The Epistle to the Hebrews

This is one of four inspired epistles that were written to establish Jewish converts in the truth of Christianity. These epistles (Hebrews, James, 1 and 2 Peter)—sometimes called “The Hebrew Christian Epistles”—deal specifically with things that concern believers who come from a background of Judaism. The epistle to the Hebrews deals with the struggle involved in a Jewish believer’s leaving Judaism for Christianity. Having been raised in the long and rich heritage of Judaism, which had been given to them by God through Moses, it is understandable why they would have difficulty in letting go of it. Their consciences had been formed to embrace the Judaistic way of approach to God; and to give it up made them feel as though they were violating their consciences. What they needed to understand was that the very same God who had established Judaism long ago was now calling them out of it because He had something better for them with His Son in Christianity. The writer of the epistle calls this “the new and living way” of approaching God (Heb. 10:20).



Nonetheless, if the things that are presented in this epistle are understood properly, and acted on in faith, they would deliver the Jewish believer from that system and establish him firmly in the Christian way.