Who Wrote The Book Of Hebrews?

In the case of every other book in the New Testament Canon, it is very easy to identify the author. Either the title of the book bears his name (Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, James, Peter, Jude), or the author introduces himself in the first few verses of the book. However, this is not the case with the Book of Hebrews. The author never introduces himself, and its title does not help at all.

If you think that you are alone in being clueless about the identity of the author of the Book of Hebrews, you are not. Throughout Christian History, there has been much speculation as to who this author was. Even to this day, Bible scholars are still wrestling with the question of his identity. Several candidates have been suggested:

Paul

Many Christians today believe that the Apostle Paul was the author of the Book of Hebrews. In fact, this opinion is so popular that many preachers and Bible teachers assume it outright, and there never seems to be any question about it. There is evidence that the early Christians identified the Apostle Paul as the author of the Book of Hebrews. For instance, a Biblical manuscript produced in the second century CE includes the Book of Hebrews among other of Paul’s epistles.

Not Paul

However, there are a few problems with identifying Paul as the author of the Book of Hebrews. For starters, Paul always begins his epistles with a salutation in which he identifies himself. This does not happen in the Book of Hebrews, which is clearly an epistle (13:22).

The Greek writing style in Hebrews is clearly different from what we find in Paul’s other epistles. Whoever wrote the Book of Hebrews did not write like Paul. The author of Hebrews also wrote very eloquently and sophisticatedly. In fact, the Greek of Hebrews is one of the most difficult among the books of the New Testament Canon. This goes against the practice of Paul, who wrote simply and plainly (1 Corinthians 1:17; 2:1).

Paul Translated

Clement of Alexandria (d. c. 215 CE) claims that Paul originally wrote the epistle in the Hebrew language, and then Luke later translated it into Greek. Thus, according to Clement, that is how we got the Book of Hebrews in Greek as we have it today in Luke’s writing style. He explains that Paul’s usual salutation was intentionally omitted because the original recipients of the epistle, the Hebrews, might be biased against the contents of the epistle if they knew that it was Paul who wrote it.

Luke or Clement of Rome

Origen of Alexandria (d. 253 CE) wrote that “the thought is indeed of the apostle, but the phrasing and synthesis is of someone who remembered the apostolic teaching.” In other words, he did not think that the Apostle Paul himself wrote the epistle or dictated its contents to a scribe to have it written down. Rather, he thought that whoever did write it was accurately reflecting the teachings of the Apostle Paul. Origen states that two candidates were suggested by others during his time: Luke or Clement of Rome (d. 99 CE).

Barnabas

Tertullian (d. c. 240 CE) suggested that Barnabas might have been the author of the Book of Hebrews. He reasoned that since Barnabas was a Levite (Acts 4:36), he would have been well versed in the work of the Levitical priesthood—a field which the author of Hebrews deals extensively with. Moreover, he was a Cypriot, and would hence be able to write eloquently as the author of Hebrews did.

Apollos

Martin Luther (d. 1546 CE) suggested that Apollos wrote the Book of Hebrews. He thought that Apollos was a good candidate, since he was “a man of words” (i.e., he was eloquent) and “strong in the Scriptures” (Acts 18:24). Moreover, he was from Alexandria, where the Septuagint was the primarily used version of the Bible. This fits well with the preference of the author of Hebrews to quote the Septuagint rather than the original Hebrew text.

Conclusion

The problem we face here is that each of the candidates listed here fits the mould of what we know about the author of Hebrews. In other words, any one of them could have very well been the author of Hebrews. However, there is no definitive evidence by which to decisively prove or disprove any case. Every argument that has been provided for or against any candidate could be easily countered.

So, who actually wrote the Book of Hebrews? On this side of Eternity, we will never really know for sure. The important thing to keep in mind is that any particular piece of writing is canonical scripture only because it is God-breathed (2 Timothy 3:16), and not because of who wrote it. Ultimately, the Holy Spirit was the author of the Book of Hebrews, regardless of whom he chose to have the words written down (2 Peter 1:21).

It really does not matter who the human writer of the Book of Hebrews was, or whether we know his identity. What matters is that here before us, we have the words of the living God, and we do well to listen attentively and obey. At this point, I can only echo the words of Origen of Alexandria: “Who wrote the epistle, only God knows the truth. Some say that Clement wrote it, and others say that Luke wrote it, but I shall say no more.”