Hebrews: Jesus Our Mediator with God

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.

Hebrews 13:8

Around 65-70AD,  Christians in the Roman Empire suffered severe persecution at the hands of Emperor Nero. Prompting some, notably Jewish Christians to want to return to Judaism to avoid persecution. Forgetting the purpose of Jesus. 

Their lives had become very uprooted and desperate. Their livelihoods and social status were threatened. Their only way out was to either follow the Roman Gods or return to Judaism.  

In response a very skilled author wrote the book of Hebrews to this group to exhort them to maintain their faith in Jesus. To not forget that Jesus had come to earth in human form to die for their sins and become their intercessor with God. 

Traditionally, this letter was assigned to Paul, but likely not. The language of the letter, while very complex, like Paul’s writing, has far less personal comments and doesn’t follow Paul’s normal style of bold assertions. Instead, it is written almost as a very logical legal defense.  Many people have been assigned the authorship; from the author of Luke, to Clement of Rome, one of Paul students or even Apollos. 

Origen, the great early Christian historian, says it best regarding the authorship, who wrote the epistle is known to God alone. I agree with Origen and find trying to figure out who wrote this masterpiece is a distraction to the wonderful message of the good news of Jesus, which is contained in Hebrews. 

But this is a very hard book to read and understand without knowing in advance what and where the author is saying and going. So let me try to help with some background information.