Chapter 1

Hebrews chapter 1 has a ripper of an opening!

No preamble, no greetings[1]. Straight into the core of the matter.

So let’s do likewise!

This book starts off in a very appropriate way – the first chapter is entirely about Christ.

The author sees Christ as the very last word in communication between God and mankind – previously He has sent prophets, priests and scriptures; but the unusual thing about Christ’s coming is that this time God has spoken to us Himself. Face to face.

It’s the clearest way anyone can speak.

Now, the Author –

Wait a minute. I have to go through 14 chapters of this. “The Author” is a bit of a mouthful/ long phrase to type! So let us, here and now, declare it to be written by the hypothetical apostle “Mick”. For the duration of this book in my commentary, if you see Mick, you know we’re talking about the author of this book.

Anyway, where were we? Oh, yes. Now Mick is writing to Hebrews (i.e. Jews) who have a very clear idea of God. Specifically, they get the rule that there is only one God, who is NOT in human form!

Mick is under no illusions – this is one of his toughest missions ever. But he understands how to get under a Jew’s radar – he starts off quoting the Scriptures.

Jews were really into this use of scripture, so this was just the right approach to us with them.

Mick takes pains to ensure that the reader doesn’t miss anything here. He wants to make sure that you understand – Jesus is most definitely NOT an angel, He is Lord.

So where do we go from here? What point does this passage have for us?

Well, it’s fairly straightforward. The meaning for US is that Jesus is Lord. No mucking around, no beg-your-pardons. Some Christians can get a little funny about this, and no wonder – we live in a pluralistic society, and many people have a lot of trouble with the seeming “intolerance” of this fact. But Hebrews leaves no room to maneuver. As far as Mick is concerned, it’s settled, and we can move on to the next big idea. Jesus isn’t an angel and He isn’t just one of us – He is God in human form.

[1] It is this that casts doubt on Paul being the author of this book. If he wrote it, it’s the only book in which he didn’t start off with a personal introduction.