Defining boundaries with a vengeance: identity formation and the motif of divine vengeance as boundary control in the Epistle to the Hebrews

Abstract

The Epistle to the Hebrews contains several so-called “warning passages”. In these texts, the author of Hebrews warns the addressees that they may not tarnish their Christ-given identity through apostasy and leaving the Christ-believing community. One of the literary motifs the author uses is the motif of divine vengeance in Hebrews 10:30. This paper will show how the author uses this motif as a way to prevent the addressees, as children of God’s household, from apostatizing, while at the same time defining the boundaries and the consequences when boundaries are crossed. Social-scientific insights into the mechanisms of honor and reciprocity will be used to clarify why the author of Hebrews employs the motif of divine vengeance. The addressees of Hebrews, in fact, will slight the honor of God and reject the gift that God has given in Christ through their apostasy. Divine vengeance is portrayed as the reaction of God to this slight and rejection. In that way, the addressees of Hebrews are deterred from becoming outsiders and urged to remain insiders, merging their particular identity with their given theological identity.