The Relationship of Jewish and Gentile Believers to the Law Between A.D. 30 and 70 in the Scripture

39 These would include the theme of the distance of the OT worshipper as opposed to the unrestricted access to God that is the "hallmark of the life of faith under the new covenant." That God has spoken and continues to speak, with the exhortation that listening to him is an urgent concern. Climax is found in the pointed appeal of 12:25 "See that you do not refuse the one who is speaking." Once again, the clear contrast between old and new covenants is clear in the language and theme of 12: 18-24, summarized in 12:24, "and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood, which speaks better than the blood of Abel." "Chapter 12: 18-24 enjoys the climactic position of the entire book, and I wonder if it exposes implicitly the architectural pattern of the whole letter. ... In one grand finale 12: 18- 24 juxtaposes the two covenants (Sinai and Zion) and the two mediators. " 60 The Dating of Hebrews The terminus ad quern is certainly fixed by the date of 1 Clement which is generally agreed to be around A.D. 95. The terminus a quo is determined by the relation hip of the letter to the destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70. It is true that to argue a pre-70 date of composition based upon no mention of the destruction is an argument from ilence. Man of the present tense verbs refer to ritual arrangements (e.g. 5: 1-4; 8:3-5; 9:6f.; 10: 1) whi h are timeles . And it is also true that Jo ephu give a long account of the tern in imilar term (Ant 3:224-57; Contra Apion 2:77 and 193-8), long after th fa t. Ho r, th