1. Donald A. Hagner, The New Testament: A Historical and Theological Introduction (Grand Rapids: Baker, 2012), 646.
2. Hagner, 648.
3. W. L. Lane, Hebrews: A Call to Commitment (Peabody: Hendrickson, 1985), 25.
4. F. F. Bruce (Commentary on the Epistle to the Hebrews (London: Marshall, Morgan & Scott, 1965), xxxvi) has this to say about the Alexandrian belief:
But even at Alexandria, the sense of literary criticism possessed by the leaders . . . made it plain that Pauline authorship could not have been predicated simpliciter of this epistle as it could of Romans or Galatians. Attempts were therefore made to reconcile the Pauline ascription with the linguistic data. Clement of Alexandria in his Hypotyposes said that it was written by Paul for Hebrews in the Hebrew language, but that Luke translated it and published it for the Greeks; thus he endeavoured to account for the similarity in style between Hebrews and the Lucan writings. (As for the absence of the Pauline superscription, he accounted for that by saying that "in writing for Hebrews who had conceived a prejudice against him and suspected him, he very prudently did not put them off at the outset by setting down his name".)
5. See, e.g.,
Unlike the other high priests, he does not need to offer sacrifices day after day, first for his own sins, and then for the sins of the people. He sacrificed for their sins once for all when he offered himself. For the law appoints as high priests men who are weak . . . (7:27-28)
Every high priest is appointed to offer both gifts and sacrifices, and so it was necessary for this one also to have something to offer. If he were on earth, he would not be a priest, for there are already men who offer the gifts prescribed by the law. They serve at a sanctuary that is a copy and shadow of what is in heaven. (8:3-5)
The law is only a shadow of the good things that are coming—not the realities themselves. For this reason it can never, by the same sacrifices repeated endlessly year after year, make perfect those who draw near to worship. If it could, would they not have stopped being offered? For the worshippers would have been cleansed once for all, and would no longer have felt guilty for their sins. But those sacrifices are an annual reminder of sins, because it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. . . . (10:1-4)
6. Peter O'Brien, The Letter to the Hebrew (PNTC; Grand Rapids/Cambridge, 2010), 52.
7. O'Brien, 42-43.