I N D E X
22
CHAPTER 1
THE SUPERIORITY OF THE SON
The scope of the Epistle decided by the structure.
We have satisfied ourselves as to the Pauline authorship of the epistle to the Hebrews, and believe there is every
reason to think that when Paul was dealing with the Galatian problem of the place of the law in the economy of
grace, he took the opportunity of using the epistle to the Galatians as a covering letter, dealing with the same
problems not from the point of view of the believing Gentile, but from the point of view of the believing Hebrew.
Our next consideration must be to discover the scope of the epistle, `what it is all about', and this is indicated
best by the structure. Now while we must not invent a structure, for that would stultify our very object, we must
admit that the features that constitute the structure of a book or epistle do not always appear on the surface. We look
at chapter 1, and note its contents, and let our eye glance on to the opening verses of chapter 2. As we do so,
something seems to `click'; we are conscious of the pressure of a theme that may be the beginning of our quest.
Hebrews 1:1,2. God hath spoken.
Hebrews 2:2,3. If the word spoken ... first began to be spoken by the Lord.
The intervening subject matter stresses the superiority of the `Son' to prophets, of the `Lord' to angels. We read of
others who `spoke' in the chapters that follow, but we are arrested at the reference in Hebrews 12:25 because it is a
most evident allusion to chapter 2:
`See that ye refuse not Him that speaketh. For if they ESCAPED NOT who refused Him that spake on earth, much
more shall not we escape, if we turn away from Him that speaketh from heaven'.
Here the apostle is most evidently resuming the theme of chapter 2:
`How shall we ESCAPE, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord' (Heb.
2:3).
So far so good, but we remind ourselves that `one swallow does not make a summer' and prosecute our
investigation. In chapter 13 the apostle seems to sum up Christian ministry under the heading,
`Who have spoken unto you the word of God' (Heb. 13:7).
We can tentatively record our first findings thus:
A Heb. 1,2. The word spoken, the prophets, the Son.
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A Heb. 12,13. Him, and they, that speak the word.
If these are indeed the opening and closing members of the underlying structure, there will be confirmation in the
context. This soon emerges:
`Thou remainest. Thou art the same' (Heb. 1 and 2).
`Things that remain. Jesus Christ the same' (Heb. 1 and 13).
`How escape if neglect. Not escape if refuse' (Heb. 2 and 12).
`Bring in again the first begotten'.
`Brought again from the dead' (Heb. 1 and 13).
The matter now passes from the possible to the certain. We have the opening and closing members of the structure
confirmed to us. We seek further and are struck with the alternations that are brought forward in chapters 6 and 10:
`Let us GO ON unto perfection' (Heb. 6:1).
`We are not of them who DRAW BACK unto perdition' (Heb. 10:39).