AUTHORSHIP
EPISTLE
HEBREWS
9
OF THE
TO THE
(1) There is no trace of allegorical interpretation of the Old Testament in Paul's epistles. But the association of
allegory with the Hebrews is wrong. This is confusing allegory with type. Types are only types, and one of
the great aims of this letter is to show that the Old Testament types were only partial foreshadowings of the
reality found and fulfilled in Christ alone. They could never perfect or bring the believer to maturity.
(2) The doctrine of resurrection is missing. The apostle Paul never introduces doctrine just for the sake of it. In
1 Corinthians, resurrection is introduced because some in the church doubted it, (1 Cor. 15:12). The epistle
to the Galatians is undoubtedly Paul's, and there is no mention of the doctrine of resurrection in it!
(3) There is no Gentile stress in the Gospel. We have already shown that the Gospel which presents salvation to
the sinner is not the theme of Hebrews. This letter is addressed to a group of Hebrew believers whose faith
was being severely tested and they were in danger of giving up, drawing back and apostatizing.
(4) The characteristic Pauline doctrine of faith versus works is not developed. But this evidently was not the
problem of these Hebrew Christians. However, the law is stressed as a shadow only, which can neither save
nor perfect, (Heb. 8:4,5; 10:1). So Paul's teaching is implicit here. The same objection could be brought
against the Thessalonian epistles.
(5) There is no mention of Christ as High Priest in Paul's epistles. While this is true, yet Romans 8:34, `Christ ...
is even at the right hand of God, Who also maketh intercession for us', and Galatians 2:20 and Ephesians 5:2,
which stress Christ's giving Himself for us, surely show Him both as High Priest and Offering. The Lord is
not represented as a layman offering Himself to another priest. His position as High Priest is implicit in the
prayer of John 17, as is His appearance in Revelation 1. In Paul's later epistles He is brought forward in His
great title as Head over all things to the church, which is His Body, (Eph. 1:22,23; 4:15; Col. 2:19), and this
is inclusive of all other titles. It was absolutely necessary for the apostle to develop the theme of Christ as
High Priest after the order of Melchisedec in Hebrews, as one of the main aims of this letter is to demonstrate
to these Hebrew believers that the Lord Jesus was better than angels, or any position that any leader of Israel
occupied in the Old Testament days. He was infinitely better than Aaron, or the priesthood from Levi, and
this could only be stressed by comparing the Melchisedec priesthood of the Lord with the Levitical.
We see, therefore, that such objections cannot be sustained. Unless the theme of Hebrews is clearly understood,
its links with Pauline doctrine cannot be appreciated. It is not a manual showing the sinner how his sins may be
forgiven, or how he may escape condemnation and receive eternal life. In other words, it does not cover the same
ground as Romans. It is for the saved, specially the Hebrew believer, undergoing the trials of the wilderness
journey, and with its perfecting or maturing effect spiritually, leading to the recompense of reward, or if failing and
turning back to Judaism, eternal loss and Divine disapproval. If we give this great epistle an unbiased examination,
we shall certainly find the mind and doctrine of Paul therein, even if it is expressed by another hand.
Verbal links between Paul's Epistles and the Epistle to the Hebrews.
To all conversant with the subject of style, it must be clear that it is not the mere occurrence of a peculiar word,
but the manner and connection or background in which it occurs, that stamps it with the impress of a particular
author. We shall now consider not only words that are peculiar to Hebrews and Paul's epistles, but their context and
background, and in doing so we are bound to note many links between the two. The figure of a race, with its
striving and running with a reward in view, is peculiar to Paul and the Hebrews letter. Agon occurs six times in the
New Testament, five times used by Paul and once in Hebrews `... let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which
doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race (agon) that is set before us'. The same conception is
found in Philippians 3, where the apostle is reaching forth to the things that are ahead and pressing forward to the
goal for the prize of the high calling. Similarly in 1 Corinthians 9:24; `Know ye not that they which run in a race
run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain'. Linked with agon is athleo and its cognates
sunathleo and athlesis, to strive in the games, all of which are peculiar to Paul and Hebrews. In connection with
these are the same words and ideas such as: hupomene endurance; trecho to run; out of 20 occurrences Paul uses this
latter word ten times, and the author of Hebrews exhorts his readers to `run with patience the race ... set before us'
(12:1). Apekdechomai to wait for, is used only in Paul's epistles and Hebrews, according to the Received Text,
where it occurs seven times. In the Pauline writings it is used exclusively for the hope of the believer connected