Post 14: Study of Hebrews 2:1-4

 Verse 3 also speaks to the methods of this salvation being communicated. To those who would say Jesus preached a different gospel than Paul (heresy; Paul is spinning in his grave over that one), the salvation being spoken of “was preached by the Lord and confirmed to those who heard Him.” They didn’t see a breach between what Jesus preached and accomplished and what the apostolic church proclaimed. It is of a piece. If we see a distinction between the kingdom and justification by faith, it is only because our cultural intellectual world view has made it so, specifically our extreme individualism, which plagues us worse than COVID.

Does the writer give something away here: Was confirmed to us by those who heard Him? Is the writer saying he was with Christ during the earthly ministry? (I’ll drop the gender argument for ease of writing and to avoid they, which I realize is acceptable now but grates against this old English prof obsessed with grammatical agreement).  Was this writer one of the original apostles, or at the ascension? I reject Paul as a writer; it really isn’t his style at all, nor his theology. Paul never really writes about the High Priesthood of Christ. I still say it could be John, but only could be.

To finish the paragraph, the writer talks about how the message was confirmed: signs, wonders, miracles, and gifts of the Holy Spirit. Those were central to the deliverance of the message, as revealed in the First Testament:  the Messiah would do these things, “according to His will.”

Friday: So, what is the personal lesson, the walk-away from 2:1-4?