Hebrews and James

It is time to get your whole bible back! If you want to know what God is saying – go read all the verses in your bible that are NOT underlined. Author Russ Walden expounds on the books of Hebrews and James with prophetic insight and revelatory understanding. In church culture today it is more common to hear topical messages than an expositional study of the bible, yet in 1 Tim. 4:13 Paul exhorts young Timothy to “give attention to reading…” The revelatory reading and verse by verse exposition of scripture is very much needed in Christianity today. In this volume, Russ brings a dynamic, inspirational and anointed insight to the books of Hebrews and James in an anointed perspective and powerful style that will impact your life. (Format: e-Book/PDF)

The book of Hebrews is written in classical Greek style, presenting truths regarding Jesus unique to Paul’s theology. The apostle Paul is the only writer officially recognized to be the author of the letter, but in truth, the name of the author seems to have been deliberately suppressed from the earliest decades of the church. Because the author is formally unknown, there was much dispute as to whether or not Hebrews should be admitted to the canon of 66 books. Its elegant style, and elevated themes, however, won the day and secured its placement among the sacred writings accepted as scripture.

There are questions as to why the writer would be unknown to history. One scholar questions whether this was purposeful, making the observation that church leaders surely didn’t spontaneously have a lapse in their collective memory. What would cause church leaders to embrace this letter to the Hebrews as inspired but not want to make known the name of the author? There is a strong consensus that this could indicate that Priscilla was the writer. Whoever wrote it makes mention of Timothy as a peer, which would point to either Timothy rhetorically making mention of himself or one of Paul’s other proteges such as Apollos, Titus, or Priscilla, wife of Aquilla. In ancient times and even among many Christian groups today, accepting a woman as the author of one of the books of the Christian canon would be scandalous. The mystery remains, but regardless, the letter to the Hebrews carries a powerful revelatory message. The book’s intended audience was converted Jews, perhaps in Jerusalem, who were suffering tremendous persecution for embracing Jesus as their Messiah. The theme emphasizes that Jesus as the Christ is the bringer of better promises built on a more sure covenant than that of Moses.

The book of James is grouped as one of 21 New Testament epistles referred to as the didactic letters. They are so described as formal treatises written to specific groups of people in an elegant, formal style. The letter is addressed to the twelve tribes scattered abroad, which is interesting because, at this point in history, the ten northern tribes had bred themselves out of existence centuries before as a result of Babylonian captivity. The dating is questionable as well because if all twelve tribes were described as scattered, then it would have been written after the fall of Jerusalem and the destruction of the temple in 70 AD. It is generally believed to have been written then in the late first or second century, and for this reason, James, the half-brother of Jesus, couldn’t have been the author because he was martyred before that time. The style of the letter is very polished and formal Greek writing, and some suggest that possibly was written by James the half-brother of Jesus, but then heavily edited and re-written over a century later by an unknown copyist.