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The Epistle to the Hebrews is one of the books in the New Testament. Although it is sometimes credited to the Apostle Paul, no author is identified within the epistle itself. It has carried its traditional title since Tertullian described it as Barnabae titulus ad Hebraeos.

[edit] Composition

The author of Hebrews is not known. The text as it has been passed down to the present time is internally anonymous, though ancient title headings attribute it to the Apostle Paul. The Epistle to the Hebrews was thought by some in antiquity such as Clement of Alexandria (Fragments from Eusebius Ecclesiastical History Book VI) to be by Paul. It is not related to the Gospel of the Hebrews

[edit] Audience

See also: Reader-response criticism

Hebrews was written to a specific audience facing very specific circumstances. We can discern various facts about the recipients of Hebrews through a careful mirror reading of the letter:

The original readers of the letter were conversant in the Septuagint translation of the Old Testament, as the author's usage shows.
The contrast in 13:14 and the types of sins listed in Chapter 13 suggest they lived in a city.
They had once faced persecution, ^[10:32–34] but not to the point of shedding blood.^[12:4] It is possible that 12:1-3 and 13:12-13 imply that they would soon face renewed opposition.
Some had stopped assembling together, and this was possibly due to persecution.^[10:25]^[1]
As the author saw it, at least some among them were being tempted to avoid severe persecution by "shrinking back" ^[10:32–39] from the eschatalogical fulfillment of the true hope and faith of the Old Testament proclaimed by the apostolic witness to Jesus Christ. It is debated whether the anticipated persecution was from secular (i.e., Roman) authorities or Jewish authorities. Perhaps there were elements of both, or as we see elsewhere in the New Testament, the Jewish authorities may have stirred up the secular authorities to suppress the Christians. The author exhorted them to encourage "love and good works"^[10:32–34] and warned them that if they "sin willfully" by denying Jesus' sacrifice it will become ineffective for them.^[10:26] But for non-Jews, these loving actions are sufficient for "great recompense of reward"^[10:35] as long as they "hold fast the profession of our faith [in Jesus] without wavering,"^{[Heb. 10:23]} and thus do not need to convert to Judaism.
In 13:24 the author says that those from Italy greet the readers. This could mean that the author is writing from Italy or that the author is writing to recipients in Italy, and that Italians present with the author are greeting those back home.

Traditional scholars have argued the letter's audience was Jewish Christians, as early as the end of the second century (hence its title, "The Epistle to the Hebrews"). However, Hebrews is part of an internal New Testament debate between the extreme Judaizers (who argued that non-Jews must convert to Judaism before they can receive the Holy Spirit of Jesus's Jewish covenant) versus the extreme lawless ones (who argued that Jews must reject God's commandments and that God's eternal Torah was no longer in effect). James and Paul represent the moderates of each faction, respectively, and Peter served as moderator^[2]. The Epistle emphasizes non-Jewish followers of Jesus do not need to convert to Judaism to share in all of God's promises to Jews. Liberal American theologian Edgar Goodspeed notes, "But the writer's Judaism is not actual and objective, but literary and academic, manifestly gained from the reading of the Septuagint Greek version of the Jewish scriptures, and his polished Greek style would be a strange vehicle for a message to Aramaic-speaking Jews or Christians of Jewish blood." The debate continues to the present day, see also Biblical law in Christianity.

Hebrews is often erroneously named as one of the general (or catholic) epistles. But since it was written to a specific group of Jewish-Christians, it is not technically a general epistle.

[edit] Date

[edit] Purpose for writing

[edit] Style

[edit] Christology

From The Interpreters Bible 1955

“We may sum up our author’s Christology negatively by saying that he has nothing to do with the older Hebrew messianic hopes of a coming Son of David, who would be a divinely empowered human leader to bring in the kingdom of God on earth; and that while he still employs the figure of a militant, apocalyptic king … who will come again…, this is not of the essence of his thought about Christ.
“Positively, our author presents Christ as divine in nature, and solves any possible objection to a divine being who participates in human experience, especially in the experience of death, by the priestly analogy. He seems quite unconscious of the logical difficulties of his position proceeding from the assumption that Christ is both divine and human, at least human in experience although hardly in nature.” TIB XI p. 588^[5]

[edit] See also

[edit] References

^ "Hebrews 1-8", William Lane (Word Biblical Commentary, 1991), Introduction p. lvii
^ "The Canon Debate," McDonald & Sanders editors, 2002, chapter 32, page 577, by James D. G. Dunn: "For Peter was probably in fact and effect the bridge-man (pontifex maximus!) who did more than any other to hold together the diversity of first-century Christianity. James the brother of Jesus and Paul, the two other most prominent leading figures in first-century Christianity, were too much identified with their respective "brands" of Christianity, at least in the eyes of Christians at the opposite ends of this particular spectrum. But Peter, as shown particularly by the Antioch episode in Gal 2, had both a care to hold firm to his Jewish heritage, which Paul lacked, and an openness to the demands of developing Christianity, which James lacked. John might have served as such a figure of the center holding together the extremes, but if the writings linked with his name are at all indicative of his own stance he was too much of an individualist to provide such a rallying point. Others could link the developing new religion more firmly to its founding events and to Jesus himself. But none of them, including the rest of the twelve, seem to have played any role of continuing significance for the whole sweep of Christianity—though James the brother of John might have proved an exception had he been spared." [Italics original]
^ See also Antithesis of the Law.
^ Ehrman, Bart D. (2004). The New Testament: A Historical Introduction to the Early Christian Writings. New York: Oxford. p. 411. ISBN 0-19-515462-2.
^ The Interpreters Bible The Holy Scriptures in the King James and Revised Standard versions with general articles and introduction, exegesis, [and] exposition for each book of the Bible in twelve volumes, George Arthur Buttrick, Commentary Editor, Walter Russell Bowie, Associate Editor of Exposition, Paul Scherer, Associate Editor of Exposition, John Knox Associate Editor of New Testament Introduction and Exegesis, Samuel Terrien, Associate Editor of Old Testament Introduction and Exegesis, Nolan B. Harmon Editor, Abingdon Press, copyright 1955 by Pierce and Washabaugh, set up printed, and bound by the Parthenon Press, at Nashville, Tennessee, Volume XI, Philippians, Colossians, Thessalonians, Pastoral Epistles [The First and Second Epistles to Timothy, and the Epistle to Titus] , Philemon, Hebrews [Introduction and Exegesis by John Knox]

[edit] Further reading

Attridge, Harold W. Hebrews. Philadelphia, PA: Fortress Press, 1989.
Hagen, Kenneth. Hebrews Commenting from Erasmus to Beze. Tübingen: J.C.B. Mohr (Paul Siebeck), 1981.
Heen, Erik M. and Krey, Philip D.W., eds. Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture: Hebrews. Downers Grove, IL: Intervarsity Press, 2005.
Hughes, P.E. A Commentary on the Epistle to the Hebrews. Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1977.
Hurst, L. D. The Epistle to the Hebrews: Its Background of Thought. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1989.
Guthrie, Donald The Letter to the Hebrews. Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1983
Koester, Craig R. "Hebrews". Anchor Bible 36. New York: Doubleday, 2001.
Phillips, John Exploring Hebrews (Revised). Chicago, IL: Moody Press, 1977, 1988
Lane, William L. Hebrews 1-8. Word Biblical Commentary Vol. 47A. Dallas, TX: Word Books, 1991.
Lane, William L. Hebrews 9-13. Word Biblical Commentary Vol. 47B. Dallas, TX: Word Books, 1991.
M'Cheyne, Robert Murray 'The Glory of the Christian Dispensation' (Hebrews 8 & 9) Diggory Press, 2007, ISBN 978-1846857034

[edit] External links

Online translations of the Epistle to the Hebrews:

Online Bible at GospelHall.org

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