Joshua D. A. Bloor argues that the purification of the consciousness of sin, via Jesus' perpetual heavenly blood offering, is a vital motif for understanding Hebrews' sacrificial argumentation, and vice-versa. Jesus' 'objective' earthly achievements are many, yet only his 'subjective' heavenly blood offering purges the heavenly tabernacle and subsequently the consciousness of sin. Bloor views the Levitical cult as having a positive role in Hebrews, with Levitical 'guilt' foreshadowing and informing Hebrews' notion of the 'consciousness of sin'. Levitical sacrifices could purge the consciousness, but only Jesus' heavenly blood can offer complete perpetual purgation. This blood is a qualitative type of purgation which continually speaks in heaven, offering eternal assurance for the recipients regarding their consciousness of sin. Bloor begins with the 'defiled consciousness' and situates the world of Hebrews within cultic defilement, enabling the consciousness of sin and its cosmic implications to be properly understood. From here, the solution to a defiled consciousness is explored by examining Hebrews' cultic argumentation. Bloor highlights the distinctive purposes inherent in both Jesus' earthly and heavenly achievements, with the latter concerned particularly with Yom Kippur imagery and the purgation of the consciousness. Bloor concludes by differentiating between Jesus' session, present heavenly activity and perpetual heavenly blood offering. Throughout this volume, Bloor engages, critiques and advances current discourse concerning the nature and timing of Jesus' offering in Hebrews.

The book of Hebrews has often been the Cinderella of the New Testament, overlooked and marginalized; and yet it is one of the most interesting and theologically significant books in the New Testament. A Cloud of Witness examines the theology of the book in the light of its ancient historical context. There are chapters devoted to the structure of Hebrews, the person of Jesus Christ, Hebrews within the context of Second Temple Judaism and the Greco-Roman empire and the role of Hebrews in early Christian thought.

The author of Hebrews calls God 'Father' only twice in his sermon. This fact could account for scholarship's lack of attention to the familial dynamics that run throughout the letter. Peeler argues, however, that by having God articulate his identity as Father through speaking Israel's Scriptures at the very beginning and near the end of his sermon, the author sets a familial framework around his entire exhortation. The author enriches the picture of God's family by continually portraying Jesus as God's Son, the audience as God's many sons, the blessings God bestows as inheritance, and the trials God allows as pedagogy. The recurrence of the theme coalesces into a powerful ontological reality for the audience: because God is the Father of Jesus Christ, they too are the sons of God. But even more than the model of sonship, Jesus' relationship with his Father ensures that the children of God will endure the race of faith to a successful finish because they are an integral part of comprehensive inheritance promised by his Father and secured by his obedience. Because of the familial relationship between God and Jesus, the audience of Hebrews - God's children - can remain in the house of God forever.

A scholarly and analytical exposition of the text of Hebrews.

Exchange Your Guilt for True Freedom and Forgiveness Do you struggle with feelings of guilt about your past? Or are you bogged down by a conscience that haunts or imprisons you? This is not how God intends for you to live. Your conscience was not created to hold you prisoner, but to guide you and point you to freedom from guilt and bad habits. It's designed to tell you the truth so you are not held in bondage to lies or sin. A clear conscience enables you to live in the present without being distracted, both mentally and emotionally, by your past. Longtime pastor and bestselling author Erwin W. Lutzer shares what it means to live in the power of a clear conscience as you learn how to deal with guilt and replace it with joy discover how the truth that can hurt you can also heal you realize the incredible extent of God's forgiveness and love for you You'll find yourself encouraged by the truths that no failure is permanent and no life is beyond God's power to bring about change.

Explore the Book is not a commentary with verse-by-verse annotations. Neither is it just a series of analyses and outlines. Rather, it is a complete Bible survey course. No one can finish this series of studies and remain unchanged. The reader will receive lifelong benefit and be enriched by these practical and understandable studies. Exposition, commentary, and practical application of the meaning and message of the Bible will be found throughout this giant volume. Bible students without any background in Bible study will find this book of immense help as will those who have spent much time studying the Scriptures, including pastors and teachers. Explore the Book is the result and culmination of a lifetime of dedicated Bible study and exposition on the part of Dr. Baxter. It shows throughout a deep awareness and appreciation of the grand themes of the gospel, as found from the opening book of the Bible through Revelation.

Nick Brennan investigates the depiction of the Son's divine nature in the Epistle to the Hebrews; despite little attention being directly given to the Son's divinity in recent study of Hebrews, Brennan argues that not only is the Son depicted as divine in the Epistle, but that this depiction ranges outside the early chapters in which it is most often noted, and is theologically relevant to the pattern of the Author's argument. Beginning with a survey of the state of contemporary scholarship on the Son's divinity in Hebrews, and a discussion of the issues connected to predicating divinity of the Son in the Epistle, Brennan analyses the application of Old Testament texts to the Son which, in their original context, refer to God (1:6; 10–12), and demonstrates how the Pastor not only affirms the Son's divinity but also the significance of his exaltation as God. He then discusses how Heb 3:3, 4 witnesses to the divinity of the Son in Hebrews, explores debates on the relation of the Son's “indestructible life” (Heb 7:16) to his divinity, and demonstrates how two key concepts in Hebrews (covenant and sonship) reinforce the Son's divinity. Brennan thus concludes that the Epistle not only portrays the Son as God, but does so in a manner which is a pervasive aspect of its thought, and is theologically salient to many features of the Epistle's argument.

An Exposition of Hebrews is the most complete and thorough study ever written on the subject. This books spends close to six hundred thousand words looking at every nuance and implication of the book of Hebrews. A wonderful tool for pastors, students, or anyone wishing a deeper understanding of this important book from the bible. Originally pushed as a series of articles and then as a two volume set, you can now have the entire unabridged edition of this book in one affordable volume.

Throughout the biblical story, the people of God are expected to embody God's holy character publicly. Therefore, holiness is a theological and ecclesial issue prior to being a matter of individual piety. Holiness and Ecclesiology in the New Testament offers serious engagement with a variety of New Testament and Qumran documents in order to stimulate churches to imagine anew what it might mean to be a publicly identifiable people who embody God's very character in their particular social setting. Contributors: J. Ayodeji Adewuya Paul M. Bassett Richard Bauckham George J. Brooke Kent E. Brower Dean Flemming Michael J. Gorman Joel B. Green Donald A. Hagner Andy Johnson George Lyons I. Howard Marshall Troy W. Martin Peter Oakes Ruth Anne Reese Dwight Swanson Gordon J. Thomas Richard P. Thompson J. Ross Wagner Robert W. Wall Bruce W. Winter

This volume presents a dialogue between historians, exegetes, and theologians on the background and key themes of the atonement in Hebrews. Presenting a range of differing perspectives and contributing to the renewed conversation between biblical and theological scholarship, the argument is structured in two parts: contexts and themes within Hebrews. Focusing on atonement not only in the Old Testament but also in the Greco-Roman world, and touching on themes such as sacrifice, plight and solution, and faith, these contributions shed light on the concept of the atonement in a directly scriptural way. The whole is a definitive collection of studies on the atonement in Hebrews that will be of service well beyond the confines of Hebrews' specialists, a collection as important for what it says about the atonement and the 21st century church as for what it says about Hebrews.