The Bible in a Nutshell XXI: Philemon & Hebrews

If you've enjoyed this series on the books of the bible, then you also enjoy The One Year Bible. Now we continue with our look at the apostolic epistles. The book of Philemon is the last book of the Bible that we can credit to Paul with reasonable certainty. The source of the book of Hebrews is not known, although there has speculation that Paul wrote that book also; but more on that later. The next two books build upon the way Christians should behave in relationships, as well as the foundational differences between the Old Covenant and the New Covenant. The author comes the conclusion that the New Covenant is better

Philemon

Philemon was a wealthy man living in Colosse and owner of the house in which a church in the area met. Philemon had a slave named Onesimus who had run away to Rome. While there, Onesimus met Paul and was converted to Christianity. Paul instructed him that he was to return to his master and bring with him a letter Paul wrote to Philemon. In the letter Paul instructed Philemon to deal kindly with Onesimus as he was now a fellow believer and spiritual brother. This implies that Christians were to be held at higher standards when it came to slavery. The concept of enslaving a brother or sister in Christ is irreconcilable and ultimately led Christians to lead the way in abolishment of slavery.

Hebrews

Although Paul is widely believed by early church scholars to have written book of Hebrews, it is a letter often recognized for not stating who the writer was. It is theorized that Paul addressed the letter to all Hebrew Christians, and left his name off of the letter because this group didn't esteem him very highly. It is also theorized that the book of Hebrews we have now is not Paul's original letter, but was actually a second copy written in Greek by Luke who had translated it from Hebrew. Most of Today's scholars believe it was not Paul who wrote the letter, but there is no agreement as to who did. There are many comparisons between the Old Covenant and the New Covenant through Christ. Jesus and the New Covenant are clearly placed above the Old Covenant.

Please be on the lookout for James and 1 Peter!