Tag Archives: Hebrews

The West Wing Obsolescence (Applying Hebrews Today)

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There is a famous scene from the drama The West Wing in which President Bartlett rips into Dr. Jenna Jacobs, a conservative talk show host. The dialogue is based on an actual letter that was originally addressed to Dr. Laura Schlessinger.

At a press conference, the President accuses Dr. Jacobs (and by proxy all Christians) of cherry picking the Scriptures they accept and being inconsistent in how they apply them. Specifically, the scene makes it clear that Christians are acting hypocritical for holding to some parts of the Mosaic Law (ie regarding homosexuality as a sin) and not others.

Here is one example:

… we’ve got a lot of sports fans in this town. Touching the skin of a dead pig makes one unclean – Leviticus 11:7. If they promise to wear gloves can the Washington Redskins still play football?

Unfortunately, this scene was cut from that episode. A young journalist steps forward.

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Cross-Fit: What the Original Hebrew audience and Runners have in common

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The author of Hebrews challenges his original audience to “run the race with endurance” and to cast aside those things that will slow them down. And while we may not be tempted to return the Mosaic Law as they were, we too are called to “finish our race” by keeping the faith. TM_Mud

As some readers may know, when I am not reading a theology book or hanging with the family I can be found working out for an upcoming race. A race that often involves mud and obstacles. As in any race, we can start off well, but fail to reach the finish line if we become sluggish in our training and fail to keep our eyes focused on the finish line.

This truth about running races was an analogy used by Paul (1 Cor 9:24-27; 2 Tim 2:5) as well as the author of Hebrews (12:1) to describe the Christian life. Both Paul and the author of Hebrews were afraid of running the race in vain (Gal 2:2) even if they started off well (Gal 5:7) because they did not want to fail to receive what was promised (1 Cor 9:27; Heb 10:35-36). This motivated them to press on and strive to reach their goal (Philippians 3:14; Heb 4:11) so that they could reach that finish line (2 Tim 4:7) and exclaim:

I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.

And they encouraged others to do the same.

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The Warning Conundrum

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A conundrum is a difficult or challenging problem. And if any book in the NT presents a conundrum it is the writing we know as Hebrews. Filled with incredibly profound  theological depictions of Christ and His work, it also has some of the most difficult passages for the reader to wrestle with. There is significant debate on who wrote the book, where the original audience lived, and to a lesser degree when it was written. But the real challenge is trying to determine what the warning passages are warning us about.

By Beeblebrox (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0 or GFDL], via Wikimedia Commons

Picture by Beeblebrox via Wikimedia Commons

There is even debate as to which passages are to be considered warning passages (see this list here).

The warning passages confront the scholar and lay reader alike.

  • What does it mean to “hold fast our confidence”, “confession” or “hope” to the end (3:6, 14; 4:14; 6:18; 10:23)?
  • What happens if we fail to heed these warnings?
  • What punishment will we fail to escape (2:3; 10:28-29; 12:25)?
  • What rest will we fail to enter (3:11,18-19; 4:3-5)?
  • What does it mean to be part of “God’s house” (3:6) or to “share in Christ”? (3:14) or to “share in the Holy Spirit” (6:4)? How does enduring confidence and falling away affect how we participate in these things?
  • What does the author mean by sanctification? And is that something that is  considered in process, completed, and/or reversible (2:11; 10:10, 14, 29; 13:12)?

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