Commentary on the Epistle of St. Paul the Apostle to the Hebrews

Chapter 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 ABOUT THE EPISTLE OF THE HOLY APOSTLE PAUL TO THE JEWS Message of St. The Apostle Paul to the Hebrews differs from the other epistles of this apostle especially in that it does not name its author anywhere, which - due to other differences in presentation - the Apostle Paul was not always unanimously considered to be. One of the earliest mentioners of the letter is St. Clement of Rome (at the end of the 1st century) - does not allow us to draw from his quotes any definite judgment about who exactly the Romans considered to be the author of the letter. Among further Western church writers, Tertullian, referring to the message, attributes it to Barnabas. Eastern writers are more unanimous and more definite than Western ones. Panten, Clement of Alexandria, Origen not only cite the message under the name “epistles to the Hebrews,” but also recognize it precisely as the work of the Apostle Paul. Origen even confirms this by referring to the evidence of tradition. However, it is necessary to make a reservation, the obvious features of the language of the message also caused Origen to guess that although the thoughts of this message are entirely Pavlovian, their presentation could belong to one of his students - either Luke or Clement. In contrast to all this, it is enough to point out several places in the epistle where the identity of the writer, if not mentioned, is clearly revealed (cf. Heb. 13:23, 24, 18, etc.), and where certain expressions and views turn out to be completely akin to Paul’s (cf., for example, Heb. 10:30 and Rom. 12:19). There is no doubt about the author of the message and the entire content and the very spirit of the message. As for the fact that the apostle, contrary to his custom, does not name himself anywhere in the epistle, this very thing, finding a fair explanation for itself, only serves to further confirm his authorship. The fact is that the apostle had to take into account the very hostile feelings of his fellow tribesmen to whom his message was sent, which is why he considered it necessary not to mention his name. And if the glory of the New Testament, which replaced the old one, is still hidden in the darkness of suffering, then this is completely in accordance with the aspirations and spirit of Christianity (Heb. 13:13-14) and does not exclude the hope in the future to achieve corresponding greatness and glory through suffering. The main thoughts of the message: the superiority of the Founder of the Christian faith, as the God-man, over Moses (Heb. 1–4); the superiority of the illuminating and saving means given to people through Jesus Christ, as the Divine High Priest, seated at the right hand of God the Father (Heb. 5–10), and, finally, the superiority of the believers in Christ themselves with such grace-filled means for salvation from sin and death and the closest communion with God, under the guidance of the shepherds and teachers of the Church. Such justification and clarification of the spirit and power of Christianity makes the epistle extremely important and valuable not only for Jews, but also for all believers of all times and peoples, giving the most necessary completion to all other apostolic epistles, which contain the entire system of Christian theology. The original language of the message is believed by some to be Hebrew; It was probably translated into Greek by Clement, Pope of Rome. You might be interested in: