The Theology of the Letter to the Hebrews

Barnabas Lindars masterfully surveys the theological ground covered in the letter to the Hebrews.While focusing on all the dominant themes (e.g. the preisthood of Christ, the way of perfection, the dichotomy of old and new convenants), Lindars makes a marked contribution in his way of expositing such themes.First, he claims that the situation to which Hebrews was written was viewed by the author as critical and urgent - Christian believers were in danger of reverting to Judaism because they had no practical (tangible) way of dealing with their consciousness of sin as before under the Jewish cultic system of sacrifice. Setting the letter in view of such a situation brings to light the entire thought-world in which the letter breathes and moves and Lindars is quick to return to the issue at hand as he wades through the letter's theology; this is much preferred to breaking a letter artificially into categories and then treating each subject as distinct.Secondly, Lindars maintains that the whole of the letter is a concerted argument designed to persuade his readers to avoid the very step he thinks they are in danger of taking. This is really the other side of the coin of the first point, but in turn this allows one to understand that the whole letter is a build up to his main exhortation at the end and see in it the fusion of theology and practice. Furthermore, this has the added benefit of being able to study and unravel the subjects and themes within the letter in linear form, following the arugment of the letter rather than just covering each item in isolation.The theology in Hebrews is both rich and original and untangling it into a readable format is no easy job, but Lindars does it more than adequately. In the end, he is able to help me see the situation the author's readers faced and understand why his theology was both relevant for them in their day and for us in ours.