SECT. III. IS THE EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS QUOTED ST. PETER in his second Epistle, ch. iii. 15, 16. says, And account that the long suffering of our Lord is our salvation: even as our beloved brother Paul also, according to the wisdom given unto him, hath written unto you, as also in all his Epistles, in which are some things hard to be understood." In this passage it has been very generally supposed, especially in modern times, that St. Peter by the words, as our beloved brother Paul hath written unto you,' meant the Epistle to the Hebrews and hence the inference has been drawn, not only that the Epistle to the Hebrews was sent to the same communities, as the second Epistle of Peter, namely to those in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, but likewise that St. Paul was the author of it. Now they who argue in this manner manifestly argue in a circle: for, as St. Peter speaks in express terms of an Epistle written by St. Paul, we cannot apply the passage to the Epistle to the Hebrews, without previously assuming that St. Paul was the author of it. But this is the thing to be proved. Further, if it could be proved even to a demonstration, that St. Paul was the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews, yet as he was the author of so many other Epistles, we cannot conclude, that St. Peter meant the Epistle to the Hebrews in particular, unless it can be shewn, that the subject, for which St. Peter quotes St. Paul, is discussed in this Epistle. But this is so far from being true, that of the matter, on which St. Peter discourses in the place, where he makes the quotation, not a syllable is to be found in the Epistle to the Hebrews. For St. Peter does not speak in this place, as many imagine, of the justification of a sinner before God for the sake of Christ, a subject which is certainly discussed in the Epistle to the Hebrews: but on the contrary, he treats of a very different matter. The words, account that the long suffering of our Lord is our salvation,' (την τε Κυριε ήμων μακροθυμίαν σωτηρίαν ήγεισθε), are ex plained by what St. Peter had said, ver. 9. 'The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness, but is long suffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.' It is evident therefore that St. Peter speaks, not of justification through Christ, but of the prolongation of the day of judgement, on which many Christians in the first century entertained very extraordinary notions. For they imagined, that, according to Christ's prophecy, it would take place in the age, in which they lived: and finding that it did not take place, they began to doubt of the truth of the Christian religion. Hence St. Peter assures them that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day:' that they ought neither to be impatient nor incredulous, because the day of judgement was postponed, since this very pro longation afforded them an opportunity of repenting, and might be regarded therefore as the means of their salvation. On this subject not a syllable is to be found in the Epistle to the Hebrews. On the contrary, we find in it assurances of the coming of the Lord, which they, to whom the Epistle was written, would survive: not in deed to judge the world, but to judge Jerusalem *. t Other commentators, who acknowledge that St. Peter in the passage in question is speaking of the day of judgement, appeal to Heb. xii. 25-29. where the subject likewise relates to the general judgement and the end of the world. But this argument is likewise insufficient; for though, in this passage of the Epistle to the Hebrews, as well as in 2 Pet. iii. 15. the subject relates to the day of judgement, yet the modes of reasoning on it in the two passages are very different. St. Peter speaks of the prolongation of the day of judgement, and argues from it to the mercy and long suffering of God: but we find no • Heb. x. 25. 35, 36, 37. thing of this kind in Heb. xii. 25-29. Besides, St. Peter adds in the passage in question, as also in all his Epistles; the subject therefore, which he discusses, must not be considered as particularly distinguishing any one of St. Paul's Epistles from the rest. The clause'in which are some things hard to be understood' has likewise been applied in proof of the opinion, that St. Peter meant the Epistle to the Hebrews, because this is a difficult and obscure Epistle. But, not to mention that the Epistles to the Romans, the Corinthians, the Ephesians, and the Colossians, are equally difficult, St. Peter did not make this assertion of any of St. Paul's Epistles in particular. The two clauses in connexion are, 'As also in all his Epistles, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to be understood.' Here the relative which, if it refers to Epistles,' according to the reading of many Greek manuscripts, which have v ais, refers to St. Paul's Epistles in general: and if it refers to things' according to the reading of other Greek manuscripts, which have v ois, it has no reference whatever to to St. Paul's Epistles. Besides, the second Epistle of St. Peter was not written to Hebrews, or circumcised Jews, but to uncircumcised Jewish proselytes, as will be shewn in a subsequent chapter: and therefore by the expression as our beloved brother Paul, hath written unto you' St. Peter must have meant a different Epistle from the Epistle to the Hebrews. f See my Dissertation on the Epistle to the Hebrews, § 3, 4. SECT. IV. › THE EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS WAS WRITTEN FOR THE USE OF THE CHRISTIANS IN JERUSALEM AND PALESTINE. AMONG the various opinions relative to the community or communities, to which this Epistle was sent, the most ancient is, that it was designed for the use of the Jewish converts, either at Jerusalem, or in Palestine at large. And this opinion I shall adopt as preferable to every other, without entering into the minute discussion of the question, whether it was sent to Jerusalem alone, or to other cities in Palestine: for this is a question of little or no importance, since an Epistle, intended for the use of Jewish converts in Jerusalem, must have equally concerned the other Jewish converts in that country. It is true, that there is no initiatory formule in this Epistle, which perhaps was omitted through the negligence of the translator: and therefore in the Epistle itself there is no title, to which we can appeal. But the superscription in all the manuscripts is Ἡ προς Εβραιος 50λ: and the superscriptions to the several Epistles of the Apostles have hitherto remained free from that suspicion of spuriousness, to which the subscriptions are very justly exposed. Now in the language of the New Testament, the Hebrews are Jews, who used the Hebrew language, and the term is used to distinguish them from those who spake Greek, and were called Hellenists": But Hebrew-speaking Jews, to whom this Epistle was addressed, cannot well be any other than the Jews of Palestine. It is true, that the Jews, who were scattered through the Parthian Empire, likewise spake Hebrew, or more properly, Chaldee: but as no man can suppose, that this Epistle was sent to persons, who lived beyond the Euphrates, it would be a waste of time, to shew that Compare Acts vi. 1. with my Dissertation on the Epistle to the Hebrews, 8. the word Hebrews' does not denote the Parthian Jews". That the Epistle was written to Hebrews, is agreed on by all antiquity. Clement of Alexandria says that it was written for the Hebrews in the Hebrew language': on which words no other meaning can be put, as far as I am able to judge, than that it was written in Hebrew, for the benefit of those, whose native language was Hebrew. And in this manner I understand all the ancient writers, who say that the Epistle was written in Hebrew. But where are we to seek for Hebrew-speaking Jews, to whom this Epistle could be sent, except in Palestine? This question I will not answer decidedly in the affirmative, as an indubitable historical fact, but only as a probable opinion, especially since Chrysostom delivers it only as such. For he says in his Preface or Hypothesis to his Exposition of this Epistle, 'Why did he write to the Jews, whose teacher he was not: And where were they to whom he wrote?' In my opinion at Jerusalem, and in Palestine *. This most ancient opinion or report is corroborated by the contents of the Epistle itself. In other Epistles, which were addressed to mixed communities, we meet with frequent exhortations to brotherly love and unity between the converts from Judaism and Heathenisin, who are represented as equals, and as brethren: but in the Epistle to the Hebrews are no such exhortations, which agrees with the hypothesis, that it was sent to Christian communities in Palestine, because these were not mixed communities, but consisted wholly of Jewish It is true that the author speaks of brotherly converts. h I will observe however, that if this Epistle had been sent to Parthian Jews, who became converts to Christianity, the Hebrew original would hardly have been lost; for in the countries, which bordered on the Euphrates, the Christian religion was propagated at a very early age. And in this case likewise, the author of the Syriac version would have translated this Epistle, not from the Greek, but from the Hebrew. i Euseb. Hist. Eccles. Lib. VI. cap. 14. Tny wgos Ebgaius exis Παυλο μεν είναι φησι, γεγράφθαι δε Εβραίοις Εβραικη φωνη. k Τινος εν ἕνεκεν, εκ ων των Ιεδαίων διδασκαλος, επιτέλλει αυτοις; πε δι εσιν επιτελλεν ; Εμοι δοκεί, εν Ιερυσολύμοις και Παλαισίνη. |