Word Biblical Commentary Vol. 47a, Hebrews 1-8 [Hardcover]

William L. Lane (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 11, 1991

The Word Biblical Commentary delivers the best in biblical scholarship, from the leading scholars of our day who share a commitment to Scripture as divine revelation. This series emphasizes a thorough analysis of textual, linguistic, structural, and theological evidence. The result is judicious and balanced insight into the meanings of the text in the framework of biblical theology. These widely acclaimed commentaries serve as exceptional resources for the professional theologian and instructor, the seminary or university student, the working minister, and everyone concerned with building theological understanding from a solid base of biblical scholarship.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 376 pages
• Publisher: Thomas Nelson (November 11, 1991)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0849902460
• ISBN-13: 978-0849902468
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.3 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #202,070 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Hebrews a beautiful and powerful book, July 18, 2007

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Theo man "3:16" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Word Biblical Commentary Vol. 47a, Hebrews 1-8 (Hardcover)

Amazing breath of research... demonstrates a variety of views but also a reasonable argument for his conclusions ...not every one would agree with his dating and location for Hebrews ... but as to location (Rome) Lane probably gives the clearest and strongest case for his proposal. Excellent read - possibly aimed at the academic or serious theology student, however, much of it is fairly accessible if one takes time with it.

5.0 out of 5 stars By Far the Best Commentary on Hebrews, July 9, 2011

By 

Nelson Banuchi "atdCross" (Concord, NC USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Word Biblical Commentary Vol. 47a, Hebrews 1-8 (Hardcover)

This is volume one of a two volume commentary in the Word Biblical Commentary set. This is an excellent commentary, which, although it may be beyond one's educational experience (as it is mine), it is not beyond one's ability to understand and grasp the full scope of Lane's meaning; and, it is an exciting and profitable read! See also my review on Lane's smaller commentary on Hebrews, Hebrews: A Call to Commitment.

2 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Church: The Sign Of Christ's Care, December 31, 2010

By 

Jacques Schoeman (SA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Word Biblical Commentary Vol. 47a, Hebrews 1-8 (Hardcover)

'His ultimate word, however, was spoken through One who is distinguished from others by reason of the unique relationship He sustains to God.' p 9

Albeit the unidentified author/orator employed the use of OT revelation throughout the epistle, he awarded the divinely inspired NT revelation in Christ a higher priority. The OT was indispensable to its attainment, and the logos-hymn of 1:2b-3 'demonstrates how richly valuable the OT remains for the Christian community concerned with the fulness of God's revelation.' p cxvii To his settled mind, however, the compatibility and convergence of the two stages of revelation were never in doubt.

William Lane's lengthy introduction held that the recipients addressed were Hellenistic-Jewish Christians presumably living in Rome. 'In these last days' (1:2) signified that the last days had already begun. The new covenant had been welcomed by their first-generation leaders who recognized that God had spoken finally by His Son, but within the passing of one generation, flagging hope was brought on by fresh assaults on their depleted numbers, largely the result of earlier defections or deportments experienced under the imperial edict of Claudius in AD 49. The likely dating is AD 64-68. In Hebrews, the pervasive exposition of the OT texts provided the essential basis for contemporary exhortation, and constitutes the defining feature of the homily: 'The text of the OT is presented dynamically...the writer of Hebrews usually introduces the words of the OT as the direct speaking of God, for which he prefers the present tense and the active voice...this manner of presenting the OT text is without parallel elsewhere in the NT.' p cxvii This mode of address is made clear in the periodic 'He says' [Gk: legei] (1:6, 7, 8). Moreover, the striking repetition of 'today' (1:5; 3:7, 13, 15; 4:7; 5:5; 13:8) further underscores the currency of the gospel as perpetually valid.

The author's rhetoric showed a determination to evoke in his kinsmen a concern for matters of eternal consequence, and was designed to extract a renewed commitment to the faith. No one having heard or read his 'word of exhortation' could do so without gaining a deeper appreciation of the great and abiding themes in David's Greater Son as 'the author is fond of stringing quotations together.' p 26 The contextual background the author supplied by his use of OT texts, especially the two divine oracles contained in the coronation psalms, Ps 2 and Ps 110, served to confirm Christ's double-appointment as king and mediatorial High Priest. The OT citing of the eternal session of Christ beside God resonated of investiture: 'This brief but weighty Psalm is so because its seven verses lay an OT foundation for Jesus Christ's claim that He is more than the son of David (Mark 12:35-37), for the apostolic testimony of His ascension into heaven (Acts 2:32-36), and for the teaching of the book of Hebrews about Christ's royal priesthood in heaven.' Bruce Waltke, Psalm 110 in Resurrection & Eschatology: Essays In Honor Of Richard B. Gaffin Jr. pp. 62-63 In a compelling exordium, the Father's appointment of the Son as 'heir of all things' (1:2) was powerfully instigated as a dominion mandate.

The writer of Hebrews wanted his Jewish audience to understand that the Son is God incarnate. Jesus was put forth as fully divine, as the 'express image' [Gk: charakter] of God and as 'the radiance of God's glory' [Gk: epaugasma] (1:3), two words not found elsewhere in the NT. Jonathan Edwards maintained that the term 'glory' particularly be applied to Christ, the chief exhibition of God's glory: 'This seems also well to agree with Christ being called the brightness, effulgence or shining forth of God's glory.' Lane is equally instructive: 'The confession of v 3 surveys Christ's person and worth in His pre-existence, incarnation, and exaltation.' p 14 Amongst the many virtuous titles he ascribed to the Son, 'firstborn' [Gk: protokos] was predicated on His pre-existence and co-eternality with the Father, and was well suited to express His supremacy over the created angels (1:6). These preliminary examinations were improved upon by a later comparison between the Son's eternal appointment (3:5-6a) and that of the major OT mediator, Moses (Num 12:7): 'The argument turns on the distinction between 'servant' and 'Son', and between the prepositions 'in the house' and 'over the house'. The key word 'pistos' appears to carry the double meaning appointed/faithful.' p 78 The inheritance the royal Son received to instate His coming of age is described as a throne for ever (not a thousand years), a sceptre of righteousness over a righteous kingdom (not one capable of rebellion), and a royal anointing - the oil of gladness (1:8-9). 'The motif of an eternal kingdom brings Ps 45 within the orbit of 2 Sam 7, where the establishment of an eternal throne is promised.' p 29 As the unchangeable Son, Lane does not hesitate to apply the divine attribute of immutability to Him, which reaffirms that the Son does not belong to the created order.

'He is not said to be begotten in any other sense than as the Father bore testimony to Him as being His own Son.' John Calvin, Commentary on Psalm 2:7

Lane further observed that although the cultural mandate to subdue the earth had been frustrated by sin and death, 'the sense of wonder expressed by the psalmist indicates that it has not been forgotten.' p 46 Lane applied the citation of man (Ps 8 in Heb 2) to 'Jesus in a representative sense [who] fulfilled the vocation intended for humankind.' p 47 He was not alone in desiring that it be thought of primarily in a christological sense. Based on the unanimous precedent set by the Septuagint, the Targum and other Jewish commentators on Ps 8, Hughes was of the same mind, further concurring with them that angels 'give the right interpretation of these passages in which the translation of elohim as 'God' would be misleading.' Hebrews p 86 (all against Jimmy Swaggart, Study Bible KJV Crossfire Edition) The exalted Son is the One by whom all things unfailingly exist and in whom they have their being, understood to mean that Christ is supreme in His sovereignty over creation, invested with absolute authority, and significantly so over all life (2:8). The concurrency between the human and the divine is epitomized in the humiliation and exaltation of the Son (2:5-9) and the High Priestly motif unfolds further as the author riveted their attention on the solidarity of the Son with the people of God (2:10-18). Lane, in objection to post-Reformation textual variants, did not wish to deprive us of the forceful Hebrew incarnational expression contained in 'He took on Him the seed of Abraham' (2:16) KJV. Lane found in it a rich textual history directed to 'the faithful remnant [which] is the object of God's comfort', p 64, a strong allusion to Isaiah 41:8-10: 'But you, Abraham's descendants, upon whom I took hold of...'

The paranetic section containing the second warning, 3:7-19, extended to the hearers a triple threat, signalled by the recurrence of 'today' (3:7, 13, 15) which brought home to their own assembly the memory of the gravity of the Israeli assembly's failure to 'hear His voice' (Ps 95). The writer never lost sight of the power of oral impact, and his implicit charge was that they, as had the Exodus generation in the desert, were no longer listening to the voice of God in Scripture and preaching. To those who ultimately spurn Him who is speaking, the unavoidable conclusion is that unbelief is catastrophic. Detectable in the Greek wordplay in 'see to it' (3:12) and 'so we see' (3:19), the author motivated 'his concern is that the community should continue to live in terms of the divine promises', p 83, with Lane noting that the challenging 'speaker sought to make the movement of his ideas more lively by means of a series of rapid questions and answers.' p 84

Both the OT and NT people of God enjoyed 'the privileged position of standing before the word of promise', p 98, for 'the good news was preached to us exactly as unto them' (4:2). The Word as living and active showed God's voice is still made audible in Scripture and preaching (4:12), and conveyed the hope that they would recognize its abiding authority for God's people. Lane recaptured an often-overlooked warning in Hebrews, that of the fearful prospect that God's Word is capable of discovering our true heart-condition and judging. 'The Word of God confronts us, and of the Word is predicated the judgment which belongs to God in His omniscience.' John Murray, Collected Writings 2:31 Lane's configuration of the divine attribute of omniscience was introduced by a descriptive suggestion for 'no creature is hidden from His sight' (4:13): 'The surveillance predicated of God is exhaustive; nothing escapes His scrutiny.' p 103 He is ignorant of nothing. And God has our best interest at heart. To this end, He provides us with a compassionate great High Priest as answer to His promise of personalized, present help. 'Seeing then that we have a great high priest...' (4:14). Lane's appraisal is worthy of mention: 'The reference to Jesus in His office as high priest in v 14 is not an afterthought, but the intended conclusion of the entire argument. The crucial issue for the community is whether they will maintain their Christian confession.' p 105

Our limited abilities ('weaknesses' 4:15) are impotent to relieve us from our estrangement from God and our entanglement with sin. 'Transcendentally exalted though He is, it would be quite wrong to imagine that our great high... Read more ›