Hebrews in the Real World
By The Rev. Amy Peeler, Ph.D.
“So you study Hebrew?”
“No, Hebrews. The Epistle.”
“Ahh. Interesting.”
Silence.
This exchange has happened to me more than once. For many, the ancient Epistle to the Hebrews is so unknown as to be easily confused with the ancient language. It represents the intellectual esoterism of the biblical canon that is better left alone. What is the meaning of blood and priesthood and a heavenly temple and Melchizedek (Melchiza-who?) for a contemporary person? Leave it to the scholars to debate its finer points of theology; practitioners can turn to other sections of the Bible more easily grasped.
I resonate with this apprehension toward Hebrews. It is complicated—from its vocabulary to its syntax to its rhetoric to its hermeneutic to its theology.
It is complicated, but not opaque.
In the midst of its oddities (oddities to contemporary Western readers, anyhow) and often through them, Hebrews shines forth the pure Gospel message, with a power unlike any other writing in the New Testament. I’ve seen it work its redeeming power in the midst of the real world.
Holiness
Most humans have an intimate and therefore confident sense of their own inadequacies. We usually do not need much convincing that we are imperfect. When that self-awareness meets the Christian God, the realization of the wide gap sinks in. God, as attested in the Christian narrative is holy, and we are not. Hebrews beats that drum incessantly. God reigns over the universe, and we are God’s creation. God is at rest, and we are running. God cannot be approached flippantly but set up an intricate system.
That in and of itself is an amazing thing: God can be approached. The Holy God deigned to dwell in the midst of an unholy people (Israel) and gave them all the instructions necessary so that dwelling could be possible.
Dr. Peeler will be teaching the Summer Course A Fearful Thing to Fall into the Hands of the Living God this Summer 2021. The course is offered both in-person and remote.
Hebrews relishes this truth and shows that in the death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus, the message and reality of holiness is now communicated by God’s Holy Spirit. The author can proclaim to his readers that they are both holy (10:10) and in the process of becoming holy (10:14). In order to invite humanity into divine holiness, God sent holiness to them in the person and Jesus Christ, and through him, into their own hearts and minds (Heb 8). Hebrews teaches that God experientially knows our human condition (Heb 2; 4:14) and transformed it from the inside. We can follow the author’s admonition to “Be who we are!” to pursue after the holiness that has been gifted to us (Heb 12:14). The Holy God has bridged the gap.
Inclusion
Half of my scholarly life is spent in Hebrews, but the other is spent engaging questions of the place and relationship between men and women in the New Testament. It does not escape my notice that Hebrews has nothing to say about gender.
Nothing explicitly anyway.
I’ve actually found in Hebrews a subtle but powerful message of inclusion for men and women through the language of sonship.
Jesus has two primary identities in Hebrews—that of Son and High Priest. If his priesthood imparts to his followers holiness, then his Sonship, the relationship he has enjoyed with his Father for eternity, imparts to his followers a standing in the family of God. They too are sons.
Many modern translations have altered this language to make it inclusive for contemporary readers. God is in the process of leading many children to glory. I support the desire behind this translation and advocate for inclusive language for humans throughout the Scriptures. It is also good to recognize that there is some loss in this translation. If we are “children,” we lose the wonder of that close verbal association with the Son.
Moreover, that inclusive translation might even dim the power of the inclusion of women with the language of this letter. The many sons in Hebrews are invited to inherit (Heb 1:14), to be educated (Heb 5; 12), to function as priests (12:18; 13:16), actions and spaces not normally allowed for women in the ancient world. If the audience of Hebrews is like every other early Christian community and it included women, then by virtue of their association with the Son they are being invited to take on all the rights and responsibilities of sons. The exclusive language points toward a radical inclusivity. Without wading into debated territory, all readers of Hebrews could affirm that the elevation of all humans, male and female, in Christ speaks against the sin of sexism which, though not as blatant as in the ancient world, still regularly rears its ugly head.
Assurance
Pastors and professors regularly have the opportunity to speak to those who are wrestling with their faith or those who are in the midst of watching family members and friends do the same.
“Nothing can separate us from the love of God!” triumphantly proclaims Paul in Romans 8, but this immediately raises the uncomfortable question: what if someone chooses to separate him or herself?
Hebrews proclaims with chilling frankness that such a person has no hope. Salvation is found nowhere else. If God has been driving the epic of salvation from creation through covenant to Christ, seeking to find rescue and renewal anywhere other than his death, resurrection, and living intercession will be futile. Hebrews allows the vocalization of the despair of life apart from God. Those who leave the faith have left the source of life itself.
Can they return? Is there hope?
Fascinatingly, Hebrews has no answer because it never asks this question. This author warns his audience not to turn away; he does not tell them what to do if people do turn away and so definitely doesn’t address the problem of what to do with them if they return again.
What Hebrews does, however, in addition to stating the unparalleled supremacy of salvation in Christ and the despair outside of that salvation, is to promise Christ’s eternal reign. All things will be put under his feet. God’s faithfulness to Christ, kept once at the ascension will be kept again at the eschaton. Where any individual humans find themselves in relation to Christ on that day, well, that might take a whole class to untangle. I look forward to doing so at Nashotah this summer.
The Rev. Dr. Amy Peeler is Associate Rector at St. Mark's Episcopal Church and Associate Professor of New Testament at Wheaton College. Author of You Are My Son: The Family of God in the Epistle to the Hebrews (T and T Clark 2014), her work on Mary, Christology, and the Fatherhood of God will appear next year (Mother of God, Eerdmans, 2022). Dr. Peeler is married to her high school sweetheart, Lance, with whom she works at both Wheaton and St. Marks. They have three children, and enjoy time together hiking, reading, or doing CrossFit. Dr. Peeler will be teaching the Summer Course A Fearful Thing to Fall into the Hands of the Living God this Summer 2021. The course is offered both in-person and remote. Visiting students and auditors welcome. To learn more about this class and Nashotah House’s other Summer Courses, please click here or the image above.