Hebrews — who's who

The central figure of the book and the subject of its sustained christological argument. The Son in Hebrews is simultaneously the heir of all things and the one through whom God created the world; the radiance of the glory of God; the great high priest who has been tempted in every way as we are, yet without sin; the priest forever after the order of Melchizedek; the one who offered, once and for all, the sacrifice of himself and entered the heavenly sanctuary. The book holds the divine and human natures together throughout without explicit theoretical resolution.

The mysterious figure from Genesis 14 who meets Abraham after the rescue of Lot, blesses him, and receives a tithe. His significance to the argument of Hebrews rests on four observations: he predates Aaron; Genesis gives no genealogy for him; Abraham paid him a tithe (making Levi structurally subordinate); and Psalm 110 places the messianic king in his order. From these four points the writer builds the entire Melchizedek christology.

Honoured in chapter 3 as the greatest figure of the previous covenant — faithful in all God's house as a servant — and then superseded by the Son as the builder rather than the servant of the house. In chapter 11, Moses appears again not as an institutional figure but as a man of faith, who refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter and chose to be mistreated with the people of God rather than enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin.

The great catalogue of chapter 11 — Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham and Sarah, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, the people at the Red Sea and Jericho, Rahab, and the long sweep of the unnamed: those who through faith conquered kingdoms and stopped the mouths of lions, those who were tortured and stoned and sawn in two and killed with the sword, of whom the world was not worthy. All endured by trusting what they could not yet see; none received the promise without the present generation.

Distinguished as a separate cast entry because the priestly image runs through the book with its own life. The great high priest in Hebrews has been chosen from among human beings, can sympathize with weakness because he has been tempted as we are, has gone through the heavens, lives forever to make intercession, has entered once and for all into the holy place with his own blood, and is the basis on which the readers are invited to approach the throne of grace with confidence.

The community for whom the book was written, who appear throughout in the second person plural but are never named or located. Evidently a Jewish-Christian community of the second generation who have suffered for their faith in the past and are in danger now of drifting and becoming sluggish. Where they live is not stated — Rome is the most popular candidate, based on Hebrews 13:24 — but the silence is part of why Hebrews has been read by every later Christian community as if it were addressed to them.