hebrews.pdf (application/pdf Object)
hebrews.pdf (application/pdf Object).
Hebrews (Constable) Audio Bible Study Lesson
Click one of the Bible study lessons below to begin. To view Bible study notes, click here.
DATE
The writer said that he and those to whom he wrote had come to faith in Jesus Christ
through the preaching of others who had heard Jesus (2:3-4). Apparently those preachers
had since died (13:7). The original readers had been Christians for an extended period of
time (5:12). So probably the earliest possible date of composition was about A.D. 60.
Some scholars believe that the book must have been written before A.D. 70 since the
writer spoke of the sacrifices as being offered when he wrote (7:27-28; 8:3-5; 9:7-8, 25;
10:1-3, 8; 13:10-11). However, the writer showed no interest in the temple but spoke of
the sacrifices as the Israelites offered them when the tabernacle stood. He evidently used
the present tense to give these references a timeless quality rather than indicating that
temple worship was still in practice. Nevertheless a date of composition before A.D. 70
seems probable.1
“The best argument for the supersession of the old covenant would have
been the destruction of the Temple.”2
The reference to Timothy’s release from imprisonment (13:23) appears to date the book
later in the life of that outstanding man. Almost all scholars believe that the Timothy
referred to in Hebrews is the same one named elsewhere in the New Testament. No other
New Testament writer mentioned Timothy’s imprisonment. The imprisonment of
Christians seems to have been a well-known fact of life (10:34; 13:3). This was true after
Nero launched an empire-wide persecution in A.D. 64. All of these factors when taken
together seem to point to a writing date near A.D. 68-69.
