The authorship of the Hebrew
epistle has been a vexed question for centuries. Many claim from the
style of the Greek text that Paul could not be the writer, and some
have even argued that the hand is that of a woman. However, there is
sufficient evidence in the Bible itself to be certain that the
epistle is Paul’s, and there are also sound reasons as to why his
name should not appear in the introduction. Let us consider the
authorship first.
The general content of the letter shows that
those addressed are Jews and the writer asks “how shall
we escape if we have been
negligent of so great salvation, which, having had its commencement
in being spoken [of] by the Lord, has been confirmed to us by those
who have heard …” (Heb. 2: 3). The pronouns
we and
us show that the writer,
in identifying himself with those he wrote to, was himself a Jew.
The verse also tells us that he was not one of the twelve who had
heard the Lord when He was here on earth. This immediately points to
Paul who only knew the Lord in heaven. More positively, Peter,
writing to Jews, says “and account the longsuffering of our Lord [to
be] salvation; according as our beloved brother Paul also has
written to you according to the wisdom given to him, as also in all
[his] epistles …” (2 Pet. 3: 15, 16). Careful reading of these
verses show that Peter is not
just saying that Paul
had written to the Jews but the addition of the words “as also the
other scriptures” (v16) indicate that his writing to the Jews was
Scripture. The only
book that satisfies this is Hebrews. This should clinch the matter.
However, there is more.
Paul’s intense love for his nation is recorded
in Rom. 9: 1–5 where he says “for I have wished, I myself, to be a
curse from the Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen, according to
flesh; who are Israelites” (v3). Hebrews was written a few years
before God’s judgement fell on the Jews in AD70 when Jerusalem was
razed to the ground, Israel ceased as a nation for centuries and its
people were dispersed. Who better to make the final appeal to those
of Israel who had accepted Jesus as the Christ but were in danger of
going back to the very system and its city on which God’s judgement
was about to fall? We can now see the force of that the word “for we
have not here an abiding city” (Heb. 13: 14). Another pointer comes
from OT quotations. The Scripture “but the just shall live by his
faith” (Hab. 2: 4) is quoted three times in the NT: Rom. 1: 17, Gal.
3: 11 and Heb. 10: 38. In Romans the great subject is justification,
in Galatians it is life and the quotation in Hebrews introduces
chapter eleven, the great chapter on faith. The authorship of the
former two epistles has never been in question so why question
Paul’s authorship of the latter? Lastly, the name of Timothy occurs
24 times in the NT and on every occasion it is associated with the
Apostle Paul—unless the final mention in Hebrews is the exception!
While not wishing to build too much weight on Biblical numerics,
they should not be ignored. Including Hebrews, we have 14 epistles
from Paul. Now 14 is the product of 2 and 7. 2 is the number of
testimony (see Deut. 17: 6 etc.) and 7 of completion (see Rev. 5: 5
etc.). Hebrews is needed in order to have that complete testimony
from the one NT writer who is more closely identified with the
uniqueness of the Christian revelation than any other.
Let us turn now to the reason for the omission
of Paul’s authorship from the Hebrew epistle. The exhortation in
Heb. 3: 1 is “consider the Apostle and High Priest of our
confession, Jesus …”. As the text goes on to show, Moses was the
apostle under the old covenant—just as Aaron was high priest. It was
Moses who was sent from God to speak to the people but Aaron was
inaugurated to go in to God for the people (see Ex. 28). In Judaism
these two offices were separate but in the Lord Jesus they are
united as Heb. 3: 1 shows. Such is His greatness. Moses was servant
but Christ is Son (see vs 5, 6). As Apostle, Christ has come out
from God to man; as High Priest, He has gone in from man to God.
Even a cursory reading of Heb. 1 shows the greatness of the Son as
Apostle. In the light of this, all other names, including the
author’s name, surely pale into insignificance.
Let me draw a parallel. When the Lord spoke of his forerunner John
the Baptist, He described him as the greatest born of women (see
Matt. 11: 11)—a stupendous honour. However, when John described
himself it was in the lowliest of terms (see Matt. 3: 11) and as
no more than a “Voice” (Matt. 3: 3). Whatever the Master’s
appreciation of His herald, the herald’s task is to call
attention, not to himself, but to the Master who follows him.
Likewise for the writer of Hebrews to even insert his name, let
alone claim the dignity and authority of his apostleship, would
be incongruous and totally out of place.
