The Literature and History of New Testament Times

by J. Gresham Machen

On the other hand, on the supposition that there was originally no tradition of Pauline authorship, the subsequent prevalence of such a tradition is easily explained. It was due simply to the evident apostolic authority of the epistle itself. From the start, Hebrews was felt to be an authoritative work. Being authoritative, it would be collected along with other authoritative works. Since it was an epistle, and exhibited a certain Pauline quality of spirit and subject, it would naturally be associated with the other works of the greatest letter writer of the apostolic age. Being thus included in a collection of the Pauline Epistles, and being regarded as of apostolic authority, what was more natural than to attribute it to the apostle Paul? Such, very possibly, was the origin of the Alexandrian tradition.

This tradition did not win immediate acceptance, because the rest of the Church was still aware that the epistle was not written by Paul. What led to the final conquest of the Pauline tradition was simply the character of the book itself. The question of Pauline authorship, in the case of this book, became connected with the question of apostolic authority. The Church had to choose between rejecting the book altogether, and accepting it as Pauline. When she finally adopted the latter alternative, undoubtedly she chose the lesser error. It was an error to regard the epistle as the work of Paul; but it would have been a far greater error to exclude it from the New Testament. As a matter of fact, though the book was not written by Paul, it was written, if not by one of the other apostles, at least by an "apostolic man" like Mark or Luke. Scarcely any book of the New Testament bears clearer marks of true apostolicity.

(3) Internal Evidence.—The argument against Pauline authorship which is derived from tradition is strongly supported by the contents of the epistle itself. In the first place, it is exceedingly doubtful whether Paul could have spoken of himself as having had the Christian salvation confirmed to him by those who had heard the Lord. Heb. 2:3. Knowledge of the earthly life of Jesus was indeed conveyed to Paul by ordinary word of mouth from the eyewitnesses; but the gospel itself, as he insists with vehemence in Galatians, was revealed to him directly by Christ. In the second place, the style of the epistle is very different from that of Paul, being, as we shall see, far more carefully wrought. In the third place, the thoughts developed in Hebrews, though undoubtedly they are in perfect harmony with the Pauline Epistles, are by no means characteristically Pauline. It is a little hard to understand, for example, how Paul could have written at such length about the law without speaking of justification by faith or the reception of Gentiles into the Church. This last argument, however, must not be exaggerated. Undoubtedly Paul would have agreed heartily to everything that Hebrews contains. Paul and the author of this epistle have developed merely somewhat different sides of the same great truth.

2. WHO WAS THE AUTHOR?

If Paul did not write the Epistle to the Hebrews, who did write it? Prodigious labor has been expended upon this question, but with very little result. In ancient times, Barnabas, Luke and Clement of Rome, were each regarded as the author. Of these three views the first is most probable; the second is exceedingly unlikely; and the last is clearly impossible. Whoever wrote the epistle, Clement certainly did not. The letter which we possess from his pen is immeasurably inferior to the apostolic writings to which Hebrews certainly belongs. Clement was a humble reader of Hebrews, not the author of it. Luther was inclined to regard Apollos as the possible author of Hebrews; and of all the many suggestions that have been made, this is perhaps the best. Undoubtedly the circumstances and training of Apollos were in a number of respects like those which might naturally be attributed to the author of the epistle. Apollos was closely associated with Paul, and perhaps at a later time with others of the apostles, just as might be expected of the author of an apostolic work such as Hebrews. On the other hand, like the author of the epistle, he was not an eyewitness of the life of Jesus. Compare Heb. 2:4. Like the author of the epistle he was no doubt acquainted with Timothy. Compare ch. 13:23. He was an "eloquent" or "learned" man, Acts 18:24, who might well have produced the splendid rhetoric of the epistle. He was a Jew and mighty in the Scriptures, as was also the author of Hebrews. He was a native of Alexandria, the university city of the period, and the seat of a large Jewish community, where just that combination of Greek rhetorical training with Scriptural knowledge which is exhibited in the epistle is most naturally to be sought.

These indications, however, can merely show that Apollos might conceivably have written the epistle; they do not show that he did write it. The authorship of this powerful work will always remain uncertain. How little we know, after all, of the abounding life of the apostolic Church!

3. WHERE WERE THE READERS?

In the Student's Text Book, it has been shown that the readers of the epistle were probably members of some rather narrowly circumscribed community. Where this community was is by no means clear. The one indication of place which the epistle contains is ambiguous. In ch. 13:24 it is said, "They of Italy salute you." These words may mean that the author is in Italy and sends greetings from the Christians of that country, or they may mean that the author is outside of Italy and sends greetings from Italian Christians who happened to be with him. In the latter case, probably the readers were in Italy; for otherwise they would have no special interest in the Italian Christians. All that we can say is then that the epistle was probably written either from Italy or to Italy. If it was written from Italy, then since the readers were Jews, it is natural to seek them in Palestine. The Palestinian Christians were "Hebrews" in the narrower, linguistic sense of the word, as well as in the broader, national sense. The ancient heading of the epistle thus comes to its full rights. On the other hand the Palestinian hypothesis faces some rather grave difficulties. If the readers are to be sought in Italy, then perhaps they formed a Jewish Christian community in Rome or in some other Italian city. The question cannot be settled with any certainty. The destination of the epistle is an even greater riddle than the authorship.