Who Wrote Hebrews?

Who wrote the book of Hebrews? Many people have tried to answer that question but as Origen said, “Who wrote the book of Hebrews? Only God knows.” Many names have been suggested including Paul, Appolos, Luke, Priscilla, Barnabas, Silas and many others. Some have suggested that Paul wrote the letter in Hebrew and Luke translated it into Greek. Whoever wrote it was an educated person as it is written in excellent Greek. He was not an immediate disciple of the Lord but was well versed in the Old Testament scriptures. The author was most likely a Jew and a personal friend of Timothy. Though we don’t know for certain who wrote this epistle the original readers certainly knew who had written this letter to them. God the Holy Spirit has not chosen to reveal to us the author and though we don’t know why we can say one thing; the Holy Spirit wants us to turn our eyes away from any earthly minister and turn to “the Author and Finisher of our faith.” As we read this letter we should see Jesus.

Many people have believed that Paul was the author and some of their arguments are very convincing. I would like to give you some of the arguments that they present but before I do that I would like to give you some of the arguments against a Pauline authorship.

If this letter was written by Paul then it is the only letter that he wrote anonymously. That was not characteristic of Paul. In all of his letters that we know are his, he identifies himself as the author as well as an apostle of Jesus Christ. Another argument is that many Pauline characteristics are missing in this letter and the language is different.

These arguments can easily be discredited. This letter was written anonymously because of the people to whom it was written. They were Jews rather than Gentiles and Paul certainly would take a different approach in writing to those who were more likely to be opposed to his ministry. As for the argument that Paul’s writing was entirely different in language, one could argue that the way we write often changes as we change or the audience changes. The same argument is used against the Pauline authorship of the Pastoral Epistles.

So what are some of the arguments for the Pauline authorship of Hebrews? First, when Peter wrote to the Jewish Christians he referred to Paul’s writings as Scripture. What writings was he referring to? I would think that it would be the only letter that Paul wrote to the same people as Peter was writing to. If that was the case then Paul would have had to have written a letter to Jewish Christians.

The second argument is that this letter along with Romans and Galatians for a trilogy based upon the test from Habakkuk 2:4, “The just shall live by faith.” In Romans the emphasis is on the “just”; in Galatians the emphasis is on “live”; and in Hebrews the emphasis is on “faith”.

Harry Ironside says that Paul put his secret mark upon this letter. He points out that Paul is the only writer in the New Testament that closes his letters with “grace”. The book of Hebrews also closes with “grace”.

Who wrote Hebrews? Only God knows but we do know that the author wants us to see Jesus rather than some earthly author. He reminds us to “look unto Jesus.”