Date of authorship of the Epistle to the Hebrews

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The Epistle to the Hebrews is one of the books of the New Testament.

The date of authorship of the Epistle to the Hebrews has the following indications, which are much earlier than liberal denial falsely pretends. AI demonstrated that the Dead Sea Scrolls were written earlier than liberals asserted.

Date Reason
33 A.D.[1] prior to martyrdom: "In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood." (Hebrews 12:4 ) Stephen was publicly martyred not long after the Resurrection, in 34 A.D.
33 A.D. Hebrews 1:2 says directly that "in these last days God has spoken to us by his Son," thereby indicating Jesus's ministry was very recent.[2]
33 A.D. prior to the disciples fully understanding the faith: "You need milk, not solid food, for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child." Heb 5:12-13
33 A.D. the Epistle is written as though a major change in the group had just occurred, by imploring the audience as follows: "Let brotherly love continue." (A verse in the Book of Revelations and then Philadelphia are based on this Greek phrase for "brotherly love.") Heb 13:1
33 A.D. this Epistle appears to be the sermon given on the Road to Emmaus, within days after the Crucifixion and Resurrection, as Jesus would want his sermon to be repeated to others.
33 A.D. this Epistle, as written in very precise Greek, uses verb tenses that suggest contemporaneous timing rather than the distant past, such as εἰσερχόμενος which is translated in English versions as "when Christ comes into the world," "when Christ came into the world," and "coming into the world."[3]
33 A.D. Stephen's speech that resulted in his martyrdom appears to have been based on this Epistle, see Stephen and Hebrews.
33 A.D. this Epistle says nothing about the manifestation of the Holy Spirit to the Apostles, such as what is now celebrated as the Pentecost, because it had not happened yet.
33 A.D. this Epistle uses εὐηγγελισμένοι (euēngelismenoi) for preaching the Gospel (Hebrews 4:2), which was then used by the Gospel of Matthew, Gospel of Mark, Gospel of Luke, Acts of the Apostles, and additional New Testament books.
33 A.D. this Epistle is harsh towards apostasy, such as those who heard Jesus preach but turned back after the Crucifixion to their old ways, see Hebrews 10:26–39 , which is how one would expect Jesus to have felt soon after the Resurrection.
33 A.D. this Epistle makes no direct reference to Mary, the mother of Jesus, presumably in part because she was still alive and thus at risk of persecution.
33 A.D. the anonymity of this Epistle implies a very early date, because as Christianity rapidly grew it became increasingly impossible to remain anonymous.
33 A.D. Hebrews 5:7-9 and Hebrews 13:5 ("for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee") immediately dispel an inevitable feeling right after the Crucifixion that God did not intervene for Jesus.
33. A.D. "fitting ... suffering" terminology in Hebrews 2:10 (ESV), to dispel doubts and dismay among disciples immediately after the Crucifixion about what had just transpired.
33-45 A.D. Paul's letter to the Galatians -- written in 48 A.D. -- apparently used content from this Epistle and Paul must have had time to receive and study it first.
33-45 A.D. the Epistle of James, written by the late 40s A.D., copied the same unusual reference in the Epistle to the Hebrews to "Rahab the prostitute" James 2:25 (James, the author of the Epistle of James, was martyred in 62 A.D.)
33-68 A.D. this precisely worded Epistle discussed, in the present tense, sacrificial practices in the Temple prior to its destruction in 70 A.D.,[4] and indeed seems to have predicted its (subsequent) destruction.
33-90 A.D. Clement of Rome expressly references this Epistle in one of his writings by 95 A.D.

References

  1. The Crucifixion and Resurrection of Jesus occurred during the reign of Pontius Pilate, who served from A.D. 26 to 36. Scholars place the date of the Jesus' Crucifixion on Friday, April 3, A.D. 33, although some historians think it occurred in A.D. 29.
  2. Emphasis added. Quotations here are to the ESV.
  3. Heb 10:5 , Biblehub's listing of multiple translations, and the Greek is accessible there
  4. See Heb 5:1-4 ; Heb 7:28 ; Heb 8:3-5 ; Heb 9:6-7 , also 9, 13, 25; Heb 10:1 also 8; and Heb 13:10-11 (cited in https://brill.com/display/book/9789004493513/B9789004493513_s024.xml ).