Turning Away from the Living God (Heb. 3:12)

Abstract

Some have suggested that the recipients of Hebrews were tempted to revert to Judaism. The theory is problematic as they would have considered themselves faithful Israelites, not having converted from one religion (Judaism) to another (Christianity). This theory appeared in Britain in the seventeenth century, flourished in the nineteenth and into the twentieth, and since then has declined. The emergence of Jewish congregations in seventeenth-century England and the work of the London Jews Society in the nineteenth century are suggested as possible reasons for its prominence then. A variety of factors have led to its decline in the twentieth century.