Hebrews 1:1-2 Part One

An Introduction to Hebrews, Part One:  Authorship

Intro:

Read/Pray

1 God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, 2 in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom He also made the world.

Today’s opening sermon in the book of Hebrews may very well read like a Sunday school class much more than one of our traditional sermons. There is a very good and necessary reason for that. As we get through the first few lessons in Hebrews, the flow of our sermons, the application, and the usual rhythms, will return to what you were accustomed to, but I’m gonna ask you to stick with me through this unique journey for the first couple weeks, and here’s why

Hebrews may be one of the most unique book in the N.T.  Simply put, it’s  “a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma” to steal a quote from Winston Churchill.  Hebrews tackles topics that are not found anywhere else in the Scriptures.  Hebrews uses the O.T. in a way unique to other N.T. books.  And of course, the raging and endless debate over authorship just add to the mystery.

For all of these reasons, I want to introduce the book of Hebrews to you over the next two weeks to lay a solid foundation to build upon as we get further into text.  For that reason, here is what I want to do to establish that base:

What we are going to cover in these first two weeks:

1. Author
2. Audience
3. Date
4. Reason/Characteristics/Themes

Authorship Disclaimer:

Mark Leslie and I are (probably)  going to ultimately disagree on the authorship of Hebrews.  If my assumptions are correct, we will lean on our church constitution for resolution.

9.2.76:  “Should there be a theological disagreement within the church, the Pastor and the opposing party shall form a quorum and engage in an arm-wrestling contest using the church altar table.  God is sovereign over the results.  This shall take place on the third Sunday of the month and will be followed by a pot luck.  All results are final.”

In all seriousness, my plan is to present my information and argument for authorship and then I do want to cede the floor to Mark, who has a very unique position on authorship so that we can consider his perspective as well.

Authorship of Hebrews:

Let me start by saying this: there are countless very solid resources on the book of Hebrews available both in print and online. What I’ve chosen to do, for the sake of brevity, is lean heavily on a very reputable article, from a very reputable author and source to present what I think are fair and balanced findings. Unless I otherwise note it, the following information comes to us from Dave Mathis, the Executive Editor of Desiring God in and article he wrote in December of 2021 entitled “Who Wrote Hebrews? Exploring a New Testament Mystery”

This article can easily be found on the Desiring God website for further study.

Mathis begins with this overview:

For the first 1,500 years of church history, most Christians believed Paul wrote the letter of Hebrews. The resurgence in Greek scholarship at the time of the Reformation, however, revealed serious concerns with Pauline authorship, not least of which is the large stylistic discrepancy between Hebrews and Paul’s other letters. 

In the time since, though many have tried to tie authorship of Hebrews to others in the apostolic band — from Barnabas and Silas to Apollos and Luke — doubts still render the matter uncertain. 

Nevertheless, even in the absence of a known author, the authority of Hebrews rests secure. Christians for two thousand years have heard the voice of Christ in the letter of Hebrews, and possessing this God-breathed epistle is far more valuable than knowing its author.

Who wrote it?

William Lane begins his impressive two-volume commentary with this tribute:

Hebrews is a delight for the person who enjoys puzzles. Its form is unusual, its setting in life is uncertain, and its argument is unfamiliar. It invites engagement in the task of defining the undefined.1

And the biggest riddle of them all is information that church history, and the faithful today, do not consider to be lacking for any other New Testament document: who wrote it?

Seven facts about the authorship of Hebrews:

1. In Every N.T. book (with the exception of 1,2,3 John) the author clearly identifies himself in the first few lines of the book.
2. For roughly the fist 1500 years after Christ, the basic assumption of the Church was that Paul wrote Hebrews.  (Don’t take this lightly)  However, we must also consider the order of Paul’s books in the N.T. (by word count, not chapters)
3. What Changed?  (take answers)  for those first 1500 years, the high church insisted that the scriptures be translated into and read in Latin, despite the fact that very few people outside of the clergy, actually read or wrote in Latin. Once the reformation happened one of the big pushes of the reformed churches was to return the Scriptures to their original sources of Greek and Aramaic. When this was done, there began to be some very reasonable questioning of Pauline authorship. Essentially the Greek used by the author of Hebrews is extremely different than the Greek we regularly see in Paul’s letters.
4. Even though the author of Hebrews does not leave us his name, he does refer to himself in a revealing statement at the beginning of chapter 2 — and in doing so he speaks in a way that we can acknowledge, on good authority, that the apostle Paul emphatically would not speak.
5. Speaking of the Christian gospel (and the new covenant in contrast with the old) as “such a great salvation,” the author writes, “It was declared at first by the Lord, and it was attested to us by those who heard” (Hebrews 2:3). Note carefully three parties in view here. First is “the Lord” Jesus himself. He not only came as the great salvation, and to accomplish the great salvation, but he told of it. He himself preached, taught, and declared it. Then Hebrews mentions a second group: “those who heard” — that first generation of apostles and Christians, who followed Jesus’s life, witnessed his death, saw him resurrected, and believed. They saw and knew and heard Jesus for themselves. Then the author of Hebrews puts himself in a third group: “it was attested to us by those who heard.”
6. Barnabas, Silas, and Paul have all been suggested as possible authors but with each of them the same issue arises:  We simply don’t have any of their other writings to compare against Hebrews.
7. This leaves one other reasonable option, and it is someone from whom we have a huge amount of N.T. writing, but even then, it’s not conclusive.  This last option is Luke, author of the Gospel of Luke and the Book of Acts.

Just Two Thoughts on Lukan authorship:

1. The type of Greek used in Hebrews is much more similar to Luke’s writings than Paul’s.  This includes unique words and phrases, and sentence structure as well.
2. Back to Mathis:  However, we are not limited to known authors, and as Allen himself concedes in his commentary, the most we can say is that “someone like Luke must have been the author.”9 Lane captures the humbling truth: “The limits of historical knowledge preclude positive identification of the writer.”
3. Mark’s Thoughts

PB’s Position on Authorship:

1. The author obviously wanted to remain anonymous.
2. There is a potential danger in assuming the authorship of a book, and then reading those presuppositions back into the text when they do not exist.
3. The mystery surrounding the authorship of Hebrews has never caused the book to come into controversy concerning its canonicity. 
4. Therefore, like the book of Hebrews itself implores, we must be people of faith, and not need to know every answer to know that it is the word of God. 
5. Simply put, I think the safest answer, and the one that leaves our mind most open to what the text may tell us, is the one that does not suggest we know who wrote Hebrews.

Close/Application:

I don’t want to leave you completely empty-handed in terms of exegetical inside and application today. So let’s return to those first two verses, which we will begin with next week, and let me point something out to you about the grand point in theme of the book of Hebrews itself.

1 God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, 2 in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom He also made the world.

The author, whoever they may be, begins the book of Hebrews by stating that throughout history, God has spoken to his people in many different ways. First, walking in the garden of Eden, with Adam and Eve. Secondly, through the calling of Abram, and the patriarchs third through judges, and then the kings. And then the Prophets.

Then there was a 400 year silence, and now the author states that in these last days he has spoken to us through Jesus, and this Jesus is crucially important for at least three reasons:

First, Jesus is identified as God’s son.  As we will dive into next week, this is crucial once we understand who the book of Hebrews is written for.

Second, Jesus is the “heir of all things”.  As scripture says many places, all of this world is and will become the kingdom of Christ.

Finally, Jesus was there at the creation of the world with the Father and Holy Spirit.  He is eternal, divine, and perfect.

All of this to say, the author is trying to convince his audience of the reality that it is Jesus, who is the great high priest. We will spend several months unpacking what that means for the intended audience of the book of Hebrews. 

For now, let me leave you with this: Hebrews has the opportunity as a singularly unique book in the Bible, to test and stretch and reveal different parts of the role and character of Jesus that we don’t see any anywhere else in scripture. 

An understanding of Jesus, without the book of Hebrews is an incomplete understanding of Jesus. Despite the fact that this book is so theological and apologetic in nature, it is also deeply deeply personal, and I promise you that if you study this book with us as we move through it your understanding of Jesus your appreciation for Jesus. Your connection with Jesus will be so much stronger for that journey.

Let’s Pray

Q/A