Epistle To The Hebrews - Audience

Audience

Hebrews was written to a specific audience facing very specific circumstances. We can discern various facts about the recipients of Hebrews through a careful mirror reading of the letter:

• The original readers of the letter were conversant in the Septuagint translation of the Old Testament, as the author's usage shows.
• The contrast in 13:14 and the types of sins listed in Chapter 13 suggest they lived in a city.
• They had once faced persecution, but not to the point of bloodshed. It is possible that 12:1-3 and 13:12-13 imply that they would soon face renewed opposition.
• Some had stopped assembling together, and this was possibly due to persecution.
• As the author saw it, at least some among them were being tempted to avoid severe persecution by "shrinking back" from the eschatalogical fulfillment of the true hope and faith of the Old Testament proclaimed by the apostolic witness to Jesus Christ. It is debated whether the anticipated persecution was from secular (i.e., Roman) authorities or Jewish authorities. Perhaps there were elements of both, or as we see elsewhere in the New Testament, the Jewish authorities may have stirred up the secular authorities to suppress the Christians. The author exhorted them to encourage "love and good works" and warned them that if they "sin willfully" by denying Jesus' sacrifice it will become ineffective for them. But for non-Jews, these loving actions are sufficient for "great recompense of reward" as long as they "hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering," and thus do not need to convert to Judaism.
• In 13:24 the author says that those from Italy greet the readers. This could mean that the author is writing from Italy or that the author is writing to recipients in Italy, and that Italians present with the author are greeting those back home.

Traditional scholars have argued the letter's audience was Jewish Christians, as early as the end of the 2nd century (hence its title, "The Epistle to the Hebrews"). Other scholars have suggested that Hebrews is part of an internal New Testament debate between the extreme Judaizers (who argued that non-Jews must convert to Judaism before they can receive the Holy Spirit of Jesus' Jewish covenant) versus the extreme Antinomians (who argued that Jews must reject God's commandments and that Jewish law was no longer in effect). James and Paul represent the moderates of each faction, respectively, and Peter served as moderator. The Epistle emphasizes that non-Jewish followers of Jesus do not need to convert to Judaism to share in all of God's promises to Jews. American theologian Edgar Goodspeed notes, "But the writer's Judaism is not actual and objective, but literary and academic, manifestly gained from the reading of the Septuagint Greek version of the Jewish scriptures, and his polished Greek style would be a strange vehicle for a message to Aramaic-speaking Jews or Christians of Jewish blood." The debate continues to the present day.