Jesus' Superiority to All Things Jewish in the Epistle to the Hebrews.
Essay #5: Discuss Jesus' superiority to all things Jewish in the Epistle to the Hebrews. To what, exactly, is Jesus superior? What is the author's point in underscoring this?
The author of Hebrews writes to encourage believers to stand strong in their faith and to not fall away from following God. The book is also written to encourage people and to explain where Jesus falls in the line of superiority. Hebrews discusses how the Jewish laws are full of flaws and doesn’t lead people to a relationship with God. It also notes that some Old Testaments prophets were aware of the laws imperfections and how they made mention of a new covenant. (Ehrman 300) The main theme of the Epistle to the Hebrews is that Jesus is the superiority over Prophets, Angels, Moses, Joshua and the Jewish Priesthood. Jesus is above all of these because he paid the ultimate sacrifice once and for all when he died on the cross covering all sins. The reason the author continues to declare, “Christ and faith in him are superior to anything that Judaism can offer” is “to convince his listeners not to convert to Judaism” (Ehrman 307). According to the Hebrews, it wasn’t possible to know God and then “fall away” for if this did occur, you didn’t truly find salvation in the first place. (Towles, Lesson on Hebrews) The author wrote to encourage Christians to stand strong for no matter the persecution they faced and assumed them they will receive an award in the
The author of Hebrews writes to encourage believers to stand strong in their faith and to not fall away from following God. The book is also written to encourage people and to explain where Jesus falls in the line of superiority. Hebrews discusses how the Jewish laws are full of flaws and doesn’t lead people to a relationship with God. It also notes that some Old Testaments prophets were aware of the laws imperfections and how they made mention of a new covenant. (Ehrman 300) The main theme of the Epistle to the Hebrews is that Jesus is the superiority over Prophets, Angels, Moses, Joshua and the Jewish Priesthood. Jesus is above all of these because he paid the ultimate sacrifice once and for all when he died on the cross covering all sins. The reason the author continues to declare, “Christ and faith in him are superior to anything that Judaism can offer” is “to convince his listeners not to convert to Judaism” (Ehrman 307). According to the Hebrews, it wasn’t possible to know God and then “fall away” for if this did occur, you didn’t truly find salvation in the first place. (Towles, Lesson on Hebrews) The author wrote to encourage Christians to stand strong for no matter the persecution they faced and assumed them they will receive an award in the