Is the Book of Hebrews about Christ?

The book of Hebrews focuses squarely on Jesus Christ. Theologically speaking, the book is Christocentric. The reason is obvious. The gospel ultimately boils down to three questions:

• Who is Jesus Christ?
• What has he done?
• What is the significance for us?

Similar to the way Paul begins his epistle to the Colossians(Col 1:15-20), the author of Hebrews begins by introducing his readers to the person of Christ before teaching them about the work of Christ. These two categories—person and work— help us theologically navigate the richness of the Bible’s Christology. 

While it is impossible to divorce Christ’s identity from his actions, dividing Christ’s person and work into individual theological categories helps us better articulate a comprehensive picture of what Scripture teaches us about Jesus.

One of the problems Christians have when we talk about Christ is that we often jump straight to the work of Christ before talking about the person of Christ. This is particularly true with evangelistic conversations. We typically start by talking about what Christ has done for us without first giving a clear testimony of who Christ is. Hebrews, however, reminds us to keep first things first. “Who is this Christ?” is the first question we must address when we talk about Jesus.

Hebrews also reminds us that we know Christ in the context of a narrative. His identity is revealed to us in the Holy Scriptures as part of the biblical storyline. He is the climax of the drama that moves from Old Testament promise to New Testament fulfillment. 

This means we cannot fully understand Christ’s identity without first seeing him in the context of the story of Israel and the story of the old covenant—an old covenant rendered obsolete by Christ’s inauguration and mediation of the new covenant