Journal: Tyndale Bulletin
Volume: TYNBUL 06:1 (Apr 1960)
Article: The Concept Of Apostasy In The Epistle To The Hebrews
Author: D. H. Tongue

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TynBul 6:1 (1960) p. 19

The Concept Of Apostasy In The Epistle To The Hebrews*

D. H. Tongue

* A paper read at the New Testament Study Group, July 1959. 19

THE SUBJECT of Christian apostasy is at once both a personal and an academic one. Every young Christian is at some time exercised by the peril of ‘crucifying the Son of God afresh’ ; and some backsliding believers try in vain to find the place of conscious repentance. The personal issue can best be resolved however, not by isolating it, but by associating it with a sound academic approach to the document which gave it birth. It is proposed in this paper to discuss briefly certain theories about the destination of the Epistle, in order to establish the identity of the readers. Then in the light of these theories we shall attempt to analyse the more familiar passages dealing with apostasy : their vital bearing on our own personal Christian lives must dominate our thinking throughout.

The more popular course will probably always be to picture the readers as Palestinian Jews. How far this theory is traditional is doubtful; since we cannot prove the Epistle was known by the title To the Hebrews before A.D. 200 (Clement of Alex.). But a theory which postulates the close proximity of the Jerusalem Temple holds an obvious advantage over others in a document where sacrificial ordinances are so much in the foreground. Admittedly there was another Temple at Leontopolis ; admittedly the ritual details are really based on the Tabernacle; yet so powerful was the influence of the Jerusalem Temple on early Christian thought that writers like Westcott feel bound to conclude that the society to whom the letter was addressed lived in Jerusalem or its neighbourhood.

On this theory, apostasy is caused by the ever widening breach between Church and Synagogue. Hebrew Christians who began as the Nazarene Sect within Judaism, and enjoyed the support of the Pharisees and the mass of the Jewish people,

TynBul 6:1 (1960) p. 20

became the object of Jewish attack at the time of Stephen’s martyrdom. At first they

‘joyfully accepted the plundering of their property’

(Heb. 10:34)

but years of bitter family feud between Church and Synagogue demanded powers of endurance greater than many Hebrew Christians possessed. They abandoned their faith in the Messiahship of Jesus, and shrank back into the fold of Judaism (Heb. 10:39) just as Jerusalem’s own day of retribution was approaching in A.D. 70.

Before leaving this Palestinian theory, we may perhaps refer to a suggestion made by C. Sandegren (Evangelic...

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