Journal: Faith and Mission
Volume: FM 21:2 (Spring 2004)
Article: Jesus, the Mediator of a “Better Covenant”: Comparatives in the Book of Hebrews
Author: Andreas J. Köstenberger

FM 21:2 (Spring 2004) p. 30

Jesus, the Mediator of a “Better Covenant”:
Comparatives in the Book of Hebrews

Andreas J. Köstenberger

Professor of New Testament
Director of Ph.D./Th.M. Studies
Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary
Wake Forest, North Carolina 27587

It is widely recognized that at the heart of the Book of Hebrews is the presentation of Jesus as superior to a wide array of characters and indeed the entire Old Testament system. In the present paper, we do not take issue with this consensus, nor do we set out to reargue the point. Rather, we will seek to demonstrate, with reference to Greek grammar, how the theology of the Book of Hebrews is significantly expressed by the use of one particular syntactical form, the comparative.

The author of the Epistle to the Hebrews uses comparatives more frequently than any other writer in the New Testament.1 Twenty-eight uses of comparative adjectives and seventeen uses of comparative adverbs combine for a total of forty-five occurrences of comparatives in Hebrews. As will be seen, the author of Hebrews uses comparatives in a variety of ways in the theological and hortatory sections of his book. The following outline may serve as a backdrop to the discussion of comparatives in Hebrews.2