The Letter to the
Hebrews
Introduction
Winter 2014 FXCC
Book, Letter, ?
• We will find that this letter is more a sermon
than letter
– No introduction
– No personal notes
– Does end much like a letter
– Exhortation to stay the course
Book, Letter, ?
• Hebrews presumes a knowledge of the Old
Testament
– Particularly Tabernacle ritual
– Many references to the OT
– In fact it has 83 OT references/quotes
– Remember the OT was the Bible of the 1st century
church!
Old Testament in the New
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Romans has 84 OT references
I Corinthians has 26
Galatians has 14
Ephesians has 12
Biblical scholar Craig Evans has produced a 31
page list of OT references found in the NT!
Old Testament in the New
• Why so many OT references in Hebrews??
– We will at this more of this later
• Mainly shows that Jesus is God’s FINAL and
BEST revelation
• PERIOD
Canonicity
• Hebrews appears in most of the earliest lists
of canonical books
• The earliest of the church fathers quote it as
scripture and/or are aware of it
– Clement of Rome (1st century)
– Shepherd of Hermes (1st/2nd century)
• Not sure when it gained its title
– But at least by end of 2nd century
Canonicity
• It shows up in P46 (the oldest MSS of Paul’s
epistles, late 2nd century)
• Origen had no doubts about its canonicity,
even if he did not know who wrote it
• Eusebius lists it as one of the “acknowledged”
books of the canon
• Syriac church fathers affirm its canonicity
Canonicity
• Clement of Rome quotes it, not clear if he
considers it canonical
• Justin Martyr seems to have known of it
(allusions to its language)
• Gaius of Rome did not consider it canonical
• Irenaeus (Smyrna and Gaul) and Hippolytus
Rome) did not consider it canonical
• Not listed in Muratorian Canon
Canonicity
• Tertullian seems to have considered it
canonical
• In general the Reformation leaders accepted it
as canonical, just not Pauline
Author
• Maybe you noticed that Hebrews does not
identify its author
• What other Bible books also make no mention
of their author?
• Was often included among Paul’s epistles
• Canonicity was never doubted
Author
• The eastern church favored the theory of
Pauline authorship
• The western church resisted that at least until
the late 4th century
• Tertullian (160-225 AD, western church,
Carthage) favored Barnabas as the author
Author
• Those not supporting Pauline authorship
– Irenaeus (Gaul, 130-202 AD)
– Hippolytus (Rome, 170-235 AD)
– Gaius of Rome (early 3rd century)
– Eusebius (Caesarea, Palestine, early 4th century,
records that western church did not accept it as
Pauline)
– Ambrosiaster (Rome, late 4th century)
Author
• Western opinion changed by
– Jerome (Rome, Palestine, 347-420 AD) author of
the Latin Vulgate
– Augustine of Hippo (N Africa (Algeria), 354-430
AD) author of “City of God” and “Confessions”
Author
• Generally accepted as Pauline from 4th/5th
century until the Reformation (Luther, 1517
AD)
– Most early collections of Paul’s writings included
14 letters vice 13
– Not everyone was convinced, but the trend
prevailed
Author
• Other suggested authors
– Clement of Rome (1st century bishop)
– Luke (translated Paul’s Hebrew language letter to
Greek)
– Apollos (1st century Christian from Acts)
– Barnabas
– Priscilla or Priscilla and Aquila
Author
• General consensus today is that the style and
vocabulary of Hebrews is not Pauline
– Also 2:1&3 seem to say that the author got his
knowledge of Christ from others
– Paul declared that he had a personal encounter
with Christ
Author
• Basically Origen (Alexandria and Tyre, 184-253
AD) said it best
– “…but who wrote the epistle God only knows.”
Audience (Who, Why & Where)
• The audience is also not identified in the book
• We do have some clues
• The book clearly assumes a strong familiarity
on the part of the readers with the OT
Levitical priesthood and worship
– While this could be Gentile Christians, it is most
probably Jewish Christians
Audience (Who, Why & Where)
• The recipients seem ready to give up on Christ
and go back to what they knew before, i.e. the
Old Covenant of Moses
• The author lays out arguments for why Christ
was and remains superior to the Mosaic Law
• Encourages the recipients to stay the course,
remain faithful and claim their reward
Audience (Who, Why & Where)
• The book repeatedly affirms the superiority of
Christ to the OT Levitical system
– Order of Melchizedek superior to the Levitical
– Change covenant required
• The book seems to assume the readers had
not seen (or heard) the living Jesus
• Thus they probably did not live in Judea or
Galilee, but were Hellenistic Jews
Audience (Who, Why & Where)
• Where did these Jewish Christians live?
• Again we do not know
– Theories range from Judea to Spain
– The temple is never mentioned, so Judea and
Galilee are not likely
• We have evidence to support knowledge of
the book in Rome in the 1st century
– But Rome and the west were slow in fully
adopting it as canonical
Audience (Who, Why & Where)
• 13:24 could mean it was written to Rome, but
it could just as easily mean it was written from
Rome
• So bottom line – we just don’t know where
the original recipients lived
Date
• There are no explicit clues in the book that
help here, but the lack of certain references
help
• So far we have struck out
– Author
– Recipients (who, where)
– What about when?
Date
• The early awareness of the letter and quoting
from it, place it in the 1st century
• 2:3 would indicate that the recipients had
heard the gospel from those who were first
generation Christians
• 13:23 mention of Timothy is assumed to be
Paul’s companion
Date
• 12:4 “not yet resisted unto blood” could
– Mean prior to Nero’s persecution of 64 AD, if
written to Rome
– Seems to eliminate Jerusalem, etc
– Mean prior to Domitian’s (81-96 AD) persecutions
• There is NO mention of the destruction of
Jerusalem and the Temple in 70 AD
– Such an event would support the author’s point
Date
• So all in all the best guess for the date is prior
to 70 AD and probably prior to 64 too
Overview aka Outline
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Jan 5 – this Introduction
Jan 12 – Chapter 1
Jan 19 – Chapter 1
Jan 26 – Chapter 2
Feb 2 – Chapter 3
Feb 9 – Chapter 4
Feb 16 – Chapter 5
Overview aka Outline
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Feb 23 – Chapter 6
Mar 2 – Chapter 7
Mar 9 – Chapter 8
Mar 16 – Chapter 9
Mar 23 – Chapter 10
Mar 30 – Chapter 11
Apr 6 – Chapter 12
Overview aka Outline
• Apr 13 – Chapter 13
• Apr 20 – No Class
• Apr 27 – Conclusion
References
• F.F. Bruce, “The Epistle to the Hebrews”, The
New International Commentary on the New
Testament, Eerdmans, 1967
• Edward Fudge, “Our Man in Heaven: An
Exposition of the Epistle to the Hebrews”,,
Baker, 1974
– Available on-line for free
– http://www.edwardfudge.com/written/omihtext.
html
References
• Edward Fudge, “Hebrews: Ancient
Encouragement for Believers Today”,
Leafwood Publishers, 2009
• John Mark Hicks, Hebrews, Word Doc
– http://johnmarkhicks.com/wpcontent/uploads/sites/10/2009/03/hebrewsedited.doc
References
• Bobby Valentine’s “Stoned-Campbell Disciple”
blog
– http://stonedcampbelldisciple.com/2013/08/20/p
aul-and-the-unquestioned-authority-of-the-oldtestament/