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Stauros cross. Apart from its occurrences in the Gospels, this word is confined to the
Apostle's writings, where it occurs ten times and once in the epistle to the Hebrews.
Heb. 12: 2, "Looking unto Jesus . . . . . Who for the joy that was set before Him endured
the cross . . . . ." Peter, James, John and Jude do not use the word in their epistles, either
as a noun or a verb, which may appear surprising.
When we come to the connecting particles we find more links with Hebrews and
Paul's epistles. Te is of frequent occurrence in Luke's writings, some 143 times in the
Acts and seven times in his Gospel. In the epistles its usage is practically confined to
Paul and Hebrews. It occurs twice in James 3: 7 and Jude 6. The Apostle uses it
26 times and Hebrews 22 times.
Kathaper as even as, is only found in Paul's writings and Hebrews, eleven in the
former, and twice in the latter.
Mepo not yet, has only two N.T. references, namely Rom. 9: 11 and Heb. 9: 8.
Toigaroun therefore & wherefore, being found only in I Thess. 4: 8 and Heb. 12: 1.
Huperano above, is a word which occurs only in Ephesians (1: 21; 4: 10) and
Heb. 9: 5.
The above are some of the verbal links with the Apostle Paul's writings and the epistle
to the Hebrews. They are not haphazard occurrences, but, as we have demonstrated, have
a similar background or thought, showing the same mind, if not the same hand.
Archdeacon Paley, in his Horae Paulinae p. 196, writes:
"Whoever writes two letters, or two discourses, nearly upon the same subject, and at
no great distance of time, but without any express recollection of what he had written
before, will find himself repeating some sentences, in the very order of the words in
which he had already used them; but he will more frequently find himself employing
some principal terms, with the order inadvertently changed, or with the order disturbed
by the intermixture of other words and phrases expressive of ideas rising up at the time;
or in many instances repeating not single words, nor yet whole sentences, but parts and
fragments of sentences."
Not only do we find the repetition of words used in a similar way between Hebrews
and Paul's epistles, but there are other links between the two which we will next
consider.