ATTESTATION OF THE GOSPEL

HEBREWS 2:1–8

This salvation, which was first announced by the Lord, was confirmed to us by those who heard Him

(Hebrews 2:3b).

Today we return to our study in Hebrews. We left off in Hebrews 2:3 with the statement that the good news of salvation was first announced by Jesus, and then was attested to by those who heard Him. The author of Hebrews has stressed from the beginning that Jesus is the incarnate Word of God, God’s ultimate word to humanity. He is the perfect revealer of the Father, as we have seen. Now we are told that His message was quintessentially one of salvation. Salvation had been promised for ages, but it was announced definitively by the incarnate Son of God.

The writer goes on to say that he learned about Jesus’ message from those who heard Him. He says it was “confirmed to us.” This means that the author of Hebrews was not one of those who travelled with Christ during His earthly ministry. He was not one of the disciples.

Many have felt that this statement also excludes the apostle Paul. They point out that Paul is very jealous in Galatians and elsewhere to maintain that he did not hear the Gospel from flesh and blood but directly from the ascended Christ. Thus, they argue, Paul would not have written that the salvation announced by Jesus had been passed on to him by others.

This argument is too strained, however. To be sure, Paul did receive a message from Jesus, and received his apostleship directly from Him. But unless Jesus personally preached to Paul for three years, there was a lot Paul needed to learn from those who had been Jesus’ disciples. We can be rather sure that Paul did learn much about the Gospel from the disciples and could have written this sentence. Of course, this does not prove Paul wrote Hebrews, but it does mean that one of the arguments against Pauline authorship is not as strong as it may seem.

Hebrews 2:4 goes on to say that the message of the Gospel was confirmed by miracles and gifts of the Holy Spirit. It is important to realize that the purpose of such signs was to confirm the Word of God, both in the person of Jesus and in the persons of His preachers and the writers of the New Testament. This subject is so important that we shall study it in depth in the days to come.

CORAM DEO

Psalms 130–134

It is relatively easy for Westerners to accept the Bible as truth. Our history is steeped in the faith. What of those in the East where other religions are dominant? Be certain your certainty rests not on cultural authority but on the authority of God’s miracle working apostolic messengers.

For further study: Acts 9:32–43; 19:11–20

thursday

april