While all the letters of St Paul discuss the grace of Christ in the Church, the Letter to the Hebrews discusses grace in our Lord as the Head of the Church. Thus, this Letter is an extended theological reflection upon the Person of Jesus in his human nature.
Notice certain peculiarities about this Letter to the Hebrews: While all the other Letters of St Paul are named either by the city in which the addressees live (eg. Romans, Corinthians, Galatians, etc) or by the individual who received the Letter (eg. Timothy, Titus, Philemon), this Letter is named after the race of the people to whom it was addressed, Hebrews. In fact, this Letter was written to the Jewish converts to Christianity living in Jerusalem.
St Paul does not begin in his usual way, by setting forth his name and authority -- and the whole style of the Letter is very eloquent and much fancier than his other writings. This is likely because the Letter was originally written in Hebrew and then translated into Greek by St Luke.
Overview of the Letter to the Hebrews:
Part I (Chapters 1-10), Grace in the Person of Jesus Christ who is greater than the angels, than Moses, and than Aaron and the Old Testament Priests.
Part II (Chapters 11-13), Faith by which we are united to the grace of Christ
Listen online [here]!
No comments:
Post a Comment
When commenting, please leave a name or pseudonym at the end of your comment so as to facilitate communication and responses.
Comments must be approved by the moderator before being published.