BOOK OF HEBREWS: INTRODUCTION TO THE STRUCTURAL ANALYSIS

A more complete version of the analysis below will be sent to those requesting it from elmerphd21@hotmail.com.

Reginald Fuller remarks that every element in the King James title of this book, “The Epistle of Paul the Apostle to the Hebrews,” has been questioned by scholars. So rather than spend time rehearsing complicated issues that are better treated in general commentaries, we will plunge into the single issue of structure, which possesses its own set of complications. An excellent starting point for looking at this anonymous contribution to the NT is Paul Ellingworth's review and critique. As he summarizes the situation, older commentators used content as a guide; some more recent scholars have employed form-oriented analysis; and some see no plan to the book at all.

F. F. Bruce's outline, shown below, is typical of those using of the book's content alone.

    I. The Finality of Christianity (1:1-2:18)

    II. The True Home of the People of God (3:1-4:13)

    III. The High Priesthood of Christ (4:14-6:20)

    IV. The Order of Melchizedek (7:1-28)

    V. Covenant, Sanctuary and Sacrifice (8:1-10:18)

    VI. Call to Worship, Faith and Perseverance (10:19-12:29)

    VII. Concluding Exhortation and Prayer (13:1-21)

    VIII. Postscript (13:22-25)

After examining various form- and content-based outlines for Hebrews, Ellingworth concludes: “A comparison between these various approaches reinforces the view that the form and the meaning of a text operate on different, in principle independent, levels, and that little is to be gained by forcing a common meaning on an essentially formal feature.”

The present proposal seems to provide more hope in reconciling these two approaches than Ellingworth would allow. If the book is viewed as the ten-part chiasm shown in Fig. 1, one can first see that all of the section divisions of F. F. Bruce are maintained except that his sections I and VI are, in the present scheme, subdivided into two units each.

Figure 1: The Structure of Hebrews

        I. Introduction: God's New Revelation (1:1-3b)

                II. Angels and their Message (1:3c-2:18)

                        III. Israel Tested in the Wilderness (3:1-4:13)

                                IV. Apostasy and Confidence (4:14-6:20)

                                        V. Old and New Priesthood (7:1-28)

                                        V'. Old and New Sacrifice (8:1-10:18)

                                IV'. Apostasy and Confidence (10:19-12:2)

                        III'. Perseverance and Testing of Believers (12:3-29)

                II'. Exhortations (13:1-21)

        I'. Conclusion: God's New Revelation (13:22-25)

Similar phrases mark the beginnings of the two halves of this structure: “He sat down (one who is seated) at the right hand (of the throne) of the Majesty on high (in the heavens).” (1:3, 8:1) The chiastic structures proposed by Guthrie and by Neeley differ from the present proposal, but both have the same center point shown in Fig. 1.

Sections I and I'

Verses 13:22-25 are similar to many other NT epistle endings in that they specifically call attention to the process of written communication or revelation. But Hebrews also concludes with mention of a fellow evangelist's future visit and of the local church leaders. In this manner, the conclusion subtly points to three specific means through which the Son speaks to the church in the last days (a subject actually introduced in Hebrews 1:2): written revelation, inspired evangelists and church leadership.

The twin sections I and I' bracket the bulk of the book and provide its major theme: Christ's revelation and work, as carried on through the Holy Spirit, replacing those of the Old Covenant. Thus, the symmetry demonstrated in Fig. 1 argues against any theories that propose ch. 13 was added by the author to one of his preexisting sermons.

Sections II and II'

Moving inward to sections II and II', the inferiority of angels to Christ is obviously the major subject of the former unit. However, a less prominent theme emerges if one considers the parallel passage dealing with a believer's relation to the law. This theme is first sounded in the quotation from Psalm 45:7 in Hebrews 1:9: “Thou hast loved righteousness and hated lawlessness.” It reappears in the oblique comments at the beginning of ch. 2 where the “message declared by angels” is validated. (Acts 7:53 clarifies this message as being the law given to the Jews.) Lastly, Section II closes with Christ's promise to help those who are tempted and forgive those who do sin.

Section II' is an apt parallel to the above section in that it is the main exhortational passage in Hebrews. Here the twin commandments of Christ to love one's fellow man and love God are expounded upon. The motivation for such behavior, as spelled out in 13:16, is to please God. He, through Christ, will help the believer to live such a life according to 13:21. So II' ends on the exact theme as does Section II. The subject of angels even reappears in Section II' in v. 13:2.

Sections III and III'

Section III is often entitled something like “Christ's Superiority to Moses.” A perusal of this whole passage, however, shows that it is more exhortational than doctrinal in tone and deals primarily with the Jews' example of disobedience during the “day of testing in the wilderness.” In Section III', this theme of testing becomes one of God's discipline, a word repeated with variations no less than eight times in ch. 12.

Section III begins with “heaven” as a circumlocution for God (3:1) and III' ends in the same manner (12:25). Both sections begin by considering Christ as the basis of faith and end with stern warnings of God's judgment to come. There is an additional tie between the two with the reappearance of Moses in Section III' (12:20-21), much as the angels of Section II briefly reappear in II'.

Sections IV and IV'

Guthrie calls the verses beginning these passages “the most prominent use of parallelism in the whole book.” Both units begin with what have been labeled as baptismal confessions. Just as obvious is the shared theme of apostasy occurring in these paired units. In both passages, the possibility of falling away is bracketed by more comforting words. Also, each section begins by reminding the readers of the basis of their confidence in Christ and urging them to “hold fast to the/our confession” and “draw near” in 4:14-16 and 10:19-25). Each concludes with one item of Paul's famous trilogy: faith, hope, and love.

Sections V and V'

The center sections V and V' of this epistle are the most clearly doctrinal in nature. In Section V, one scriptural passage (Psalm 110:4) is quoted twice at key junctures to show that Jesus came as a priest like Melchizadek, superior to the Aaronic priesthood. Section V' deals with the superiority of the New to the Old Covenant, especially in replacement of the sacrificial system with Christ's one-time sacrifice. Again, a passage from the OT (Jeremiah 38 this time) is quoted twice to prove the author's point. Carson notes that in 7:21 and 10:15, the author “can say that 'God says' or 'the Holy Spirit says' even when quoting passages of Scripture where the Old Testament author is not in fact directly addressed by God.” Two particularly similar passages in these paired sections are 7:25-26 and 9:24, both of which describe Christ’s intercession in heaven on our behalf. The verb “appoint” appears at the end of V (7:28) and the start of V' (8:3).

If one were to pick the central element to the whole book, it would fall structurally at (a) the end of Section V with the phrase “a Son who has been made perfect forever” to summarize all the christological statements in Hebrews and (b) at the start of V' where we are comforted with the news that “we have such a high priest, one who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty.”

Subdivisions

Taking a cue from the division of the whole book into ten sections, one can extend this principle to each of the eight major divisions themselves (see Fig. 2 as just one example). Many commentators have felt that biblical authors used the number ten in a symbolic sense to denote completeness or fullness. If so, what more perfect number to use for a treatise on the fulfilling work of Jesus Christ!

Figure 2: Section II

Theme: Jesus' Atonement for Sin (1:3c)

A. Christ is Superior to Angels (1:4)

        B. Scriptural Evidence (“did God say..or again..or again”) (1:5-13)

                C. Conclusion (1:14-2:4)

A'. Son of Man Superior to Angels (2:5)

        B'. Scriptural Evidence (2:6-8a)

                C'. Conclusion (2:8b-9)

A''.We Share Christ's Nature (2:10-11)

        B''.Scriptural Evidence (“saying..and again..and again”) (2:12-13)

                C''.Conclusion (2:14-18)

Implications of Structure on Authorship

Of the many names proposed over the years for the author of this letter, one of the few who has left other existing compositions for comparison is Luke. As early as Clement, Luke was proposed as the author of Hebrews or at least its translator into the Greek language. A thorough defense of his authorship is found in David L. Allen's book, The Lukan Authorship of Hebrews.

The fixation on the number “ten” seen in the structure of the Letter to the Hebrews has echoes in the ten appearances of “tabernacle” and “Abraham.” There are ten references to a new or better covenant in the book. Also, the Greek words for “tithe” and “receive tithes” appear in the NT only in this letter (six times total). Turning to Luke’s known writings, the use of number “ten” in his Gospel accounts for almost half the occurrences of this particular number in the whole NT. Including the multiple “ten thousand” in Luke14:31, “ten” appears exactly ten times in Luke’s Gospel. The combined work Luke-Acts contains 10 of the 17 appearances in the New Testament of “free/freedom,” indicating, in Allen's words, a “considerable theological weight” assigned by Luke to this concept. The key verb “evangelize” appears exactly ten times in Acts.

Turning again to the overall structure of the Epistle, there are only two books in the NT besides Hebrews that are structured using major divisions each containing that same number of subdivisions. These are Galatians and the Gospel of Luke.

A more problematic argument for associating Luke with this epistle stems from the observation that both the prologue and conclusion of Hebrews can, with little difficulty, be seen as five-part chiasms each. Thus, the total number of sub-sections in Hebrews equals ninety, the exact number of sub-sections present in Luke's Gospel. The number ninety is also significant to Luke in that the key word akouo (to hear) appears ninety times in Acts.