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00:00Letter to the Hebrews
00:06Around the year 60, a Christian admirably composed what we can consider the first treatise on theology in the New Testament,
00:18a writing that we now know as the Letter to the Hebrews.
00:22Like all Christians of his time, the author of this writing has before him the scriptures in the Septuagint Bible translation.
00:32As we already stated in the introduction to the letters, this letter is not properly a Pauline writing,
00:40Although it must be acknowledged that the name of the author and his correspondents are unknown,
00:45And we do not know these details because the writer was not concerned with presenting himself to the readers in this writing as is the case with Pauline correspondence.
00:57Therefore, we can assume that the author was well known to the recipients of the letter and had no need to mention himself.
01:09But were these recipients of Jewish origin?
01:13The content of the work and the title of its classification, to the Hebrews, have made this the most common opinion,
01:23But even today, no one can say that for sure.
01:27Even so, it should be noted that the name that appears most frequently among the assumptions that have been made for many centuries
01:37The identity of the author is that of Apollos, a Jew from Alexandria, of whom Luke tells us,
01:45He was a scholar of the scriptures, a good orator, and had received a Greek education.
01:52The recipients of this letter lived in Rome.
01:57There is no doubt that the letter is presented as being addressed to Judeo-Christian recipients.
02:08For the letter, more than for any other writing in the New Testament, there is only the people of Israel.
02:14Within its content, the term laos is mentioned three times, which translates from Greek to Spanish as people,
02:25used exclusively in the singular, referring here to a particular entity.
02:31The reception of the gospel by its recipients is situated quite early in the church,
02:39According to the text of chapter 2, verse 3, their faith was confirmed by those who heard that message directly from Jesus.
02:49This means that he was not addressing the early community in Jerusalem, nor the early communities in Galilee.
02:58But we don't necessarily have to think about a second generation of Christians.
03:04These may be simple converts from places where Jesus had not preached.
03:10The time when the recipients were converted was, according to Hebrews 10, verses 32 to 36,
03:19a rather difficult time that they had to endure while waiting for the Lord's promises to be fulfilled.
03:28But remember the former times, when you had just received the light
03:34and they endured with fortitude the sufferings of a great struggle.
03:39Some of you were publicly insulted and mistreated
03:44and others joined in suffering with those who were treated this way.
03:50You had compassion for those in prison
03:53and even with joy they let themselves be taken from what they possessed,
03:57knowing that in heaven they have something much better and that lasts forever.
04:04Do not lose faith, for it will bring you a great reward.
04:11You need to be strong in suffering to do God's will
04:16and thus receive what He has promised.
04:22This is a great lesson for God's people.
04:25We must not forget that no matter the sorrows and many difficulties we encounter in this world,
04:34the trials we have to go through to strengthen our faith.
04:39Never, under any circumstances, no matter how difficult the situation we are going through,
04:47We must lose faith in God.
04:49There are difficult times when we truly can't do anything.
04:55Why such helplessness in the face of the evil that is before our eyes?
04:59Is all we have left is faith and our hope placed in the Lord?
05:05Sometimes all we can do is trust and wait.
05:09And as the author says, trust will bring its reward.
05:14So in God it is always worth waiting.
05:18It is likely that the persecution to which the recipients were subjected and which is alluded to by the author.
05:26This refers to the great persecution that broke out after the death of Stephen.
05:30and that, according to the opinion of many scholars, only affected Hellenistic Jewish Christians.
05:39Citing again the author Sánchez Bosch, he tells us that with respect to the aforementioned situation of those Christians,
05:46The letter doesn't give very good references.
05:49They have not matured in the faith, even though they have been in it for a long time and should already be teachers.
05:56The community, which began in the time of Stephen, who apparently died around the year 36,
06:03It could show signs of decline long before the year 70.
06:08One of the things that must be failing in those Christians is precisely the controversy surrounding the law and the temple.
06:16which was initially its distinguishing feature.
06:19The entire letter serves as a remedy against longing for the temple,
06:25against the shame of being separated from the rest of the people of Israel.
06:31That is why the author has to encourage them to take the reproach of Jesus to those who had to die outside the walls.
06:39The time frame of the alleged letter, in its most realistic interpretation, is implicitly stated.
06:47long after Stephen's death and long before the destruction of the temple,
06:53which places us between the 1950s and 1970s.
06:58Regarding the place of composition, the epistolary ending gives us a geographical location.
07:03This letter is distinguished from the rest of the New Testament writings by the extensive way in which it develops a single theme,
07:19the eminence of the person of Jesus Christ and of his saving work in light of the institutions of the Old Testament,
07:29especially of the priesthood and worship.
07:33The author, in chapter 1, verse 1 to chapter 2, verse 18,
07:39It begins by showing how God's revelation,
07:43imperfectly begun through the prophets,
07:47It reaches its fullness in Jesus, the Son of God.
07:51As the Son of God, Jesus is superior to the angels,
07:55But at the same time, he became equal to his brothers, the men.
07:59Let's read part of this passage.
08:03In ancient times, God spoke to our ancestors many times and in many ways through the prophets.
08:15Now, in these last days, he has spoken to us through his Son,
08:19through which he created the worlds and whom he has made heir to all things.
08:25He is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word.
08:37After cleansing us from our sins, he sat down in heaven at the right hand of the throne of God,
08:44and has become superior to the angels, for he has inherited a title far more important than theirs.
08:53From chapter 3, verse 1 to chapter 10, verse 39,
09:01The title that the author considers most appropriate to describe the person and work of Jesus is that of high priest,
09:11a title that does not appear applied to Jesus in any other New Testament writing.
09:18The author shows that ancient worship, sacrifices, and covenants are imperfect and ineffective.
09:28But God has chosen a new high priest, not according to the Levitical characteristics, but from the order of Melchizedek.
09:37Jesus offers his own life as a sacrifice and thus obtains the true purification of men and opens access to God for all.
09:47In the heavenly sanctuary, Jesus is eternally interceding for mankind.
09:54Within this section is one of the most frequently used biblical descriptions when speaking about the word of God.
10:03The writer of Hebrews advises the believer to obediently listen to the word of God, which has different attributes.
10:12For the word of God is alive and active, sharper than any double-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit,
10:26even the innermost being of the person and judges the thoughts and intentions of the heart.
10:33We see then that the author describes the word by means of a sword to which he gives certain attributes.
10:43It has life and power, it is sharp and penetrating, it judges the intentions of the heart of man.
10:52Let's briefly look at each of these attributes.
10:57Although we see the word of God as if it had no life, in reality it does.
11:04And why is it alive?
11:05Because it was inspired by the Holy Spirit.
11:08And it is the same Holy Spirit who continues to give life to each of the words of Sacred Scripture.
11:15And as for his power, we will say that it comes from his very origin.
11:20In the beginning, when everything was chaos, everything was created by the power of the word alone.
11:28God spoke, and everything existed.
11:31It is effective because it produces beneficial effects in a particular way for the soul.
11:38With such vitality and effectiveness, it is capable of penetrating the soul, and not gently.
11:55but rather penetrates it like a double-edged sword, that is, it passes through it completely.
12:02Therefore, the soul is exposed.
12:05Nothing remains hidden.
12:07Therefore, the judgments of man's heart can be judged by the word that has exposed them.
12:17This word to which the author refers has been quoted, alluded to, and used in Hebrews more than in any other book of the New Testament.
12:28In chapter 11, verse 1 to chapter 13, verse 25, alongside the doctrinal exposition,
12:37The author places admonitions and exhortations to persevere in faith and in the practice of the Christian life.
12:45The recipients of this letter, as disciples of Christ, had been persecuted and some had had their property confiscated.
12:55They had nothing left in the world and had to encourage each other with the conviction that, at the end of their exile,
13:04They would find their true homeland, where Jesus had gone after his sufferings.
13:11They thus found themselves once again in the situation of their Hebrew ancestors who had lived in the desert,
13:17waiting and searching for a promised land.
13:21Aren't there also many Hebrews or uprooted people who suffer in today's world?
13:27Is not God's people also in need of entering into that rest offered by the Lord?
13:34The sick without hope, those who live oppressed, the persecuted Christians,
13:41Those who are victims of injustice, those who suffer abandonment, so many more.
13:47So there remains a sacred Sabbath rest for the people of God,
13:52For he who enters that rest of God rests from his work, just as God rested from his.
13:59We must, therefore, strive to enter into that rest so that no one follows the example of those who did not believe.
14:07Although many of those Hebrews did not understand all the arguments or biblical quotations that fill these pages,
14:13This letter will help to encourage them in their faith.
14:21Thanks to Clement, we can say that Hebrews was written before the year 96 AD.
14:28In that year, Clement of Rome wrote his epistle to the church of Corinth
14:33and incorporated into this letter a number of quotations and allusions from Hebrews.
14:40The outer limit for dating the Epistle to the Hebrews is precise,
14:45some time before the year 96 AD.
14:49However, determining the principle of the composition of the epistle is difficult.
14:55The place, as we already said, is revealed by the author himself at the end of the letter.
15:01And also.
15:07The fundamental thesis of the letter to the Hebrews is the excellence of the new covenant
15:12and its immense superiority over the ancient one.
15:16To prove his thesis, the author of the letter has placed before the eyes of the Hebrews
15:22the sublime figure of Christ, incomparably superior to the angels,
15:28only son of God and true God.
15:32The entire economy of the old alliance rested on two pillars,
15:37the law and the priesthood, the law of Moses and the priesthood of Aaron.
15:42The new covenant rests solely on Christ, the supreme and eternal priest.
15:49In this regard, His Holiness Benedict XVI tells us.
15:52The author of the letter to the Hebrews discovered a quotation from Psalm 110, verse 4,
16:00which until that moment had gone unnoticed.
16:05You are a priest forever, according to the order of Melchizedek.
16:09This means that Jesus not only fulfills the Davidic promise,
16:13the wait for the true king of Israel and the world,
16:16but also fulfills the promise of the true priest.
16:21In parts of the Old Testament, especially also in Qumran,
16:26There are two separate waiting lines, the king and the priest.
16:32The author of the letter to the Hebrews, upon discovering this verse,
16:36He understood that in Christ the two promises are united.
16:40Christ is the true king, the son of God, according to Psalm 2, verse 7 which he quotes,
16:47But he is also the true priest.