The thoughts and note material given on these pages are only a possible suggestion of the meaning, they must not be taken as inspired, however they are prayerfully prepared and compared with other similar material. There are many ways in which God’s Word can be analyzed and none must be taken in place of the Word of God itself.

Hebrews

WRITER.
The text does not indicate directly who the writer was, there are many thoughts on the matter but no one knows who it was.
The writer was familiar with the Jewish scriptures and knew the ritual of the Temple and was well known to the readers. It is felt that because of the way it is written Paul is not the writer, he may have had some indirect input, perhaps it was one of Paul’s sermons that he had given in a synagogue, and this had been written down by Luke, the Greek used is good and some of the Greek words used in Luke’s Gospel and Acts are also found in Hebrews, but this is not sufficient evidence to say Luke was the writer.
There are various other possible writers, Apollo, Silas, Barnabas being the main possibilities. Each have some suitable qualifications, by their abilities, knowledge and location at the time of writing, but again there is no real proof.

THE READERS.
The evidence available suggests Jewish Christians, the title is thought to have been added later but obviously is referring to a specific group. A group who had, or were going through a time of suffering. Heb 10:32-35; Heb 12:3,4.
The Church had been around for some time as Heb 13:7 shows some of the leaders had died.
The writer constantly refers to the Old Testament, the old Covenant, seems to know that the readers would understand and know the scriptures.

However, there are some Bible scholars who feel it was intended for Greek Christians but the many references to the Old Testament scriptures seems to prove otherwise as Greek Christians would not have the knowledge.
Whoever it was written for, the content of the Letter to the Hebrews does apply to all Christians, not just this specific group.

REASON.
It appears that there may have been a problem with the readers spiritual conditions, Heb 13:7 suggests that they had been Christians for sometime but were still immature, children in the faith, their spiritual diet should have been strong doctrine but they were still not ready for it.
The Jewish nation had by now turned against the Christians, they were not allowed to worship in the Temple, this was affecting the readers. They may not have separated fully from Judaism nor fully taken on the Christian teaching so the writer sets out to prove that though both faiths were from God the Christian faith is the better and right way.

DATE.
There is no external evidence of the date except Clement of Rome referred to it about A.D. 96.
The Temple of Jerusalem still appears to be in use so that places it before 70 A.D. when Titus invaded Jerusalem and destroyed the Temple.
The Christian Church had been in existent for some time, the situation mentioned in Heb 10:32 is thought to have taken place in 49 A.D. Other evidence has brought it to be somewhere around 60 A.D. and 65 A.D., the later date is normally accepted.

The Introduction. - Hebrews ch 1:1-4.

The Son is better than the Angels. - Hebrews ch 1:5 to ch 2:18.

The Son is better than Moses. - Hebrews ch 3:1 to ch 4:13 .

The Great High Priest. - Hebrews ch 4:14 to ch 5:10.

Spiritual growth. - Hebrews ch 5:11 to ch 6:20.

Christ the Priest, Ministry and Sacrifice. - Hebrews ch 7:1-28.

Encouragement. - Hebrews ch 10:19 to ch 12:29.

Final Encouragement. - Hebrews ch 13:1-25.