What do we know about the author of this book from the text?
The author in the letter doesn't refer to himself, or herself. There is no mention of a name like in other New Testament letters. However 2:3 gives us some information about the author. What does this verse tell us about the author? This is someone who didn't hear the message from Jesus but rather heard it from one of the apostles.
Now does that sound like Paul? Let's look at Gal 1:11-12. Galatians is Paul's letter. What does Paul say about his message? Did he hear it from the apostles or from Jesus? What about this letter? So is it Paul?
What else do we know about the letter? Is there anybody mentioned? What about 13:23. So the author is not Timothy. So this is someone, closely associated with the apostles, not Timothy, but who isn't one of the apostles. So a leader of the second generation.
There is evidence from within the letter that the writer is educated in Greek rhetoric. There are a number of what is called
inclusios which indicate various sections of the letter. An
inclusio is where a word is used at the start and end of a section. For example in Hebrews 1 Jesus is compared to angels, and the word angels is used in 1:4. It is the last word of the first sentence in Greek. This marks the beginning of the section on angels. Where is the end of the section on angels? It is just after 2:9 where the author again talks of angels.
Another of the rhetoric elements of this letter is the use of alliteration. This is where a number of words that sound the same are used together in a sentence. This comes across, in Greek, in 1:1. So what we can learn from this is that the author was an educated writer.
From where might this person be?The author doesn't say where he or she is, nor where the audience is. However there are some clues. What does 13:24 tell us? Those who are from Italy send greetings. Why would they send their greetings and not others? Perhaps they are known to the audience. If so, then the audience are probably somewhere in Italy.
Do the audience sound like they are in a city or in a rural area? What are the temptations they are facing?
- The idea of a city mentioned in 13:14 might be drawing on the fact that they are in an urban area.
- There is the idea of extending hospitality to travelers in 13:2.
- There is the idea of identifying with those in prison in 13:3. Prisons are more likely to be in cities than in the country.
- There is the idea of suffering from ill treatment in 13:3.
- There is a concern for the sanctity of marriage and sexual responsibility in 13:4.
- There is also the caution against greed and subversions through crass materialism in 13:5-6.
These issues could be problems in a rural setting. I'm sure there are marriage problems in the country just as in the city, but they are generally bigger issues in the city. One of main issues with sexual purity in the New Testament times is temples, which often had prostitution as part of the worship. They could be both restaurants and centres of prostitution where people gathered and ate and also indulged in sexual pleasures. They were more common in the cities. Now the biggest city in Italy was Rome, and as we will look at below, it is quite possible that these people are Jews from Rome.
There are some Jewish Christians who were well known second generations and leaders from Rome. In Acts 18:2 we read about Priscilla and Aquila being expelled from Rome. This Jewish couple then knew the people in Rome and were well known second generation leaders. It is interesting that the first time they are mentioned Aquila, the husband is mentioned first, but after that, Priscilla is mentioned first. This might indicate that perhaps she was more of the Christian leader of the two. If that is true then perhaps this letter was written by a woman.
However there is some evidence that it was written by a male. Some people point to 11:32 which has a male participial and say that the letter must have been written by a male but I suspect it is equally true of a female author to use the male form as author as a standard form, particularly as, outside of Christianity, females weren't allowed to teach.