Let the Bible Speak Viewer Challenged How One Could Be Sure That God Inspired the Book of Hebrews Since the Author of the Book Does Not Identify Himself

Sermon #1275 Authorship of Hebrews

Recently, we have explored questions about the Canon of Scripture--about how we know the thirty- nine books of the Old Testament and twenty-seven books of the New Testament--and those books alone constitute the written words inspired by the Holy Spirit. Never have I hesitated to accept the book of Hebrews as the inspired word of God--as a New Testament book of the Bible. One Let the Bible Speak viewer challenged how one could be sure that God inspired the book of Hebrews since the author of the book does not identify himself.

The uniqueness of the book of Hebrews is readily apparent to the careful student of the Scriptures. We read in Hebrews 1:1-4, “God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, 2has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds; 3who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, 4having become so much better than the angels, as He has by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they.”

These first four verses give the reader an idea not only of the loftiness of the message contained within Hebrews but the doctrinal fluency presented on the identity and significance of Jesus. One unique fact about the book is that it starts off with the word God.The most common beginning word of a Bible book is “now” and no other Bible book begins with the word God. In the New Testament, ordinarily, the author, like the Apostle Paul, will begin his epistle by identifying himself--”Paul, an apostle.” Following this initial self-identification, we often find in the New Testament an additional salutation or greeting to introduce an epistle. The absence of such self-identification and salutation and the immediate explosion of eloquence about the relationship between God and the Son of God in the book of Hebrews sounds more like a sermon than a letter. This sense continues throughout the book until we reach the concluding words which then sound like the closing of an epistle. We want to take a bird’s eye view of the book of Hebrews and focus particularly on the evidence for the authorship of this glorious book. First, we have a song...

The organization of Hebrews centers, first of all, around the superiority of Jesus as the Messiah and how He replaces the long-standing but insufficient and inferior Levitical priesthood. The argument the writer makes to wavering Jewish Christians: why would you cling or return to sinful, mortal high priests when God has blessed His people with the Great and sinless High Priest who continues forever “after the order of Melchizedek.”

While the universal priesthood of believers is mentioned elsewhere only in the general epistle of 1 Peter, and, while Jesus as High Priest is mentioned nowhere else in the New Testament, the author of Hebrews weaves the theme of Jesus as High Priest throughout the book. The author speaks of Jesus as High Priest in Hebrews 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10.

Secondly, but closely related, Jesus, the High Priest offered up only one sinless sacrifice-- Himself-- and “has become higher than the heavens.” Jesus’ sacrifice renders inferior and meaningless from then on, the animal sacrifices that preceded Him and pointed to Him.

The third major theme--intertwined with and also the result of that dual function of Jesus as High Priest and sinless sacrifice is Jesus’ role as Mediator of a better covenant. Jesus’ work as High priest in Hebrews 2-10 intersects with His sacrifice in Hebrews 9-10 and also converges with Jesus’ duty as mediator of the superior new covenant in chapters 7, 8, 9, 10, 12, and 13. 1 Authorship of Hebrews, by Brett Hickey, sermon # 1275 2 of 5

But who wrote the book of Hebrews? Since the writer does not identify himself in the body of the book, we cannot dogmatically say who the author is. We can, however, note the compelling body of internal and external evidence that points to the Apostle Paul.

In some controversial biblical topics, I have noticed three levels of exploration regarding Christ and the New Testament. I see that there is the simple acceptance of Bible truths, followed by the analysis of self-appointed experts and critics who disparage and deny what the ordinary disciple sees and seem to do so in order to show their superior scholarship. Finally, humble, but studious disciples expose the flaws and pretensions of the condescending skeptics and demonstrate that the original understanding of the humble Bible student was on target.

We certainly see this among the Jewish attitudes toward Jesus as the Messiah. The “common people heard him gladly” (Mark 12:37), while the religious elite--the well-educated, intellectual, and the highly-esteemed scribes, Pharisees, and Sadducees, not only couldn’t recognize the Messiah when He walked right in front of them, but they viciously attacked Him, verbally, at first, but ultimately violently to the point of torture and execution. Then, however, humble fishermen demonstrate powerfully through Scripture in the book of Acts that Jesus is the Messiah and thousands at a time turn away from the Law of Moses and turn to Jesus.

But what about the authorship of the book Hebrews? Did the apostle who spoke of himself as “a Hebrews of the Hebrews” in Philippians 3:5, whom Jesus addressed in the Hebrew language in Acts 26:14, "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads,” and who preached to a Jewish audience in Jerusalem in the Hebrew language (Acts 22:2)--did this apostle write the book of Hebrews?

I have long thought that the Apostle Paul wrote the book of Hebrews. Two aspects of the style and content of the book that suggested the Apostle Paul were two of the major transitions in the book. When Paul transitions from the lengthy discourse on animal sacrifices, Jesus as High Priest, and the ushering in of the new covenant to the faith response of God’s people in what is so often referred to as the Hall of Fame of Faith in Hebrews 11, he quotes from Habakkuk 2:4 in Hebrews 10:38, “Now the just shall live by faith; But if anyone draws back, My soul has no pleasure in him."

Interestingly, the Apostle Paul uses this same text from Habakkuk in Romans 1:17--“The just shall live by faith” --to introduce the main theme of the book of Romans, namely, how a holy God justifies a sinful people, by faith in Jesus. Then, at the heart of the book of Galatians, the same apostle goes back and quotes once again Habakkuk 2:4 to support his argument of justification by faith and not by the law of Moses in Galatians 3:11. So, the writer’s use of the quotation of Habakkuk 2:4 points to the Apostle Paul.

Then, we find another characteristic of the Apostle Paul’s writing in perhaps the most famous passage from the book of Hebrews: “Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God” (Hebrews 12:1-2).

The writer of this passage provides another critical transition from the historic faith of God’s people in the Old Testament to the demands that the same kind of genuine faith places on the Christian. 2

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Notice, though, that lodged within the poetic language of these two verses is the core comparison to the athletic realm and to the Grecian games, in particular. When you think of the use of analogies to the Grecian games, what apostle, what New Testament writer comes to mind? Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Peter, James, Jude? Barnabas, Apollos, and Silas have been suggested as possible authors. Do you think of them when you read this significant Hebrews passage? No! You think of the Apostle Paul.

In driving home the intensity, devotion, and self-discipline required to be successful in the Christian life, the Apostle Paul writes at length with the metaphor of the foot race of Isthmian games in 1 Corinthians 9:24-27, “Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may obtain it. And everyone who competes for the prize is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a perishable crown, but we for an imperishable crown. Therefore I run thus: not with uncertainty. Thus I fight: not as one who beats the air. But I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified.”

In Galatians 5:7, the Apostle Paul highlights the abrupt departure from the proper doctrinal path by writing, “You ran well. Who hindered you from obeying the truth?”

The Apostle Paul promotes the perseverance of his brethren in Philippians 2:16, “holding fast the word of life, so that I may rejoice in the day of Christ that I have not run in vain or labored in vain.”

The same writer emphasizes the importance of remaining focused on one goal as does the runner in Philippians 3:13-14, “Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”

Next, to help the young evangelist remember that there are moral and doctrinal boundaries that must be respected, the Apostle Paul writes in 2 Timothy 2:5, “And also if anyone competes in athletics, he is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules.”

And, finally, in 2 Timothy 4:7, the Apostle Paul illustrates the great honor and triumph associated with finishing strong in the Christian life and being faithful to death with another athletic analogy: “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to me on that Day, and not to me only but also to all who have loved His appearing.” (See also Romans 9:16, Galatians 2:2, 2 Thessalonians 3:1).

So, when you see the Apostle Paul so frequently use the imagery of the Grecian games in his writing and then see such a pivotal point in the book of Hebrews do the same, it naturally suggests Pauline authorship.

In the Contending for the Faith Commentary, Mark Bailey adds another list of at least ten passages in Hebrews that have a similar style to one or more passages in the Apostle Paul’s writings. Harding University professor, Jimmy Allen, lengthens the list in his Survey of Hebrews with seven more illustrations of close comparison from Hebrews and Paul’s epistles. Allen further notes the reference to Timothy’s deliverance in Hebrews 13:23, “Know that our brother Timothy has been set free, with whom I shall see you if he comes shortly.” This point has traction since Timothy was with Paul in his 3

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first Roman imprisonment (Philippians 1:1; 2:19; Colossians 1:1). In addition, Paul sent for Timothy during his second imprisonment in Rome according to 2 Timothy 4:9-13. What writer would be more likely to mention Timothy than the one who speaks of Timothy twice as his “true son in the faith” (1 Timothy 1:2; Titus 1:4). Certainly, no one kept closer tabs on Timothy than did the Apostle Paul. It was Paul that saw to it that Timothy was circumcised as an adult for the gospel’s sake

Notice the tenderness and comradery of the Apostle Paul towards Timothy in Philippians 2:19-22, “I trust in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you shortly, that I also may be encouraged when I know your state. For I have no one like-minded, who will sincerely care for your state. For all seek their own, not the things which are of Christ Jesus. But you know his proven character, that as a son with his father he served with me in the gospel. Therefore I hope to send him at once, as soon as I see how it goes with me.”

Notable Greek scholar and long-time professor of New Testament and Greek at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, David Allen Black, points out in, The Authorship of Hebrews: The Case for Paul, that the vocabulary of Paul’s epistles has over 600 words in common with the book of Hebrews (17). Black adds: “One must also take into account the relatively large number of words in Hebrews that are otherwise exclusively Pauline.” In other words, many words in Hebrews are only found in the New Testament in the Apostle Paul’s writings. Black provides page after page of details showing the connections from the Greek words and themes that Paul used and the Greek words found in the book of Hebrews.

Now to the external evidence for the authorship of Hebrews. David Alan Black writes:

“[T]he letter is ascribed to Paul by a good number of the church fathers, who, as far as we know, had the best means of information with regard to both its genuineness and its authenticity… .[T]he earliest eastern fathers insisted on affixing Paul’s name to Hebrews. The first testimony...comes from Pantaenus...as recorded by Clement … [who] entertained no doubts about the Pauline authorship of the letter, and ...was aware of certain objections...based on the absence of the usual Pauline inscription. His answer...Paul, being the apostle to the Gentiles, out of modesty did not want to appear to be an apostle to the Hebrews… Pantaenus does not hesitate...to consider it an established fact that Paul was the author…, and there is no reason for him to have held to this opinion save his desire to defend the custom of the churches of his day. Thus it is that the most ancient church, in the most primitive stage of Christianity, received the letter as both Pauline and canonical--a fact to which the first Christian university in the world clearly attests… .

Clement...near the close of the second century...affirms Paul as the author of Hebrews... [but] also asserts that, because the letter was addressed to the Hebrews, it was originally written in their language and later translated by Luke for use by the Greeks....

When Origen says, “It is not without reason that the ancients handed it down as Paul’s, but who wrote the epistle, in truth God knows, some attributing it to Luke, and some to Clement,” it could not be more obvious that the means to suggest uncertainty only concerning the penmen...To assert (as is often asserted) that Origen meant to suggest that only God knew the author of the epistle is to suggest that Origen contradicted himself in the selfsame paragraph.”

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Origen, writing seventeen centuries ago held no uncertainty in the matter. In fact, R. Laird Harris points out in Inspiration and Canonicity of the Scriptures that Origen attributed quotes from Hebrews to Paul two hundred times!

Black tells us that “Eusebius of Caesarea (the father of church history) claimed Paul as the author of Hebrews. Those who dissent from this opinion, writes Eusebius, base their views not on the testimony of the oriental fathers, but on the alleged example of the church in Rome.” Councils of Hippo (AD 393) and Carthage (AD 397) attributed Hebrews to Paul. The same claim is made by Hilary (AD 354), Victorinus (AD 360), Ambrose (AD 374), Philaster (AD 380), GAudentius (AD 387), and Rufinus (AD 397). Black adds, “Augustine...could reckon the letter to the Hebrews among the fourteen epistles of Paul, because the arguments against its canonicity did not appear to him to be convincing.”

In our closing, let me quote Black once more:

“...Paul, setting about to prove that Judaism had come to an end through the fulfillment of the law by Christ, did so without using his apostolic revelations but solely on the basis of what anyone in his audience could read from the OT. In this way he underplayed the direct revelation of the gospel that came to the apostles (2:3), for he could not allude to his closer knowledge of the gospel without revealing his authority and hence his identity, thus prejudicing the readers against his epistle immediately.” The evidence of Paul as the author of Hebrews is compelling. I look forward to answering any questions you may have on this issue.

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