Epistle to the Hebrews
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The Epistle to the Hebrews (abbr. Heb for citations) is one of the books in the New Testament. Though traditionally credited to the Apostle Paul, the letter is anonymous. Most modern scholars, both conservative and critical, believe its author was not Paul.
The letter has carried its traditional title since Tertullian described it as Barnabae titulus ad Hebraeos in De Pudicitia chapter 20 ("Barnabas's Letter to the Hebrews.")
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[edit] Authorship
- See also: Authorship of the Pauline Epistles
The author of Hebrews is not known. The text as it has been passed down to the present time is internally anonymous, though ancient title headings attribute it to the Apostle Paul. Internal considerations suggest the author was male (Hebr 11:32), he was an acquaintance of Timothy (Heb 13:23), and was located in Italy (Heb 13:24).
Tradition attributes the letter to Paul, but the style is notably different from the rest of Paul's epistles. Eusebius reports that the original letter had a Jewish audience and was written in Hebrew, and then later translated into Greek by Luke. In support of this, Luke's record of Paul's speech in Antioch (Acts 13:13-52) is sometimes claimed to have a similar style to Hebrews,[citation needed] notably different from Paul's letters to gentile audiences.
However, even in antiquity doubts were raised about Paul's alleged authorship. The reasons for this controversy are fairly plain. For example, his letters always contain an introduction stating authorship, yet Hebrews does not. [1] Also, while much of its theology and teachings may be considered Pauline, it contains many other ideas which seem to have no such root or influence. Moreover, the writing style is substantially different from that of Paul's authentic epistles, a characteristic first noticed by Clement (c. 210). In Paul's letter to the Galatians, he forcefully defends his claim that he received his gospel directly from the resurrected Jesus himself.
Nevertheless, in the fourth century, the church largely agreed to include Hebrews as the fourteenth letter of Paul. Jerome and Augustine of Hippo were influential in affirming Paul's authorship,[2] and the Church affirmed this authorship until the Reformation.
In general, the evidence against Pauline authorship is considered too solid for scholarly dispute. Donald Guthrie, in his New Testament Introduction (1976), commented that "most modern writers find more difficulty in imagining how this Epistle was ever attributed to Paul than in disposing of the theory."[3] Harold Attridge tells us that "it is certainly not a work of the apostle";[4] Daniel Wallace simply states, "the arguments against Pauline authorship, however, are conclusive."[5] As a result, few supporters of Pauline authorship remain.
In response to the doubts raised about Paul's involvement, other possible authors were suggested as early as the third century CE. Origen of Alexandria (c. 240) suggested that either Luke the Evangelist or Clement of Rome might be the author.[6] Tertullian proposed Paul's companion Barnabas. Barnabas, to whom other noncanonical works are attributed (such as Epistle of Barnabas), was close to Paul in his ministry, and exhibited skill with midrash of Hebrew Scripture; the other works attributed to him bolster the case for his authorship of Hebrews with similar style, voice, and skill.
Martin Luther proposed Apollos, described as an Alexandrian and "a learned man" (Acts 18:24), popular in Corinth (1 Corinthians 1:12), and adept at using the scriptures and arguing for Christianity while "refuting the Jews" (Acts 18:27–28).
In more recent times, some scholars have advanced a case for the authorship of Hebrews belonging to Priscilla. Perhaps the most thoroughly presented argument that Priscilla authored Hebrews came from Berlin Prof. Adolph Von Harnack in 1900[7]. Starr's book[8] contains Harnack's summary of his research:
- Letter to the Hebrews was written to Rome--not to the church, but to the inner circle (Romans 15:5)
- The fact that the author's name was "blotted out by the earliest tradition" is considered "amazing."
- Closing verses of chapter 13 say the letter was written by a person of high standing and an apostolic teacher of equal rank with Timothy. The author must have been intimately associated with Paul and Timothy. Therefore, Harnack reasons, there must have been a reason why the author's name is not given. Harnack concludes: "This can only be Priscilla."
Harnack gives four reasons for his conclusion that Priscilla wrote the Letter to the Hebrews:
- Priscilla had an inner circle in Rome, "the church that is in their house" (Romans 16:5).
- She was an Apostolic teacher of high standing, and known throughout Christendom of that day (Romans 16).
- She was the teacher of the intelligent and highly educated Apollos (Acts 18).
- She and her husband Aquila labored closely and taught together, explaining why both the pronouns "I" and "we" were used by the author.
Nevertheless, other commentators have observed that the self-reference in Hebrews 11:32 employs a masculine participle, implying that Priscilla could not have been the author; or else she was masquerading as a male in order to gain credibility.[9]
As Richard Heard notes, in his Introduction to the New Testament, "modern critics have confirmed that the epistle cannot be attributed to Paul and have for the most part agreed with Origen’s judgement, ‘But as to who wrote the epistle, God knows the truth.’"[10]
[edit] Audience
Hebrews was written to a specific audience facing very specific circumstances. We can discern various facts abou