Book Description

In this book, Dr. Vos' reflects on the Epistle to the Hebrews and its theological themes. In chapter 1, Vos explains why the outstanding feature of the Epistle is its connection with the Old Testament and why the Old Testament is prominent in it. In Chapter 2, Vos discusses the Epistle's conception of the "Diatheke" - the new covenant, new testament, new organization of relationship between God and humanity - and shows how the Epistle's conception affects the whole of Christianity. In chapter 3, Vos points out that the Epistle presents its own philosophy of redemption and revelation and that it presents a significant, and corrective teaching on the subject of Christian eschatology. In the remaining portion of this chapter the author analyzes the Typology of the Epistle, the Problem of the Inferiority of the Old Testament from the religious point of view, and teh Epistle's doctrine of revelation. In chapter 4, Vos lays out the Epistle's teaching of the Priesthood of Christ and in Chapter 5 he concludes with a discussion of the better sacrifice: the sacrifice of the new covenant. This last chapter also contains helpful notes on the rigual terminology employed by the writer of the epistle. Geerhardus Vos (1862-1949) was born in the Netherlands and emigrated to the USA in 1881. He earned degrees from Calvin Theological Seminary, Princeton Theological Seminary, and the University of Strasbourg (Ph.D. in Arabic). In 1894 he was ordained as a minister in the Presbyterian Church in the USA. Before beginning a 39-year tenure on Princeton's faculty, he was professor of systematic and exegetical theology at Calvin for five years. Editor: James T. Dennison Jr. (M.Div., Th.M., Pittsburgh Theological Seminary) is academic dean and professor of church history and biblical theology at Northwest Theological Seminary, Lynnwood, Washington. he is the editor of the English translation of Turretin's three- volume Institutes and author of The Market-Day of the Soul; The Puritan Doctrine of the Sabbath in England, 1532- 1700, as well as numerous scholarly articles.