Epistle to the Hebrews

The Epistle to the Hebrews (Pros Hebraious) is one of the books of the New Testament. The text does not mention the name of its author, but was traditionally attributed to Paul the Apostle. Most of the Ancient Greek manuscripts, the Old Syriac Peshitto and some of the Old Latin manuscripts have the epistle to the Hebrews among Paul's letters. However, doubt on Pauline authorship in the Roman Church is reported by Eusebius. Modern biblical scholarship considers its authorship unknown, written in deliberate imitation of the style of Paul, with some contending that it was authored by Priscilla and Aquila. Scholars of Greek consider its writing to be more polished and eloquent than any other book of the New Testament, and "the very carefully composed and studied Greek of Hebrews is not Paul's spontaneous, volatile contextual Greek". The book has earned the reputation of being a masterpiece. It has also been described as an intricate New Testament book. Some scholars believe it was written for Jewish Christians who lived in Jerusalem. Its essential purpose was to exhort Christians to persevere in the face of persecution. At this time, certain believers were considering turning back to Judaism and to the Jewish system of law to escape being persecuted for believing Christ to be the messiah. The theme of the epistle is the teaching of the person of Christ and his role as mediator between God and humanity. According to traditional scholarship, the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews, following in the footsteps of Paul, argued that Jewish Law had played a legitimate role in the past but was superseded by a New Covenant for the Gentiles (cf. Romans 7:1–6; Galatians 3:23–25; Hebrews 8, 10). However, a growing number of scholars note that the terms Gentile, Christian and Christianity are not present in the text and posit that Hebrews was written for a Jewish audience, and is best seen as a debate between Jewish followers of Jesus and mainstream Judaism. In tone, and detail, Hebrews goes beyond Paul and attempts a more complex, nuanced, and openly adversarial definition of the relationship.

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Related concepts (64)

New Testament

The New Testament (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus, as well as events in first-century Christianity. The New Testament's background, the first division of the Christian Bible, is called the Old Testament, which is based primarily upon the Hebrew Bible; together they are regarded as sacred scripture by Christians. The New Testament is a collection of Christian texts originally written in the Koine Greek language, at different times by various authors.

Epistle to the Hebrews

Jesus

Jesus (6 to 4 BC - AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, and several other names and titles, was a first-century Jewish preacher and religious leader. He is the central figure of Christianity, the world's largest religion. Most Christians believe Jesus to be the incarnation of God the Son and the awaited messiah, the Christ that is prophesied in the Hebrew Bible. Virtually all modern scholars of antiquity agree that Jesus existed historically.