Preface

This is the fourth and final volume in a series of confessional Lutheran studies of the New Testament letters. The first took up the Epistle of James; the second took up the First Epistle of Peter; the third took up the three Johannine letters; and now this one turns to the great Epistle to the Hebrews. The four volumes have been written to be read independently or together, but there is a logic to taking Hebrews last. Having sat under the practical wisdom of James, the suffering-and-hope counsel of Peter, and the assurance teaching of John, the reader who comes to Hebrews comes prepared. The earlier letters give us the shape of the Christian life. Hebrews gives us the Christ who stands at its center.

Hebrews is unlike the other three volumes in several respects. It is, first of all, anonymous. The writer never names himself. The early Church offered a number of guesses (Paul, Barnabas, Luke, Clement of Rome), later readers added others (Luther suggested Apollos; some moderns, Priscilla), and the question has never been settled. We will not settle it either. What we will do is read the letter as the Church has received it: as inspired Scripture, given by the Spirit through whichever of the Lord’s servants put pen to parchment, addressed to a community of Jewish Christians under pressure to drift back into the synagogue and away from confessing Jesus as the Christ.

Hebrews is also, by its writer’s own description, not a letter so much as a “word of exhortation” (Hebrews 13:22): a written sermon. The argument moves the way a sermon moves, building in waves of exposition followed by waves of application, returning to the same themes from new angles, pressing the readers to draw the conclusions the writer wants them to draw. To read Hebrews is to sit under preaching. The writer is at pains to make us see Christ (His superiority to angels and Moses, His fitness as the great high priest, His once-for-all sacrifice, His present session at the Father’s right hand, the better covenant He has inaugurated) so that we will not drift, will not grow sluggish in hearing, will not shrink back, but will “run with endurance the race set out for us” (Hebrews 12:1).

For the Lutheran Christian, Hebrews is precious territory. Its themes are themes the Lutheran tradition has always treasured. The high priest who has passed through the heavens. The sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than Abel’s. The throne of grace approached with confidence. The “let us draw near” that grounds our whole spiritual life. The faith that is sure of what we hope for and convinced of what we do not see. The great cloud of witnesses surrounding our race. The unshakable kingdom we have received. These are not foreign notes to the Lutheran ear; they are the same Gospel sung in a higher register. The writer of Hebrews preaches Christ in His glory more sustainedly than any other New Testament writer, and the Lutheran Christian who reads him deeply is a Christian whose worship is enriched, whose prayer is steadied, and whose confidence in the finished work of the great high priest is strengthened.

This study is the fruit of teaching Hebrews to ordinary congregations and small groups. Like the other volumes, it is written for adult Bible study classes, for small group settings, for Sunday school teachers preparing lessons, and for individuals who want to read this letter carefully with a confessional Lutheran guide at their elbow. It assumes nothing more than a willingness to open the Scriptures and to take their teaching seriously.

The fourteen sessions (four more than the James and 1 Peter volumes carried, because Hebrews is denser and richer) follow the writer’s argument in order. Session One takes up the great prologue, and Session Two the comparison with the angels and the first warning. Session Three shows us the Son made like His brothers and sisters. Session Four sets Him above Moses and presses the warning about the promised rest. Session Five brings us to the great high priest, and Session Six to the sternest warning in the letter and the anchor of hope. Sessions Seven through Ten unfold the priesthood of Christ in the order of Melchizedek, the better covenant, and the once-for-all sacrifice. Session Eleven turns to the great “let us draw near” exhortation. Session Twelve is the roll call of faith. Session Thirteen is the call to run with endurance and to receive the discipline of sons. And Session Fourteen brings us to the two mountains, the going out to Christ outside the camp, and the benediction of the God of peace: a fitting close not only to Hebrews but to the four-volume series.

My hope is that those who use this study will come away from Hebrews with a deeper apprehension of the Christ at the center of their faith: the great high priest who has gone before us into the heavenly sanctuary, the once-for-all sacrifice by whom we have been perfected for all time, the Mediator of a better covenant founded on better promises. The earlier letters showed us how to live the Christian life. Hebrews shows us the Christ in whom that life is grounded. May the same Spirit who spoke through the writer of Hebrews use this study to lead its readers more deeply into the inspired Word. May the great high priest who has passed through the heavens be ever present to His people. To Him be glory forever and ever. Amen.

Larry Herzog Jr. April 2026