The Book of Hebrews (Randall House Bible Commentary)

by W. Stanley Outlaw

Publisher:

Randall House

, 2005

Overview

Hebrews extensively treats matters that do not receive the same kind of attention anywhere else in the New Testament. Stanley Outlaw, who taught Hebrews many times during his career at Free Will Baptist Bible College, has given us a commentary that is both practical and able in its exposition. Dr. Outlaw knows New Testament Greek well, having also taught that for many years. At the same time, he has a pastor's heart. In this commentary, then, he has capably combined careful exegesis of the text with practical, pious application.

Hebrews deals with some things that are not so thoroughly dealt with in the rest of the New Testament. No other New Testament writer so carefully explains the relationship between the Mosaic system and the person and work of Jesus Christ. Hebrews enables us to understand exactly the meaning of the sacrifices and priestly ministry that helped define Israel, the Old Testament people of God, especially their function to point forward to Him who would be the only finally effective sacrifice and high priest, Jesus Christ. The possibility of apostasy is a theological issue that has long occupied the Christian church. In Hebrews the discussion of apostasy is at the forefront. Even commentators who do not believe that apostasy is possible, after all, acknowledge that the five major warning passages of Hebrews indicate that it is. We ought to master its teaching on this subject and warn those to whom we minister accordingly.

Contents

Top Highlights

“It is sometimes easier to earnestly devote ourselves to outward labor for an excellent cause than to analyze and evaluate the inner spiritual condition of our heads and hearts. These Hebrew Christians were long on ministering, which was good and a true sign of their genuine conversion, but they were showing some signs of waning with regard to matters of the heart: hope, faith, and perseverence.” (Page 138)

“Transgression’ (Greek parabasis) refers to any active violation of the stated law of God, doing what the law forbids, while ‘disobedience’ (Greek parakoe) refers to an absence of adherence to God’s law, neglecting to do what the law commands (Hewitt 62).” (Page 35)

“The tense of the verb in the original (Greek aorist) does not indicate a slipping that is in process, but one that is so serious that it is completed. A process may indeed be involved but the writer is here looking at the completed and fatal result.” (Page 34)

“We should grant, however, that the definition of faith given here is not an academic one but a working one. Its emphasis is more practical than intellectual.” (Page 273)

“Faith is not ‘a leap in the dark,’ as some skeptics have described it; it is, instead, sincere trust based on evidence and experience.” (Page 274)

Product Details

• Title: The Book of Hebrews
• Author: W. Stanley Outlaw
• Editor: Robert E. Picirilli
• Series: Randall House Bible Commentary
• Publisher: Randall House
• Publication Date: 2005
• Pages: 389

About W. Stanley Outlaw

W. Stanley Outlaw was ordained as a Free Will Baptist minister in southeast Alabama, near Dothan, in 1959. He has pastored churches in Alabama, Tennessee, and South Carolina. He attended Troy State University in southern Alabama and graduated from Free Will Baptist Bible College in Nashville in 1962. He received a M.A. in Bible and a Ph.D. in New Testament Interpretation from Bob Jones University in Greenville, South Carolina. Dr. Outlaw returned to Free Will Baptist Bible College to teach Bible and Greek in 1966, ministering full time in that capacity for the next 32 years. Students fondly remember his drilling of New Testament Greek and his enthusiastic presentation of such Bible course as Old and New Testament Survey, Genesis/Exodus, Daniel and Revelation, and Hebrews. He continues to teach, write, and preach throughout the denomination.