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THE LETTER TO THE HEBREWS
Many are of the opinion that the letter to the Hebrews was written by Paul before the great oppression which befell the Jews and their holy city Jerusalem beginning in the year 66 CE. [Luke 21:20-24; Daniel 9:24, 27] In the critical years preceding this cataclysm two forces were at work in opposition to the Church the Nazarene had founded: a) Jewish antagonism against the fast growing Messianic sect; and, b) certain internal forces which wished to enforce the Laws of Moses upon the Church. [Acts 15:1, 2] The Letter to the Hebrews was a fitting response to both of these fronts.
Though some resisted the Hebrew epistle, the Chester Beatty Papyrus No. 2 circa 200 CE includes the epistle to the Hebrews among nine of Paul’s letters; and later in the fourth century it is listed among “fourteen letters of Paul the apostle” in The Canon of Athanasius. Hebrews 13:23 well points to Paul as the author. It seems fair that he may wish not to give his name as he does in his other epistles because of the wise-spread Jewish prejudice against him, charging him with apostasy from Moses. [Acts 21:28]
Some argue the style of Hebrews is different from Paul’s other letters, most written to non-Jews in general. One can compare how Paul becomes a Jew to win Jews and a Greek to win Greeks by reading two of his sermons in Acts chapters 13 [to Jews] and 17 [to Greeks]. Clarke’s Commentary, Volume 6, page 681, remarks on this matter: “That it was written to Jews, naturally such, the whole structure of the epistle proves. Had it been written to the Gentiles, not one in ten thousand of them could have comprehended the argument, because unacquainted with the Jewish system; the knowledge of which the writer of this epistle everywhere supposes.”
Sir Frederic Kenyon wrote regarding one ancient catalogue of the Biblical canon: “It is noticeable that Hebrews is placed immediately after Romans (an almost unprecedented position), which shows that at the early date when this manuscript was written no doubt was felt as to its Pauline authorship.” McClintock and Strong’s Cyclopedia agrees: “There is no substantial evidence, external or internal, in favor of any claimant to the authorship of this epistle except Paul.”
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Nazarene Commentary 2000© Mark Heber Miller ©2000 All Rights Reserved |
