Introduction

In Hebrews, the central event of salvation's plot pertains to two realms. On the one hand, it involves the death of Jesus Christ, who suffered physically ‘outside the gate’ of the earthly Jerusalem (13:12). This event is arguably part of that to which the author refers when he speaks of the offering of Christ. However, in the rhetoric of Hebrews, the offering of the sacrifice also involves Christ's entrance into the holy of holies in heaven, an event which I believe corresponds in part to Christ's exaltation to the right hand of God. This death/exaltation sequence constitutes the central event of salvation history.

Further, Christ's high priesthood is a heavenly office, at least in terms of the author's main rhetorical purpose. Hebrews 8:4 leads us to this conclusion when it says that Christ could not have served as a priest upon the earth. We have already seen in ch. 2 that the author uses the metaphor of the high priesthood of Christ in order to contrast Christ directly with the Law and the Levitical order as a whole. This contrast, however, is not simply eschatological; it is cosmological as well. The author is able to undermine the primacy of the old order by positing the invisible, heavenly realm over and against the visible world in which the Levitical priests serve the ‘tabernacle’. This distinction between the heavenly and earthly, visible and invisible, pervades especially Heb. 8–10, where the two tabernacles are contrasted.

Introduction

The main challenge for anyone wishing to use historical-critical methods to interpret the Epistle to the Hebrews is our almost complete lack of knowledge of its original context. Since the meaning of words is a function of their use in particular ‘language games’, biblical scholarship faces an uphill battle when attempting to interpret texts whose original ‘forms of life’ are so far removed from us in time and culture. The case becomes acute with regard to Hebrews, whose origins are so uncertain. We ultimately must consign ourselves to a certain amount of agnosticism as far as the original meaning is concerned. While we may create plausible hypotheses, we may never be able to speak definitively on even the most basic issues.

It is therefore no surprise that the ‘riddles’ relating to Hebrews' origin have given rise to an immense body of literature, as countless individuals have attempted to fill in the epistle's glaring gaps in context. Indeed, in addition to the identity of the author and point of origin, the recipients and destination of the epistle are also unidentified, together constituting its ‘four great unknowns’. The matter of background in particular remains one of the most important issues on which no decisive consensus exists. Significant disagreement persists concerning what first-century milieu(s) might best explain the epistle's thought and imagery.

This area of Hebrews' research has passed through various phases, and a number of possible options have been proposed at one time or another.

The ‘rhetorical situation’ of Hebrews

We might define the rhetorical situation behind a speech or writing as the complex of persons, settings and events that results in the creation of that piece of rhetoric. In this definition I am building on the work of Lloyd Bitzer. We can identify three basic factors in such a situation: (1) the particulars of the audience, (2) the particulars of the rhetor, and (3) what Bitzer calls the ‘exigence’, the efficient cause behind the creation of the rhetorical piece. While we can induce some basics from the text of Hebrews about the author and audience, the focus of our interest should be the so-called exigence. The exigence is what actually leads to the creation of a discourse, that which culminates in speech or writing. Bitzer defined it as ‘an imperfection marked by urgency … a defect, an obstacle, something waiting to be done, a thing which is other than it should be’. This exigence corresponds closely to what George Kennedy has called the central ‘rhetorical problem’ that an author addresses.

The purpose of this chapter is to understand the overall rhetorical strategy of Hebrews enough to interpret individual passages relating to its eschatology and cosmology appropriately. The first chapter identified the failure to consider this overall strategy as a key methodological pitfall in prior studies of specific topics in the book.

An overall sense of the story

Richard Hays' The Faith of Jesus Christ is not only significant for the way in which it marks a major turning point in scholarly discussion on the interpretation of π⋯στις Χριστο⋯. The first chapter also noted how seminal this work is for its use of narrative categories to analyse a non-narrative document. To be sure, many readers find structuralist analyses a bit cumbersome and unnecessarily technical. Yet Hays' presentation of the theory, given as background to his work, must rank as one of the clearest and simplest explanations of the Greimasian model in existence. Despite its occasional complexity, the overall concept of narrative sequence is sound and potentially helpful, at least for heuristic purposes.

For our purposes it seems unnecessary to present a full analysis of Hebrews' plot from the perspective of Greimas' system, although it could easily be done. Those who wish to play out the next two chapters in the precise categories of that model need simply to read the analysis in light of the categories Hays presents in his third chapter. My goal is much less extensive and more general, namely, to analyse the way Hebrews structures time as it argues from the story of salvation. Accordingly, this chapter and the next only engage with Greimasian categories as they seem to clarify the nature of Hebrews' narrative world and the settings of the story in time in particular.

The ‘topical sequences’ of the plot

The previous chapter argued that Ps. 8 gives us the ‘initial sequence’ of the story behind Hebrews' argument, the starting point for understanding the story of salvation. God intended humanity to have glory and honour in the creation. But because of death, humanity does not experience such glory. Hebrews points to the Devil as the one who holds the power of death. Accordingly, we should see humanity's ultimate attainment of glory as the appropriate end of the story, the final sequence of the plot. Hebrews is almost as vague about the particulars of that future glory as it is about the opening sequence when humanity failed to attain it. We can only make educated guesses about its precise nature on the basis of images like the ‘heavenly city’, an ‘unshakeable kingdom’, ‘rest’ and a heavenly ‘homeland’.

For Greimas, any number of ‘topical sequences’ occur between the initial and final sequences of a story. In his analysis, the key topical sequence of a story is when the opponents who prevented the initial success of the plot are overcome. In the case of Hebrews, the key topical sequence is thus when Christ defeats death and the Devil. We would thus expect the key topical sequence of Hebrews to look something like the following:

The structuralist system makes the diagram look somewhat more obtuse than its explanation need be. Its thrust basically amounts to the final part of Heb.

Introduction

The previous chapter discussed several aspects of Hebrews' cosmology, particularly in relation to the way the created realm functions as a ‘setting’ for the story of salvation history. One of the most striking observations in that chapter was that Hebrews gives no sense that the created heavens and earth will be replaced after their ‘removal’, after their ‘shaking’. If we go only on that which Hebrews explicitly tells us, we will conclude that the earth is removed in the judgement, and only the true heaven beyond the created skies will remain. In addition, the spirit of one who has been perfected is associated with the heavenly realm, while the body seems intrinsically associated with the earthly realm. These factors give a somewhat Hellenistic feel to the epistle and reflect a significant divergence both from the rest of the New Testament and much Jewish literature of the period. We have also noted possible overtones of some sort of logos theology on the part of the author, although we have also noted differences between the author and Philo.

In this chapter I complete my picture of Hebrews' cosmology with a discussion of heaven and all that is associated with it. Of principal importance is the heavenly tabernacle in Hebrews. The nature of the heavenly tabernacle has long been a matter of debate, and we cannot at present speak of any consensus on its precise character or background.

Introduction

Hebrews argues from a story. This story is the story of salvation history as the author understood it. His arguments are interpretations of this story in the light of the situation of those to whom he sent this homily. Indeed, both he and his audience were themselves characters within the grand plot. The author would have his audience know that the plot had already reached its climax and would soon see its final consummation.

My study has not focused on all the dimensions of this story. I have focused primarily on the two overall settings of the plot, namely, its temporal and spatial settings. I discussed the former under the heading of eschatology, for the plot of salvation history moves in a specific direction. In former days it moved toward the decisive sacrifice of Christ. Since that time it has moved toward its ultimate consummation in judgement and Christ's appearance a second time.

Chapter 4 analysed how the author divides the story of salvation into two broad ‘acts’ corresponding to two covenants, the turning point lying with the inauguration of the new covenant. Throughout the plot, however, the story was always moving toward God's intended destiny for humanity, namely, a glory and honour appropriate to those who are the sons of God. Chapter 3 explored this continuity in terms of God's promise to his people and language of perfection in the sermon.