Grace
Theological Journal 8.1 (1987) 131-140
Copyright
© 1987 by Grace Theological Seminary. Cited with permission.
SEVEN THEOLOGICAL THEMES
IN HEBREWS
MERLAND RAY
MILLER
By examining the relationship of literary form to theological
argument in the book of Hebrews, seven theological themes occurring
throughout Hebrews are elucidated, each of which is especially preva-
lent in 11:1-12:2. This smaller section emerges as a theological
micro-
cosm of the book as a whole. Upon close inspection, these seven
themes can be seen to function as a forceful appeal for the readers not
to abandon the New Covenant community for the Old, but rather to
endure in faith. The faith that brings such endurance is that which
focuses on Jesus, the Pioneer and Perfecter of faith, who himself has
endured the cross and has sat down at the right hand of God the
Father.
* * *
INTRODUCTION
The task of interpreting a passage of
Scripture is a delicate balanc-
ing act.
For the exegete who is sensitive to the literary forms of
biblical
literature and intent on finding the theological argument of a
passage,
there must be a third concern, that of demonstrating how the
two interact.
In the context of examining the relationship of literary
form to
theological argument in Hebrews,1
seven theological themes
were
discovered. These themes, which occur throughout Hebrews
(but with greater frequency in Heb 11:1-12:2), are (1) faith,
(2) per-
fection, (3)
promise, (4) endurance, (5) superiority, (6) witness, and
(7) inheritance. The meanings of the Greek word groups
associated
with
these themes are discussed briefly below. The emphasis, how-
ever, is
on their development within Hebrews as a whole, and within
the
concluding exhortation (
1The
literary form of Heb 11:1-12:2 has been defined in chap. 1 of my
unpublished
dissertation, "The Theological Argument of Hebrews 11 in Light of
Its Literary
Form" (St. Louis: Concordia Seminary, 1984) and in the article
"What
Is the Literary Form of Hebrews 11?", forthcoming in JETS. My thesis
is that Heb 11:1-12:2
is an encomium to Jesus.
132 GRACE
THEOLOGICAL JOURNAL
FAITH
The concept
of 'faith' is not only central to Heb 11:1-12:2 (27x)
and to
the book of Hebrews as a whole (41x), but to the entire scope
of
biblical revelation. Therefore it is imperative to grasp the scriptural
meaning of
faith in order to understand how Hebrews employs it.
In extra-biblical Greek, this concept generally signifies "to
trust,
rely
on." With a personal object it can acquire the nuance "to obey.”2
In the LXX, the root pist- almost exclusively translates the root
Nmx.3 The best examples are found in Gen 15:6 and Hab 2:4. The
Hebrew root
occurs often in the Hiphil stem where, according to
Weiser, it
means "to declare God NmAx<n," "to say Amen to God.”4
Used
in this
sense, the word denotes a response to the consistency of God.
The importance of the OT for the writers of the NT leads to
frequent use
of this concept. The new meanings given to the concept
in the
NT are: acceptance of preaching (I Thes 1:8-9); content of
faith (Rom
10:9); personal relation to Christ (Gal
message
itself (Gal
differentiated from the OT meanings to warrant their being taken as
"Christian"
usages of the term.5
In the book of Hebrews, the concept pist-, like so many theo-
logical
concepts in the book, serves the hortatory purpose of the
author. It
is closely related to the word of God (4:2, 3) and the
promise of
God (
which the
OT history is presented, first with the unbelief of the desert
generation
(3:7-4:11), and later with the faith of the elders (chap. 11).
This hortatory use of faith has misled some into taking pi<stij in
Hebrews 11
to mean exhortation. The concept has been identified
with obedience
(Bultmann, Eichler6), hope (Huxhold7) and endurance
(Graesser8;
the word is u[pomonh<, also translated
"steadfastness" or
"perseverance ").
The underlying problem with these hortatory definitions is that
faith is
conceived of as a virtue or human power. That Graesser sees
2Rudolf Bultmann and Artur
Weiser, "pisteu<w" etc., TDNT 6 (1968) 176-79.
3Edwin
Hatch and Henry A. Redpath, A Concordance
to the Septuagint and the
other Greek Versions of the Old Testament (Including
the Apocryphal Books)
(2 vols.; Graz-Austria: Academische Druck-U. Verlagsanstalt,
1954),2.1137-38.
4Bultmann, "pi<stij" 187.
5Ibid.,205-14.
6Johannes
Eichler, "Inheritance,
7H. N. Huxhold, "Faith in the Epistle to the Hebrews," CTM
38 (1967).
8Erich Graesser, Der Glaube
im Hebraeerbrief (Marburg: Elwert, 1965).
MILLER: SEVEN THEOLOGICAL THEMES IN
HEBREWS 133
faith in
Hebrews in this way is clearly illustrated by his contrast with
Paul's use
of the term:
With
Paul, generatio fidei. ..whereby
faith-when it has first of all
been
awakened through the Word-is then itself an "eschatological
phenomenon,"
that is, "that which conveys justification to men on the
basis of dikaiosu<nh
Here, with Hb, cooperatio fidei, whereby faith as
instrument. ..is brought in by the hearer himself as the means, as the
power,
with the help of which he puts himself in a wholly settled
position and
perseveres in it.9
As a further contrast to Paul, Graesser contends that faith in
Hebrews is
not faith in Christ: "The specifically Christian ('Christo-
logical')
faith finds no further development in Hb, neither in the
reflective
manner of the Apostle Paul, nor in the unreflective manner
of the
Synoptics."10
One need look no further than Heb 12:2
and the call to "look to
Jesus"
to conclude that in Heb 11:1-12:2 faith is
preeminently
Christological. The whole "faith cycle" beginning at
the
climactic identification of faith (the means of endurance) with
"seeing the unseen," that is, Jesus himself. Taking the
book of
Hebrews as a
whole, it seems clear in light of the development of the
teaching on
the High Priestly ministry of Christ, and the strong
exhortation to
"enter God's presence boldly" on the basis of that
ministry (
tological. If
the phrase pi<stij ei]j Xristo<n
faith in Christ' is not
used in
Hebrews, the idea is certainly implied throughout. Even
where
faith refers simply to God (6:1; 11:6), the background is the
teaching of
chap. I, that Christ, in contrast to the angels, is
God.
In developing the point that faith is a virtue provided by man,
Graesser
contrasts the view with that of Paul, which connects faith
with the
Word of God. But in Hebrews, as in Paul, the object of faith
is the
word of promise. First, by contrast, unbelief is the rejection of
the word
which is heard (4:1-3). Then, positively, faith focuses on the
promise (
promise in
mind it is best to understand faith in Hebrews (indeed,
throughout
Scripture as a whole) in the general sense of trust: "from
a
purely formal standpoint there is nothing very distinctive in the
usage of
the NT and early Chr. writings as compared with Gk. usage.
As in
Greek.....pisteu<ein means ‘to rely on’, ‘to trust’, ‘to
believe’.“11
9Ibid., 66;
my translation.
10Ibid.,79.
11Bultmann, "pi<stij" 203.
134 GRACE THEOLOGICAL
JOURNAL
The
connection of this trust with God's Word is aptly summed up by
Gerhard
Delling who, in another context (and almost in passing),
speaks of pi<stij
which is firm confidence in the fulfillment of God's
promise."12
In Heb 11:1-12:2 faith may be defined as
an attitude of trust by
which the
believer sees the unseen and thereby sets his hope on the
divine
promise. The elders trusted that they would eventually be
"brought to completion" and qualified to enter their
heavenly father-
land,
that is, the presence of God. They therefore anticipated the
work of
Christ as High Priest which would make that entrance
possible for
them. They "saw the unseen" both in terms of time (the
future
event of the cross) and of space (looking to heaven they
considered
themselves strangers on earth). Inasmuch as they looked
to God,
they also looked to Jesus who is the eternal God.
The believers to whom Hebrews is addressed live in the age of
the New
Covenant and the fulfillment of the promises. The event of
the
cross and the current ministry of Christ in intercession are the
bases for
confident entrance into God's presence in prayer. They live
now,
however, like the elders once did, on the earthly scene, where
there is a
great race to be run in order finally to reach the heavenly
city.
Their situation involves suffering, which calls for endurance. The
key to
enduring is faith, confident trust in God's promise that "He
shall come
and not delay" (
fecter of
faith to lead them on to their final perfection.
PERFECTION
The concept of perfection (tel-) is the second most common
theme in
Hebrews. In extra-biblical Greek and the NT apart from
Hebrews, the
meanings revolve around the idea of bringing a person
or
action to completion.13 Most crucial for Hebrews, however, is a
technical use
from the Septuagint.
The phrase teleio<w ta>j xei?ra<j tinoj... is to be understood along the
same lines. ...It is. ..used for the Hbr.
"to fill the hands [xlemi
vydAyA-tx,]...That someone's hands are made free from
stain, or that
he is made free from stain, means finally that the one concerned is
"able to practice the cultus,"
cf. Lv. 21:10.14
It is appropriate that Hebrews, with its theme of Jesus as High
Priest, follows the cultic implications of the Septuagint. Christ is not
only
fully qualified for his ministry as priest, but it is through this
12Gerhard
Delling, "teloj," etc., TDNT
8 (1972) 86.
13Ibid.,
80-82.
14Ibid.,80-81.
MILLER: SEVEN THEOLOGICAL THEMES
IN HEBREWS 135
ministry that
he qualifies believers to approach God. This is why the
elders were
not brought to completion, since their qualification was
based on
his priestly act which came later. Delling aptly expresses
what it
means that Jesus is the teleiwth<j/ 'perfecter' (12:2):
God has qualified Jesus. .."to come
before him" in priestly action. He
has done so by the suffering (
obedience, 5:8f. As the One qualified (teleiwqei<j) for priestly ministry
before God, as the One eternally qualified (ei]j to>n ai]w?na teteleiw-
me<noj
Work...before God Christ has once and for all
"qualified" those for
whom he acts "to come directly before God" (
heavenly sanctuary as men whose sin is expiated.15
The development of the idea of perfection focuses on Jesus as the
Pioneer who leads believers to maturity in chaps. 1-6. In the
middle
section of
the book the focus is on the perfecting ministry of Christ,
something that
could not be accomplished by the Levitical priesthood
(chaps. 7-10). Then in 11:1-12:2, the elders had not yet come
to
completion (
the
basis for their qualification to approach God. Believers of the
present age,
however, with the groundwork of Jesus' sacrifice already
laid, are
regarded as complete (as are the elders since the church age
has
dawned, cf.
endurance is
accomplished by faith, that is, by looking to the Pioneer
and
Perfecter of faith, Jesus (12:2), the one who led the way through
suffering and
who qualifies his people to come before God.
PROMISE
The concept of 'promise' (e]paggel-) is unique for two reasons.
First, as a
theological idea it practically originated with the Bible; the
Greek gods
did not make promises, and the gods of the ANE did not
keep
promises. Second, the verbal root itself is very rare in the LXX;
while
promise is a basic OT concept, this particular root is almost
non-existent in the Greek of the LXX.
In extra-biblical Greek, the root has many meanings, but the
common
factor in all of them has been mentioned already: "In all
these
examples there is reference to man's promises to a god, but
never e]paggeli<ai qeou?... There is only one known example of the
promise of a
god.”16
15Ibid., 83.
16Julius Schniewind and Gerhard
Friedrich, "e]pagge<llw”
etc., TDNT 2 (1964),
578-79.
136 GRACE THEOLOGICAL
JOURNAL
Of the four
occurrences of the root in the LXX that have a
Hebrew
equivalent, the most instructive is in Esth 4:7. In this verse
e]phggei<lato
translates rmaxA / 'he said '. The LXX translators took the
words of
Haman to be a "promise." The same is true of the divine
promise
throughout the OT. When God says something, it can be
taken as
promised. A good example of this is found in Gen 15:5:
"Then
He brought him [Abraham] outside and said, 'Look at the sky
and count
the stars-if you can count them!' So, He
said rm,xoyva
MT = LXX ei#pen] to him, 'Thus your seed will be'." In the OT, then,
the
divine word is often the divine promise.
The NT in some instances follows the secular meaning of extra-
biblical
Greek.17 More often, though, it develops the OT
idea of
promise. The
verb refers to the promise to Abraham (e.g., Acts 7:5)
as well
as the eschatological promise (Jas
noun is
used by Paul to bring these two concepts together.
In Hebrews the promise is also associated with the promise made
to
Abraham (
hope yet
to be realized (
nature of
the promised inheritance (as developed, for example, in
because the
basis of their reception, the High Priestly work of Christ,
was not
yet complete. The believers of this present age, on the other
hand,
have possession of the promise in the sense that Christ's sacri-
fice is
complete, yet in their earthly pilgrimage they are absent from
the
promised heavenly fatherland. They therefore have need of en-
durance in
suffering in order to receive the promise, which the elders
by now
have received (
Within 11: 1-12:2, the concept e]paggel- stresses two major theo-
logical
points. First, by the repetition of the phrase pisto>j o[ e]paggei-
lo<menoj 'He who promised is trustworthy' (
pose of
God to carry out the promise is established. Second, the
contradiction of "received, but did not receive" regarding the elders
demonstrates the crucial nature of Christ's sacrifice as the basis for
the
fulfillment of God's promises.
ENDURANCE
The verbal concept of 'remain' (men-) underlies two important
theological
themes in Hebrews: (1) the permanent as contrasted with
the
temporary in God's plan, and (2) endurance in suffering.
The idea of permanence is common in extra-biblical Greek and
the LXX.
NT theology stresses (1) the immutability of God and
17Ibid., 579.
MILLER: SEVEN THEOLOGICAL THEMES IN
HEBREWS 137
divine
things (Rom 9: II; I Pet
contrast to
the transitory (I Cor
This latter theme is central to Hebrews. Beginning in chap. 7,
Melchizedek
and his priesthood are contrasted with the Levitical
order (vv
2, 23, 24). The former is eternal, the latter temporal. Thus
the
ministry of Christ has an eternal significance. His New Covenant
is the
eternal covenant (
of this
is seen in the ability of the subjects of the Mosaic covenant to
persevere
(8:9). That believers have an eternal possession is proven by
the fact
that the readers were able to take the robbery of their earthly
goods with
joy (
be
shaken (
Of greater importance for Heb 11:1-12:2 are u[pome<nein and
u[pomonh< which occur only in the final exhortation
(12:1-2). The
Greeks
regarded this as a virtue roughly equivalent to "courage." The
LXX reflects
the OT approach which considered endurance not as a
manly virtue,
but rather an inclination to trust God's promise: "While
the
Greek moralist censured the linking of u[pomonh<] with hope as an
inadmissible weakening, OT u[pomonh< issues almost wholly in hope.”19
The peculiar
LXX expression u[pome<nontej to>n ku<rion / 'waiting on
the
Lord' (cf. Ps 36 [37 MT]:9) does not occur in the NT. However,
the NT
concept of enduring the trials of this present life (I Cor 13:7)
implies
waiting on the Lord, and "apparently the centrality of faith
and the
prominence given to e]lpij ["hope"] as primary Christian
virtues
leave no place for the OT formula.”20 This seems more likely
where
faith and hope occur in the same context with endurance
(I Cor
The linking of faith with endurance is especially noteworthy in
Hebrews, where faith is seen as the means of endurance. The readers,
who have
already endured suffering (
ance for
the race ahead (
directed
toward Jesus, who in carrying out his High Priestly sacrifice
by
enduring the cross (12:2,3) is the Pioneer and Perfecter of faith.
SUPERIORITY
The concept
'better' (kreitto<n) is crucial to the theology of
Hebrews-it
occurs more than twice as often here (13x) as in the rest
of the
NT (6x). Originally a comparative of kratu<j
/ 'strong', it
18 Also
note the specialized uses of men- in
the Pastorals and the Johannine
literature; F. Hauck,
"me<nw," etc., TDNT 4 (1967) 574:-76.
19Ibid., 584.
20Ibid., 585.
138 GRACE
THEOLOGICAL JOURNAL
is used
predominantly in the LXX as a predicate adjective translat-
ing the
Hebrew expression Nmi ... bOF /
'better...than' (see Prov
21:9, 19).
In Hebrews kreitto<n is used primarily as an adjective in the
attributive
position ("better hope," "better covenant," for example).
The word is
used first to develop the superiority of Christ (1:4; 7:7),
then of
the better things that relate to salvation (6:9). By the time the
"something better for us" is mentioned (
the
elders could not come to full completion, the readers have already
heard of
the "better hope" (
promises"
(8:6), "better sacrifices" (
"better fatherland" (
these
things are direct benefits of the climactic High Priestly work of
Christ at
the cross.
WITNESS
The word 'witness' is naturally associated with testimony in a
legal
setting. The root mart- is
so used throughout Greek literature,
extra-biblical as well as the OT and the NT. There is a more technical
sense,
that of "good reputation," "approval," which predominates
in
Hebrews. This
sense of "witness" is based on the veracity of the one
giving
testimony and thus "relates to things which by their very
nature
cannot be submitted to empirical investigation.”21 It is in this
sense that
Hebrews speaks of God "adding his witness" sunepi-
marturou?ntoj to the apostolic preaching and of
Scripture
"emphatically affirming" diemartu<rato the
author's point.
It is with this background that the unique connotation of
ma<rtuj /
'witness' in 12:1 is best
understood:
The distinctive thing here is, of course, that this ne<foj martu<rwn
consists of those who according to c. 11 have
received witness (acknowl-
edgement) from God because of their faith....As
such, they bear
witness by the very fact of their existence to
the authenticity of faith. It
thus seems that the factual witness is also implicitly a confessing
witness.22
The theological import of mart- in 11:1-12:2, then, is that God's
approval
comes by faith, that is, by looking to Jesus. As the elders
looked
forward to that sacrifice at the cross, which would ultimately
qualify them
to enter God's presence, they lived by faith. Now that
Jesus has
offered that final sacrifice, believers run the race
by looking
to him,
realizing they are surrounded by a cloud of witnesses who are
21H. Strathmann, "ma<rtuj" etc., TDNT4 (1967) 478.
22Ibid.,491.
MILLER: SEVEN THEOLOGICAL THEMES IN
HEBREWS 139
approved by
God and testify to the necessity of faith as the means of
running with
endurance.
INHERITANCE
The concept of 'inheritance' (klhro-) is derived
from the verb
kla<w 'to break', indicating the breaking up
and distributing of an in-
heritance23
(the meanings in extra-biblical Greek fit this etymology).24
The major OT theme is
that of the possession of the land
promised to
the fathers. The NT follows this,
though often the
inheritance is a
spiritual rather than a material one. There is, how-
ever, a
peculiar emphasis in NT theology:
"A firm link is established
between
son-ship and inheritance such as we hardly find in the Old
Testament
and later Judaism, and runs through the whole of the New
Testament.”25
This emphasis on sonship is also followed in Hebrews. After
identifying
believers with Jesus (1:4, 14) and specifying that their
inheritance is
salvation, the author then develops the concept of
sonship
relative to Jesus as the Pioneer of salvation (
Believers,
then, are those who receive "the promise of an eternal
inheritance"
(
8, 9). It
is significant that the inheritance of "righteousness based on
faith"
precedes the inheritance of the land, since ultimately it is the
former that
qualifies them to stand before God. This fact, together
with the
longing of the elders for the heavenly city (
that the
inheritance they saw from a distance was that unseen place,
the
presence of God. It is that place to which the readers have come
(
looking to
the Pioneer and Perfecter of faith (12:1-2).
CONCLUSION
The theological argument of Heb 11:1-12:2 is set within the
hortatory
context of the book as follows: the readers, while tempted
to
desert the New Covenant community for the Old Covenant (
39;
(
and told
that they need endurance (
promised
inheritance. That inheritance consists of the better things
laid up
for them, including their final approval by God and entrance
into his
presence in the heavenly city. They are then given an over-
view of
great episodes in the lives of the elders, who were approved
23Eichler,
"klh?roj" 296.
24Wemer Foerster and Johannes Herrmann, "klh?roj" etc., TDNT 3 (1965) 768.
25Ibid.,781-82.
140 GRACE THEOLOGICAL
JOURNAL
by God
and who endured by faith. Their attention is turned to the
focus of
faith, Jesus, who endured the greatest and most significant
suffering of
all, the cross. The explanation of Jesus' status as Pioneer
and
Perfecter of faith and the conclusion that he has now sat down at
God's right
hand is followed by the sober reminder that the readers
may face
the prospect of death in following their leader (12:3-4), but
that even
so suffering is evidence of the Father's loving hand of
discipline
(12:5-8).
Finally, to summarize the theological argument of this passage,
the
readers require endurance to run the race and to bear suffering.
The elders
endured by faith. Jesus is the focus of faith. Therefore the
readers can
run the race with endurance by looking to Jesus--faith is
the
means of endurance.
This
material is cited with gracious permission from:
Grace
Theological Seminary
www.grace.edu
Please
report any errors to Ted Hildebrandt at:
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