>Jeffrey Gibson wrote (most omitted):
>
>> In the light of
>> this, Hebrews 4:15 has little to do with "temptation".
>>
>> What do *you* think?
>
>I think that your exegesis is totally convincing and makes excellent
>sense not only of this text but also the whole of the epistle! What
>do others think?
>
If I understand Jeff correctly, I'm inclined to read Hebrews in a
similar fashion, ie., that this is NOT a discussion of whether these
folks are regenerate or not, and how they got that way, and how Jesus
has suffered in their place propitiatorily, but rather a discussion of
how they are to endure the temptation to abandon their Christian
community (not become unregenerate) for their previous sectarian
Jewish heritage (that's not exactly the same as Jeff), in the same
way that Jesus was tempted to abandon his mission and return to
his "comfortable" Jewish heritage...and thus they have him as an
example of endurance.
My one caveat is that, while--as most can tell from reading my posts--
I'm very much against reading the NT through systematic theology
glasses, it nevertheless seems to me that there is a clear sense in
which principles of behavior on the part of Jesus or the Apostles or
commands given, etc., which may be specific can be (carefully !!)
generalized to other matters of life and even to theology. IMHO,
such "systematic" and in a certain sense "pauline" readings of the
text have done great damage to the messages of James, 1John, Hebrew,
1&2 Peter, and to a lesser extent the Gospels. But I've just
ventured into theology, so I shall stop... (-:
XAIREIN...
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Dale M. Wheeler, Ph.D.
Research Professor in Biblical Languages Multnomah Bible College
8435 NE Glisan Street Portland, OR 97220
Voice: 503-251-6416 FAX:503-254-1268 E-Mail: dalemw@teleport.com
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