Tomorrow I am starting a new sermon series on the Book of Hebrews, and have found myself looking at commentaries all week. One of the commentaries is a used copy of F.F. Bruce’s volume in the New International Commentary on the New Testament series that I found in a second-hand bookstore somewhere years ago. The text of the commentary was helpful, but what was perhaps most helpful to me were the handwritten pen marks along the side of the text. Whoever the text had belonged to had marked notes in the margins, along with questions and notations of “main point” or “conclusion.” The questions were not profound, just little question marks or underlines that caused me to think about the writing more.
As I read the commentary, I became grateful for the little question marks along the way, even though I have no idea who made them. Who owned this book? Was he a pastor preaching through his own series on Hebrews? Was he a churchmen seeking to understand better his own pastor’s proclamation of the Book? Was he an atheist or a liberal scholar seeking to discredit Christian interpretations of an ancient text? I don’t know. But his little question marks helped me focus on Bruce’s argument.
The more I thought about this, the more I realized that my unknown co-reader was playing something of the same role as the author of Hebrews himself. Unlike the epistles of Paul or Peter or James, the church has not been told who the writer of this text is. Options abound, from Paul to Luke to Barnabas. Some feminist theologians prefer to think Priscilla penned Hebrews. I once served with a pastor who believed it was Matthias, though I was never sure exactly why. I, with Martin Luther, tend to believe the arguments for Apollos are strong and convincing. Nonetheless, at the end of the day (at least of this day), we just don’t know who is addressing us in the Book of Hebrews or who exactly his first hearers were.
But, in a real sense, we do. It seems that the writer of Hebrews remains intentionally anonymous. In this sermonic letter, he exhorts the congregation (whoever they are) from the very first paragraph that God of their fathers has spoken to them in his Son. It seems that the writer of Hebrews wishes to identify himself less with the prominent names of the fathers in Hebrews 11 and more with the “others” mentioned but not named, for lack of time, in 11:36-38.
In his voice, the writer of Hebrews calls us to listen instead to another Voice, a voice of a Father echoed in that of the Son. The small “a” author is not the point; the capital “A” Author is, just as the small “t” tabernacle is not the point, but the capital “T” Tabernacle is; the small “p” priesthood is not the point; and so on.
The writer of Hebrews is much like the scribbled notes on my old commentary. The anonymous author of the one just wants to put some question marks around a biblical scholar’s argument. The anonymous author of the other places some question marks around fear and slavery, with some exclamation marks around the Gospel of Jesus.
