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Thursday, January 07, 2016

Author of the Letter of Hebrews

Compiled thoughts of others:

"The general consensus among Christians, until about the 1800’s, was that Paul wrote Hebrews." -- Fred Butler

"The Apostle Peter said Paul wrote Hebrews, 2 Pet. 3:15. The 'you' of whom this verse speaks is to the Hebrew believers scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia (1 Pet. 1:1). James and John also wrote their epistles to these Hebrew believers (James 1:1; Gal. 2:7-9). Since Peter said Paul had written to these same people, his epistle to them would have had to have been Hebrews, since all his other epistles were written to Gentile churches or individual preachers." -- Royce Smith

"Grace be with you all. Amen." (Hebrews 13:25) The concluding words of this epistle are similar to the concluding words of all fo Paul's epistles. Compare with Romans 15:33, 16:27; 1 Corinthians 16:24; 2 Corinthians 13:14; Galatians 6:18; Ephesians 6:24; Philippians 4:23; Colossians 4:18; 1 Thessalonians 5:28; 2 Thessalonians 3:18; 1 Timothy 6:21; 2 Timothy 4:22; Titus 3:15 and Philemon 25. If one says this is a typical way of ending a first century religious epistle, compare the non-Pauline epistles and see that overall they are not as similar to Hebrews in concluding as are the Pauline epistles. Paul wrote that he always gives this salutation [aspasmos]. This or something similar is found at the end of every one of the other of Paul's thirteen epistles.

Paul is the only apostle to mention Timothy in any letter (Cf. Hebrews 13:23). As for the alleged differences in style, a different audience accounts for the difference in the manner of teaching and the style of writing. There is a great difference is style of writing in some books whose authors are not disputed -- such as Leviticus and Deuteronomy, or the Gospel of John and the book of Revelation.


"Other indicators of Pauline authorship include his usage of Habakkuk 2:4. It is quoted three times in the New Testament: Romans 1:17, Galatinas 3:11, and Hebrews 10:38. This quotation fits with Paul’s great emphasis on faith (Romans 3:26-30, 4:3-5, 5:1; Galatians 2:16; Ephesians 2:8-9, et. al. cf. Hebrews 4:2, 6:1, 12, 10:22, 38-39, 11:1-9, 11, 13, 17, 20-24, 27-31, 33, 39, 12:2, 13:7). Paul exalted Christ over all created beings (Ephesians 1:10, 20, 4:10; Philippians 2:9-10; Colossians 1:14-21; 2 Thessalonians 1:7 cf. Hebrews 1:1-14, 4:14, 7:26, 8:1). Other themes expounded in Hebrews are our heavenly calling (1 Corinthians 15:49; 2 Corinthians 5:1-2; Ephesians 1:3, 2:6; Philippians 3:20; 2 Timothy 4:18 cf. Hebrews 3:1, 11:16, 12:22), and the temporary nature of the Mosaic Law (2 Corinthians 3:16-18; Galatians 3:19-26 cf. Hebrews 7:18-19, 8:3-10, 13). Lastly, we find such expressions as “but now” (νυν[ὶ] δὲ) throughout Paul’s writings and in Hebrews (Hebrews 2:8, 8:6, 9:26, 11:16, 12:26)." -- Don Samdahl

"The letter being anonymous, we cannot know with infallible, inerrant certainty who the author is. That does not mean, however, that we cannot reach a well-informed opinion with a goodly degree of certainty." -- W. Gary Crampton

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