Notes on Hebrews: Background
In as much as many have taken on the duty of explaining the books of the Bible to the common man, it seems good to me also to impart to you dear reader the insights I have garnished from this most excellent book of Hebrews. I repeat to you that there is no other New Testament book more applicable to the 21st century Christian than this one (after only the red lettering of the New Testament). You may or may not be aware of many of the details that I will put forth so in deference to those that do not, I will take time to explain certain items that to other more biblically inclined readers may appear monotonous.
I begin with the fact that this book’s author remains a mystery. There is no signature of ownership within its pages and tradition varies as to the authorship. The majority of Christian scholars attribute the book however to the apostle Paul. This fact is what first led me to consider other possible author’s for if there is one thing certain in religious studies it is this; the drivers of religion insist on unanimity even when the facts say otherwise. I personally do not fear the facts nor do I fear diverting from the popular opinion. Let God be true and all men liars. With this in mind I put forth that the author of the Book of Hebrews is Luke, the author of both the gospel of Luke and the Book of Acts. There are several reasons why this book was not written by Paul such as the fact that Paul consistently made it a point to claim authorship on every letter he wrote (which this book does not contain) and the excellent Greek grammar and structure this book is written in, dwarfs Paul’s other letters(Paul was a Jew and Greek was his second language) but the key argument against Pauline authorship for me is the fact that the quotes from the Old Testament (and there are many) in this book are taken from the Septuagint (the Greek translation of the Hebrew Old Testament). Paul, a Jew and a Pharisee (religious leader of the day) would have quoted directly from the Hebrew Old Testament especially since this book, as its title signifies was written to the Jews (Hebrews).
Luke was a Greek, a professional (a doctor), an accomplished writer and a devout follower of Christ. He is the likely author because his other work’s (the Gospel and Acts) written style is complimentary to this book’s and because he used the Septuagint exclusively when quoting the Old Testament in his writing for he could not read Hebrew. Given the possible authors of the day for this work most of the facts point to Luke and not to Paul.
If now we can conclude that the author is not Paul and hence not a Jew then what would a non Jew have to say to the Hebrews about Jesus. Simply this, Jesus (although a Jew himself) came to establish a New Covenant which is far better than the Old Covenant of Judaism. But before I go in to reviewing this theme in the book of Hebrews I should first clarify that the Hebrew audience that this book is written to are Jews that accepted Jesus as their long awaited Messiah. As such, any statements contained in this book and as a result in my commentary, are not made to denigrate the Jewish belief system. My commentary on this book is directed to the general readership so that you (collectively) may understand what arguments Luke used to convince Messianic Jews (Jews who believe in Jesus as Messiah) not to cave in to the pressure and return to the rituals of the past but to press forward to the Kingdom of God that awaits. Let us now continue.
