HEBREWS. EPISTLE TO THE. The New Testament writing known as the Epistle to the Hebrews raises a number of problems. Two of these are suggested at once by the title. is the book really an Epistle? And who are the Hebrews? Currie Martin thinks that the book has no features of an epistle, except in its close. This theory has been put forward by Wrede. He thinks that it is a treatise to which the concluding verses were added by an editor. The idea of the editor will have been to convert the treatise into a Pauline Epistle. Against this i A. S. Peake argues that " if the editor bad wished in the closing verses to pass the Epistle off as Paul's, he would surely have spoken with much greater definiteness and identified the writer with Paul far more clearly." It is not correct, Peake thinks, to say that the work is a mere abstract treatise. The constant references to the conditions and perils of the community are of such a kind that its history and present situation can to a large extent be reconstructed. Next, as regards the persons to whom the letter is addressed. " Hebrews " suggests at once Jews. Currie Martin, however, thinks that the word need not denote a purely Jewish community here, and points out that elsewhere Gentiles are addressed as the seed of Abraham (Galatians ill. 7, 29). To this it may be objected that merely to refer to Gentiles as the seed of Abraham is very different from addressing a writing to " Hebrews " in the sense of Gentiles. But Currie Martin, of course, adds other reasons for thinking that the writing was addressed to Gentiles as well as to Jews. Yet his reasons, and those of scholars who take the same view, are hardly convincing. Prof. Peake argues more strongly for the view that the writing was addressed to Jewish Christians. They were Jewish Christians who were in danger of falling back into Judaism. This is proved definitely, Peake thinks, by the use made in the Epistle of the Old Testament. " It is quite beside the mark to say that the Old Testament was regarded as authoritative by Gentile as well as by Jewish Christians. It is more to the point to observe that the grounds of acceptance were very different. The Jew whether Christian or not accepted the Old Testament as the sacred book of his nation, his belief might be con firmed by Christianity, but it was essentially independent of it. With the Gentile Christian the case was alto
gether different. The Old Testament meant nothing to him apart from his Christianity. It was as an integral portion of his new religion that he recognised its authority. Of what use then was it to supply a Gentile in danger of apostasy from Christianity with arguments drawn from a book in which he believed simply because he was a Christian? The author's argument has force only if his readers accepted the Old Testament inde pendently of their acceptance of the Gospel, and this suits Jewish Christians but not Gentiles. It may be added that, even setting aside the inconclusive details, there are many phrases in the Epistle which point much more naturally to Jewish Christian than to Gentile readers, but where the main argument is so conclusive it is less necessary to lay stress on minor points." Another problem is the question of authorship. According to Clement of Alexandria, the Epistle was written in Hebrew by Paul, and translated into Greek by Luke. According to Origen, the thoughts are Paul's, but they were written down from memory by another person, who added anno tations of his own. This person may have been either Clement of Rome or Luke. In the Western Church. however, for a long time the Epistle failed to win acceptance. " Augustine and Jerome were alike hesitant about it, but yielded to Eastern opinion and accepted the Pauline authorship, and this secured its acceptance in the Western Church." It does not seem to have been used by Hernias, Justin Martyr, or Irenaeus. It is not included in the Canon of Mareion or in the Muratorian Canon. The external evidence therefore supports the view, sug gested by the style and contents, that Paul was not the author of the Epistle. Who then was the author? Ter tullian ascribes the work to Barnabas. Luther suggested Apollos, and the suggestion has been favoured by a number of modern scholars. Others have thought of Silas. Harnack has now come forward with the theory that the author was Priscilla. See J. A. M'Clymont; G. Currie Martin; Arthur S. Peake, Intr.; J. Moffatt, Intr.