Who is the author of Hebrews?

Posted by on Nov 17, 2018

Question: Who is the author of Hebrews?

Answer: Apostle Paul is the assumed author of the letter to the Hebrews, because its authorship is unknown. The Roman Catholic Church has attributed the letter to Paul assuming that because he is the author of most of the apostolic epistles, he must be the author of Hebrews, as well.

The ambiguity around the authorship of Hebrews comes from the fact that the author of Hebrews has not claimed any authorship. In comparison, Paul always claims the authorship of his epistles, as this is evident from the epilogues of his epistles and the style of his writing.

With the epistle to the Hebrews, the situation is quite different. The author of Hebrews does not identify himself in any way and the style of writing and the subject of the epistle are quite different in order to say without any doubt that Paul is the author of this letter.

So, who is the author of the epistle to the Hebrews? Let us consider Peter’s account who wrote his first letter to the lost tribes of Israel throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia (see 1Pe 1:1). In his second letter (2Pe 3:1) he addressed them again saying in 2Pe 3:15 “our beloved brother Paul wrote to you. Who are the “you”, but the same Hebrews Peter wrote to: the lost tribes of Israel throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia? And if Paul had written to the Hebrews in the exile, where is his letter, unless it is the one addressed anonymously to “Hebrews”?