Authorship: When it comes to the authorship of the book of Hebrews we are not able to find the name of this

person in the book itself. Hebrews does not have an introduction, it just starts right into the message. Trying to find out the author of this book will be a challenging thing to do. In certain places its language is like Paul's and, because of the personal reference to Timothy in 13:23, some scholars have attributed the letter to Paul.1 This thought varies depending on which set of commentaries or study Bibles you are currently using. The Warren Wiersbe Commentary does not even go into who could be the author of Hebrews.2 According to the New American Commentary on Hebrews, not many of the recent commentaries spend a lot of time discussing who the author of Hebrews is. The reasoning is due to the multiple theories that are currently available. In the New American Commentary Allen states, The combined evidence should evoke among New Testament scholars a closer look at Luke as the author of Hebrews.3 Recipients: The recipients of the book of Hebrews are just as unknown as the author is. Once again the book does not state who the book was intended for. Once again, looking at the Wiersbe Commentary for help in finding who the book of Hebrews was originally written to does not help since it does not go into any detail of the author or the recipients. According to Allen in the New Amercian Commentary, the traditional view is that the readers were Jewish Christians.4 Purpose: When it comes to the purpose of the book of Hebrews you need to do your research when it comes to the recipients. According to The Scofield Study Bible, The purpose of the book, then, was to confirm Jewish Christians by showing them that Old Testament Judaism had come to an end through Christ's fulfillment of the whole purpose of the law.5 With this purpose, we can say that the book of Hebrews was written to the Jewish Christians at that time. By having a book that was meant to help these young Jewish Christians not fall back into Judaism shows that God knew what would have
1 C. I. Scofield, ed. The Scofield Study Bible, (New York: Oxford University Press, 2006). 1595. 2 David C. Cook, Pub. THE WIERSBE BIBLE COMMENTARY: NEW TESTAMENT, (Colorado Springs: Cook Communications Ministries, 2007). 3 E. R. Clendenen, ed. The New American Commentary, Volume 35, (Nashville: B & H Publishing, 2010). 61. 4 E. R. Clendenen, ed. The New American Commentary, Volume 35, (Nashville: B & H Publishing, 2010). 62. 5 C. I. Scofield, ed. The Scofield Study Bible, (New York: Oxford University Press, 2006). 1595.

happened if they were left alone. Circumstances: The circumstances of the Jewish Christians were they recently began their walk with God but they still felt that going back to Judaism was the best thing due to the persecutions happening to the Christians.6 The wanted the stability of their old faith. Like all things that's new we tend to think the old thing is better and easier for us. It takes time but with help and patience we find that the new thing is better for us. Dating: Like the authorship, recipients, and purpose; the dating is not quite clear. We do not have anything in the book of Hebrews, that stands out, to go by for the dating. There are three views of when this book was written according to Allen, they are: pre-AD 64, 67-69, or towards the end of the reign of Domitian, who died in AD 96.7 Depending on the dating that you believe is the correct for this book, you can narrow down the field of names for the authorship of the book of Hebrews. If you date it after the death of Paul then he could not be one of the authors. To determine the date of Hebrews we have to look inside the book itself for clues as to when it was written. If we look at 10:11, this verse shows that the author was talking about the priest still performing their duties. The only place they perform their duties at was the temple. This being said, the temple was still standing in Jerusalem when the book of Hebrews was written. To be able to find the date we would have to know when the temple was destroyed.

6 E. R. Clendenen, ed. The New American Commentary, Volume 35, (Nashville: B & H Publishing, 2010). 79. 7 E. R. Clendenen, ed. The New American Commentary, Volume 35, (Nashville: B & H Publishing, 2010). 74.