I could study nothing but Scripture and John Owen’s Commentary on Hebrews for the rest of my life, and I would not feel constricted at all. There is so much to it. Today for sermon prep I was reading Owen on 10:19: “we have confidence to enter the holy places.” Holy places refers to the Most Holy Place, or innermost room, of the Old Testament tabernacle, which typified God’s presence. Owen writes: “The nature of gospel worship consists in this, that it is an entrance with boldness into the presence of God. However men may multiply duties, of what sort…

I am resuming my Hebrews study in 5:1-10 with Peter T. O’Brien and John Owen as my aides. What has struck me most so far about Owen is his concern for application. The structure of his presentation is a bit different from many modern commentaries. First, he goes through the verse and analyzes its grammar, syntax, and flow of thought (interacting with Greek, Syriac, and Latin manuscripts – pretty amazing for his times!). Not a word is missed in this section: he is meticulous and scrutinizing the contours of the text. Then Owen goes through the same verse all over…

Markus Bockmuehl helpfully points out that the alleged supersessionism of the early and middle chapters of Hebrews is seriously tempered by the later chapters, and particularly chapter 11, with its appeal to old covenant believers as the “great cloud of witnesses” who exemplify faith in God to the new covenant community. “The undoubtedly supersessionist flavour of Heb. 8 and 9 is seriously misread of one takes it as the author’s general theological principle for the heritage of Israel and of the Old Testament. As the context of those chapters makes clear, the claim of obsolescence is in fact highly specific…

“The extent to which the argument of Hebrews is structured as exegesis of Ps. 110, with other texts cited to aid this exegesis, is such that more than one scholar has called Hebrews itself a commentary on Ps. 110.” Richard Bauckham, “The Divinity of Jesus Christ in the Epistle to the Hebrews,” in The Epistle to the Hebrews and Christian Theology, (Eerdmans, 2009), 18.

Its been called the greatest commentary on Hebrews ever written. Its been said that what Luther did for Galatians, Owen did for Hebrews. Its been said that he who enters this work has entered into the heights of theology. Just ordered it. Cannot wait to dig in.

Hebrews 1:5-14 consists of a series of quotes from the Old Testament serving to establish the superiority of Christ over angels. My initial thought in tackling this section was, why so many OT quotations? Wouldn’t one or two have sufficed to prove his point, instead of seven (Psalm 2, I Samuel 7:14, Deuteronomy 32, Psalm 104, Psalm 45, Psalm 102, Psalm 84)? I don’t know the answer to this, and Ellingworth (my primary commentator) did not address it. Some cautious but vague suggestions would be (1) for greater emphasis on Christ’s supremacy and (2) to show how his presentation is…

This morning I studied Hebrews 1:6: “And again, when (God) brings the firstborn into the world, he says, ‘let all God’s angels worship him.’” Amidst other questions, I was curious what event (if any) is being referred to with the words “when (God) brings his firstborn into the world.” I was surprised to discover that Lane, Ellingworth, and Attridge (three weighty commentators) all argue that it refers to the Son’s enthronement/exaltation. I’m not exactly sure how to assess this, but its amazing how frequently the motif of Christ’s exaltation/enthronement keeps recurring throughout the commentaries. I think there is something to…

In my own words, 10 things we learn about Jesus Christ from Hebrews 1:1-4: 1) He is the greatest revelation of God in history.2) He is the heir of all things – i.e., his “inheritance” is reality itself.3) Everything was made through Him.4) By addition of (2) + (3), He is the key agent at both the beginning and the end of time (cf. Col. 1:16).5) He is the shining out (apaugasma) of God’s glory. 6) He is the full representation of God’s very essence or being.7) He upholds the entire universe through his authoritative power. Without him, nothing would…

I’ve finished my word-by-word study of Hebrews 1:1-4, the introduction to the book. It is a fascinating and theologically rich passage, a single Greek sentence, perhaps the densest summary of the person and work of Jesus Christ in the Bible. Christ’s prophetic, priestly, and kingly offices are all featured: prophetic: “(God) has spoken to us by His Son” priestly: “making purification for sins” kingly: “he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high” I see the key word of the whole sentence as ekathisen, “he sat down.” What the writer of Hebrews ends with, amidst all his…

When I am doing a study, I often find it helpful to write down a succinct summary of various noteworthy conclusions I make so that I can remember them and refer to them in the future. So, as I work my way through Hebrews, I will be making notes from time to time on things that particularly stand out to me. These notes will not be exhaustive or consistent; just occasional thoughts, quotes, insights, questions, comparisons, etc. My first reading was on 1:1-1:2a: “Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets,…