I.—The Position of Hebrews in the New Testament. In the old Greek MSS. (א, B, C, D)
the Epistle to the Hebrews stands before the Pastoral Epistles, as being an acknowledged letter of
Paul. This order has, perhaps, a chronological value, and is followed in the critical editions
Lachmann, Tischendorf, Tregelles, Westcott and Hort), although Westcott and Hort regard the
Pastoral Epistles as Pauline, and the Ep. to the Hebrews as un-Pauline. See their Gr. Test., vol. II.,
321.
But in the Latin and English Bibles, Hebrews stands more appropriately at the close of the
Pauline Epistles, and immediately precedes the Catholic Epistles.
Luther, who had some doctrinal objections to Hebrews and James, took the liberty of putting
them after the Epistles of Peter and John, and making them the last Epistles except Jude. He
misunderstood Heb. 6:4–6; 10:26, 27; 12:17, as excluding the possibility of a second repentance
and pardon after baptism, and called these passages, "hard knots" that ran counter to all the Gospels
and Epistles of Paul; but, apart from this, he declared Hebrews to be, "an Epistle of exquisite beauty,
discussing from Scripture, with masterly skill and thoroughness, the priesthood of Christ, and
interpreting on this point the Old Testament with great richness and acuteness."
The English Revisers retained, without any documentary evidence, the traditional title, "The
Epistle of Paul the Apostle to the Hebrews." This gives sanction to a particular theory, and is
properly objected to by the American Revisers. The Pauline authorship is, to say the least, an open
question, and should have been left open by the Revisers. The ancient authorities entitle the letter
simply, Πρὸσ Ἑβραίους,and even this was probably added by the hand of an early transcriber. Still
less is the subscription, "Written to the Hebrews from Italy by Timothy" to be relied on as original,
and was probably a mere inference from the contents (Heb. 13:23, 24).
II.—The Hapaxtegomena of the Epistle. ἀγενεαλόγητος,without pedigree (said of
Melchizedek), Heb. 7:3. ἀμήτωρ, motherless, 7:3. ἀπάτωρ, fatherless, 7:3. ἀπαύγασμα,effulgence
(said of Christ in relation to God), 1:2. αἰσθητήριον, sense, 5:14. ἀκροθίνιον, spoils, 7:4.
εὐπερίστατος(from εὖand περιίστημι,to place round), a difficult word of uncertain interpretation,
easily besetting, closely clinging to (E. R. on the margin: admired by many), 12:1.κριτικός,quick
to discern, 4:12. ἡ μέλλουσα οἰκουμένη, the future world, 2:5. μεσιτεύειν, to interpose one’s self,
to mediate, 6:17., μετριοπαθεῖν, to have compassion on, to bear gently with, 5:2 (said of Christ).
ὁρκωμοσία, oath, 7:20, 21, 28. παραπικραίνειν, to provoke, 3:16. παραπικρασμός,provocation,
3:8, 15. πολυμερῶς,by divers portions, 1:1. πολυτρόπως,in divers manners, 1:1.
πρόδρομος,forerunner, 6:20 (of Christ). συνεπιμαρτυρεῖν, to bear witness with, 2:4. τραχηλίζειν.
to open, 4:13 (τετραχηλισμένα, laid open). ὑποστασις,substance (or person), 1:3 (of God);
confidence, 3:14; assurance, 11:1. This word, however, occurs also in 2 Cor. 11:17, in the sense of
confidence. χαρακτήρ, express image (Christ, the very image of the essence of God), Heb. 1:3.
On the other hand, the Ep. to the Hebrews has a number of rare words in common with Paul
which are not elsewhere found in the New Testament or the Septuagint, as αἰδώς(12:13; 1 Tim.
2:9), ἄναθεωρέω(Heb. 13:7; Acts 17:23), ἀνυπότακτος(Heb.2:8; 1 Tim. 1:9; Tit. 1:6, 10),
ἀπείθεια(Heb. 4:6, 11; Rom. 11:30, 32; Eph. 2:2; Col. 3:5), ἀπόλουσις(Heb. 11:25; 1 Tim. 6:17),
ἀφιλάργυρος(Heb. 13:5; 1 Tim. 3:3), ἔνδικος(Heb. 2:1; Rom. 3:8), ἐνεργής(Heb. 4:12; 1 Cor. 16:9;
Philem. 6),ἐφάπαξ(Heb. 7:27; 10:10; Rom. 9:10; 1 Cor. 15:6), κοσμικός(Heb. 9:11; Tit. 2:12),
μιμητής(Heb. 6:12; 1 Cor. 4:16, etc.), νεκρόω (Heb. 11:12; Rom. 4:19; Col. 3:5), ὀρέγομαι (Heb.A.D. 1-100.