Epistle To The Hebrews - Style

Style

See also: Form criticism

Hebrews is a very consciously "literary" document. The purity of its Greek was noted by Clement of Alexandria, according to Eusebius (Historia Eccl., VI, xiv), and Origen of Alexandria asserted that every competent judge must recognize a great difference between this epistle and those of Paul (Eusebius, VI, xxv).

This letter consists of two strands: an expositional or doctrinal strand, and a hortatory or strongly urging strand which punctuates the exposition parenthetically at key points as warnings to the readers.

Hebrews does not fit the form of a traditional Hellenistic epistle, lacking a proper prescript. Modern scholars generally believe this book was originally a sermon or homily, although possibly modified after it was delivered to include the travel plans, greetings and closing.

Hebrews contains many references to the Old Testament—specifically to its Septuagint text.

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