Hebrews, who were dispersed over Europe, Asia, and parts of
Africa.
As the initiatory formula usual in the epistles of Paul is wanting in
this, it has been questioned whether it was really an epistle, or only a
discourse intended for the general reader. The want of the usual formula
can be easily accounted for, when the mind becomes convinced that the
first chapter is not the production of Paul. That it was written as it
now stands by the forgers of the second century admits of no doubt. The
design of the writer is exposed in the very first and second verses of
the first chapter. "God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake
in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days
spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things,
_by whom also he made the worlds_."
Here Christ is made the Creator by whom the worlds were made. Again:
"Who being the brightness of his glory, and the _express image of his
person, and upholding all things by the word of his power_, when he had
by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty
on high; being made so much _better than the angels_, as he hath by
_inheritance_ obtained a more excellent name than they. For unto which
of the angels said he at any time, Thou art my Son, this day have I
begotten thee? And again, I will be to him a Father, and he shall be
to me a Son? And again, when he bringeth in the first-begotten into the
world, he saith, And let all the angels of God worship him." (_Heb_. i.
3-6.)
Here we find condensed into a few verses, and declared in the most
pointed language, the _Godship_ of Christ, first proclaimed by the
men of the second century, and which is in direct conflict with the
remainder of the Epistle, and with what Paul taught during his whole
life.
Commencing at the ninth verse of the second chapter, Paul says: "But
we see Jesus, who was made a little _lower_ than the angels for the
suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor; that he by the grace
of God should taste death for every man." "For verily he took not on him
the nature of angels; but he took on him the seed of Abraham." (Chap.
ii. 16.) "Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling,
consider the Apostle and _High Priest_ of our profession, Christ Jesus;
who was faithful to him who appointed him, as also Moses was faithful
in all his house. For _this man_ was accounted worthy of more glory than
Moses, inasmuch as he who hath builded the house hath more honor than
the house. For every house is builded by some man; _but he that built
all things is God_." (Chap. iii. 1-5.)
On the fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth verses of the second chapter,
Paul declares that to angels "is given the government of the world to
come;" and to man, who was made but _little lower than the angels_, was
consigned the government of the earth. All men, according to Paul, like
Jesus, were born but little lower than the angels--and Christ by him is
put on a level with all humanity. It is evident that the first chapter,
as written by Paul, has been suppressed, and the one which has descended
to us is made to take its place. It is not possible that Paul wrote the
first and second chapters as they now stand. In the one case Christ is
made _more_ than the angels; and in the other case he is made _less_. In
the one case he is the Creator of the world, "_upholding all things by
the word of his power_;" in the other he is a High Priest of the order
of Melchisedec, and one of the descendants of Abraham. In the first
chapter he formed the world, and in the third chapter it is said,
"He who built all things is God." The doctrines here declared are
unreconcilable, but it is not difficult to distinguish between those of
Paul and those of the men of the second century.
Paul speaks of three orders of the priesthood: that of Melchisedec, that
under the Levitical law, and that under the new covenant, with Christ
at the head. What was the character of the priesthood of the order
of Melchisedec, Paul does not say--nor do we know where to look for
information on the subject. He was "without father, without mother,
without descent, having neither beginning of days, nor end of life; but
made like _unto the Son of God_: abideth a priest continually." (Chap.
vii. 3.) When we are informed in the same chapter that Christ is a
priest after the order of Melchisedec, "who is made, not after the _law
of a carnal commandment_, but after the power of an endless life" (ver.
16), we detect the insidious and subtle poison of the Johannian school.
Here we have a Logos, who was in the beginning, and who would continue
through all time, which could never be true of any of the descendants
of Abraham. The priesthood under the Levitical law, Paul claimed, had
passed away, and was succeeded by a much better one with Christ as
its head. The last was superior to the old because it would "continue
forever, an unchangeable priesthood." (Chap. vii. 24.) In this new and
better dispensation, Christ is as superior to Moses and Aaron, as the
new covenant is superior to the old. Christ is called a High Priest, "a
minister of the sanctuary, and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord
pitched, and not man." (Chap. viii. 2.)
If Christ was the Son of God, born of a virgin, when Paul was
instructing his countrymen in the mysteries of the new covenant, and
was pointing out to them the relation which Christ bore to the same, as
compared with Moses under the old, how happened it that he fails to make
mention of this important fact altogether? How can we account for the
silence of Paul at such a time on a subject of such vital importance?
He was a man of learning, and well versed in all that was written by the
Hebrew prophets; and if the fourteenth verse of the seventh chapter of
Isaiah had any application to Christ, or any other prophecy in the Old
Testament, why did he not point them out to his countrymen, and in this
way prove that Christ was not only superior to Moses, but to the angels?
Why call him a High Priest, and admit his Jewish descent, from the
father of the Hebrew nation? Who so well as Paul could define the
_status_ of Christ under the new covenant? His numerous visits to
Jerusalem, not long after Christ's death, his intimacy with all the
disciples, gave him every and ample means for information; and the deep
interest he took in every particular which related to Christ stimulated
inquiry; and whatever he found that was important to be known as a part
of the new faith, he would not fail to proclaim in tones of thunder,
from the Euphrates to the Tiber.
We can well imagine his astonishment when the doctrines of the Greek
school first began to make headway in his little churches. We can form
some idea of his feelings by reading the eleventh and twelfth chapters
in the second epistle to the Corinthians: "Would to God ye could bear
with me a little in my folly: and indeed bear with me. For I am jealous
over you with godly jealousy: for I have espoused you to one husband,
that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. But I fear, lest
by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your
minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. For if
he that cometh preacheth _another Jesus whom we have not preached_, or
if ye received another spirit, which ye have not received, or another
gospel, which ye have not accepted, ye might well bear with him." (2
Cor. xi. 1-4.) Rendered into plain language, he says: Would to God you
would pardon my zeal and anxiety on your account. Having instructed you
in the religion of Christ, I am jealous and over-anxious that you should
stand as examples of pure Christianity, and not surrender your pure and
virgin faith in Christ, carried away by the subtle doctrines of cunning
men. If any one speaks of Christ, and claims that he is anything
different from what I have taught you--or if any one has preached to you
a different religion or a different gospel, from that which you learned
of me, you show your forbearance if you do not visit your anger upon
them, who thus labor to mislead and deceive you.
Throughout these two chapters Paul shows deep sorrow on account of
the progress of the new faith, and with his expressions of regret, he
mingles words of reproof. The troubles growing out of it followed him
through life. They harassed him in his prison. He lived to see all Asia
turned away from him. With an aching heart he makes one last request
of Timothy: "And the things that thou hast heard of me among many
witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to
teach others also." (2 _Tim_. ii. 2.)