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Dear Church Family:

As I mentioned last Sunday, we’ll be starting a new series preaching through the book of Hebrews this coming Sunday. Please take the time this week to read and meditate on Hebrews 1:1-4. Also, if you’re willing to take some extra time, try to read through the entire book of Hebrews at least once this week, so you can get a big-picture perspective of the book. Third, if you have a study Bible with some introductory material on Hebrews, please take the time to familiarize yourself with that information. I really don’t want to spend too much of our first sermon covering that kind of material.

That leads to the second purpose of this email. I had mentioned Sunday that I’d be writing some short articles this week to help you get ready for studying Hebrews. This is the first.

An obvious first question with Hebrews is the question of authorship. The book of Hebrews does not identify its author within the text. Who wrote the book? In this article, I’ll give you one answer to that question: not Paul. Most scholars suggest (and I am in agreement) that the Apostle Paul is not the author of Hebrews. Let me give you several brief reasons why I think Paul is not our guy:

1. All of Paul’s letters clearly say they are his. An important skill for good Bible reading is the recognition of patterns. When we see a pattern happening in Scripture, it should be noticeable and noteworthy when that pattern is broken. Hebrews breaks many of Paul’s patterns. One example is in the self-identification that is normally part of Paul’s letters. They all begin with some form of, “Paul, an Apostle/bondslave/prisoner/etc. of Jesus Christ…” and so on. Hebrews has no introduction like that, and just jumps right into the teaching material.
2. Another example of normal pattern-breaking in Hebrews is in word choice. Most of the New Testament authors use the phrase “Jesus Christ” when naming our Lord. However, Paul does something distinctive. While he sometimes uses “Jesus Christ,” he also frequently uses the phrase “Christ Jesus.” I would venture to say that it is his preferred way to name the Lord. Paul uses “Christ Jesus” some 90 times in his other epistles, and the phrase appears exactly zero times in Hebrews.
3. The author of Hebrews makes a statement in 2:3 that Paul would be unlikely to make. In describing the gospel message, Hebrews 2:3 says, “how shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation? It was declared at first by the Lord, and it was attested to us by those who heard…” The author groups himself in with the “us” who heard the gospel message from those who had heard it directly from Jesus. It’s unlikely that Paul would say that, in light of what he says in Galatians 1:11-12. “For I would have you know, brothers, that the gospel that was preached by me is not man’s gospel. For I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ.” Paul says that God directly revealed the gospel to him, and he specifically says that he wasn’t taught it by any man.

So, I don’t think that Paul is our author. During this sermon series, if you hear me say something like “Look what Paul says here…”, just know that I’ve made a verbal mistake because I’m used to Paul having written so many New Testament epistles. Who is the author of Hebrews? I’ll spend some time on that in my next article.

I love you, Church Family. I can’t wait to study this amazing book of the Bible with you.

Louis