Is it possible that St Matthew wrote the Letter to the Hebrews?

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The reason I ask is that both pieces of writings were aimed at Jewish readers, and heavily refer to the Old Testament. Is it possible that like St John, Matthew contributed a letter to a particular Christian community (that being the letter to the Hebrews)?

I don’t know about you, but I think that Matthew talks more (or hints at more) of Jesus’ divinity than the other synoptic writers. And its clear that early in Hebrews, there are clear references to Jesus’ divinity, eg. ch 1.

I am not sure how many years scholars believe the pieces of writings were written apart from each other. I believe that Matthew’s Gospel was written in Aramaic, but I dont know about Hebrews.
 
MH84 said:
I am not sure how many years scholars believe the pieces of writings were written apart from each other. I believe that Matthew’s Gospel was written in Aramaic, but I dont know about Hebrews.
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Hebrews was written in Greek. It’s thought that the Greek is much more refined than those used in Paul’s Epistles, which is one of the reasons doubt is cast on Paul’s authorship of Hebrews.

I still think it was Paul’s authorship, and the reason he didn’t use his name was that the Jews really disliked Paul after his conversion, and wouldn’t have given the letter a second glance.

Of course, I am who I am, and I could very well be wrong. 🙂
 
Hi MH,

If you read Romans carefully, you will see that it too was written mainly to the Jews of Rome.

As for Hebrews, Catholic tradition ascribes it to Paul, although the style of writing is quite different from the other epistles. The epistle is well planned, the style, language and grammar are elegant, as opposed to the other epistles, which are often rambling, repetitive and poorly planned. However, the inspiration is definitely Paulian : the superiority of the New Covenant over the Old, the supreme importance of faith as opposed to works of the Law, the emphasis on Christ as truly human.

Bottom line : Hebrews is the word of God, no matter who its human author may be.

Verbum
 
Verbum, I understand that the “expanded Grecian skills” in writing could be attributed to the scribe that penned the letter. We know that Paul wrote several letters in jail, so this could have been the case - the entire letter could have been dictated to another writer.
 
The letter to the Hebrews could not have been written in Greek. The Hebrew speaking Jews of Hebraic descent did not get along with the Greek speaking Jews who were not of Hebraic descent. (This conflict even carried over into Christianity when some Hebrew and some Greek Jews converted.) The letter to the Hebrews is address to Jews of Hebraic descent, so it must have been written in Hebrew.

Matthew’s Gospel according to Saint Jerome was written in Hebrew. He cites as proof of this that Matthew quotes from the Hebrew OT, not the Greek Septuagint. Since the Hebrew OT is in Hebrew, not Aramaic, it is clear that Jerome meant Hebrew. He states that this Hebrew version of Matthew was still in use during his lifetime. Bishop Eusebius also states that Matthew was written in Hebrew.

Romans was written in Latin, which is why Paul had Tertius writing/translating the letter for him.

Mark was written in Latin. After Mark wrote his Gospel, he went to Alexandria (according to Jerome). The oldest copies of Mark from that area of the world are in Latin.

The idea that, in a world where Hebrew, Greek, Latin, and Aramaic were all in widespread use, the NT was written only in Greek is one of the most foolish ideas of modern Bible scholars.
 
Here’s some information on the authorship of Hebrews. This comes from St. Thomas Aquinas:
To the first argument against Paul’s authorship it must be said that there is a threefold reason why he did not give his name. The first is that he was not the Apostle of the Jews but of the Gentiles, as it says in Galatians 2:8, “For He who wrought in Peter to the apostleship of the circumcision, wrought in me also among the Gentiles”, etc. And therefore he does not make mention of his apostleship in the beginning of this epistle, since he did not want to assume the duty of the apostolate, except to the Gentiles. The second is that his name was odious to the Jews since he said that the observances of the Law were not to be kept, as is clear from Acts 15:2ff. So he remains silent about his name, least the most salvific doctrine of this epistle be rejected. The third is that he was a Jew. 2 Corinthians 11:22: “They are Hebrews: so am I.” And the members of one’s household do not suffer well the excellence of one of their own. There is no prophet without honor, except in his own country and in his own house, as is said in Matthew 13:57.
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To the second argument it must be said that it is more elegant in style because, even if he knew every language—I Corinthians 14:18: “I speak with all your tongues”—nevertheless he knew Hebrew better, as it was more connatural to him, and he wrote this epistle in Hebrew. Thus, he could speak more ornately in his own native tongue than in another. Hence he says in II Corinthians 11:6, “For although I be rude in speech, yet not in knowledge.” And Luke, who was a great speaker, translated this ornateness from Hebrew into Greek. Prologue, *Commentary on the Epistle to the Hebrews, *pages 6-7].
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One other piece of evidence which may support Paul as the inspired writer of the Letter to the Hebrews is that without this letter, Paul’s canonical writings only number 13 letters. The significance of the symbolic meaning of numbers was important to first century Christians and Jews. This importance is evident in St. Matthew’s genealogy of Jesus in the first chapter of his Gospel where he manipulates the list of Jesus’ ancestors:
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· dropping the names of three Judahite kings to present a list of three sets of 14 generations
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· This arrangement yields both the significant number 14, which is the gematria or letter/number equivalent of King David’s name [in Hebrew the letters of David’s name = DVD = 4 + 6 + 4 = 14],
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· And the multiplication of the number 7 which indicates fullness, completeness and perfection—especially spiritual perfection, and
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· Matthew’s use of the number 42 is significant = 6 times 7; the number for man multiplied times spiritual perfection. It is a number which is found in the Book of Revelation as a number symbolizing both the perfection of God’s divine plan and divine judgment.
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In the late 3rd century, St. Victorinus Bishop of Pettau commented on the significance of numbers in the letters of St. Paul when he wrote: In the whole world Paul taught that all the churches are arranged by sevens, that they are called seven, and that the Catholic Church is one. And first of all, indeed, that he himself also might maintain the type of seven churches, he did not exceed that number. But he wrote to the Romans, to the Corinthians, to the Galatians, to the Ephesians, to the Thessalonians, to the Philippians, to the Colossians; afterward he wrote to individual persons, so as not to exceed the number of seven churches. [Bishop Victorinus, martyred AD 304,from the *Commentary on the Apocalypse of the Blessed John
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]*. *
the latter part is compiled by AgapeBibleStudy.
 
Hi Notworthy,

Verbum, I understand that the “expanded Grecian skills” in writing could be attributed to the scribe that penned the letter. We know that Paul wrote several letters in jail, so this could have been the case - the entire letter could have been dictated to another writer.

Yes that is certainly a valid theory. St. Paul could have commissioned a collaborator of his to write the epistle. St. Paul perhaps did not have the time or the good health necessary.

Verbum
 
Hi Ron,

The letter to the Hebrews could not have been written in Greek. The Hebrew speaking Jews of Hebraic descent did not get along with the Greek speaking Jews who were not of Hebraic descent. (This conflict even carried over into Christianity when some Hebrew and some Greek Jews converted.) The letter to the Hebrews is address to Jews of Hebraic descent, so it must have been written in Hebrew.

There were hundreds of thousands of Greek speaking Jews of Hebraic descent spread all over the empire. It is for them that the Septuagint translation of the Bible came into being.

Verbum
 
Ron_Conte said:
The letter to the Hebrews could not have been written in Greek. The Hebrew speaking Jews of Hebraic descent did not get along with the Greek speaking Jews who were not of Hebraic descent. (This conflict even carried over into Christianity when some Hebrew and some Greek Jews converted.) The letter to the Hebrews is address to Jews of Hebraic descent, so it must have been written in Hebrew.

Matthew’s Gospel according to Saint Jerome was written in Hebrew. He cites as proof of this that Matthew quotes from the Hebrew OT, not the Greek Septuagint. Since the Hebrew OT is in Hebrew, not Aramaic, it is clear that Jerome meant Hebrew. He states that this Hebrew version of Matthew was still in use during his lifetime. Bishop Eusebius also states that Matthew was written in Hebrew.

Romans was written in Latin, which is why Paul had Tertius writing/translating the letter for him.

Mark was written in Latin. After Mark wrote his Gospel, he went to Alexandria (according to Jerome). The oldest copies of Mark from that area of the world are in Latin.

The idea that, in a world where Hebrew, Greek, Latin, and Aramaic were all in widespread use, the NT was written only in Greek is one of the most foolish ideas of modern Bible scholars.
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For reference, I would like to have the data for this. I really want to read about this.

Thanks!!!
 
It would appear unlikely that either Paul nor Matthew wrote Hebrews. The author speaks of the receiving the message from those who heard. This would imply that he was not one who heard directly from Jesus, but rather was taught by one of the Apostles.
how will we escape if we neglect so great a salvation? After it was at the first spoken through the Lord, it was confirmed to us by those who heard, God also testifying with them, both by signs and wonders and by various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit according to His own will.
(Hebrews 2:3-4 NASB)
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Ron Conte

I enjoyed reading your ideas concerning the different languages. I read two of your articles, but that is all.

Please forgive my lack of knowledge, are your ideas rather original?

They make sense.

However, your writing covers areas that I do not know a great deal about.

Again, I want to thank you for your kind help.
 
I’ve been a fan of this idea:

Hebrews is Paul’s theology, but he did not himself write it. Rather, a secretary or someone similar did the writing itself. 😃
 
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