Authorship of Hebrews

The Epistle to the Hebrews is anonymous: the text names no author and, uniquely among the New Testament letters, opens without the customary greeting that identifies a writer. Its authorship has been debated since the earliest centuries of the church, and no tradition ever settled the question with certainty.

The Eastern church tended to associate the letter with the apostle Paul, which secured its early acceptance in the East; the Western church long hesitated to receive it precisely because its Pauline authorship was doubted. Origen of Alexandria summed up the matter in a verdict often quoted ever since: the thoughts may be the apostle's, but the polished Greek and arrangement are another's, and “who wrote the epistle, in truth God knows.”