Hebrews Outline

[Dave]

HEBREWS
Analysis by Kenneth S. Wuest
Wuest's Word Studies
From the Greek New Testament


I. The New Testament is better than and takes the place of the First Testament because its Founder, the Messiah, is better than... (1:1-8:6)


1. The prophets (1:1-3) since Messiah is...

....a. God the Son (vv. 1,2)

....b. Heir of all things (v.2)

....c. Creator of the universe (v.2)

....d. Outshining of God's glory (v.3)

....e. The expression of the nature or essence of Deity (v.3)

....f. The sustainer of the universe He created (v.3)

....g. The sacrifice that paid for sin (v.3)

2. The angels (1:4-2:18), since He...

....a. Has a better name, Son (1:4,5)

....b. Is worshipped by angels (v.6)

....c. Is Creator and Master of angels (v.7)

....d. Has an eternal throne (v.8)

....e. Rules in righteousness (v.8)

....f. is anointed with the Holy Spirit (v.9)

....g. Is unchangeable (vv. 10-12)

....h. Is seated at God's right hand (v.13)

....i. Has ushered in a Testament which displaces theirs (2:1-4)

--------(1) Warning against letting New Testament truth slip away (v.1)

--------(2) If rejection of First Testament truth was punished (v.2) how much more will rejection of New Testament truth be punished (v.3) and which truth was spoken by the Lord who is superior to angels, and which was attested by miracles (vv.3,4)

....j. Is to be Ruler over the Messianic Kingdom (vv.5-9)

--------(1) Angels, being servants, cannot rule (v.5)

--------(2) Adam placed over earth, lost his dominion through sin (vv.6-8)

--------(3) Our Lord has regained it for man, who will be associated with Him in His rule. (v.9)

....k. Is the High Priest who has put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself (vv.10-18)

--------(1) He becomes Saviour through His death on the cross (v.10)

--------(2) This death made possible through His incarnation (vv.11-16)

--------(3) As High Priest for human beings, it was necessary that He become incarnate (vv.17,18)

3. Moses (3:1-6) because...

....a. He is Creator of Israel, Moses only a member of that house (v.3)

....b. He is Son of God over Israel, Moses only a servant (v.5)

....c. He is the reality, Moses the type (v.5)

4. Joshua (3:7-4:13) because He leads into spiritual rest which is better than temporal rest into which Joshua led Israel.

....a. Warning against hardening their hearts toward the Holy Spirit as the wilderness wanderers hardened their hearts against God. (3:7-9)

....b. That generation did not enter Canaan rest (vv.10-11)

....c. The evidence of the fact that the recipient is saved is that he retains his profession of faith in Christ under the stress of persecution, not going back to the First Testament sacrifices. (vv.6,14)

....d. The recipient will die in his sins if he fails to put his faith in Christ as High Priest, just as the wilderness wanderers died a physical death because of unbelief. (3:15-4:8). The name "Joshua" should be in the text rather than "Jesus" (v.8)

....e. Exhortation to enter rest in Christ, and warning against continued unbelief. (vv.10-13)

5. Aaron (4:14-8:6) since He...

....a. Ascended through the heavens into the actual Holy of Holies (4:14-16)

....b. Was taken, not from among men, but from the Godhead (5:1)

....c. Is sinless (v.2)

....d. Is an eternal High Priest (v.6)

....e. Becomes actual High Priest through His death and resurrection (vv.7-10)

....f. Is the reality as High Priest, which does away with the types of the First Testament (5:11-6:12)

--------(1) The recipients hard to teach and dull as to spiritual perception (5:11)

--------(2) They had been instructed in New Testament truth (v.12)

--------(3) They were babes, that is, immature in their spiritual thinking(v.13)

--------(4) They are exhorted to put away "the beginning word of the Christ," namely, the Levitical ritual, and be born along to New Testament truth (6:1)

--------(5) They are exhorted not to lay down again a foundation of First Testament doctrines (vv.1,2)

--------(6) They had been enlightened by the Holy Spirit as to New Testament truth (v.4)

--------(7) They had tasted of that which constitutes salvation (v.4)

--------(8) They had been willingly led along by the Holy Spirit in His pre-salvation work, Thus being a "partaker" (same Greek word translated "partner" in Luke 5:7)

--------(9) They had tasted the Word (v.5)

--------(10) They had seen the attesting miracles. (v.5)

--------(11) They had been led into repentance (v.6)

--------(12) Now should they fall away from their profession of faith in Christ and back to the sacrifices, it would be impossible to renew them to repentance (vv.6-8)

--------(13) The saved among the recipients would not apostatize (vv.9,10)

--------(14) The unsaved exhorted to follow in the steps of faith of the saved. (vv.11,12)

....g. Is a High Priest who actually brings the believer into an eternal standing in grace (vv.13-20)

--------(1) Abraham, the man of faith who was rewarded, a precedent (vv.13-15)

--------(2) God's oath and God's promise guarantee the believer's eternal retention of salvation (vv.16-18)

--------(3) This salvation made possible by the presence of the High Priest in the heavenly Holy of Holies (vv.19,20)

....h. A High Priest after the order of Melchizedek (7:1-3)

--------(1) Melchizedek, a sinner saved by grace, had no recorded parents, no recorded date of birth or death

--------(2) A type therefore of Jesus Christ in His eternal priesthood.

....i. A High Priest in a superior order of priesthood (7:4-10)

--------(1) The Aaronic priests received tithes (vv.4,5)

--------(2) Melchizedek received tithes from Abraham, therefore, was better than he (vv.6,7)

--------(3) Melchizedek in type still receiving tithes, whereas Aaronic priests die (v.8)

--------(4) Aaron in Abraham paid tithes to Melchizedek, therefore the latter is superior; therefore, our Lord is better than Aaron, being a priest in the order of Melchizedek (vv.9,10)

....j. Is High Priest of a Testament that offered a sacrifice that put away sin (vv.11-22)

--------(1) The First Testament neither offered nor made anything complete (v.11)

--------(2) First Testament priest came from tribe of Levi, the New Testament priest from the tribe of Judah (vv.12-17)

--------(3) First Testament set aside in favor of a better Testament (vv.18-22)

....k. Lives forever: the Aaronic priests died (vv.23-28)

--------(1) Because mortal, there were many Aaronic priests (vs.23)

--------(2) Our Lord because eternal, has a non-transferable priesthood (vv.24,25)

--------(3) Thus able to save the believer forever (v.25)

--------(4) A better High Priest, because sinless (vv.26-28)

....l. Officiates in a better tabernacle (8:1-6)

--------(1) His tabernacle the heavenly one, Aaron's merely the type (vv.1-5)

--------(2) His Testament therefore better than the one Aaron served under (v.6)


continued...

 

[Dave]

II. The New Testament is better than and takes the place of the First Testament, (8:7-10:39), because...


1. It was prophesied to be better (8:7-13)

....a. The First Testament faulty in that it did not put away sin (v.7)

....b. New Testament made with Israel and Judah (v.8)

....c. First Testament dealt with Israel as with a minor (v.9)

....d. New Testament through indwelling Spirit brings believers to adult sonship (v.10)

....e. Under the New Testament, all Israel in millennium will be saved (v.11)

....f. Under New Testament, sins put away (v.12)

....g. New Testament displaces First Testament (v.13)

2. It is actual; The First Testament only typical (9:1-15)

....a. First Testament typical (vv.1-10)

--------(1) Its sanctuary on earth (v.1)

--------(2) Its appointments typical (vv.2-5)

--------(3) Its priesthood temporary (vv.6-10)

....b. New Testament actual (vv.11-15)

--------(1) The reality better than the type (v.11)

--------(2) The sacrificial blood better (v.12)

..............(a) Animal blood cleanses from ceremonial defilement (v.13)

..............(b) Jesus' blood cleanses from actual sin (v.14)

..............(c) Therefore, He is the Priest of a better Testament (v.15)

3. It is made effective with better blood (9:16-10:39)

....a. The heavenly Testator Himself dies (9:16-22)

--------(1) A last will or testament operative at testator's death (vv.16-17)

--------(2) First Testament made operative by death of an animal (vv.18-22)

--------(3) New Testament made operative by death of Christ

....b. The better tabernacle purified with better blood (vv.23,24)

--------(1) Earthly tabernacle cleansed with animal blood (v.23)

--------(2) Heavenly tabernacle cleansed with blood of Messiah (v.24)

....c. The once for all sacrifice our Lord better than all the sacrifices of the First Testament (9:25-10:39)

--------(1) He suffered once on the cross (9:26); He appears in heaven as High Priest now (v.24); He will come in His second Advent to Israel (v.28)

--------(2) Blood of animals cannot take away sin (10:1-4)

--------(3) In view of that fact, Messiah volunteers to become the sacrifice (vv.5-9)

--------(4) In so doing He sets aside the First and establishes the Second Testament (vv.9,10)

--------(5) Notwithstanding this, Aaronic priests still offered animal sacrifices. (v.11)

--------(6) The New Testament Priest procured a finished salvation (vv.12-14)

--------(7) The Holy Ghost through Jeremiah bears witness to the New Testament (vv.15-17)

--------(8) The Cross does away with the Levitical sacrifices (v.18)

--------(9) The unsaved professing Hebrew exhorted to place his faith in the High Priest Himself (vv.19-22)

--------(10) Exhorted to hold fast his profession and not waver between the desire to go on to faith in Christ or to go back to the sacrifices (v.23)

--------(11) Exhorted to continue attendance upon the New Testament assembly (v.25)

--------(12) Warned not to sin willfully in renouncing his professed faith in Christ and going back to the sacrifices (v.26)

--------(13) For the one who would go back, there remains only judgment (v.27)

--------(14) The one who rejected the First Testament was punished (v.28)

--------(15) The one committing the threefold sin against the three Persons of the Triune God would be punished more severely (vv.29-31) ; the sin namely of

................(a) Treading under foot the Son of God, a sin against God the Father who sent the Son

................(b) Counting Jesus' the same as ours, a sin against God the Son who shed his blood

................(c) Doing despite to the Holy Spirit in turning away from His further ministrations, a sin against God the Spirit who had led them into repentance

--------(16) The recipients are urged to remember the persecutions they endured for their testimony to Christ, and not let them go for naught by returning to the sacrifices (vv.32-37)

--------(17) They are urged to obtain justification through placing their faith in Messiah, and not draw back to perdition (vv.38,39)


III. Faith, not works, the way of salvation, as proved by instance of First Testament saints (11:1-12:2)


1. Faith defined (11:1-3)

2. Faith illustrated (11:4-40)

3. Faith exhorted (12:1,2)]


IV. Final Warnings and Exhortations (12:3-13:25)


1. If these Jews remain under the chastening hand of God, and do not seek to escape persecution by renouncing their professed faith in Messiah, that is an evidence that they are saved. But if they do the opposite, that shows that they have never been saved (12:3-17)

2. When they come to New Testament truth, they come, not to the thunders of Sinai, but to the grace of Calvary (12:18-24)

3. They are warned not to refuse the Lord Jesus, for those who refused Moses were punished (12:25-29)

4. General exhortations (13:1-17)

5. Closing words (13:18-25)

===================================
This is from Macarthur's study Bible...


---" A proper interpretation of the epistles requires the recognition that it addresses 3 distinct groups of Jews: 1) believers: 2) unbelievers who were intellectually convinced of the gospel; and 3) unbelievers who were attracted by the gospel and the person of Christ but who had reached no final conviction about Him. Failure to acknowledge these groups leads to interpretations inconsistent with the rest of scripture." (Macarthur)

Example: Hebrews

"The primary group addressed were Hebrew Christians who suffered rejection and persecution by fellow Jews (10:36-34), although none as yet had been martyred (12:4). The letter was written to give them encouragement and confidence in Christ, their Messiah and High-priest. They were an immature group of believers who were tempted to hold on to the symbolic and spiritually powerless rituals and traditions of Judaism.

The second group addressed were Jewish unbelievers who were convinced of the basic truths of the gospel but who had not placed their faith in Jesus Christ as their own Savior and Lord. They were intellectually persuaded but spiritually uncommitted. These unbelievers are addressed in such passages as 2:1-3; 6:4-6; 10:26-29; and 12:15-17.

The third group addressed were Jewish unbelievers who were not convinced of the gospel's truth but had had some exposure to it. Chapter 9 is largely devoted to them ( see especially vv. 11,14,15,27,28 )."--- (Macarthur)