Who wrote the book of Hebrews?

[Randy4u2c]

The book of Hebrews does not identify who the author is, but most people say that Hebrews was written by Paul. I would have to disagree.

There are many clues that one can make an educated guess off of, but there are just as many clues that cause reasonable doubt that Paul is not the author of Hebrews.

To understand who the author of Hebrews is, one must understand who the audience of Hebrews is; the book of Hebrews is simply addressed to Hebrew Jews and possibly some Jewish Christians as well; they were not a Gentile group.

A key clue is that Paul was not the apostle to the circumcision, but rather to the uncircumcision. This is just a way of saying that the scope of Paul’s God-ordained ministry did not involve Jewish outreach.

Romans 11:13
13I am talking to you Gentiles. Inasmuch as I am the apostle to the Gentiles, I take pride in my ministry

Galatians 2:7
7On the contrary, they recognized that I had been entrusted with the task of preaching the gospel to the uncircumcised, just as Peter had been to the circumcised.

Paul was also not one to build on another’s foundation.

Romans 15:20
20It has always been my ambition to preach the gospel where Christ was not known, so that I would not be building on someone else’s foundation.

Hebrews was either written by Peter or someone else who’s ministry involved non-Gentile outreach.

In II Peter 3:15-16, Peter gives Paul credit to have written to them as well as the other epistles. The suspicion with which the Jews regarded Paul and their hatred of him, would be ample reason why in addressing so important a letter to his own race, he should with hold his name. Acts 9:15, He is a chosen vessel unto Me, to bear my name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the CHILDREN OF ISRAEL.
He always went to the synagogues first to teach and when the word was rejected by the Jews, he them went to the Gentiles. You may want to rethink your position.

 

[Runningman]

In II Peter 3:15-16, Peter gives Paul credit to have written to them as well as the other epistles. The suspicion with which the Jews regarded Paul and their hatred of him, would be ample reason why in addressing so important a letter to his own race, he should with hold his name. Acts 9:15, He is a chosen vessel unto Me, to bear my name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the CHILDREN OF ISRAEL.
He always went to the synagogues first to teach and when the word was rejected by the Jews, he them went to the Gentiles. You may want to rethink your position.

The books of Hebrews doesn’t identify who the author is and the target audience weren’t Gentile.

2 Peter 3:15,16 says that Paul wrote letters. Hebrews isn’t a letter. For a letter to be a letter, it needs to have a greeting, salutation, an addressee, who the sender is, a personal touch, etc. Hebrews lacks all of that which Paul’s confirmed letters contain.

Hebrews is a sermon. While I’m sure Paul could outreach to non-Gentiles and he likely did if there was an opportunity, his ministry was to non-Gentiles. I see more evidence against Paul being the author than for him being the author.

I like the idea that Hebrews may have been written by Peter or Jesus, but bottom line is we can’t really know without proof. Someone said wait until I get to heaven to find out and I will, but I’m curious now too.

 

[DJT_47]

The book of Hebrews does not identify who the author is, but most people say that Hebrews was written by Paul. I would have to disagree.

There are many clues that one can make an educated guess off of, but there are just as many clues that cause reasonable doubt that Paul is not the author of Hebrews.

To understand who the author of Hebrews is, one must understand who the audience of Hebrews is; the book of Hebrews is simply addressed to Hebrew Jews and possibly some Jewish Christians as well; they were not a Gentile group.

A key clue is that Paul was not the apostle to the circumcision, but rather to the uncircumcision. This is just a way of saying that the scope of Paul’s God-ordained ministry did not involve Jewish outreach.

Romans 11:13
13I am talking to you Gentiles. Inasmuch as I am the apostle to the Gentiles, I take pride in my ministry

Galatians 2:7
7On the contrary, they recognized that I had been entrusted with the task of preaching the gospel to the uncircumcised, just as Peter had been to the circumcised.

Paul was also not one to build on another’s foundation.

Romans 15:20
20It has always been my ambition to preach the gospel where Christ was not known, so that I would not be building on someone else’s foundation.

Hebrews was either written by Peter or someone else who’s ministry involved non-Gentile outreach.

Hebrews is clearly written to Hebrew Christians, those newly converted to Christ, as can be evidenced by the wording and warnings within the book to those converted Jews.

It also sounds very much like Paul stlye of writing.

 

[Runningman]

Hebrews is clearly written to Hebrew Christians, those newly converted to Christ, as can be evidenced by the wording and warnings within the book to those converted Jews.

It also sounds very much like Paul stlye of writing.

For me it's kinda up in the air. I've looked into some scholarly material on the subject and this is more or less an age-old debate without a conclusive answer.

Traditionally, Paul wrote it; maybe he did or maybe he didn't. However, there is a lot of things about the writing style of Hebrews that aren't characteristic of Paul. As time has progressed, I have come to theorize that Hebrews may have multiple authors.

As for the audience, I agree that one of the audiences is Hebrews Christians, but I also see how Hebrews could be used as a persuasive speech to attract non-Christian Hebrews.

 

[DJT_47]

For me it's kinda up in the air. I've looked into some scholarly material on the subject and this is more or less an age-old debate without a conclusive answer.

Traditionally, Paul wrote it; maybe he did or maybe he didn't. However, there is a lot of things about the writing style of Hebrews that aren't characteristic of Paul. As time has progressed, I have come to theorize that Hebrews may have multiple authors.

As for the audience, I agree that one of the audiences is Hebrews Christians, but I also see how Hebrews could be used as a persuasive speech to attract non-Christian Hebrews.

Not to belabor the point of who it's addressed to solely, but the answer can clearly be found after his preamble and letter opening statements which takes up the first 2 chapters; then in Hebrews 3, he starts by a continuation of his opening statements by saying the following in Hebrews 3:1

"1Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our profession, Christ Jesus;"

With that in mind, you can easily see that the rest is addressed to and only can be applicable to those that are in Christ, by use of similar wording throughout including the warnings contained in the letter.

Hebrews is deep and can be hard to understand as most of Paul's writings are, and should be read from beginning to end in one sitting in my view, so as not to be mislead by its content by considering it on a piecemeal basis.

Peter says of Paul's writings the below

2 Peter 3:16

"As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction."

 

[Grandpa]

Its pretty certain it was Paul.

Unless you can cite another EXTREMELY prominent Pharisee with VERY VERY good knowledge of the Law and OT scripture who was MIRACULOUSLY converted to Christianity where the Lord Jesus taught him of the New Covenant.

And had the skill to communicate why the Law was given and how the Law was disanulled.


That narrows it down considerably. It more than likely WASN'T any of the other apostles as they were fisherman and not SCHOLARS of the Scripture.

Hebrews takes a SCHOLAR of OT Scripture who was converted to Christianity and shown/told by Christ that they are no longer under the Old Covenant but a New Covenant.

The other apostles intuitively knew this but probably couldn't cite scripture like Paul could.

 

[JohnDB]

The end of Hebrews ends like this:

24 Greet all your leaders and all the Lord’s people. Those from Italy send you their greetings.

So we can conclude that the author was not only IN Italy but was familiar with Timothy as well.(preceeding verse) Now there were some old Manuscripts with either Bartholomew or Barnabus (I forget) as the author but it is without a separate source to verify.
The internal evidence suggests that the author was fluent in Sifre, Midrash, and Talmud which Westcott and Horte describe and define in details that cannot be dismissed.

The lists of people at the End of the Book of Roman's (including Phoebe as a deacon) does not list either of the two gentlemen in question. I'm not exactly sure that Priscilla would have had the time to create such a letter or studies to know the many works cited in this letter. I'm not saying that it's impossible but simply unlikely. She definitely had the financial resources to do so. She possibly financed the writing herself.

So all we truly have is supposition and church history (which is usually fairly accurate up to a point)

 

[HealthAndHappiness]

God clearly inspired Hebrews.
I believe that He used Paul to pen it.
The original translation that King James commissioned was titled,

"The Epistle of Paul the Apostle to the Hebrews"

 

[Runningman]

Not to belabor the point of who it's addressed to solely, but the answer can clearly be found after his preamble and letter opening statements which takes up the first 2 chapters; then in Hebrews 3, he starts by a continuation of his opening statements by saying the following in Hebrews 3:1

"1Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our profession, Christ Jesus;"

I don't want to belabor the point either, but I think it's better to keep an open mind about it.

Of many things in Hebrews, just to give one example, of Hebrews being written to a mixed audience. As you can see in the below passage, the author is speaking to people who aren't Christians since the preceding passages. Without posting several chapters, the general context is about how Christ is not like an animal sacrifice that can be sacrificed again and again to remove sins.

Hebrews 6:4-9
4It is impossible for those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, who have shared in the Holy Spirit, 5who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the coming age 6and who have fallen c away, to be brought back to repentance. To their loss they are crucifying the Son of God all over again and subjecting him to public disgrace. 7Land that drinks in the rain often falling on it and that produces a crop useful to those for whom it is farmed receives the blessing of God. 8But land that produces thorns and thistles is worthless and is in danger of being cursed. In the end it will be burned.
9Even though we speak like this, dear friends, we are convinced of better things in your case—the things that have to do with salvation.

With that in mind, you can easily see that the rest is addressed to and only can be applicable to those that are in Christ, by use of similar wording throughout including the warnings contained in the letter.

Read more of the context around Hebrews 6 and you'll see it isn't.

Hebrews is deep and can be hard to understand as most of Paul's writings are, and should be read from beginning to end in one sitting in my view, so as not to be mislead by its content by considering it on a piecemeal basis.

Peter says of Paul's writings the below

2 Peter 3:16

"As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction."

Hebrews isn't an epistle so we can't include Hebrews in "all his epistles."

A letter requires a greeting, an address, a salutation at the opening. Hebrews has none of that and begins immediately by talking about the supremacy of Christ.

But thanks for sharing.

 

[Runningman]

Its pretty certain it was Paul.

Hebrews doesn't say it was Paul who wrote it.

Unless you can cite another EXTREMELY prominent Pharisee with VERY VERY good knowledge of the Law and OT scripture who was MIRACULOUSLY converted to Christianity where the Lord Jesus taught him of the New Covenant.

And had the skill to communicate why the Law was given and how the Law was disanulled.[/QUOTE]

None I'm aware of, but that doesn't prove that Paul wrote it and is a bit irrelevant.

That narrows it down considerably. It more than likely WASN'T any of the other apostles as they were fisherman and not SCHOLARS of the Scripture.

Hebrews takes a SCHOLAR of OT Scripture who was converted to Christianity and shown/told by Christ that they are no longer under the Old Covenant but a New Covenant.

The other apostles intuitively knew this but probably couldn't cite scripture like Paul could.

Paul clearly wasn't the best possible person to write Hebrews since He wasn't ordained as a minister to the Hebrews, but to the Gentiles. Peter was a minister to the Hebrews so he would have been better qualified.

Galatians 2:8
8For God, who was at work in Peter as an apostle to the circumcised, was also at work in me as an apostle to the Gentiles.

 

[Runningman]

The end of Hebrews ends like this:

24 Greet all your leaders and all the Lord’s people. Those from Italy send you their greetings.

So we can conclude that the author was not only IN Italy but was familiar with Timothy as well.(preceeding verse) Now there were some old Manuscripts with either Bartholomew or Barnabus (I forget) as the author but it is without a separate source to verify.
The internal evidence suggests that the author was fluent in Sifre, Midrash, and Talmud which Westcott and Horte describe and define in details that cannot be dismissed.

The lists of people at the End of the Book of Roman's (including Phoebe as a deacon) does not list either of the two gentlemen in question. I'm not exactly sure that Priscilla would have had the time to create such a letter or studies to know the many works cited in this letter. I'm not saying that it's impossible but simply unlikely. She definitely had the financial resources to do so. She possibly financed the writing herself.

So all we truly have is supposition and church history (which is usually fairly accurate up to a point)

If Hebrews had one author, he was a male. There is some Greek words where the author refers to himself using the masculine sense. It's possible Hebrews had more than one author, in my opinion.

Here's something I took from a site for you to consider:

"The most persuasive argument against Pauline authorship

An even more persuasive argument that the apostle Paul was not the author of Hebrews is the way the author alludes to himself in Hebrews 2:3, stating that the gospel was confirmed “to us” by those who heard the Lord announce salvation.

The apostle Paul always made the point that, even though he wasn’t one of the twelve original disciples who walked with Jesus during his earthly life, he was nonetheless an apostle of Jesus Christ, and usually identifies himself as such in his letters. It seems unlikely that Paul here in 2:3 would refer to himself as simply someone who received the gospel from those who had heard the Lord."

That would conclusively make the author one of the original 11 disciples (no including Judas)

 

[Runningman]

God clearly inspired Hebrews.
I believe that He used Paul to pen it.
The original translation that King James commissioned was titled,

"The Epistle of Paul the Apostle to the Hebrews"

It's worth saying that the title you posted isn't actually found in the Greek manuscript. It's an addition.

1. Hebrews isn't an epistle, I proved why in an earlier comment. Epistles require certain formalities because they are personalized to certain people or groups; there is criteria that defines what an epistle is. Hebrews opens immediately discussing the supremacy of Christ. It's a sermon.

2. Hebrews doesn't plainly say Paul is the author

 

[JohnDB]

If Hebrews had one author, he was a male. There is some Greek words where the author refers to himself using the masculine sense. It's possible Hebrews had more than one author, in my opinion.

Here's something I took from a site for you to consider:

"The most persuasive argument against Pauline authorship

An even more persuasive argument that the apostle Paul was not the author of Hebrews is the way the author alludes to himself in Hebrews 2:3, stating that the gospel was confirmed “to us” by those who heard the Lord announce salvation.

The apostle Paul always made the point that, even though he wasn’t one of the twelve original disciples who walked with Jesus during his earthly life, he was nonetheless an apostle of Jesus Christ, and usually identifies himself as such in his letters. It seems unlikely that Paul here in 2:3 would refer to himself as simply someone who received the gospel from those who had heard the Lord."

That would conclusively make the author one of the original 11 disciples (no including Judas)

Well laid out logic except for the conclusion of your last statement...it couldn't have been one of the 11..it had to be someone that one of the 11 had talked to.

And YES, Paul always identified himself in his letters.

 

[Runningman]

Well laid out logic except for the conclusion of your last statement...it couldn't have been one of the 11..it had to be someone that one of the 11 had talked to.

And YES, Paul always identified himself in his letters.

Hebrews 2:3
3how shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation? This salvation was first announced by the Lord, was confirmed to us by those who heard Him,

Paul wasn't there when salvation was first announced by the Lord or among the "us" who heard Him.

 

[JohnDB]

Hebrews 2:3
3how shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation? This salvation was first announced by the Lord, was confirmed to us by those who heard Him,

Paul wasn't there when salvation was first announced by the Lord or among the "us" who heard Him.

I wasn't suggesting that Paul wrote Hebrew...far from it. I was agreeing with you about that since the self identification was absent, it wasn't Paul.

What I was saying was that your conclusion that it was one of the other 11 (just how your statements read to me) was in error because of the "confirmed by personal witnesses"

 

[JohnDB]

In addendum...

There were a minimum of 200+ dedicated disciples *followers/adherents/disciples* but only 11 Apostles at the time Jesus died.
These 200+ were obviously assigned to an apostle for extra teaching and leadership and someone who was responsible for their understanding of what Jesus taught and was currently teaching. More followers came later as Jesus may have died but rose from the grave back to life. But the 11 plus Matthias and Paul continued to add numbers to their ranks.

 

[Runningman]

I wasn't suggesting that Paul wrote Hebrew...far from it. I was agreeing with you about that since the self identification was absent, it wasn't Paul.

What I was saying was that your conclusion that it was one of the other 11 (just how your statements read to me) was in error because of the "confirmed by personal witnesses"

good point, I am willing to accept it could have been someone else other than the 11. I think it would have been someone who was an eyewitness to Jesus, though, and among the original followers.

 

[DJT_47]

I don't want to belabor the point either, but I think it's better to keep an open mind about it.

Of many things in Hebrews, just to give one example, of Hebrews being written to a mixed audience. As you can see in the below passage, the author is speaking to people who aren't Christians since the preceding passages. Without posting several chapters, the general context is about how Christ is not like an animal sacrifice that can be sacrificed again and again to remove sins.

Hebrews 6:4-9
4It is impossible for those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, who have shared in the Holy Spirit, 5who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the coming age 6and who have fallen c away, to be brought back to repentance. To their loss they are crucifying the Son of God all over again and subjecting him to public disgrace. 7Land that drinks in the rain often falling on it and that produces a crop useful to those for whom it is farmed receives the blessing of God. 8But land that produces thorns and thistles is worthless and is in danger of being cursed. In the end it will be burned.
9Even though we speak like this, dear friends, we are convinced of better things in your case—the things that have to do with salvation.




Read more of the context around Hebrews 6 and you'll see it isn't.



Hebrews isn't an epistle so we can't include Hebrews in "all his epistles."

A letter requires a greeting, an address, a salutation at the opening. Hebrews has none of that and begins immediately by talking about the supremacy of Christ.

But thanks for sharing.

You've answered your own question citing Hebrews 6. Those once enlightened, meaning saved, and then falling away. A warning which to them was rejecting Christ after having accepted him and falling back to non-belief and traditional Jewish belief.

 

[Dean4u2c]

The book of Hebrews does not identify who the author is, but most people say that Hebrews was written by Paul. I would have to disagree.

There are many clues that one can make an educated guess off of, but there are just as many clues that cause reasonable doubt that Paul is not the author of Hebrews.

To understand who the author of Hebrews is, one must understand who the audience of Hebrews is; the book of Hebrews is simply addressed to Hebrew Jews and possibly some Jewish Christians as well; they were not a Gentile group.

A key clue is that Paul was not the apostle to the circumcision, but rather to the uncircumcision. This is just a way of saying that the scope of Paul’s God-ordained ministry did not involve Jewish outreach.

Romans 11:13
13I am talking to you Gentiles. Inasmuch as I am the apostle to the Gentiles, I take pride in my ministry

Galatians 2:7
7On the contrary, they recognized that I had been entrusted with the task of preaching the gospel to the uncircumcised, just as Peter had been to the circumcised.

Paul was also not one to build on another’s foundation.

Romans 15:20
20It has always been my ambition to preach the gospel where Christ was not known, so that I would not be building on someone else’s foundation.

Hebrews was either written by Peter or someone else who’s ministry involved non-Gentile outreach.

It was Paul that wrote Hebrews. He was hated and despised of the Jews and if he signed his name the Jews would have immediately disregarded the letter.

 

[Runningman]

You've answered your own question citing Hebrews 6. Those once enlightened, meaning saved, and then falling away. A warning which to them was rejecting Christ after having accepted him and falling back to non-belief and traditional Jewish belief.

I think you missed my point.

Here's another example of where Hebrews is not written to Christians:

Hebrews 10:26-30
26If we deliberately go on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no further sacrifice for sins remains, 27but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume all adversaries. 28Anyone who rejected the law of Moses died without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. 29How much more severely do you think one deserves to be punished who has trampled on the Son of God, profaned the blood of the covenant that sanctified him, and insulted the Spirit of grace?
30For we know Him who said, “Vengeance is Mine; I will repay,” and again, “The Lord will judge His people.”

As you can see, if a Christian sins deliberately after knowing the truth, the sacrifice of Jesus still covers them. This only applies to those who sin under the old covenant and used animal sacrifices to cover their sins. If they deliberately sinned after the animal sacrifice, then the animal sacrifice was no longer able to be a valid sacrifice for their sins. They would need to do another sacrifice and would likely have to wait until next year. This is a persuasive speech, a sermon, trying to tell those under the old covenant to come to Christ asap.

Hebrews is written to a mixed audience. The above passage is written to practicing Jews.

If the above passage is to true believing Christians... God help us all.