From the episode: https://www.gospelconversations.com/talks/problem-of-religion The Epistle to the Hebrews breaks new ground in the debate over religion and grace. In this talk we look at who wrote it, and what problem it is trying to solve - really important questions since it is such an alien book to us modern people in many ways. We delve into the book of Acts in detail and uncover the deep struggle between Jerusalem and Rome that defined the faith in its early days. And we find in the writer to the Hebrews, the man who arguably took over the baton of thought leadership in the early church from Paul and pushed the gospel to its natural boundaries far from the confining views of Jerusalem.

1. Hebrews Series:
Resurrection trumps Religion
Part 1: The context
and the problem?

2. A Literary approach to Hebrews
“Disciplined attention”
• Rhetorical Questions
– Purpose of the text? (Pastoral situation/problem?)
– Audience? (Doing, feeling, thinking?)
– What is its argument?(Total act of discourse –
whole not the parts)
– Desired effect on the readers?
– Us as modern readers??? Are we implicated?

3. What problem is Hebrews
addressing?

4. The “Judaising” of Christianity
• Jewish believers losing
confidence in the faith
• One foot in, one foot out
• Returning to the rituals
and outward splendor
• Mixing the gospel with
Jewish traditions
• Polluting and diluting the
truth
• But how is this relevant
to us?

5. How are we engaged as modern
readers?

6. ‘Religion’ as smokescreen to God
“How can Christ become the
Lord of the religionless as
well? If religion is only a
garment of Christianity – then
what is religionless
Christianity? ”
“How do we speak in a ‘secular’ way about God? In what way
are we… not regarding ourselves from a religious point of view
as specially favoured, but rather as belonging to the world? In
that case, Christ is no longer an object of religion but
something quite different, really the LORD of the world”

7. What is ‘religion’?
Metaphysics Interiority
“Adding God, as reality, to reality”
Profane/visible
Sacred
“God” is relegated outside the
world & public sphere of life
“God” is retained in the sphere of
personal, intimate, private life
God limited to boundaries of human
experience
“The religious man searches furiously to reserve a place for God and today
this place is at the boundaries”

8. Schizophrenia of Sunday to Monday???
“Distinction between sacred and profane; Sacred places and profane
places; profane working days and sacred days; secular people and
priests; profane love and sacred love; the religious aspect and human
sentiments”

9. So we cannot be religious ‘specialists’
“God is no stop-gap; he must be recognised at
the centre of life, not when we are at the end
our resources. It is his will to recognised in life,
not only in death; in our activities, not only in
our sin. In Christ, there are not ‘Christian’
problems”
“The Christian adds nothing to the human; the Christian does not add anything
more to the human than God adds to the world. The Christian is the human
being, the entirely human man.”

10. We add a third – ‘morality’
• Breaking the ‘divide’ down (public/private) without also
breaking the ‘metaphysics’ divide down
• Leads to morality – ie ‘sacred’ invades the ‘profane’
• Narrows the problems of life down to ‘religious’ and we
still have a God at the edges……

11. A ‘moral’ message condemns faith to
the edges of life …
“I should like to speak of God not on the boundaries but at the
centre, not in weakness but in strength; and therefore not in death
and guilt but in man’s life and goodness”
“The attack by the Christian apologetic on the adulthood of the world I
consider to be pointless, ignoble and unchristian. It seems to me like an
attempt to put a grown-up man back into adolescence …it exploits man’s
weakness for purposes that are alien to him and to which he has not freely
assented. It confuses Christ with one particular stage in man’s religiousness
ie a human law”

12. The Jewish audience
“Walk a mile in their shoes”
Empathy =
Thinking, Feeling, Doing?

13. The Five Jewish sects
• Pharisees – Rules & regulations
• Sadducees – Temple
• Essenes – Monastic
• Zealots – Political
• Baptisers – John Baptist & Jesus
The Social vision of the early church
What if Christianity was seen as a Jewish
movement, expanding Judaism to its natural
conclusion – including by the early Christians?

14. The Centrality of the Temple
“As he was leaving the temple, one
of his disciples said to him, “Look
Teacher what massive stones! What
magnificent buildings!” Mark 13

15. The Devastation of its Destruction
“Do you see all these great buildings?” replied Jesus. “Not one stone here
will be left on another; every one will be thrown down.
“Tell us when will these things happen?”
“This generation will not pass away until all these things have happened.”

16. An apocalyptic disaster for the Jews
“When you see the abomination of desolation standing where it does
not belong – then those who are in Judea feel to the mountains. Let no
one on the roof of his house go down or enter into the house to take
anything out. …How dreadful it will be in those days for pregnant women
and nursing mothers!..”

17. The drama of Acts:
Struggle not just expansion
• Ever widening spread of the gospel – Geographical theme
(Missionary journeys + Paul-centric view)
• Struggle to break free from “Jerusalem” – New wine needs new
wineskins.
• Social drama – finding a new social identity to house the gospel.
A reluctant and tortured journey – not a deliberate one.
• Personal drama – Paul and his lifelong agonised struggle with his
Jewish roots & identity
• Three assumptions they made -
• The “Way” would be a Jewish movement not separate
• Hoped Jews would be converted as an entire nation
• Did not at first believe/expect wholesale Gentile conversions
& would never have expected what history unfolded…

18. Acts of the Apostles:
A tale of two cities
Acts 1:12 “Then they returned to
Jerusalem…”
Acts 28:28 “For two whole years Paul
stayed there (Rome) in his own rented
house and welcomed all who came to
see him”

19. The dramatic structure of Acts
“Trust the tale not the teller”
Acts 20 - 28
The Pauline ‘agony’ & struggle with
Jerusalem – trip to Rome
Acts 1 – 9
The Early days and the first rift -
Martyrdom of Stephen & Paul’s
conversion
Acts 10 – 13
Peter & Cornelius, defence to the
elders & Antioch church
Acts 13 – 20
Paul’s missionary journeys &
defence at Council of Jerusalem
“Heaven is my throne and the
earth is my footstool. What kind
of house will you build for me?”
says the LORD (Acts 7:49)

20. The dramatic tension of Acts
“The tug of Jerusalem on the gospel expansion
not just geographical but spiritual/cognitive apprehension”
Acts 20 - 28
The Pauline ‘agony’ & struggle with
Jerusalem – trip to Rome
Acts 1 – 9
The Early days and the first rift -
Martyrdom of Stephen & Paul’s
conversion
Acts 10 – 13
Peter & Cornelius, defence to the
elders & Antioch church
Acts 13 – 20
Paul’s missionary journeys &
defence at Council of Jerusalem
Peter is ‘stretched’ by the Holy Spirit but
rapped on the knuckles by the elders..
“please explain”
The ‘Jerusalem’ core becomes ‘Jewish
believers’ NOT ‘Jewish priestly antagonists
The Religion was infecting the church & the
Jerusalem clique ran the church as its leaders.
Acts 11:2
“So when Peter went up to Jerusalem, the
circumcised believers criticised him and said,
“You went into the house of uncircumcised
men and ate with them.”

21. The dramatic structure of Acts
“James & the old guard run the show”
Acts 15
“Some men came from Jerusalem
teaching the brothers, “Unless you
are circumcised …you cannot be
saved.”
Believed in Christ
AND circumcision
as way of salvation
Acts 15
“Some of the believers who belonged
to the party of the Pharisees
…”Gentiles must be required to obey
the law of Moses”
Some believers
remained part of the
Pharisees publicly
Acts 15
“James said ‘We should not make it difficult for the Gentiles who are turning to
God. Instead we should write to them, telling them (four Jewish rules to keep)
For Moses has been preached in every city from the earliest times and is read in
the synagogues on every Sabbath”
Moses, the law & social
compliance still dominate their
frameworks and decisions

22. The personal agony of Paul
“The authentic unresolved journey of a rejected man”
“In my experience of it, age has a tendency to make one’s sense of oneself harder to
maintain, less robust in some ways…” John Ames in ‘Gilead’ by Marilynne Robinson
Acts 20:16 “Paul had decided to avoid spending time in Asia because he was
in a hurry to reach Jersualem. …’And now compelled by the Spirit I am going
to Jerusalem not knowing what will happen to me there (a sense of gathering
doom). … They pleaded with Paul not to go up to Jerusalem. Then Paul
answered, “Why are you weeping and breaking my heart?”

23. Acts 21:17 “Paul went to see James and all the elders and reported in detail what
God had done among the Gentiles. When they heard this they praised God. Then
they said to Paul: ‘You see brother how many thousands of Jews have believed and
all of them are zealous for the law. They have been informed that you teach all the
Jews who live among the Gentiles to turn away from Moses, telling them not to
circumcise their children or live according to our customs. What shall we do? … so do
what we tell you. There are four men here with us who have made a vow. Take these
men, join in their purification rites and pay their expenses, so that everyone can have
their heads shaved. Then everybody will know there is no truth in these reports
about you but that you yourself are living in obedience to the law.
The next day Paul took the men and purified himself along with them”
Paul’s doomed plan & futile hope
“The plan backfires …”
When the seven days were nearly over, some Jews from the province of Asia
saw Paul at the temple. They stirred up the whole crowd and seized him
shouting, ‘Men of Israel, this is the man who teaches all men everywhere
against our people and our law and this place…”

24. A new voice emerges
“The viral power of conversation and connections”
Acts 18: “Paul left Aquila and Priscilla at
Ephesus. Meanwhile a Jew named Apollos, a
native of Alexandria came to Ephesus…
He was a learned man with a thorough
knowledge of Scripture. … instructed in the way
of the Lord, spoke with great fervor & taught
about Jesus accurately, though he only knew the
baptism of John. P & A heard him, invited him
to their home and explained the way of God to
him more adequately.
(went to Corinth) he was a great help to those
who by grace had believed. For he vigorously
refuted the Jews in public debate, proving from
the Scriptures that Jesus was the Christ”
Intellectual
Accuracy which
results from
carefulness
Relentless pure
pursuit of Jesus &
truth
Educated in Jewish
reasoning
Pastoral
Eloquent and
rhetorically trained
Organic and gradual
conversion that included ‘pre-
gospel’ elements

25. The “Hellenist” Jews:
Contrast between East and West dispersions
Eastern (Babylon) – only
minority returned to Israel.
Wealthiest remained. Millions
remained. Pharisees camp –
purists. Powerful political
influence. Contemptuous of
Hellenist Jews. Tight knit and
ethnically pure.
Western (Hellenists) – Influenced
by Greek culture and thought.
Much more diverse and integrated
into host cultures. Translation of OT
into Greek – Septuagint. Philo was
key. He taught many who became
Christians and influenced them
heavily.
“So there were two worlds in Jerusalem side by side: the one represented the
old Israel, groping back into the darkness of the past; the other, young Israel,
stretching forth its hands to where the dawn of a new day was about to break.”
Edersheim.
“Act 6:1 “In those days, the Grecian Jews among them complained against
the Hebraic Jews because their widows were being overlooked in the daily
distribution of food.”

26. New voice from a new city:
Fertile interaction of Jewish mind with Greek thought
Alexandria – the New York of the
ancient world.
Three worlds met – Africa, Asia and
Europe.
Wealthy port, huge cosmopolitan
populace.
One eighth of Population was
Jewish (1m from 7.8m). Ran whole
grain trade, and the harbour.
Philo’s brother, Alexander, was rich
banker like Medici.
. “When the Jew stepped outside the narrow circle, he was confronted by
Grecianism. In the forum, in the market, in the counting house, in the street.
Refined, elegant, profound, supremely attractive… One step remained – frankly to
recognise truth in the results of Greek thought.”
Thus they recognised deeper truths in Moses – under the letter not in the letter.

27. How integration occurs…

28. Alexandria and the ‘Logos’ of Philo
• Greek idea of “Logos” – ‘archetypal Idea’ or ‘’world reason” that pervades
matter
• Note – this goes back to the creation and the nature of matter….
• “Memra” – frequently used in Targumim = ‘God-as-revealing-himself”
• Embryonic Trinitarianism???
• Logos = ‘shadow’ which the Light of God casts as the matter is his habitation
• Image of God upon which man was made
• Logos connects reality of God with materiality of world/mankind
• Announces & interprets man to will and mind of God – mediator
• Logos = high priest & paraclete, sun whose rays illuminate man, medium of
divine revelation to the soul
• Logos = Melchisedek, King of righteousness and peace
The Alexandrian ‘ingredients’ -
The cake that Philo baked -

29. John & Hebrews build on Philo:
How???
• Logos of Philo is shadowy and unreal – Platonic.
• No need for an atonement
• High priest intercedes but has no sacrifice to make as the basis of
intercession least of all Himself
• OT types are only typologies/ideas not typological fact
“In the beginning
was the Word … and
the Word was made
flesh and dwelt
among us”
“In the past God spoke to our
forefathers by the prophets but in
these last days he has spoken to us by
His son, whom he appointed heir of all
things, and through whom he made
the universe. The Son is the radiance
of God’s glory and the exact
representation of his being, sustaining
all things by his powerful word”
JOHN
HEBREWS - APOLLOS

30. Prepared by Alexandria, Apollos picked the baton from
Paul and extended it…
• Free from the ‘Jerusalem’ pull and history.
• Mind expanded by the Alexandrian/Greek/Philo teaching
• Highly skilled in debate and philosophy
• Took Gospel to its logical conclusions fearlessly
Philo had no successor. In him Hellenism completed its cycle. Its
message and mission were finished. ..it needed, like Apollos its
great representative in the church, two things – the baptism of
John to the knowledge of sin and to have the way of God more
fully expounded.
On the other hand Eastern Judaism … was incapable of
transformation. It must go to its final completion – either be true
or swept aside and destroyed.

31. The ‘sins’ of Hebrews are all religious.
“Don’t underestimate Jesus”
“Religious” sins (piety & ritual) were holding them back from grasping
supremacy of Jesus. One foot in the camp, and one foot out. Dragging
Jesus/gospel back under the domain of the Mosaic law and custom
2:1 How shall we
escape if we
neglect such a
great salvation?
“Since this work of God in
Jesus was not accompanied by
supernatural fanfare we can
afford to treat it as an optional
extra. It is less dangerous to
ignore Jesus than Moses….”
It is far more dangerous to
ignore the message God has
given us in Jesus than it was to
ignore the angelic messages.

33. The Devastation of its Destruction

34. The Devastation of its Destruction

35. So who wrote Hebrews?

36. The theme of Hebrews:
Christ & the rule of humanity

37. The Devastation of its Destruction

43. Wailing Wall

49. The Devastation of its Destruction

53. Church on Sunday /
work on monday

55. Desert Fathers

61. Masada

67. Ancient Alexandria

70. Cosmos

72. Bonhoffer

75. Flossenbürg concentration camp, general and administrative detainee area