Hebrews 6-9

One of the mysteries of the bible is the identity of Melchizedek. In the story from Genesis, Melchizedek is the strange and eery figure that arrives out of the blue to offer blessings to Abraham. He gives Abraham wine and bread (sounds a little sacramental huh?) blesses him and accepts a tithe of his war time plunder.

Under Jewish law, priest were required to come from the bloodline of Aaron. Genesis is all about the genealogies. Long list of ancestors are cited. In fact the whole Jewish priesthood was founded on genealogy. But none are written for Melchizedek. Then he accepts tithes from Abraham the founder of the Jewish race which would signify Melchizedek's higher position.

Various theories grew around the mysterious figure of Melchizedek. A Jewish madrish or interpretation says that the word Melchizedek is not a name but rather a position. And that it was the position given to Noah's righteous son Shem. Some Evangelical Christan denominations teach that Melchizedek was actually a pre-incarnate Christ. A premonition or earlier manifestation of Christ before the virgin birth. Others teach that he was an Angel sent by God as a representative.

The writer of Hebrews describes Jesus as a priest after the order of Melchizedek. He argues the superiority of the Melchizedek priesthood over the Levitical priest descending from Aaron. He says that the system of Levitical sacrifices had proved ineffective to restore the lost fellowship between God and man. So then a new priesthood was necessary, the priesthood after the order of Melchizedek.

Jesus offers a new and better covenant, a new kind of relationship between man and God. While the old covenant was based on law, the new covenant is based on love and on the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. The old covenant was based on man's achievement, while the new covenant is based on God's love.

Hebrews 1-5

Angels are mentioned throughout the Bible. The writer of Hebrews wants to prove that Jesus is superior to angels.

It was common Jewish belief at the time that angels acted as intermediaries between God and man. That God spoke to man through the angels and that the angels carried the prayers of man into the presence of God.

Other basic Jewish beliefs were that God lived surrounded by angelic hosts, that they did not eat or drink and didn't have children, and that they were immortal but could be annihilated by God. Some of them like the seraphim, the cherubim and the ofanim were always around the throne of God kind of like a holy entourage.

There were millions and millions of angels. Some were assigned names. Raphael, Uriel, Gabriel and Michael. There was the angel of death. Every person had a guardian angel. Every nation had a special angel. Satan was even seen as the prosecuting angel who on every day, except the Day of Atonement, continuously brought charges against men before God.

This vast angelology, the beliefs around angels, introduced a series of beings other than Jesus through whom man could approach God. The writer of Hebrews argues that Christians have direct access to God through Jesus. That Jesus broke down every barrier and opened a direct way for us to approach God.

Hebrews

The book of Hebrews is a mystery. Bible scholars are really uncertain about who wrote it, to whom it was written or even when it was written. The first listing of New Testament books, the Muratorian Canon which was compiled in about 170 AD, does not even include the book of Hebrews. But sometime in the fourth century Hebrews became accepted as part of the New Testament.

Origen, an early church philosopher, summed up the authorship of the book by stating that "only God knows who wrote Hebrews." Possible writers include Barnabus, who had accompanied Paul in his missionary journeys; Apollos, another early church leader, or even the husband -wife team of Aquila and Priscilla. The letter was probably not written by Paul because the vocabulary, style and theology differ from his other letters.

It may have been written to believers in Italy. So we could say that Hebrews was written by a great teacher to a little group of Christians in Rome.

It was written to address the doubts of those who were second-guessing their conversion to Christianity. Christianity was first thought of as a new Jewish sect. Jesus was a Jew. His disciples were Jews. The first meetings were held in synagogues and the first controversies concerned adherence to Jewish laws. This book was written to help answer those issues and to show that Christianity is the true successor to Judaism.

Philemon

Slavery was an integral part of the ancient world. There were 60 million slaves in the Roman empire and the owners worked hard to make sure there wasn't a revolt. A master had absolute power over his slaves. In their eyes a slave was not a person but rather a living tool. Rebellious slaves were promptly eliminated. And runaway slaves were sometimes branded with a big letter F on their forehead which stood for fugitivus runaway.

Onesimus was a slave who had run away and found his way to Rome to hide himself among the crowded streets of the big city. He became a Christian and began working with Paul. Somehow this fact was discovered and Paul could no longer harbour a runaway slave. So he sends Onesimus back to his owner Philemon with this personal letter asking that Philemon take him back without recourse and that he should view him not as a slave but as a Christian brother.

Why did Christianity seem to condone slavery? People of the ancient world commonly held the belief that it was simply the nature of things that certain men would be slaves to serve the needs of higher classes of men. It would have been nearly impossible to imagine their society without it. But more importantly if the young Christian church would have encouraged a slave revolt, Christianity itself would have been branded as revolutionary and subversive. The movement could have been completely crushed.

The New Testament does not directly tell us what happened to Onesimus. But fifty years later a church leader named Ignatius writes about the bishop of Ephesus whose name is Onesimus. Onesimus was a common slave name so we will never know for sure if this is the same man. But another clue might be in the very inclusion of this book in the New Testament. Why would this little slip of a letter survive and become a part of the collection of Paul letters? It doesn't really deal with doctrine or heresy, and surely Paul wrote many many personal letters.

They first began collecting Paul's letters at Ephesus, just when a man named Onesimus was bishop there. Perhaps he insisted that it be included so that everyone would know what the grace of God had done for him. We will never know. But if it is true~ it's a great story of the power of God's grace and the hope we can find in His love.

Titus

Titus

Titus was one of Paul's most trusted and valuable helpers. He is mentioned several times in the New Testament as the man Paul went to when he needed assistance. There is also a hint that Titus might be Luke's brother. (2 Corinthians 8:18 say that when Titus was sent to Corinth a brother was sent with him- and that this brother was described as 'the brother who is famous among all the churches')

Titus was sent to Crete to be a pattern to the Christians there. To model for them a Christian life. The believers in Crete lacked leadership and were suffering as a result.

Although it contains only forty-six verses, the little book of Titus covers a wide range of topics. It provides information about church organization and a succint overview of how to lead a church.

2 Timothy

An older Paul writes this final letter to Timothy from a Roman prison. Paul knew that this letter might be his final contact with Timothy. His execution was most likely imminent. He implored Timothy to come quickly to his side. But in case he didn't make it, Paul writes these "last words" of encouragement to his proclaimed son in the faith.

Second Timothy is an intensely personal letter both in it's nature and in it's tone. He writes to strengthen Timothy's loyalty to Christ in the face of the suffering and persecution that would come.

Paul had been imprisoned at a time when Christians were being persecuted. Christians were being blamed for having started a tragic fire that decimated most of Rome in July of 64 AD. Called 'the great fire' it burned for six days and seven nights and destroyed famous buildings and sacred shrines as well as many homes. People were killed and injured. Left homeless and destitute.

Some believe that the emperor Nero himself started the fire so that he could build a new and nobler Rome. Some say he watched the fire from the Tower of Maecenas. Others that he played the fiddle or a lyre while Rome burned. (unfortunately the fiddle had not been created yet) Some historians believe that he was out of town when the fire started but that he had rushed back to Rome to lead the relief efforts even funding repairs with his own money and opening his own palaces for the displaced. Regardless of his role in the fire, Nero had a solution. Blame the Christians. And it was from this event that a great persecution of Christians sprang.

1 Timothy

The letters to Timothy and Titus are different from Paul's other letters. These letters were written not to a church but to a person. They were personal.

Timothy was Paul's young assistant who had accompanied him for years and acted as his liaison to a number of churches. This letter was written to instruct Timothy on how the church should function and how mature men and women of God should behave in it. It also provided Timothy with a list of extremely practical advice for leading a church.

One of the most famous and many times misquoted verses from Timothy is that 'money is the root of all evil.' The bible doesn't really say that money is the root of all evil, it says that the love of money is the root of all evil. Money is itself neither good nor bad; but the love of it may lead to evil. It seems to agree with a Roman saying of the time that wealth was like sea water; so far from quenching a man's thirst, it only intensified it. The more he gets, the more he wants.

2 Thessalonians

A simple phone call could have cleared up some of the problems encountered by believers in the early church. But of course there were no phones in the ancient world. Paul had to be personally tracked down wherever he was and be given a letter with questions. He then had to dictate his response and have someone hand-deliver the letter in return. Because of the distances and slow modes of transportation, the process could take weeks or even months. This time gap sometimes allowed false beliefs to spread or to become a part of the beliefs of new churches. This is the case in Second Thessalonians.

Reports had come to Paul of continued progress in the Thessalonian church and their faithfulness to the gospel. But some doctrinal problems had also arisen. False teachers had begun to tell the believers that the day of the Lord was already at hand. They misunderstood Paul's words that the day of the Lord would come suddenly.

Some believers had even stopped working and were just waiting for the Lord. They were losing hope. In this letter Paul reminded them that they had been called by God and saved through Christ's work. He exhorted them to stand firm in Christ and to work hard waiting for Jesus' return.

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1 Thessalonians

Thessalonica was a port city and commercial center located a hundred miles from Philippi. The Egnatian Way linking Rome to Byzantium passed through the city making it one of the wealthiest trade centers in the Roman Empire. Because of this strategic location, Thessalonica became a base for the spread of the gospel in Macadonia and Greece.

The city of Thessalonica was a hostile environment to preach the gospel. Not only did Paul and Silas have to leave the city prematurely under the cover of night but their opponents followed them to Berea, and created problems for them there as well.

Evidently the return of Christ was central to Paul's message here because he answers many questions about the second coming of Christ. He also addresses sexual purity which was an ongoing problem for the early church. Pagan religions often condoned sexual encounters as part of their rites, and ancient Roman culture itself had few sexual boundaries. Paul urges the Thessalonians not to participate in sexual activity outside of marriage. Reminding them that the body was God's temple and should be kept holy.

Philippians & Colossians

Philippians
Although this letter was written while Paul was in prison, it is one of the most joyful books in the whole Bible. It's most prominent theme is joy, specifically the joy of serving Jesus.

Philippi was a culturally diverse Roman city on the main highway from the eastern provinces to Rome, and the church at Philippi had a very diverse group of believers.

Women played important leadership roles in the churches that Paul founded. He mentions two in chapter four, Euodia and Syntyche. The exact nature of their leadership is not known, but the authority of both women was sufficient that Paul encouraged them to seek harmony with one another. Paul was concerned that they "be of the same mind in the Lord."

Colossians
The city of Colosse was about a hundred miles east of Ephesus. At one time it was a large and strategic city but by the time of this writing it had declined into the shadows of nearby cities.

Theologians debate about the authorship of this letter. Most agree that it was not written by Paul but rather by one of his followers. Ancient writers had different views about plagerism and it would have been out of honor that they wrote this letter in their mentors name.

The Colossian church was experiencing the same sorts of problems that other early churches had encountered. Certain members were teaching that the observance of Jewish rulers about food, the Sabbath, and special festivals would help believers earn their salvation.

Ephesisians

Paul's letter to the Ephesians is controversial on several accounts. First of all it may not have been written by Paul. Some theologians believe it was written by one of Paul's followers using his style of writing and thinking. Secondly, it may not have been written exclusively to the Ephesians but rather as a more general letter that would have been circulated among several congregations. There are no personal references, none of those shot outs to Paul's friends that are found in the other letters.

This is what we do know. The city of Ephesus was the capitol of the Roman province of Asia which is modern day Turkey. Located at the intersection of several major trade routes, it was a major commercial center in the Roman empire. Paul used the city as a center for his missionary work in the region.

This letter underscores that salvation is by faith alone and not through works or human action. It also addresses how spiritual truths should be reflected in Christian behavior.

Galatians

Paul writes this letter to a group he calls the Galatians. Galatians had both an ethnic and a political meaning. The ethnic Galatians were Celts who migrated from central Europe to Asia Minor in the third century and settled near modern day Turkey. But there was also a Roman province called Galatia. So Paul either wrote this to the people or to the province.

Paul had founded a church among these believers. But a false teacher had come to Galatia and was advocating salvation by "the works of the law" instead of by grace. So the new teaching was in fact a distortion of the gospel of Christ.

This letter speaks about the still simmering controversy regarding circumcision. A similar crisis had erupted at Antioch when believers from Judea, known as Judaizers, taught the believers that unless you were circumscribed according to the custom of Moses you could not be saved. They insisted that a person from a non-Jewish background had to first become a Jew ceremonially by being circumcised before he could be admitted to the Christian faith.

This whole circumcision issue was a matter of pride to the Hebrew people. It became a badge of their spiritual and national superiority and fostered a spirit of exclusivity. They came to regard the Gentiles as the "uncircumcision" a disrespectful term implying non-Jewish people were outside of the circle of God's love. So the issue became charged with emotion and brought a lot of discord and division.

2 Corinthians 12 & 13

Paul speaks about a 'thorn in his flesh.' All sorts of theories attempt to figure out what was wrong with Paul.

It might have been his physical appearance. He wasn't, by most accounts, a handsome man. He was once described as a little, balding, bow-legged man with a hooked nose and shaggy eyebrows. Some believe he may have had epilepsy which is painful and reoccurring, but that would allow him to work between episodes. Others believe that he may have had some type of eye trouble. When God met him on the Damascus Road Paul was blinded. It may be that his eyes never really recovered.

The most popular theory is that Paul had a type of malaria fever that resulted in devastating headaches. These headaches have been described as having felt like a red-hot bar was thrust through your head.

Whatever it was, Paul prayed that it might be taken from him. But God did not take it away, He gave Paul the strength to bear it. This is sometimes how God works. He doesn't spare us, but gives us the strength we need.

2 Corinthians 10 & 11

Paul suffers a great deal in his missionary work. He tells us that he was beaten with rods three times. This was a Roman form of punishment where guilty people were beaten with rods of birch wood. As a Roman citizen Paul should not have had this punishment, because it was against the law to scourge a Roman citizen. But in the heat of the moment when mob violence ruled there was no exceptions.

Paul also states that he received "forty stripes less one" five times. This was a Jewish punishment and Jewish law regulated the details. The penalty called for forty stripes (or whacks) but that the number should never be exceeded or the scourger himself would be subject to scourging. So they always stopped at thirty nine. Forty less one. One third of these strikes would be to the chest area and two thirds would be across the back. As hard as possible. If the person died during the punishment the scourger would not be liable. Unless of course he hits him too many times and then he have been permitted to leave town into exile. Paul suffered this punishment five times.

Paul also speaks of the dangers of the sea and the dangers of the ancient roads which were full of robbers and thieves.

2 Corinthians 7, 8 & 9

One of the projects very dear to Paul was the money he was collecting for the Church of Jerusalem. This was the center of the new Christian faith community- the so called mother church. And they were poor. Paul hoped that all the Gentile Churches could help the main church in Jerusalem.

In this letter Paul reminds the people of Corinth of their duty and urges them to be generous. He tells them how generous the Macedonian Church had been. That church had given all they had to give. Paul encourages them to put their feelings into action. The Corinthians had been the first to accept this financial appeal, but had failed to produce. Paul wanted them to literally put their money where their heart was.

2 Corinthians 4, 5 & 6

Many scholars believe that when they gathered the papyrus that recorded Paul's letters that a few of them might have been placed in the wrong order. That the logical sequence is a bit skewed in some of the writings. There are also some letters that appear to be completely lost. Some of those letters may have been placed into Paul's other letters.

Back in first Corinthians (chapter 5) Paul writes, "I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with immoral men." That particular letter may have been lost or it might have been included in the section that we read today.

Paul is urging the Corinthians not to be joined to unbelievers in an alien yoke. The Old Testament paints a very vivid picture of this as "not to plow with an ox and an ass together." The idea being that there are certain things which are fundamentally incompatible and were never meant to be brought together. He is challenging Corinthians to keep themselves a part from the immorality of the world.

2 Corinthians 1, 2 & 3

Something severe happened to Paul while he was in Ephesus. Unfortunately we have absolutely no information about what this terrible experience might have been. Something happened to Paul which he describes as being 'almost unbearable.' He was in such danger that he believed that a death sentence had been passed on him and that there was no escape.

And yet beyond this passing reference and others like it in other letters, we have no idea what happened.

Despite the lack of information about the incident in Ephesus, the book of 2 Corinthians reveals a lot about the trials and tribulations, and the problems and the pressures of Paul's itinerant ministry.

2 Corinthians

The situation in Corinth had gone from bad to worse. Paul writes this letter to the church in Corinth to defend his character in the face of some slanderous accusations. Paul was being accused of being deceitful, intimidating the church with these letters, unjustly mistreating someone to the point of ruining that person and defrauding people.

His accusers pointed out that Paul had not returned to Corinth as he had promised. They also attempted to discredit Paul by charging that he was raising money to enrich himself. Paul wrote this letter to prove that his ministry was sincere and genuine, and to reassert his authority as an apostle of Christ.

1 Corinthians 15 & 16

Jewish tradition denied the immortality of the soul and the resurrection of the body. In the Old Testament there is little hope of life after death. It was believed that all men went to Sheol after death. Sheol was a gray land beneath the world, where men would be cutoff from God. The Old Testament is full of bleak, grim pessimism regarding the afterlife.

For in death there is no remembrance of thee: in Sheol who can give thee praise. Psalm 6:5
For Sheol cannot thank thee, death cannot praise thee; those who go down to the pit cannot hope for they faithfulness. Isaiah 38:18
Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might; for there is no work, or thought, or knowledge, or wisdom in Sheol to which you are going. Ecclesiastes 9:10

Paul insists that if the Resurrection of Jesus was not a fact the whole Christian message was based on a lie, and that many thousands had died trusting in a delusion, and that without it the greatest values in life have no guarantee. "Take away the Resurrection, " he said, " and you destroy both the foundation and the fabric of the Christian faith."

1 Corinthians 12, 13 & 14

Women in the ancient world were really treated badly. Most Greek women lead very secluded lives. That is unless they were very poor or had debatable morals. The Jews had a particularly low view of women. One Rabbinic saying of the time said that teaching women the law (the scriptures) was to "cast pearls before swine." The Talmud actually list among the plagues of the world "the talkative and the inquisitive widow and the virgin who waste her time in prayer." It was even forbidden to just speak to a woman on the street.

It is into this society that Paul writes that women should be quiet during worship, and that they should ask their questions to their husbands when they get home.

Many theologians believe that Paul wrote this in a very specific context with a specific purpose in mind and not as a statement about the role of women in the church of 2011.

"In all likelihood what was uppermost in Paul's mind was the lax moral state of Corinth and the feeling that absolutely nothing, must be done which would bring upon the infant Church the faintest suspicion of immodesty. It would certainly be very wrong to take these words out of their context and make them a universal rule for the Church."
William Barclay's commentary on the Letters to the Corinthians.