Epistle to the Hebrews

Papyrus 13, 3rd or 4th century AD, with the Epistle to the Hebrews in the original Koine Greek.

The Epistle to the Hebrews[a] (Koinē Greek: Πρὸς Ἑβραίους, romanized: Pròs Hebraíous, lit.'to the Hebrews')[3] is one of the books of the New Testament.[4]

The text does not mention the name of its author, but was traditionally attributed to Paul the Apostle; most of the Ancient Greek manuscripts, the Old Syriac Peshitto and some of the Old Latin manuscripts have the epistle to the Hebrews among Paul's letters.[5] However, doubt on Pauline authorship in the Roman Church is reported by Eusebius.[6] Modern biblical scholarship considers its authorship unknown,[7] written in deliberate imitation of the style of Paul,[8][9] with some contending that it was authored by Priscilla and Aquila.[10][11]

Scholars of Greek consider its writing to be more polished and eloquent than any other book of the New Testament, and "the very carefully composed and studied Greek of Hebrews is not Paul's spontaneous, volatile contextual Greek".[12] The book has earned the reputation of being a masterpiece.[13] It has also been described as an intricate New Testament book.[14] Some scholars believe it was written for Jewish Christians who lived in Jerusalem.[13] Its essential purpose was to exhort Christians to persevere in the face of persecution. At this time, certain believers were considering turning back to Judaism and to the Jewish system of law to escape being persecuted for believing Christ to be the Messiah. The theme of the epistle is the teaching of the person of Christ and his role as mediator between God and humanity.

According to traditional scholarship, the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews, following in the footsteps of Paul, argued that Jewish Law had played a legitimate role in the past but was superseded by a New Covenant for the Gentiles (cf. Romans 7:1–6;[15] Galatians 3:23–25;[16] Hebrews 8, 10).[17][18] However, a growing number of scholars[19] note that the terms Gentile, Christian and Christianity are not present in the text and posit that Hebrews was written for a Jewish audience, and is best seen as a debate between Jewish followers of Jesus and proto-rabbinical Judaism. In tone, and detail, Hebrews goes beyond Paul and attempts a more complex, nuanced, and openly adversarial definition of the relationship.[20] The epistle opens with an exaltation of Jesus as "the radiance of God's glory, the express image of his being, and upholding all things by his powerful word" (Hebrews 1:1–3).[21] The epistle presents Jesus with the titles "pioneer" or "forerunner", "Son" and "Son of God", "priest" and "high priest".[22] The epistle casts Jesus as both exalted Son and High Priest, a unique dual Christology.[23]

  1. ^ ESV Pew Bible. Wheaton, IL: Crossway. 2018. p. 1001. ISBN 978-1-4335-6343-0. Archived from the original on June 3, 2021.
  2. ^ "Bible Book Abbreviations". Logos Bible Software. Archived from the original on April 21, 2022. Retrieved April 21, 2022.
  3. ^ The Greek New Testament, Edited by Kurt Aland, Matthew Black, Carlo M. Martini, Bruce M. Metzger, and Allen Wikgren, in cooperation with the Institute for New Testament Textual Research, 2nd edition, United Bible Societies, 1973
  4. ^ "Letter to the Hebrews | New Testament". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 2020-03-08.
  5. ^ "St. Paul's Epistles; the General Epistles; the Book of Revelations, and Indexes". 1872.
  6. ^ "some have rejected the Epistle to the Hebrews, saying that it is disputed by the church of Rome, on the ground that it was not written by Paul." Eusebius, Hist. Eccl. 3.3.5 (text); cf. also 6.20.3 (text).
  7. ^ Alan C. Mitchell, Hebrews (Liturgical Press, 2007) p. 6.
  8. ^ Ehrman 2011, p. 23.
  9. ^ Clare K. Rothschild, Hebrews as Pseudepigraphon: The History and Significance of the Pauline Attribution of Hebrews (Mohr Siebeck, 2009) p. 4.
  10. ^ Jobes, Karen H. (April 17, 2017). "Who Wrote the Book of Hebrews?". Zondervan Academic. Retrieved March 9, 2022.
  11. ^ Andrews, E.D. (2020). The Epistle to the Hebrews: Who Wrote the Book of Hebrews?. Christian Publishing House. ISBN 978-1-949586-74-9. Retrieved March 9, 2022.
  12. ^ Duling, C. Dennis (2003). The New Testament : history, literature, and social context (4th ed.). Belmont, CA: Thomson/Wadsworth. p. 281. ISBN 0155078569. OCLC 52302160.
  13. ^ a b Powell, Mark A. Introducing the New Testament: a historical, literary, and theological survey. Baker Academic, 2009. ISBN 978-0-8010-2868-7
  14. ^ Mackie, Scott D. Eschatology and Exhortation in the Epistle to the Hebrews. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2007.ISBN 978-3-16-149215-0
  15. ^ Romans 7:1–6
  16. ^ Galatians 3:23–25
  17. ^ Hebrews 8, 10
  18. ^ Tugwell, Simon (1986). The Apostolic Fathers. London: Continuum International Publishing. pp. 24–25. ISBN 0225665719.
  19. ^ C. P. Anderson, N. Beck, Bibliowicz, L. Freudman, J. Gager, M. E. Isaacs, T. Perry, S. Sandmel, Williamson
  20. ^ Bibliowicz, Abel M. (2019). Jewish-Christian Relations – The First Centuries (Mascarat, 2019). WA: Mascarat. pp. 143–145. ISBN 978-1513616483.
  21. ^ Hebrews 1:1–3
  22. ^ Mason, Eric F. You Are a Priest Forever: Second Temple Jewish Messianism and the Priestly Christology of the Epistle to the Hebrews. (STDJ 74; Leiden/Boston: Brill, 2008). ISBN 978-90-04-14987-8
  23. ^ Mackie, Scott D. "Confession of the Son of God in the Exordium of Hebrews". Journal for the Study of the New Testament, 30.4 (2008)


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