“Who Wrote Hebrews?”

Sunday, April 14, 2024

The authorship of Hebrews has been debated almost since it was written.  Among the 27 books of the New Testament it is the lone work that fails to name its author internally, or to have been overwhelmingly attributed to a particular author within a generation or two of the Apostles.  It is appropriate to ask who wrote this book because, while “All Scripture is breathed out by God” (2Ti 3.16), God has not given us stone tablets with a definitive and explicit list of the works that qualify as Scripture.  We trust those written by Apostles and their close associates; but who is behind Hebrews?  Is the author trustworthy?

Paul

This is the most common answer, since Paul wrote thirteen other New Testament letters.  In fact, the 1611 first edition of the King James Bible gave this letter the title, The Epistle of Paul the Apostle to the Hebrewes.  However, whereas the first word of each of Paul’s letters is “Paul,” in Hebrews his name is never mentioned!  It is organized nothing like Paul’s letters, and finer points of the style also cast doubt on Pauline authorship.  Worst of all, the author writes that the gospel

was declared at first by the Lord, and it was attested to us by those who heard, while God also bore witness by signs and wonders…

(Hebrews 2.3)

But Paul told the Galatians,

I did not receive [the gospel] from any man, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ.

(Galatians 1.12) 

Reconciling these statements is a tough job.

Timothy

The same first edition KJV included a contradictory note following the text of Hebrews: “Written to the Hebrewes, from Italy, by Timothie.”  Presumably, this theory grew from mentions of Timothy and Italy in the final sentences of the book; but those hardly describe Timothy as the the author! 

You should know that our brother Timothy has been released, with whom I shall see you if he comes soon.

(Hebrews 13.23)

This clearly distinguishes Timothy from the author—of this portion, at least.  Perhaps this was seen as an add-on to the main body of Timothy’s letter, by Paul or someone else; but this is just one of many scenarios we could concoct to explain the facts, and nothing recommends it above other theories.

Apollos

We know very little of Apollos, except that he was “an eloquent man, competent in the Scriptures” (Ac 18.24).  While the author of Hebrews is both eloquent and Scripturally competent, these characteristics are hardly unique.  Nothing points clearly to Apollos.

Luke

The Greek of Luke’s Gospel and Acts is the most refined of all the New Testament books—with the exception of Hebrews.  Hebrews displays excellent articulation, and so Luke’s name has been thrown into the ring.  Again, nothing in the letter specifically points to Luke.  He hardly had a monopoly on diction.

Clement of Rome

Clement was a leader in the church at the end of the first century.  Paul mentions him in Philippians 4.3, but the Bible says nothing else of him.  Later sources relate traditions about his life and work, and a letter he sent has survived, called 1 Clement.  This letter contains several passages that bear a striking resemblance to passages in Hebrews, and this is taken by some as evidence that the author of the former must be the author of the latter.  But a more plausible explanation is that Clement was deliberately referring to Hebrews, because he considered it more authoritative than his own words.

Priscilla

The theory that Priscilla wrote Hebrews rests on the fact that she was a woman.  This may sound glib, but it’s a fair assessment of the theory.  As with most of the others, there is no actual evidence to tie Priscilla to this book; but it gets worse.  When the author says, “time would fail me to tell of Gideon” and so forth (11.32), the genderless pronoun me (με) is linked to a participle telling (διηγούμενον), which is masculine, making it clear that the speaker is male.  Yet this hypothesis persists, even among ostensibly well educated theologians and ministry professionals, based on an animating ideology foreign to Christ.

We Don’t Know

This is an unsatisfying answer.  Even by the second century AD Christian authors were fumbling with this question, unable to reach a consensus.  Does it really matter?  As noted above, from the beginning the author’s goal is to reinforce what “was declared at first by the Lord, and…attested to us by those who heard” (He 2.3).  His purpose was not to reveal new things, but to rely on what the Spirit of God had already revealed.  In this pursuit, he spent more time directly quoting the Old Testament than we see in any other New Testament book.  Therefore, although we don’t know the name of the man who wrote Hebrews, a more important answer is obvious.  The author of Hebrews is God.

See that you do not refuse him who is speaking. For if they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, much less will we escape if we reject him who warns from heaven. At that time his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, “Yet once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens.” This phrase, “Yet once more,” indicates the removal of things that are shaken—that is, things that have been made—in order that the things that cannot be shaken may remain. Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire.

(Hebrews 12.25-29)

Jeremy Nettles

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