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Hebrews 7:1-10, Hebrews 7:11-28

Understanding Series

Donald A. Hagner

The Enigma of Melchizedek and His Priestly Order In order to make the argument about Christ’s high priesthood as convincing as it can be, the author begins by establishing the great importance of Melchizedek, who resembles the Son of God in many respects and hence serves as a type of Christ. His superiority to Abraham and Levi is then made plain. This in turn leads to a discussion of the significa...

2. A Call to Persevere

Hebrews 10:19-39

Understanding Series

Donald A. Hagner

The Grounds for Faithfulness With his central theological argument concluded, the author turns now to some practical applications of what he has so effectively argued. Thus, as is true throughout his epistle, he is never content simply to present theology without showing its practical relevance to his readers. Indeed, he has had his Jewish readers in mind through all the argumentation of the prec...

3. An Exhortation Inspired by the Exodus

Hebrews 3:7-19

Understanding Series

Donald A. Hagner

The powerful exhortation offered by the author at this point depends upon an illustration drawn from Psalm 95:7–11 (cf. Num. 14:22ff.), and in particular upon an analogy that is drawn between the experience of Israel and that of the church. We encounter in this passage, therefore, an example of exodus typology* that effectively directs the readers’ attention to the seriousness of rejecting Jesus. ...

4. By Faith

Hebrews 11:1-40

Understanding Series

Donald A. Hagner

The Nature and Importance of Faith The mention of the importance of faith in the last two verses of the preceding chapter leads naturally to this famous chapter on faith. It is impossible to know whether the author is making use of a source, which he now takes over in part or totally, or whether he is composing a fresh catalogue of heroes on the model of existing examples. Extensive reviews of th...

5. Christ's Sacrifice Once for All

Hebrews 10:1-18

Understanding Series

Donald A. Hagner

The Ineffectiveness of the Law The argument of the preceding two chapters is restated in this section (10:1–18), bringing the central argument of the epistle, namely, the imperfection of the old order and the perfection of the new, to a conclusion. The only new material in this section is found in verses 5–10, where the author’s thesis finds further support in his exegesis of Psalm 40:6–8. All th...

6. Concluding Exhortations

Hebrews 13:1-25

Understanding Series

Donald A. Hagner

A Call to Ethical Living The author has concluded the main part of his epistle, having argued his points with convincing forcefulness, and now turns to various matters he desires to mention before concluding. chapter 13, therefore, is like an appendix. This is not to say, however, that the material in this chapter is unrelated to the main part of the epistle. Indeed, some of the author’s main con...

7. God Disciplines His Sons

Hebrews 12:1-13, Hebrews 12:14-29

Understanding Series

Donald A. Hagner

Looking to Jesus as the Perfect Pattern With the glorious history of the faithful in mind, our author turns now to his readers. The standard of faith has been set by the record of God’s faithful people in the past, who moved out into the unknown with confidence and who endured hardship without giving up their expectation of a future fulfillment of the promise. But the author now comes to the supre...

8. Jesus Greater Than Moses

Hebrews 3:1-6

Understanding Series

Donald A. Hagner

Having established the superiority of Christ to the angels and having sustained the point by a lengthy discussion of the significance of the incarnation, the author now turns to the superiority of Jesus to Moses, and by implication the superiority of Jesus to the law. Given the commitments of Jewish readers—for whom Moses and the law are of central importance—the argument is astonishingly bold, an...

9. Jesus Made Like His Brothers

Hebrews 2:5-18

Understanding Series

Donald A. Hagner

Christ is Superior to the Angels Despite His Humanity Without question the greatest obstacle to the author’s argument about the superiority of the Son is the authentic humanity of the Son, which involved him in both suffering and death. For the first time our author uses the name of the man from Nazareth, Jesus (v. 9). The humanity, the suffering, and the death of Jesus all seem to point with unmi...

10. The Blood of Christ

Hebrews 9:11-28

Understanding Series

Donald A. Hagner

The Definitive Nature of Christ’s Work We now come to the first detailed statement of the definitive nature of Christ’s work—an argument that will be restated in several forms before we reach the end of this major section of the epistle in 10:18. It is now convincingly shown that, although the work of Christ corresponds in considerable detail to that of the levitical priesthood, it stands in cont...

11. The High Priest of a New Covenant

Hebrews 8:1-13

Understanding Series

Donald A. Hagner

The True High Priest and His Ministry In this passage the author sums up his argument thus far but also brings it to a new stage. He continues to expound the definitive character of Christ’s work, now drawing the contrast in a new and fascinating manner by using the language of shadow and reality. 8:1 The point of the argument centers on the actual reality and sufficiency of our high priest. He ha...

12. The High Priesthood of Jesus

Hebrews 4:14-5:10

Understanding Series

Donald A. Hagner

In the last verses of chapter 4 the author again exhorts his readers to faithfulness, but this time on the basis of his argument concerning the high priesthood of Jesus. The connection has already been made between Jesus’ high priesthood and his ability to help his people (see 2:17–18), but now it is elaborated and leads the author into the beginning of a discourse on why Jesus is qualified to be ...

13. The Legitimacy and Superiority of Christ’s Priesthood

Hebrews 7:11-28, Hebrews 7:1-10

Understanding Series

Donald A. Hagner

14. The Old Testament Ritual Described

Hebrews 9:1-10

Understanding Series

Donald A. Hagner

We are now at the beginning of a lengthy section (9:1–10:18) that many regard as the heart of the epistle’s argument. In this section the author draws out parallels and contrasts between the old levitical ritual and the priestly work of Christ in considerable detail. Much of the argumentation up to this point has had precisely this goal in view. Indeed, the argument of this major section has alrea...

15. The Remaining Promise of Rest

Hebrews 4:1-13

Understanding Series

Donald A. Hagner

4:1 The rest offered to Israel was not entered into and God still offers the promise of entering his rest to his people (cf. vv. 3, 6, 11). It follows that that promise cannot have referred to entry and possession of the land, but must have been a more fundamental kind of rest. The key word rest is drawn from the original quotation (3:11; cf. 3:18) and is the subject of the exposition that follows...

16. The Son Superior to Angels

Hebrews 1:1-14

Understanding Series

Donald A. Hagner

God’s Definitive Revelation The magnificent opening verses of this passage provide an immediate expression of the author’s theological perspective: he moves from past revelation to definitive revelation, from God’s word to the OT “fathers” to his final word through his Son, Jesus Christ. He gives first his doctrine of Christ in order to set the tone for the entire book. The introductory christolog...

17. The Unchangeable Character of God’s Purpose

Hebrews 6:13-20

Understanding Series

Donald A. Hagner

As a new prelude to his resumption of one of the key arguments in the book (in chap. 7), the writer stresses God’s complete fidelity to his promises to Abraham, and thus to Israel. Despite certain implications the author will draw from his argument about the priestly order of Melchizedek (see esp. 7:12), God has not changed course, nor have his purposes changed. In the definitive high priest, Jesu...

18. Warning Against Falling Away

Hebrews 5:11-6:12

Understanding Series

Donald A. Hagner

The Importance of Christian Maturity Before continuing his argument concerning Melchizedek, the author pauses for an exhortation to maturity which is followed by remarks on the seriousness of apostasy. This digression is important particularly because of the information it provides concerning the character and situation of the addressees. 5:11–12 The author apparently regards the argument concerni...

19. Warning Against Refusing God

Hebrews 12:14-29, Hebrews 12:1-13

Understanding Series

Donald A. Hagner

20. Warning to Pay Attention

Hebrews 2:1-4

Understanding Series

Donald A. Hagner

These four verses provide a parenthetical exhortation, the first of a series of such exhortations following the author’s well-designed style and method. He will not discuss theology in the abstract, but constantly calls his readers to its practical significance and to the appropriate response. He writes indeed as an accomplished theologian but also as a preacher with distinct pastoral concerns. 2...

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