November 28 / Hebrews 5:1-14

Hebrews 5:1-14

…you have become dull of hearing. For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food… (vv. 11b-12) These two verses argued both for and against Paul’s authorship of Hebrews. First, the most obvious item supporting Paul’s authorship: milk vs. solid food… Paul makes this same comparison back in I Corinthians 3:2. Then again, the author could have known of Paul’s letter to the Corinthians and was using the same comparison. So maybe not Paul…

As for a point against Paul’s authorship, the author seems to be quite familiar with his audience of Jewish Christians when he writes “…you have become dull of hearing. For though by this time you ought to be teachers…”. Clearly I think the author has particular people in mind, some immature Jewish Christians. But Paul’s ministry was primarily to Gentile converts, not to Jewish believers. So first I thought this to be an argument against Paul’s authorship. Then I reasoned further from my earlier comments a few days ago about the possibility of Paul writing this letter sometime during the two years that he was in prison in Caesarea. During that time he probably had many visitors from Jerusalem, especially Jewish converts who would come to learn from him. So it could be that he wrote Hebrews specifically to teach these converts. He writes to them, “…you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God…”. Herein Paul is providing his motivation for this entire letter.

See also: November 16 / Hebrews 5:1-7; November 17 / Hebrews 5:8-14