Introduction

The Letter to the Hebrews – a somewhat mysterious document in the New Testament. Its path to acceptance into the canon of the New Testament is a history of twists and turns during the beginning centuries of the Christian movement. Much of this was generated by uncertainty over who was responsible for its composition. In the end it wound up being inserted between the Pauline section (Romans to Philemon) and the general letters section (James to Jude) as a reflection of Pauline association but not full Pauline connection. The document heading, added many years after its composition, labels it as a letter addressed to the Hebrews. This broad designation generates additional uncertainty suggesting Jews or Jewish Christians as the targeted initial readership. But unlike James, the implicit generalized nature of the heading stands in contrast to the localized beginning readership, obvious from the contents of the document. Additionally, it is labeled as a letter but only contains a Conclusio section that belonged to ancient letters, and in that section in chapter thirteen it is designated as an ancient Jewish homily.

With all these uncertainties connected to the document, one would expect that it would have been dropped from consideration, along with the many other documents that were vying for universal acceptance as authoritative documents in early Christianity. Yet, when one reads the marvelous presentation of the exalted Christ and the implications of that for Christian experience and daily living, it becomes easier to feel the breath of God saturating the words of this document. Thus Hebrews provides a needed and helpful interpretation of the founder of this religious movement arising in the eastern Mediterranean world some two thousand years ago that now encompasses over a third of the world's population.

This issue of Review and Expositor is intended to assist the reader to experience this divine breath in recapturing the vision of Christ held by the original writer. The strategy of the articles is to begin with the interpretative history, both then and now, as a foundation for understanding how this document has contributed to Christian understanding over the centuries. Professor Steven Harmon, at Campbell University, provides a helpful assessment of the beginning of the interpretative history in ancient Christianity. Dr. Sheila Griffith, professor at the B.H. Carrol Theological Institute, surveys the recent interpretative trends during the modern era.

Essential to thoughtful understanding of a document is to grasp both the genre and literary strategy of its contents. Professor Edgar McKnight, professor emeritus at Furman University, provides deep insight here out of the experience of just having written a major commentary on Hebrews in the Smyth-Helwys Bible Commentary series. For the serious student of the Bible, especially the pastor and layperson with limited time preparing to preach and teach Hebrews, Professor Robert Canoy, at Gardner-Webb University, provides very helpful suggestions for presenting the contents of this document to those anxious to glean new insights about their Christian faith. Additionally, Dr. David Benjamin, senior pastor of King's Cross Church in Tullahome, TN, surveys some of the most important recent commentaries that can assist the interpretation of Hebrews.

The icon image of St. John Chrysostom used in Steven Harmon’s article is reproduced by permission of Monastery Icons, P.O. Box 1429 West Chester, OH 45071-1429, web site www.monasteryicons.com.

Our hope and prayer is that your reading of this ancient biblical text with the help of this volume of the Review and Expositor will lead to renewed appreciation of the wisdom of early Christianity's including this document in the canon of the New Testament.

Prof. Lorin L. Cranford

Professor of Religion

Gardner-Webb University

Boiling Springs, NC