 Good morning everyone. Welcome to PC103 the class on New Testament survey Even before we could begin with a new book the book of Hebrews Can I request one of you all to please lead us in prayer? Amen. Amen. Am I audible to everyone? The fan is not affecting you. Can you hear me? You all can hear me? Okay, I'm audible online but as a class Yeah, can you increase the volume of the mic? Thanks. Thanks, Anthony for confirming. Yeah Let's turn to the book of Hebrews so that we can meditate on through scriptures So we won't be covering chapter by chapter of us by verse But then we are just doing a Survey on this whole book of Hebrew But what we will be doing is when you're in your third year We would be doing a detailed study on the book of Hebrews So we would be covering chapter by chapter most of the scripture verses will be covered in a detailed study So this is about the survey. We would be Doing a background study on the book of Hebrews. So what do you know about the book of Hebrew? What do you know about the book of Hebrew anyone from the online? You all can unmute an answer or you can post your comment on the chat What do you know about the book of Hebrew? Who's the author of the book of Hebrew? There's no author or it's anonymous You don't know the author We will you're saying apostle Paul Okay, anyone else Most likely so we are not assured That apostle Paul is the author, but the most likely you're right both of you're right. Okay. We don't know Exactly who's the author of this book of Hebrew? Some scholars a bet saying that apostle Paul may be the author So we will get into it and look at So Hebrew The book of Hebrew is known to be the book of better things It talks about the superiority of Jesus Christ So We are going to we're going to look at some of the concerning views of this letter The the first thing is the authorship of this book is a major concern better things Better things Better things Better things Better things The book of better things. Okay, you got it right at this point you don't account The book of better things. So it's about the concerning about the authorship of this book is They want to know who was the author some scholars say Apostle Paul would have been the author. So the argument is still on None of us have decided who's the author But some of them say so what made the scholars Or the commentators say that apostle Paul may be the author Any reason why when you said apostle Paul may be the author and we will when you said Apostle Paul may be the author what made you to say that The style of his writing Okay Similar to the other books the other letters of apostle Paul. Yes, you're right So some of the commentators or the scholars suggest that this book would have been written by a apostle Paul Or just like how rin says it's similar to the book of act So maybe look would have written dr. Luke would have written or some say paulers who had a Who had a good knowledge on the word? So paulers may have written or Barnabas Or a killer and this is So we don't know the debate is still on who is the author of this book But most of the scholars rely on apostle Paul for some of the reason which we will be discussing now some say They all agree. Yes Paul's name is not written in this book of ebrew Just as like how we addressed all the other 13 letters He addresses i called write to you He starts the very letter with his name are in the book of ebrew. That's not the way it is written The author name is not written Maybe one of the reason because this letter is addressed to the Hebrew believers Now who are these Hebrew believers? Who are these Hebrew believers? They are the jewish christians Now he already has a great prosecute Cuters following from every place to place that is the jewish Jewish people they totally against apostle paul They were persecuting him They stoned him to death They never allowed him to share the gospel share the good news So maybe that was one of the reason why he Reference him said from writing his name at the beginning of this letter because that may do Arm to him than doing any good So paul may have hit this identity from the jewish people because of the Great persecutors way from the same set The second thing we see is There's a style of writing Is slightly different from the other books The style of his writing And also the set of audience if you see the other letters Also paul is writing his letters to the gentiles gentile believers But here it is the jewish believers he's writing to so the audience is completely different And the language in this book Seem to be the pure greek In new testament Which is much superior to the other episodes One of the reason could be because this particular letter is addressed to one Set of people the Hebrew people so the language is very important for them So you see a pure greek language the way it was written Though in the book of acts We see that apostle paul was the chosen vessel by god Recognized by the early church that he was the apostle to the gentiles and this In this letter the letter to he brews. There were no way no way that it is addressed to any of the gentiles We all need dedicated toward the Hebrew believers He has not mentioned anything to do with the gentiles Now been said that We also see in galatians chapter 2 verse 7 to 8 Can we read Galatians chapter 2 So more more likely we see apostle paul was sharing the gospel among the gentiles Can I request all to turn to acts chapter 9 verse 50? So this is what the law told at the time when apostle paul had an encounter So god spoke to ananias Same and ananias go meet paul Now he's a changed person pray over them Now what the law tell ananias who was a apostle paul? Here you see he is a chosen vessel of mind Now god is saying ananias about the apostle paul saying he is a chosen vessel of mind Who will bear my name? He will witness me he will bear a witness among who? Among the gentiles first of all gentiles. So that's why his calling was toward the gentiles Second the kings the people in authority You see god created an opportunity for apostle paul to minister to the people in authority And then you see and the children of israel now who is the children of israel? Jews The heed room believers where the children of israel So this may be one of the reasons why the scholars debate apostle paul may be the author Though he wrote all 13 letters addressing to the gentile believers to the converted christians This letter is dedicated to the heed room Christians And here you see there's no way of mentioning about his name This is the authorship or about any gentile leader because the jews were against the gentiles Him writing his name or mentioning any of the gentile leader or to the gentile believers The jewish believers they neglect this letter from reading So there is no purpose of him writing this letter This may be one of the reason why apostle paul will refrain from addressing this name or any of the gentile leaders But if purely addressed to the heed room christians and also He wrote this letter in favor of them in the manner that they would like to read by having a pure greek language By addressing to them addressing the old covenant and how much more the new covenant is better So the whole letter is Bringing a clear picture of jesus christ is the only lord and saviour He's bringing through this letter. He talks about the faith Through this letter. He talks about the better covenant is the new covenant Okay, and then there's certain argument for the authorship of apostle paul Okay, so how In he wrote 13 chapter 13 verse 18 to 25 Yes, so upload the ppt. Let me upload it Thank you Okay Vijay, can you please come? Yeah, it's coming now. Thank you Now it's taking Is it See Okay Thank you. Sorry about the late display on online. Okay, so the book of ebrews We we are talking about the argument that is happening toward the book of ebrews What happened? Here it's seen correctly. This is the thank you Okay, so some of the scholars So some of the scholars Are you on the authorship of apostle paul? First is when we read ebrew chapter 13 verse 18 to 25 Can I request one of y'all to please go through it at least the first 18 verse 18 verse 19 also Thank you So what we see here Say similar style of apostle paul in every letter he has a salutation addressing to certain believers and people here you see the same style is followed Throughout the 13 letters from the letter to roman still the last letter to filaments You see the same style is been followed So that may be one of the reason why scholars believe that apostle paul may have been the author The second you see the author of this book The author Had of this book may have had a greek background by virtue So who had apostle paul had a greek background He was familiar with his language the greek language at the same time He was very familiar with the jewish customs and the culture as well again a apostle paul qualifies even this A author should have been from a jewish background as well because of the understanding that he has to have been Old covenant About the jewish religious customs and other thing that was one of the reason why you could so Strongly write the comparison between the old covenant and why the new covenant is better than the old covenant in the book of peoples The third point we see here is in second peter chapter 3 verse 15 and 16 you see apostle Peter is addressing on apostle paul's author ship So peter writes to the jewish believers and he mentions about apostle paul saying that I'm just reading a scripture from online and remember the lord is waiting so that the people have time to be saved This is jest as our beloved brother paul Write wrote to you with the wisdom of god gave him speaking of these things in all his letters in one of the way he is writing so Peter's mentioning to the jewish believers. He's not writing to the generalities writing to the jewish believers saying that This is why apostle paul a beloved brother writing to you. So this scripture or this line Also recommends a apostle paul would have been the author of this letter Okay The author who wrote this letter also should have been truly trained by the scriptures who had a Revelation from the lord who had a relationship with the lord For him to differentiate between these two carbon and the old and the new carbon and to justify The new carbon is better. So you need to have this tremendous revelation That was none other than apostle paul who had this revelation from the lord So that may be one of the reason why the scholars tend to say that apostle paul Then this letter was written by one who was in bonds when we return to he grew chapter 10 verse 34 He grew chapter 10 verse 34 Okay, I'll just read it because of time for you had compassion on me in my chains and joyfully accepted Joyfully accepted The plundering of your goods knowing that you have a better and an enduring possession for yourself in heaven So here is mentioning that For you had compassion on me in my chains. So who was it chains who was in the prison who was on the bonds? apostle paul So the authors again did the bed saying that yoy is addressing about him. So there was none other than apostle paul behind the in the bonds And also when we read chapter 13 verse 18 and 19 in the salutation which Was read before the letter was written by one who was now cut off from the jewish believers Because of the persecution that apostle paul had to face from the jewish people He was cut off from the jewish believers And also we see the authors seem to have been a very close Associate and a travel companion with timothy so who accompanied timothy? Or who did timothy accompany in the missionary journeys? He accompanied apostle paul in the second missionary journey So again the authors say this would have been again apostle paul to be the author of this letter So paul always had a tremendous desire to see the brethren say that's why he mentioned the roman chapter 9 verse 1 to 4 He says that you know, I tell the truth in christ. I'm not lying for my Conscious Also bearing me witness in the holy spirit That I have great sorrow And continued grief in my heart for I could wish that I myself Were a curse from christ for my brethren my countrymen according to the switch So he had a great desire to see even the jewish believers being saved Excuse me So we all know to move what this letter addressed and written to whom was this letter been addressed or written to The jewish believers or the hebrew christians. So it was written to the saints the slight change Okay, so this book of hebrew was written to the saints Of The one we're not very new christians, but then who followed jesus who accepted the scripture from a very long time And also when we read hebrew's chapter 10 verse 32 we see that but recall the former days in which after you were sorry Illuminated you endure a great struggle with suffering So this letter was written through the saints who had Suffered greatly through the persecution and the hardship under the leader under the emperor nero Nero were persecuting the believers persecuting the christians So the the letter the author of hebrew is encouraging He's encouraging the believers Saying that He gives A message through this book of hebrew saying the message of the superiority of jesus Was very important to the jewish christians in role Who was struggling under the leadership or under the emperorship of nero Because he was literally persecuting the christians He was giving christians as the food to the beast He was feeding to them or he was lighting i mean he nailed them on the cross and he lit them as a torch light On the street of grove so that the others were following The gospel of jesus christ We turn back and come back to the mosaic law come back to the old covenant This was one of the reasons why the author of the book of hebrew is encouraging The believers the the uh the jewish christians or the hebrew christians To go through the persecution to endure the persecution is Encouraging them to set your focus on jesus set your focus on the greater reward The persecution that you endure is the short while when you reach you get a bigger reward in the lord jesus christ We have the eternal life in him So he is encouraging them to face the persecution go through what you're going through but don't give up Because you are holding on to a better covenant than the mosaic law lamb and we also see scholars suggest that the church at jerusalem Was the original recipient of this letter So the jewish believers were in the church of jerusalem which was headed by james The brother of jesus was the senior pastor of the jerusalem church So this letter was addressed firstly to the church of jerusalem And after that this letter was circulated toward the other churches Probably this book would have written between 62 to 64 ad One of the reason why this letter was addressed to the second generation of the believers And also this letter was addressed before the heaviest persecution of the emperor nero and also The temple at jerusalem was still there And because it was there there was a high priest there and The sacrifice is worth there. That's why in the book of ebru chapter 8 verse 4 Can I request you all to turn to chapter 8 verse 4? We see that for if we were on earth We're talking about jesus at the e would not be a priest and there are priests Who offer the gifts according to the law that Was written when the church was there So that was one of the reason why the scholars came up with the period of 62 to 64 ad Now why do we call the book of hebru as the book of better things? The slightest change on online in the class Okay Now tell me Why was the book of ebru considered to be as the book of better things The purpose of this book is written for us For better things it's showing the comparison between the old covenant and the new covenant There are two words key words that are very prominent in this book talks about better Many scripture verses in the book of ebru talks about it better greater So that was one of the reason the author of the book of ebru is comparing This is the book of better things He's comparing that jesus is presented as the pre eminent one One who established the new and the better covenant and he goes ahead further and he says that jesus Is greater than anything that you believe he's addressing to a ebru christians who believe On the prophets they believe that moses was the great prophet So here the author of this book is addressing no jesus christ Is better and greater than the prophets that you believe he is greater than the Angels that you look at one is greater than the moses is greater than jesus Is greater than the erin was the first high priest is greater than Abraham because jesus when he was the he addressed himself saying i am I am was before Abraham And he says the law then Jesus did not come to destroy the law, but he came to Establish is greater than that law And he said the author is also saying that the new covenant is better than the old covenant in what ways Yeah, the new covenant is better than the old covenant in what ways Because the new covenant has a better revelation It gives us hope when you read through the scriptures. I've mentioned all the scriptures We see that it is better than the other revelation. It's better than the hope Because it is jesus is the jesus is the revelation is the great high priest The new covenant is better than the old covenant The promises are much greater in the new covenant that brings life to the dead The blood of jesus redeems us from every cell. It's no more the covering In the old covenant the blood of the animal was just a cover But in the new testament the blood of jesus gives us redemption It makes us righteous. It makes us gives us a right standing front of god The sacrifice of the animal is better than the jesus Jesus sacrificed once and for all on the cross We have a great possession in christ now in christ We have been seated at the right hand of god, which is the highest Position that we have in christ jesus That is the great and the highest position. There is no more position higher than that We have been seated In Christ at the right hand of god The possession has been restored through the sacrifice of jesus And in hebrew 1116 it talks about the new heaven as a country In old covenant talks about jesus in a modern new cover talks about the new heaven that we will Be possessed in christ jesus. So some of the unique features that we can discuss in the book of hebrew We see that the jesus is the high priest is both merciful and he is faithful We also see that um jesus christ as a high priest. He has gone into the highest place And he's interceding for you and me. He is the sinuous and the spotless lamb He is our sympathizer. He is an eternal high priest He is a forerunner is greater than the father abraham. He is much higher There's no more sickness disease or any kind of weakness And he is seated jesus christ is seated at the highest possession the right hand of the father and he is our intercessor He has sacrificed himself as a one-time sacrifice. So we don't have to Offer any more sacrifice for our sin So we see the unique feature is jesus himself the book of hebrew also presents as the greatest definition And the example of faith so we see chapter 11 to be the Heroes of faith where it starts like this in hebrew chapter one verse one. Can we look into that? Sorry, yeah Chapter 11 verse 1 talks it starts like this now Say is the substance of things good for and the evidence of Things not seen it starts with us and it goes on when we read verse 6 it says But without faith it is impossible to please him that is please god So even comes to god must believe that he Is and that he is the rewarder of those who diligently seek him So you know The whole scripture the whole chapter The author of this hebrew addresses on faith he addresses faith on god And then he addresses faith of the people from the old temple old covenant He talks about the faith of ebrew, enoch, noah Talks about ebraham, sarah, isik, chekid, joseph and then he goes on to moses and the children of israel But he never misses on any of the prophets That they believe on and he clearly says That the faith of jesus christ is more important And he also addresses on the faith on the people who are Been persecuted because he is addressing to them to strengthen their faith So here we see when we talk about this letter you see the whole letter is also Encouraging us to have faith on jesus christ set your focus on jesus christ because he is much more superior The old covenant Sorry, the new covenant is much more superior than the old covenant So The apostle in the writer Of the letter the hebrew Is bringing towards The faith that we should have on jesus christ He's also taking the opportunity see everywhere. This is one of the reasons why the scholars say the author may be a apostle Paul because when we study throughout the 13 letters Every way you see there was an issue or a problem a apostle Paul brought in The solution through the gospel Now in the letter of hebrew you see what was the problem here He's addressing to the persecuted christians to strengthen their faith on jesus christ How he's bringing a comparison between the old and the new and addressing that point on to the persecution Personally endure this this is just for a shorter while But look at jesus the greater reward that you would be getting so even in this period he's bringing the good news of the gospel By saying endure just like how jesus endured you endure it for your reward is greater in heaven So that may be one of the reason why the scholars believe that Apostle Paul may have been the author because this is time of bringing the gospel message here by encouraging people He also encourages Um, you know the hebrew christians saying that let not your eye will be on any of the prophets or Angels or on the old carbonate or on the mosaic law or on moses himself Let your idle let the priority let your focus be on jesus christ So now just like how the author of the book of hebrew is encouraging the hebrew christians Today you and i can look into this letter and learn who is our ideal Who is our priority in our life? Who's a priority Who are we voting on to in our life? Is it jesus our focus? Because in the presence where we have seen and experienced Because we live at least Bounty of idolatry In anyone's life So we may replace any of the creative objects or the creative being as The ideal but then Here through this letter of hebrew the author is making it very clear to you and i saying that There's only one person who deserves To hold that primary place in our life That's jesus christ Because he is the only one who died for you and me he was a spotless lamp He was that sacrifice that one time sacrifice or sacrifice himself on the cross He shed his blood he washed our sins and made us pure he restored our relationship with god He gave us the highest position to be seated at the right hand of god We cannot get that through anyone else other than jesus christ So he should be the main place in the heart in our life Nothing else and no one else So we should get jesus as the highest priority in our life. He is To be in the better position. He is the greatest high priest. He is the better covenant He is the greatest hope that we can hold upon He is the better sacrifice who have died for us. So only Only when we give jesus a rightful place in our life We will see everything else in our life. It's all in its place The rightful place if we are struggling in any area Just look into our life and see are we giving jesus the right place So through this letter, we see the author of this letter Is saying that jesus is absolutely the superior who is the revelation of god And he is the eternal high priest This is what the The book of he grew Talking about it that we need to honor jesus give him the right place. He is the better covenant He is our god So with that, we will end the session and if there's anyone who would like to share on this letter, please feel free to share About your learning or is there anything new that you would like to add on? Please feel free Before we could get into a time of breath Okay, so when I see that there's no questions Jackie, would you like to pray? Yeah, if your mind is fine, please Can somebody check if Jackie see a voice is heard Can you hear me? One second Jackie one second Can you speak? Yeah, so can you hear now? I think the volume of the speaker need to be in place She is Uh, can you speak Jackie? Yes, now can you hear? Yes, we can hear you the volume We can hear you please Father god, thank you lord Thank you for this time lord that you have given each of us lord To look into your world and learn from your father god Father even as we meditate upon this book of hebrew's lord god almighty Father what a privilege we have lord that we have come to the new covenant father god through jesus christ our lord father god Father, you are yourself seated on the right throne interceding for each of us. You are high Please father god There is nothing that we have to fear or worry lord god almighty Help each of us lord to make you our first priority lord and lord almighty You love us as we are father god and we can come to you with all boldness lord crying out to you about father And that's the highest privilege we have lord god almighty You've given us your word and lord everything else lord you've given us your life and everything else father god Help each of us lord to surrender lord to your word and live in the power of your word lord god And you have crushed satan above all father god and above everything you have exalted yourself father god Father help us lord each of us lord to come to the realization of the truth that you love us as we are And we have a high priest lord god jesus christ interceding for each of us And what more do we need lord god almighty lord help us lord to imbibe this truth and walk in this truth lord Every day of our lives lord Become more and more like jesus our god almighty and glorify you in our thoughts in our word and everything that we do In jesus mighty matchless name we pray Thank you jessie. Thank you everyone for joining in today's session god bless you all to the next letter next Thank you god bless