Hebrews: A Neglected Letter No More
09/01/2006 01:07 Filed in: Faith & Reason
If you're a Southern Baptist like me, and you use the Explore the Bible Sunday School curriculum, you may be as elated as I am that this coming Sunday we begin a 13-week study of Hebrews.
Now, I'll make a couple of confessions here. First, speaking for our entire denomination, I have to admit that we don't emphasize the book of Hebrews that often. I was shocked to discover that the New American Commentary on Hebrews has not yet been published! How long have we been working on this series now? And the only time Hebrews gets much attention in our churches is when we are defending eternal security in light of chs. 4, 6, and 10; and when we are preaching from ch. 11, "the faith chapter."
Second, on a personal level, I realized by looking at the mostly blank wide margins in my Bible when I turned to Hebrews and the sparse commentary representation on my shelves, that I've been neglecting Hebrews, myself! In fact, I realized that I had never taught a study systematically through Hebrews from beginning to end.
But as I said, I'm pretty excited about teaching this book. I had also never done much translating in Hebrews; so a couple of weeks ago, I began translating my way through it. I knew this already, but I got a quick reminder that the Greek is a bit more difficult here, and if there was ever any doubt, I believe I could safely say that this is not Paul's style. Maybe the writer is Barnabas or Apollos, but it's certainly not Paul.
And I have to hand it to the powers-that-be at Lifeway who decided to give us a week for each chapter in the curriculum. Often I feel so rushed (like last week when we had one session for ALL of Song of Solomon). The curriculum doesn't actually devote space to every verse in Hebrews, but I've promised my class that we'll cover every verse on Sunday mornings
As I mentioned earlier, my commentary selection for Hebrews is sparse, so I'm taking recommendations. Here's who I have:
• William Lane (Word Biblical Commentary )--I have both volumes.
• Thomas Lea (Holman New Testament Commentary)
• Leon Morris in the original Expositor's Bible Commentary
What do you suggest? What're your favorite commentaries or other sources on Hebrews?
Now, I'll make a couple of confessions here. First, speaking for our entire denomination, I have to admit that we don't emphasize the book of Hebrews that often. I was shocked to discover that the New American Commentary on Hebrews has not yet been published! How long have we been working on this series now? And the only time Hebrews gets much attention in our churches is when we are defending eternal security in light of chs. 4, 6, and 10; and when we are preaching from ch. 11, "the faith chapter."
Second, on a personal level, I realized by looking at the mostly blank wide margins in my Bible when I turned to Hebrews and the sparse commentary representation on my shelves, that I've been neglecting Hebrews, myself! In fact, I realized that I had never taught a study systematically through Hebrews from beginning to end.
But as I said, I'm pretty excited about teaching this book. I had also never done much translating in Hebrews; so a couple of weeks ago, I began translating my way through it. I knew this already, but I got a quick reminder that the Greek is a bit more difficult here, and if there was ever any doubt, I believe I could safely say that this is not Paul's style. Maybe the writer is Barnabas or Apollos, but it's certainly not Paul.
And I have to hand it to the powers-that-be at Lifeway who decided to give us a week for each chapter in the curriculum. Often I feel so rushed (like last week when we had one session for ALL of Song of Solomon). The curriculum doesn't actually devote space to every verse in Hebrews, but I've promised my class that we'll cover every verse on Sunday mornings
As I mentioned earlier, my commentary selection for Hebrews is sparse, so I'm taking recommendations. Here's who I have:
• William Lane (Word Biblical Commentary )--I have both volumes.
• Thomas Lea (Holman New Testament Commentary)
• Leon Morris in the original Expositor's Bible Commentary
What do you suggest? What're your favorite commentaries or other sources on Hebrews?