Hebrews Through the Centuries

The form and content of the Epistle to the Hebrews mean that it effectively stands alone in the New Testament. Offered as a "word of exhortation" (13:22) by an author believed at various points to be Paul or any number of alternatives, the epistle focuses upon the 'reality' of Christ and the impact it ought to be having on the lives of those believers addressed. Apparently worried by the potential faltering of those addressed, the author aims to demonstrate to them the true strength of their confession, a strength rooted in the overwhelming superiority of the figure and actions of Jesus Christ, and to convince them of the absolute necessity of a faithful and enduring response to this new and better way. Influential from very early on (cf. 1 Clement), the author's christological tour-de-force and the way of faith envisaged for those addressed have continued to generate echoes across the generations.The purpose of this commentary is to show how Hebrews has influenced readers and hearers in different periods and contexts. This exegetical tradition provides a range of interpretations which is at the same time both limited (in that the text has not and cannot mean just anything) and open-ended (as in there are no restrictions on what was and is possible within that 'limitation'). In researching the afterlife of such a biblical text, what is of significance is not why these readers were-more or less-wrong (as historical critics tend to imply), but rather what did they see in the text and why did they see it?