About the Author

STUART OLYOTT travels widely, helping and encouraging especially young and inexperienced pastors in the UK and Europe. He has wide experience of pastoral ministry, having pastored churches in London, Liverpool and Lausanne. The Trust has also published his Ministering Like the Master, Reading the Bible and Praying in Public, and his translation of John Calvin’s Truth for All Time.

Publishers Description

Every Christian needs to understand Hebrews. If they do not, they will misunderstand the Old Testament and will also fail to fully appreciate what the Lord Jesus Christ has done, what he is doing now, and what he is going to do in the future. As a result, they will remain spiritually stunted. Over the years, plenty of books have been written to explain Hebrews, but only a few of them have had ordinary Christians in mind. Some of them are so large and so complicated that they appear to be the last word. Experts enjoy books like these, but everybody else is left bewildered. This book does not pretend to be ‘the last word’ but perhaps, for some, it will prove useful as ‘the first word’. Stuart Olyott explains Hebrews as clearly as the subject matter allows, keeping in mind the advice of Albert Einstein that ‘things should be as simple as possible, but no simpler’. Crystal clear explanation of the text is followed by detailed practical application. Indeed this book contains many applications, some of which are very direct. Throughout, the aim of the author is to focus our gaze upon Christ so that we might follow him with renewed courage. 

Endorsement

This volume makes the stirring claim that without a proper appreciation of Hebrews, Christians will misunderstand the Old Testament and fail to grasp the past, present and future work of the Lord Jesus. One could not ask for many better guides than Mr Olyott to address such failings: this volume is the condensed product of forty years gathering the fruit of the Letter to the Hebrews. Direct, simple, pastoral, and pungent, there is little waste or unnecessary complexity here: more difficult passages are made to yield up straightforward principles ("Olyott's Razor"?) without pretending that there are not deep truths to ponder. The whole is profoundly Christ-centred, as it must be if faithfully expounding this book. The author himself attests that he intends this not as a "last word" but as a "first word" on Hebrews, a brief but not shallow guide through the letter that should satisfy our early cravings, but hopefully stir up a deeper and stronger appetite.