SIR ROBERT ANDERSON
Secret Service
Theologian
TYPES IN
HEBREWS
CONTENTS
1. Authorship | 2. Other Testimony | 3. Hebrews in the Old Testament |
4. Priesthood | 5. Christs Deity Enforced | 6.Different aspects of Types |
7. A Great Priest | 8. Why the Tabernacle? | 9. The Return of Christ |
10. The Patriarchs | 11. Triumphs of Faith | 12. Heavenly Realities |
13. His Full Provision | 14. Christianity is Christ | Appendices 1. The Priests of Christendom |
2. The Doctrine of the Blood | 3. The Parousia | 4. The Visible Church |
CHAPTER 1
AUTHORSHIP
THE authorship of Hebrews has been a subject of
controversy during all the centuries. Was it written by the Apostle whose name
it bears in our English Bibles. Or does the honour rest with Luke the
Evangelist? The claims of Barnabas and Apollos, and also of Clement of Rome,
are championed by writers of eminence. There is a venerable tradition that the
Epistle was written in Hebrew by the Apostle, and that our Greek version is the
work of the Evangelist. And our only difficulty in accepting that tradition is
the absence of evidence to support it. As for the other companions of the
Apostle, their claims rest on mere conjecture; there is not a scintilla of
evidence to connect them with the book. And the question at issue is purely one
of evidence. It must be settled on the principles which govern the decisions of
our Courts of Justice. As therefore the evidence which points to Luke as the
writer is unquestionably inferior to that available in support of the Pauline
authorship, the controversy might be closed at once were it not for certain
difficulties suggested by the language and contents of the Epistle. It has
literary characteristics, we are told, different from those which mark the
well-known writings of the Apostle. "The Judaism of the Epistle is that of the
Hebrew prophets," and not of the Pharisees. And lastly, the writer takes his
place among those who received the revelation of the Messiah immediately
through "them that heard Him," whereas the Apostle Paul maintained with
emphasis that he received the gospel immediately from the Lord Himself. This is
held to be a "fatal" objection to the Pauline authorship.
But, as every one
who has had much experience in dealing with evidence is aware, a solution may
often be found of difficulties and objections which at first seem "fatal"; and
the sequel will show perhaps that the Hebrews controversy is a case in point.
The difficulties suggested by the language of the book shall be considered
later. Even from the earliest times the Roman Church has viewed Hebrews with
suspicion. And the reason for this is not doubtful. It is amply accounted for
by the fact that the Epistle gives such prominence to the covenant people, and
that its teaching is utterly incompatible with the proud ecclesiastical
pretensions which, even from the days of the Fathers, that church has
championed. The following extract from Dr. Hatch's Bampton Lectures may explain
my meaning: "In the years of transition from the ancient to the modern world,
when all civilized society seemed to be disintegrated, the confederation of the
Christian churches, by the very fact of its existence upon the old imperial
lines, was not only the most powerful, but the only powerful organization in
the civilized world. It was so vast and powerful, that it seemed to be, and
there were few to question its being, the visible realization of that Kingdom
of God which our Lord Himself had preached, of that 'Church' which He had
purchased with His own blood
This confederation was the city of
God'; this and no other was the Holy Catholic Church.'"
The error
denounced in these eloquent words betrays ignorance not only of Christian
truth, but of what may be described as the ground-plan of the Biblical
revelation as a whole. And yet the beliefs even of spiritual Christians are
leavened by it. In laying the foundation stone of a great building it is a
common practice to bury documents relating to the scheme and purpose of the
edifice. And concealed in the in Hebrews foundations of the self-styled "Holy
Catholic Church" (how different is the meaning given to these words by the
Reformers!) is the flagrant falsehood that God has finally cast away the people
of the covenant. To the history and hopes and destiny of that people it is
that, on its human side, the Bible mainly and primarily relates; and yet the
only notice accorded to them by the two great rival branches of the apostasy of
Christendom must be sought in the records of the fiendish persecutions of which
they have been the victims. That the professing Church on earth is "the true
vine" - this is the daring and impious lie of the apostasy. That it is "the
olive tree" is a delusion shared by the mass of Christians in the churches of
the Reformation.
But the teaching of Scripture is explicit, that Christ
Himself is the vine, and Israel the olive. For "God hath NOT cast away His
people whom He foreknew." Most true it is that they have been temporarily set
aside. Some of the natural branches of the olive tree have been broken off, and
wild olive branches have been engrafted in their place. But the tree remains,
and the tree is Israel.1 But the very same Scripture which records this,
declares explicitly that the wild branches which, "contrary to nature,"
"partake of the root and fatness of the olive tree," are liable to be
themselves "broken off," and then the natural branches will be again restored.
While, therefore, the apostate Church claims to be the realization of God's
supreme purpose for earth, the intelligent student of Scripture knows that even
in its pristine purity the "Gentile Church" was an abnormal, episodical,
temporary provision; and that the divine purpose for this age is to gather out
the true and heavenly Church, the body of Christ; and then, dismissing the
earthly church to its predicted doom, to restore to their normal position of
privilege and blessing that chosen people to whom belong the adoption and the
glory and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service of God, and
the promises; whose are the fathers, and of whom is Christ as concerning the
flesh. (Romans 4:4-5)
That these inspired words of the, apostle are no mere
reference to a past economy, but a statement of abiding truth, is made
definitely clear by the sequel ending with the words: "For the gifts and
calling of God are without repentance." (Romans 11:29)2 And it is truth which
may help not only to a right understanding of the Epistle to the Hebrews, but
incidentally to the solution of the problem of its authorship. 7
Chapter Two
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