Author’s Preface

SEVERAL YEARS AGO, while traveling on a rainy day to speak at a youth conference in the Northeast, I had a brief layover in a small airport. I struck up a conversation with a middle-aged man who told me about his family, occupation, and the purpose of his trip. Then, between sips of coffee, I informed him about the conference at which I would be speaking over the next two days and my work as a graduate student in seminary. Since he was a committed Christian layman, he was delighted to hear about my ministry and studies. We even found that we shared a common background as members of Baptist churches.

When I mentioned that I was working on a master’s thesis, the gentleman inquired about my topic. My response—that I was working on the book of Hebrews—brought a pained expression to his face. He somewhat apologetically told me he had never really studied that book and, in fact, was quite intimidated by it. He had always gotten lost in the twists and turns of Hebrews’ theology, in obscure people (like Melchizedek) and figures of speech, and in the seeming lack of a clear development in the argument. Furthermore, whatever preaching he had heard on Hebrews had been limited to no more than a smattering of sermons on some of its more familiar texts.

Here was an educated, committed Christian who had never had any meaningful interaction with one of the most meaning-full books of the New Testament. That bothered me a great deal. My own study of Hebrews had revealed a discourse of immense power, beauty, and challenge. The fruits of that study had already had a profound impact on both my mind and my heart and had convinced me that the message of the book is greatly needed by today’s church.

Since that encounter over a decade ago, an approximation of this conversation has recurred from time to time. People delight in asking what my wife and I have come to call the question: “Who do you think wrote Hebrews?” Yet dialogue too often ends there. When in my classes on “Hebrews and the General Epistles” I ask my students how many of them have ever heard a series of exegetical messages from the book, few hands go up. Yet, here is a book with so much to offer the modern church!

In fairness to all of us who have struggled with the complex orchestration of ideas in Hebrews, the book, while resonating with power, beauty, and theological depth, appears enigmatic upon a surface reading. William Barclay once wrote, “When we come to read the Letter to the Hebrews we come to read what is, for the person of today, the most difficult book in the whole New Testament.”1 To enter emotionally and intellectually into the author’s discourse is like encountering a conversation in a foreign language of which you have only partial knowledge, or like entering a game without knowing all the rules. However, we can receive great help in studying the author’s own conventions used in crafting the work. Once his methods and patterns of thinking are clarified, we will begin to feel more at home in Hebrews’ thought-world and can benefit from its message.

In recent years I considered writing a commentary that would attempt to clarify the message of Hebrews for pastors and laypeople and, therefore, facilitate the preaching and teaching of this “word of exhortation.” So it is with great gratitude to the editors of the NIV Application Commentary Series that I have taken up this task. I believe in the importance of exegetical study and preaching for the health of God’s church, and, therefore, I believe in the intention of this commentary series. Not only is it a singular honor to join the enterprise, but I have been enriched by the time spent in reflection and writing, stretching as I have attempted to move responsibly from the ancient context to our own.

I must say a special word of thanks to Scot McKnight, who suggested my participation to Zondervan and whose other volumes in this series have provided challenging and stimulating examples to follow. Dr. Louise Bentley, teacher par excellence and a master editor, dealt with large sections of material in the initial manuscript before it ever reached the editors at Zondervan. In addition to mundane matters such as sentence structure and organization, Dr. Bentley provided gracious encouragement and meaningful comments on content. The general editor, Terry Muck, and Marianne Meye Thompson, a consulting editor for the New Testament volumes, both performed their work admirably, keeping me on track at numerous points by asking penetrating questions. Jack Kuhatschek and Verlyn Verbrugge, editors at Zondervan, also provided welcomed encouragement at key moments in the work, and both have become good friends in the process. I also appreciate the encouragement from Carol Kragt, an unofficial “editor” who has been enthusiastic about the book in its prepublication form.

As always, my colleagues at Union University, including the Christian Studies faculty, members of the broader faculty, the librarians, and the university’s administration, have provided encouragement each in their own ways. Kathi Glidewell specifically rendered service by typing the subject index. It is a joy to work in an environment that is both rigorously academic and unashamedly committed to Christ and his “unshakable kingdom” (Heb. 12:28–29). I have also asked for prayer for this project time and again from friends around the world but especially those at Northbrook Church, to which my family and I have belonged since that community’s establishment in 1993. For the sincerity and effectiveness of those prayers I am deeply grateful.

As always, my dear wife has encouraged me beyond the call of duty, ministering to me in the midst of our joint ministry to others. In the process of writing we remodeled a house, had a lovely second child, Anna, and saw our number one, Joshua, outgrow several series of clothing. Through it all Pat has maintained a beautiful spirit of vision and fun. She is my dearest friend and my most cherished partner in life. I especially enjoyed our tea-time conversations on the “Bridging Contexts” and “Contemporary Significance” sections of this volume.

—George H. Guthrie

Christmas, 1997