Troublesome Topic: REASONS I AM CONVINCED PAUL WAS NOT THE SOLE AUTHOR OF HEBREWS

The final author had never met Jesus nor heard directly from Jesus (Heb 2:3) in the way that Paul had. This is conclusive evidence that Paul did write this by himself.

The style of writing is very different in English and even more different in Greek. It utilizes some vocabulary that differs from Paul, and it employs grammatical constructs which Paul did not employ. It is considered very intellectual Greek and is unlike anything else in the New Testament. I am convinced the people of that day would have seen and understood the difference in Greek style better than we do, in fact, if I can detect a difference (and I can), any school-age child who could read Greek would definitely have seen the difference. It is obvious that Hebrews does not sound like Paul. This alone shows that it could not possibly have been Paul.

If Paul wrote this, why is the Greek of this letter so sophisticated and intellectual? If Paul wrote to the Gentile congregations in everyday Greek, why would he change and write to the Jewish congregations in sophisticated Greek?

The thinking process is very different. It sounds like a priest or Levite doing the writing.

The order of presentation is very organized without any rabbit trails. Paul goes on rabbit trails as things come to his mind and then he comes back to his main topic. Hebrews feels like a carefully planned discourse, while the letters of Paul feel like a conversation.

Themes are covered in this epistle that are never covered in any of Paul’s letters.

Paul always identified himself clearly. (However, the first part of the Epistle to the Hebrews seems to be missing).

The letter to the Hebrews seems to have a different understanding of the destruction of the temple which Jesus predicted than Paul expressed in his letters to the Thessalonians. It appears that Paul thought that the coming of Jesus to destroy the temple and do away with the sacrificial system would also be his final coming in glory and power. We now know that there will be yet another coming of Christ.

However, the final compiler/editor of the letter to the Hebrews seems to understand the destruction of the temple more like we do – that it was a step in the direction God wanted to take things, but it was not the final step. This is amazing because it also appears that the destruction of the temple had not been completed when this letter was penned in its final form.

I believe it was written during the 4-month siege of Jerusalem just prior to the temple’s destruction (see my lesson on that topic).

Some have suggested that it was written in Hebrew and translated to Greek by someone like Luke, but this does not float because of plays on words which work in Greek but not in Hebrew including the double use of the word “testament/covenant” in 9:15-18.

The next lesson is Contributors to the Book of Hebrews