Who wrote the biblical Letter to the Hebrews? The answer may surprise you.
For years, everything I heard, from the classroom to popular scholarship, pretty much said "everyone knows that Paul didn't write Hebrews." But recent textual analysis indicates that:
"... the Letter to the Hebrews is indeed closest to Paul than to any of these other authors... But... Luke was the second closest match so there may have been some collaboration between the two, for example if Paul wrote the letter in Aramaic (the Hebrew language) and then Luke translated it into Greek." Source >
[2013-03-01]
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I thought this was funny...
[2013-02-28]
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Re: Hebrews - I think one of the main arguements against Pauls authorship of Hebrews is that he himself clearly states that his ministry was to the gentiles. Also, the style of the letter deosn't seem to follow the pattern of his epistles.
ReplyDeletePlease forgive my horrendous spelling and punctuation errors in the last comment!
ReplyDeleteBut the textual analysis is very interesting, don't you think?
ReplyDelete--c0
Yes - I do - And this is the first I've heard that Paul may have been a co-author. I know there are many words found in Hebrews that are found in no other place in Paul's writings - but if Luke wrote the Greek - that could account for word choice differences. Still, I don't see why Paul would focus on the Jews when so many others were doing that, and he was 'knee-deep' in his gentile ministry.
ReplyDeleteI think the article said it had a 90% accuracy, so it could be wrong, or, it could have been someone very closely influenced by Paul that we have no record of. I tend to like the idea myself, but I like the mystery too.
ReplyDelete--c0
Another question to consider is 'Why would Paul not identify himself?' as is his custom?
ReplyDeleteHow could Paul have written the book? He says:
ReplyDelete2 Thessalonians 3:17 (ESV)
17 I, Paul, write this greeting with my own hand. This is the sign of genuineness in every letter of mine; it is the way I write.
He didn't sign it, could he have written it?
I heard Luke Timothy Johnson (IIRC) commenting on this, that the phrase "in my own hand" may have meant he actually moved the pen on vellum (and as he was losing his sight, or so we believe, that would have been an important detail). If he had dictated it, he may not have signed it this way. I think actually Johnson attributes Hebrews to Paul.
ReplyDeleteTo say Hebrews isn't Paul's just because he didn't sign it seems hasty. It may or may not be Paul's, we'll never be 100% sure because we weren't there to see who wrote it, but it certainly is very interesting to consider it.
--c0