(4) the Jews of Antioch;^1220 (5) the Jews of Rome;^1221 (6) some community of the dispersion in the
East (but not Jerusalem).^1222
Occasion and Aim.
The Epistle was prompted by the desire to strengthen and comfort the readers in their trials
and persecutions (Heb. 10:32–39; Heb. 11 and 12), but especially to warn them against the danger
of apostasy to Judaism (2:2, 3; 3:6, 14; 4:1, 14; 6:1–8; 10:23, 26–31). And this could be done best
by showing the infinite superiority of Christianity, and the awful guilt of neglecting so great a
salvation.
Strange that but thirty years after the resurrection and the pentecostal effusion of the Spirit,
there should have been such a danger of apostasy in the very mother church of Christendom. And
yet not strange, if we realize the condition of things, between 60 and 70. The Christians in Jerusalem
were the most conservative of all believers, and adhered as closely as possible to the traditions of
their fathers. They were contented with the elementary doctrines, and needed to be pressed on "unto
perfection" (5:12; 6:1–4). The Epistle of James represents their doctrinal stand-point. The strange
advice which he gave to his brother Paul, on his last visit, reflects their timidity and narrowness.
Although numbered by "myriads," they made no attempt in that critical moment to rescue the great
apostle from the hands of the fanatical Jews; they were "all zealous for the law," and afraid of the
radicalism of Paul on hearing that he was teaching the Jews of the Dispersion "to forsake Moses,
telling them not to circumcise their children, neither to walk after the customs" ( Acts 21:20, 21).
They hoped against hope for the conversion of their people. When that hope vanished more
and more, when some of their teachers had suffered martyrdom (Heb. 13:7), when James, their
revered leader, was stoned by the Jews (62), and when the patriotic movement for the deliverance
of Palestine from the hated yoke of the heathen Romans rose higher and higher, till it burst out at
last in open rebellion (66), it was very natural that those timid Christians should feel strongly
tempted to apostatize from the poor, persecuted sect to the national religion, which they at heart
still believed to be the best part of Christianity. The solemn services of the Temple, the ritual pomp
and splendor of the Aaronic priesthood, the daily sacrifices, and all the sacred associations of the
past had still a great charm for them, and allured them to their embrace. The danger was very strong,
and the warning of the Epistle fearfully solemn.
Similar dangers have occurred again and again in critical periods of history.
Time and Place of Composition.
The Epistle hails and sends greetings from some place in Italy, at a time when Timothy,
Paul’s disciple, was set at liberty, and the writer was on the point of paying, with Timothy, a visit
to his readers (13:23, 24). The passage, "Remember them that are in bonds, as bound with them"
(13:3), does not necessarily imply that he himself was in prison, indeed 13:23 seems to imply his
freedom. These notices naturally suggest the close of Paul’s first Roman imprisonment, in the
spring of the year 63, or soon after; for Timothy and Luke were with him there, and the writer
himself evidently belonged to the circle of his friends and fellow-workers.(^1220) Von Hofmann.
(^1221) Wetstein, Alford, Holtzmann, Kurtz, Zahn; also Renan, who thinks (L’Antechrist. p. 211) that the Ep. was written by
Barnabas in Ephesus, and addressed to the church in Rome; hence it was first known in Rome.
(^1222) A. B. Davidson (Ep. to the Hebr., 1882, p. 18).
A.D. 1-100.