Nowadays, if we receive an email or a letter, we tend to ignore the introduction and leap to the substance of the message. However, in the world in which Hebrews was written, the introduction to a letter was really important: it often summarized the message in the opening lines (see, for example, Rom 1:1–6). This is especially true in long letters like Romans and Hebrews. Indeed, there is discussion among scholars about whether Hebrews really is a letter.
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