1 -- The Setting of Hebrews
2 -- The Cast of Characters
3 -- The Context at Corinth/Ephesus (13:22-25)
4 -- Closing Clues (13:1-19)
5 -- The Main Takeaway (4:14-16; 10:25-31)
6 -- Remember the Good Times (5:11-6:2; 10:32-39)
7 -- The Impossibility of Repentance (6:3-8; 10:26-31)
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1. "So how will you 'inspire' them to keep going in their faith?" Tertius asked Apollos.
"We'll both reinforce their faith and warn them about the consequences of turning away. We'll alternate between examples and admonitions, between teaching and preaching, as it were."
"What will be your central argument?" Tertius added.
"Since they are worried about how they will get ongoing atonement now -- because the temple has been destroyed -- we will hit that hardest. They believe that Christ died for the sins of Israel, but most Christians up till now haven't realized the full power of his death. They haven't realized that his death has atoned for all sins in all times."
"Yes, I never even heard Paul make such a sweeping claim. He did talk about the Corinthian church as a temple of God, but he still always assumed that the temple would be there to cover our ongoing sins," Tertius said.
"Indeed," Apollos agreed, "he was arrested in Jerusalem on the charge of taking a Gentile into the temple precincts. It was denied that he did it, but it would have totally fit with his thinking. He saw you Gentiles as full participants in Israel. And he saw you as full participants in the ongoing activity of the temple."
"So, you will argue that Jesus' death was a full replacement for the temple?" Tertius asked.
"Far beyond that, Tertius. We will show that the offering of Christ is that toward which the entire Levitical sacrificial system of all time was pointing to. Jesus' offering is the reality of which all the sacrifices of all history were shadowy illustrations."
"A little like Philo's shadows and the ideal reality?"
"I might use a little of that language from my youth in Alexandria," Apollos said. "But this is not just about ideas. Christ didn't think about atonement. He actually ascended through the layers of the skies into the highest sky where the throne of God is. If the universe is a cosmic tabernacle, Jesus entered the Most Holy Place of the universe."
2. "So how will you lay out your argument?" Tertius said, getting out a piece of papyrus to map out the sermon in the form of a letter.
"Let us start with a celebration of Christ's enthronement and a brief reminder of the story," Apollos said.
"A narratio?" Tertius asked.
"Yes," Apollos said with a smile. "I can see you've had some rhetorical training. We will begin with just a little bit of the story, focusing on the exaltation of Jesus as the Son of God at God's right hand."
"Then we will alternate 'teaching and preaching,' as you said."
"Yes, we will give them examples and arguments for faith. Then we will warn them about the consequences of not continuing in faith."
"And when will you get to the central argument?" Tertius asked.
"I would like to ease into it. We'll give the key proposition at the end of the introduction. Jesus is a merciful and faithful high priest (2:17-18). He was made just like us so he could identify with our struggles and temptations."
"I think it would be effective to have your strongest warning right before you get into your thickest argument," Tertius added.
"That sounds effective," Apollos said. "We will start our high priestly argument (5:1-10) but then suddenly interrupt it with our strongest warning about the impossibility of repentance if they fall away (5:11-6:12). Then we will dive deep into the argument (7:1ff)."
3. "And how will that argument go?" Tertius asked.
"We will argue that Christ is a superior priest who offered a superior sacrifice in a superior temple."
"I love it!" Tertius exclaimed. "So they need not worry about the destruction of the temple. Christ has their sins -- and ours -- covered!"
"Absolutely. And now, they should not sin going forward until Christ soon returns."
"Do you plan to lay it out in that threefold way -- priest, sacrifice, sanctuary?"
"I think the last two will probably intertwine a bit, but yes. We will give a significant time to the fact that Christ's priesthood is the truly effective one, a heavenly one (Heb. 7). We will show that the early priests were always only symbolic of him. I'm thinking we will use the image of Melchizedek from Genesis and the psalm that prophesied Jesus enthronement."
"I love it. What next?"
"Then we might talk about the new covenant Christ has made in the true, heavenly tabernacle (Heb. 8). I don't want to mention the temple explicitly. I want to talk about the wilderness tabernacle to get to the very foundation of atonement. The tabernacle shows us the reality that has always been underlying the earthly temple."
"And then you'll get to Christ's offering in a heavenly sanctuary?"
"Yes, the climax of the argument will be Christ's heavenly offering in a heavenly sanctuary (9:1-10:18). We will use the cosmos as the true temple. The earth and the lower heavens are like the outer room and courts of the heavenly tabernacle."
"But the highest heaven is the true Most Holy Place?" Tertius asked.
"Yes. And ultimately it will be everything when this created realm is shaken and destroyed, then recreated in perfection. At that point only the unshakeable will remain and everything will be part of God's throne room."
"Heaven will come to earth!"
"Yes, just as John has seen in his vision (Rev. 21)."
4. "So, how will you then proceed when your argument is finished?"
"The final part of the sermon letter will then warm down, if you would. We'll put a direct warning on both sides of the central argument (4:14-16; 10:19-31). So, after the main argument is over, we will have another direct warning."
"And then?" Tertius continued, all the while taking notes on his piece of papyrus.
"I would like to give them an exemplum, a catalog of examples of faith" (Heb. 11).
"Wonderful. Then how will you come to the close?"
"I'm thinking another warning, but in a more conciliatory mode. Perhaps I shall use the topos of training or discipline (Heb. 12). Perhaps we could draw on the proverb about how the the Lord disciplines those whom he loves like a father does his sons."
"And perhaps end with a closing something like a letter's end?" (Heb. 13).
"Yes, perhaps with some of the miscellaneous admonitions we have mentioned."
"This is going to be far more eloquent than any letter I have ever helped write," Tertius finally said.
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