the structure of hebrews from three perspectives - Tyndale House

258 TYNDALE BULLETIN 45.2 (1994)
could accomplish this goal, then structure should be viewed as the
servant of content, and therefore as determined by it. However, form
and content are not the only structural considerations. Literary genre, I
submit, also plays a formative role in the structural development of
Hebrews, not genre as mentioned by Vanhoye—‘exposition or
paraenesis’—but the broader question of the genre of the book as a
whole. 30 Nonetheless, formal considerations can be very useful
structural indicators, and an outline derived from them can be very
instructive.
The first structural seam of Hebrews comes after 1:4. This is
indicated by a change from the compact and highly poetical style of
verses 1-4 to the rapid-fire quotation of Scripture forming the catena
in verses 5-14. This division is also indicated by the announcement of
subject in verse 4, which is that the Son is superior to the angels. This
comparison of Christ to the angels continues through 2:18, with the
characteristic word ἄγγελος appearing throughout the section. This
section, from 1:5-2:18, is divided in two by the warning in 2:1-4. The
next section, which begins at 3:1, is announced in 2:17, ‘in order that
he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, for
the propitiation of the sins of the people’. Jesus is shown to be faithful
in 3:1-6, and merciful in 4:14-5:10. Chapter 7, which details God’s
appointment of Christ as high priest in the order of Melchizedek, is
announced by the phrase in 2:17 ‘in service to God’, and the phrase
‘for the propitiation of the sins of the people’ announces what would
come in chapters 8-10. The admonition which starts in 5:11 marks the
beginning of a new section, scolding the readers for their immaturity.
Since the previous section ends with the words ‘designated by God
high priest according to the order of Melchizedek’, it is reasonable to
entertain the idea that this section ends at 6:20 with the similar phrase
‘according to the order of Melchizedek he has become high priest
forever’. That is, it seems that this section stands as a digression in the
30That is, if Hebrews is an exegetical homily based on Ps. 110:1, 4, then the
author’s development of these verses may, and in fact do, influence the structure
of the book.