174 Dimensions of Baptism
cross and scorning its shame (12.2-3; cf. 13.12). Such language as 12.4,
then, prepares the readers to identify themselves with Christ and to be pre-
pared to bear the disgrace he bore (13.12-13).
In the light of all this, it seems plausible to link what the writer of
Hebrews says and what Jesus said as recorded in Mk 10.38-39 and Lk.
12.50. After all, the recipients of the letter had heard and received the gos-
pel and were instructed in it from the beginning of their Christian lives
(6.1, with its reference to 'the elementary teaching' and the laying of the
foundation; cf. 2.3, which refers to those who announced the message of
salvation to them), and a good case can be made that the recipients of
Hebrews were familiar with Mark's Gospel. First, there is, to my mind, the
persuasive argument that they were in Rome,^45 a view strengthened by the
observation that the earliest extant reference to Hebrews occurs in Clem-
ent of Rome's letter to the Corinthian church, written c. 96 CE.^46 Second is
the tradition that Mark's Gospel was written in Rome.^47 Thirdly, this is
supported by the traditions which associate Peter and Mark.^48 Fourthly,
E.G. Selwyn contends for the connection between 1 Peter and Hebrews
based on the striking affinities between them. He also draws attention to
the fact that both were written in the context of persecution and reflect 'the
same necessity to imitate Jesus in His suffering'.^49 Fifthly, if this pos-- See Bruce, Hebrews, pp. xxxiv-xxxv; J.A.T. Robinson, Redating the New Tes-
tament (London: SCM Press, 1976), pp. 205-15; R.E. Brown and J.P. Meier, Antioch
and Rome (London: Geoffrey Chapman, 1983), pp. 139-58; Lane, Hebrews, pp. lviii-lx;
and Ellingworth, Hebrews, pp. 28-29. - See 1 Clem. 36.1-6 which cites Heb. 1.3-13, on which see Attridge, Hebrews,
pp. 6-7. - See the' Anti-Marcionite Prologues', Irenaeus, Adv. Haer. 3.1.1, and 'Clement
of Alexandria', in Eusebius, HE. 2.15 and 6.14, a position supported by many com-
mentators, e.g., Lane, Mark, pp. 24-25; M. Hengel, Studies in the Gospel of Mark
(London: SCM Press, 1985), pp. 28-30; R.A. Guelich, Mark 1-8.26 (WBC, 34A;
Dallas: Word Books, 1989), pp. xxix-xxxi. - To the references from the Anti-Marcionite Prologues, Irenaeus and Clement of
Alexandria in the previous note, see also Papias, bishop of Hierapolis, whose lost
Expositions of the Oracles of the Lord is cited by Eusebius, HE. 3.39.15. - E.G. Selwyn, The First Epistle ofSt Peter: The Greek Text with Introduction,
Notes and Essays (London: Macmillan, 2nd edn, 1947), pp. 463-66, quotation from
p. 465. Attridge, Hebrews, p. 10, believes that 'the close affinities between Hebrews
and 1 Peter' tip the scales in favour of a Roman destination for Hebrews. However, the
connection of Hebrews and 1 Peter is rejected, e.g., by Brown and Meier, Antioch and
Rome, p. 158, see the literature for and against in n. 335. C.F.D. Moule, 'The Nature and
Purpose ofl Peter', NTS3 (1956-57), pp. 1-11 (11), writes: 'Suffering is connected with