Wormwood said:
To my knowledge, no early church fathers attribute the book to Timothy. It seems most early witnesses claim either Paul, Barnabus, Luke, Apollos or Clement of Alexandria wrote the book. As I pointed out, I think the internal evidence excludes Paul and the Jewish focus likely excludes Luke. Barnabus and Clement seem to be the most prominent people referenced by early writers outside of Paul and Luke. Either Barnabus or Clement are likely authors. If you read the book of 1 Clement, it also sounds much like Paul's style of writing so Clement is also a very likely author.
Wormwood,
To accept Clement, supposed author of
First Clement (ca 80-140 AD) as the author, would place the dating of Hebrews in the late first century (Clement was
martyred in ca. 100 AD). No author's name is officially attached to First Clement. F F Bruce in his commentary on the Book of Hebrews has a sound discussion of the authorship options (Bruce 1964:xxxv-xlii). Of the authorship of Hebrews, he wrote,
If we do not know for certain to whom the epistle was sent, neither do we know by whom it was sent. If Clement of Rome had any inkling of the author's identity, he gives us no indication of it. But we can be quite sure that he himself was not the author, although it has been suggested at various times that he was. In spite of Clement's familiarity with the epistle, he "turns his back on its central argument in order to buttress his own arguments about the Church's Ministry by an appeal to the ceremonial laws of the Old Testament (Bruce 1964:xxxv-xxxvi).
Bruce cites T W Manson's statement that describes Clement's procedure in regard to the Church's Ministry as 'a retrogression of the worst kind' (in Bruce 1964:xxxvi, n 57).
Tertullian (ca. 155/160-220) appealed to the Epistle to the Hebrews as having greater authority than the
Shepherd of Hermas because of the eminence of the author of Hebrews. He wrote, 'For there is extant withal an Epistle to the Hebrews under the name of Barnabas— a man sufficiently accredited by God, as being one whom Paul has stationed next to himself in the uninterrupted observance of abstinence' (
On Modesty ch 20).
Origen (ca. 185-254) stated,
If I gave my opinion, I should say that the thoughts are those of the apostle, but the diction and phraseology are those of some one who remembered the apostolic teachings, and wrote down at his leisure what had been said by his teacher. Therefore if any church holds that this epistle is by Paul, let it be commended for this. For not without reason have the ancients handed it down as Paul's.
But who wrote the epistle, in truth, God knows. The statement of some who have gone before us is that Clement, bishop of the Romans, wrote the epistle, and of others that Luke, the author of the Gospel and the Acts, wrote it. But let this suffice on these matters (cited in Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History, 6.25.13-14).
Bruce further notes that from the Festal Letter of AD 367,
from then on the Pauline ascription became traditional in the west as in the east, although commentators of critical judgment continued to speak of Clement of Rome or Luke as translator or editor of the epistle. Thus Thomas Aquinas says that "Luke, who was an excellent advocate, translated it from Hebrew into that elegant Greek.... Calvin thought of Luke or Clement of Rome as the author, not merely translator or editor; while Luther was apparently the first to make the brilliant guess that the author was Apollos - a guess which has commended itself to many since his day (Bruce 1964:xxxix).
In 2000 years of church history, we have not been able to nail down a specific author of the Book of Hebrews.
Sincerely,
Oz
Works consulted
Bruce, F F 1964.
The Epistle to the Hebrews (The New International Commentary on the New Testament). Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.
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