Letter to the Hebrews

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What are your favorite verses from Hebrews? This is one of my favorites in all of scripture.
The Church, the Sacraments, Prayer, Adoration, Worship, Faith, Hope and Charity allow us to partake of this eternal liturgy here and now and are the roads leading us to this eternal destination.

12:22-24
But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, and to the assembly of the first-born who are enrolled in heaven, and to a judge who is God of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks more graciously than the blood of Abel.
 
The whole book is so sublimely beautiful. For me the most complete passage is probably Heb. 1: 2-3, because it so profoundly encapsulates Christ’s role at creation and his role in salvation. It’s like a distillation of Genesis 1 and John 1 in just two verses.
Thanks for this, Zach!

P.s. I think the passage you quote is one of the more Pauline, though I know it’s out of fashion to attribute Hebrews to his authorship.
 
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The book of Hebrews is a work of art. All of it. Finally someone explains life and the universe and all history.
 
Yes, and though there are passages that could be of Pauline authorship, the work as a whole seems Johannine to me, in it’s theological depth.
Then again, neither. Or both. A mystery, and I’m okay with that since ultimately, God is the author.
 
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I can see why one might think that, too. Deeply steeped in OT knowledge.
The main conundrum seems to be the exalted language plus the exalted theology. Doesn’t match up perfectly with any of the NT authors. In the end, doesn’t really matter, eh? It’s God’s word, and that’s more than enough.
 
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The most concise, understandable and perfect definition of faith ever written.
11:1 (KNOX) “What is faith? It is that which gives substance to our hopes, which convinces us of things we cannot see.”
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Lots of favorites in this Epistle. Here are a few:

“Therefore he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. For because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.”

“So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, for whoever has entered God’s rest has also rested from his works as God did from his.”

“But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for our sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, waiting from that time until his enemies should be made a footstool for his feet. For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.”
 
Heb 10:25-31

Hebrews 10:25-31 New American Bible (Revised Edition) (NABRE)
25 We should not stay away from our assembly,[a] as is the custom of some, but encourage one another, and this all the more as you see the day drawing near.

26 If we sin deliberately after receiving knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains sacrifice for sins 27 but a fearful prospect of judgment and a flaming fire that is going to consume the adversaries. 28 Anyone who rejects the law of Moses[c] is put to death without pity on the testimony of two or three witnesses. 29 Do you not think that a much worse punishment is due the one who has contempt for the Son of God, considers unclean the covenant-blood by which he was consecrated, and insults the spirit of grace? 30 We know the one who said:

“Vengeance is mine; I will repay,”

and again:

“The Lord will judge his people.”

31 It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

Followed closely by Heb 9:15-17

Hebrews 9:15-17 New American Bible (Revised Edition) (NABRE)​

15 [a]For this reason he is mediator of a new covenant: since a death has taken place for deliverance from transgressions under the first covenant, those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance. 16 [b]Now where there is a will, the death of the testator must be established. 17 For a will takes effect only at death; it has no force while the testator is alive.
 
This my favorite too. I was in high school, sitting in the library looking up quotes to collect, when I first read it. It has always stuck with me because it is so clear and so simple to understand. It cannot be improved upon.
 
puppson said:
P.s. I think the passage you quote is one of the more Pauline, though I know it’s out of fashion to attribute Hebrews to his authorship.
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Definitely inspired by St. Paul, but as the one actual anonymous book of the New Testament, it’s intriguing to investigate the theories of authorship. The kind of “by the way” reference to St. Timothy (Heb 13:23) almost certainly connects the letter to a circle around St. Paul. Despite the modernist (aka false) view that this letter was written in the 80s, the much more convincing evidence supports the letter being written before the destruction of the temple. I think aside from the Apocalypse, Hebrews is the most mysterious book in the NT. And I think it has the most beautiful beginning of any NT book aside from the Gospel of St. John.
 
If Hebrews was written after the destruction of the temple it would make sense for the author to mention the destruction considering a major theme is how the new covenant is superior to and replaces the old covenant. Mentioning the destruction would support this, and the fact that it’s not mentioned points to it being written earlier.

Also unique to Hebrews is the priestly order of Melchizedek theme. This figure appears briefly in Genesis and in a Psalm. Hebrews devotes a whole chapter to him.
 
Agreed with all that. And the comparison to John (1)–yes! Those two books have formed my Christology. I can never be low-low, Jesus my good buddy the sjw who would never judge me, etc. No.
Jesus is Lord God, active Creator of all that is made, and He most certainly will be my Judge someday, yes?
 
Here’s another great one:

Heb 1: 5 For to which of the angels did God ever say:

“You are my son; this day I have begotten you”?

Or again:

“I will be a father to him, and he shall be a son to me”?

6 And again, when he leads[c] the first-born into the world, he says:

“Let all the angels of God worship him.”

7 Of the angels he says:

“He makes his angels winds
and his ministers a fiery flame”;

8 but of the Son:

“Your throne, O God,[d] stands forever and ever;
and a righteous scepter is the scepter of your kingdom.
9 You loved justice and hated wickedness;
therefore God, your God, anointed you
with the oil of gladness above your companions”;

and also:

Heb 11: 17 By faith Abraham, when put to the test, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises was ready to offer his only son, 18 of whom it was said, “Through Isaac descendants shall bear your name.” 19 [f]He reasoned that God was able to raise even from the dead, and he received Isaac back as a symbol.
 
Zach said:
If Hebrews was written after the destruction of the temple it would make sense for the author to mention the destruction considering a major theme is how the new covenant is superior to and replaces the old covenant. Mentioning the destruction would support this, and the fact that it’s not mentioned points to it being written earlier.

Also unique to Hebrews is the priestly order of Melchizedek theme. This figure appears briefly in Genesis and in a Psalm. Hebrews devotes a whole chapter to him.
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Good point. When you read Hebrews, it appears the letter was written before the destruction of the temple. It seems that the issue being addressed is that many Jewish Christians were being led into apostasy and returning to the sacrificial system in use at the temple.
 
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Beautiful, perhaps because of its form…not “a letter to”, even though placed between Paul’s epistles to the various churches, and before the Catholic Letters of John, Peter, James, Jude…but a homily.

Whoever the source, its surely is a keeper!
 
Yes chapter 12. When reading the Bible I have a note book in which I write down chapter and verse numbers which are memorable and which I want to go back and read again and again. For Hebrews chapter 12 I wrote “all”.
 
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