Part II, week 8 - The "Epistle to the Hebrews" -

My copy of the KJV from the 1950’s titled this “Paul’s Epistle to the Hebrews,” based on church tradition dating from the second century A.D. It appears to be almost universally agreed now that Hebrews was not written by Paul, for several reasons cited by de Silva. First, the author writes that he was brought to faith by the word of apostolic witnesses, whereas Paul asserted that he received a direct revelation of Jesus Christ from God. Second, Hebrews is written in a very polished style unlike that of Paul’s letters. Third, there are themes which are similar to some of those in Paul’s letters, but the author of Hebrews develops them quite differently. Fourth and last, there are many concepts borrowed from Platonism, an interest in Jewish cult practices and a characterization of Jesus Christ as a priest which is quite distinctive to the author of Hebrews.

So who did write Hebrews? Hebrews is anonymous; there is no claim of identity within the document itself, as there is in all the letters in the NT written by or ascribed to Paul. De Silva indicates that it was probably written by a member of the Pauline circle, because of the use of themes which were used by Paul and because of the reference to Timothy in the epistolary closing. Various members of the Pauline circle are candidates for authorship, including Barnabas, who called Paul to his first missionary journey, and Apollos, who is mentioned in 1 Corinthians and whom Paul lauded for his rhetorical skill, as well as others. It appears it was a man, due to the use of a Greek verb form “to tell” in 11:32, together with the fact that the author was known to the community he is writing to.

And who was Hebrews written to? It was early conjectured that it was written to a group of Jewish believers (thus the traditional name), however, that too was conjecture by the early Church fathers. De Silva suggests that the intended recipients were in fact a mixed group of Jewish and Gentile followers. He cites the familiarity with Old Testament themes that we see in Galatians and 1 Peter in support of this thesis. However, considering that, as noted above, the themes are developed in quite a distinctive fashion, I tend to disagree with de Silva on that point. I got the impression upon reading it of an overwhelming immersion in Jewish traditions and beliefs, with the author eloquently expressing that the customs and practices of the Old Covenant had been superseded by the New Covenant between God and the believers with Christ Jesus as mediator. In this sense, I believe that Hebrews bears some similarity to the Gospel of Matthew, the Gospel which is usually believed to have originated in a community strongly influenced by formative Judaism – and even though that community might have been classed as “deviant” by the surrounding traditional Jewish society. I think that, regardless of the identity of the sender and the audience, or even if Hebrews was composed outside of Palestine (there is no indication of either location in the document), Jewish traditions would have been the predominant influence for both sender and recipient.

When was Hebrews written? There is no express date given, but it does appear to be an early work. The references to the Jewish priesthood and practices of sacrifice were made as if those institutions were in existence at the time of writing, indicating that it was prior to the destruction of the Temple in 70 A.D. It seems certain that the author would have used the destruction of the Temple in further support of his argument had that occurred prior to the composition.

Is Hebrews really an epistle? The traditional name and even De Silva’s chapter heading refer to it as an epistle, but de Silva comments that it really appears to be more of a speech (or rather, here, a sermon). Hebrews does not contain many of the conventional elements of an ancient letter, as Paul’s do. It doesn’t really look much like a letter at all, except for what de Silva refers to as the “epistolary postscript” in 13:22-25. There is the brief reference to Timothy in 13:23, with some indication that the author was an associate of his. There are also the greetings sent by “those from Italy” in 13:24 – which really gives no indication of composition other than (to my mind) that the sender and recipients were probably *not* in Italy. The perfunctory nature of the epistolary portion makes me wonder if chapter 13 might have been to a speech or sermon in order to give some evidence of possible Pauline authorship.

The theology of Hebrews may be an intermediate point in the development of Christology, given the expression of Jesus’s superiority to the angels and the further characterization of him as a more perfect priest and sacrifice able, unlike the OT priests, to wipe away sins. The author wrote of the cleansing by the sprinkling of blood from sacrificial animals – which I take it was a ritual followed by the Jewish priests in order to purify objects and people. But the author’s conclusion was that Jesus’s shedding of his own blood for the believers was a more beneficent sacrifice than what was performed by the priests. The initial chapters 1 and 2 of the book are devoted to an exposition of Jesus’s superiority to the angels. We have seen this before in at least one of the Pauline or pseudo-Pauline letters (Col. 2:18), which makes me wonder if there was a strain – which in later years would have been called “heresy” – within heterodox early Christian belief, perhaps originating in some sects of Judaism or paganism which were exerting what was perceived to be a deleterious influence on the followers. Thus the author perceived that it was necessary to expound on Jesus’s superiority to the angels, despite the fact that in his human form, he seemed to be lower than they.

De Silva indicates that Hebrews appears to have been written to counter some threat to or influence on the community of believers, in which they were tempted to drift away or lapse back into their former beliefs. He notes that it takes a remarkable effort to persuade people to continue to follow an unpopular way of life, but that the author of Hebrews “rose to this challenge by means of a cohesive, multipronged attack on the forces that were eroding the commitment of the Christians.” (pg. 790) He concludes, “In the course of motivating Christans to remain connected with the Son and the people called in Jesus’ name, the author of Hebrews offers some of the richest reflections on the person and work of Jesus in the entire New Testament.” (pg. 806)