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Who is the Author?
The book of Hebrews is anonymous; the author’s name is not mentioned in the book. The original readers knew who the writer was, but he or she remains unknown tous,1 and this is one of the great remaining mysteries of the New Testament. Tradition suggested Paul, but the style does not fit the rest of Paul’s writing. The lack of personal greetings at the beginning is conclusive evidence against Pauline authorship—even though there is an intriguing reference to Paul’s friend and colleague Timothy in the closing chapter. Scholars have suggested many alternative possibilities, including Barnabas and Apollos. Had Stephen lived longer, he would have been an ideal candidate, for the theme of the letter follows beautifully from Acts 7 and the speech which led to Stephen’s martyrdom. From a personal pronoun used in 11:32, we know that the writer was male; anything else must be conjecture. The author must also have been Jewish, given his knowledge of the temple ritual and his deep concern for the Jewishnation.2 Origen bluntly stated, “Who wrote the Epistle God only knows certainly” (quoted by Eusebius). Origen held that the thoughts were Paul’s, but Clement of Rome or Luke may have written the book. Clement of Alexandria (Eusebius says) thought that Paul wrote it in Hebrew and Luke translated it into Greek. No early writer apparently attributed the Greek text to Paul. Eusebius thought it was originally written in Hebrew, whether by Paul or not, and translated by Clement of Rome. But there is no certainty in the early centuries. The book was accepted first in the East and later in the West, which had first rejected it. Jerome and Augustine accepted it. In the Renaissance, Erasmus had doubts, Luther attributed it to Apollos, Calvin denied the Pauline authorship. In North Africa it was attributed to Barnabas. In modern times, Harnack has suggested Priscilla, but the masculine participle in 11:32 renders that theory problematic. In light of all the facts, we can only guess at the author’s identity, but without total certainty.3