The Letter to the Hebrews

Tired believers. The readers had a brave past. After they first believed, they endured public abuse, stood by prisoners, and accepted the loss of their goods (10:32 to 34). They had not yet been asked to die for the faith (12:4). Now something had gone slack. Some were drifting (2:1), some were slow to learn (5:11 to 12), some had stopped coming to the assembly (10:25), and their hands were drooping and their knees weak (12:12). The writer does not scold from a distance. He says "we" throughout, and he calls the whole work a "word of exhortation" (13:22).

A sermon that ends like a letter. Hebrews has no opening greeting. It starts like a solemn speech and ends with news, blessings and greetings (13:18 to 25). Many readers think of it as a homily, sent in writing to a community the author knew and hoped to see again (13:19, 23).

A world of Scripture and sanctuary. The writer thinks in the Scriptures of Israel, in Greek. He draws on the Psalms above all, on Psalm 110 and Psalm 95, and on Genesis 14, Leviticus 16 and Jeremiah 31. His arguments rest on the holy tent of the desert, its curtain, its high priest and the Day of Atonement (9:1 to 10). He speaks of the tent in the Scriptures and never names the Temple in Jerusalem.

The title. "To the Hebrews" is an ancient heading and not part of the text. It is already found in Papyrus 46, written about 175 to 225. The word "Hebrews" never appears in the letter, and neither does the word "Jews". The writer speaks to Christians about Christ. He does not write against any people.

The date and the Temple. Hebrews does not mention the fall of Jerusalem in the year 70. Some take this as a sign that it was written before then. Others answer that a writer arguing from the tent in the Scriptures would not need to mention it.

The Church's tradition. The Church receives Hebrews as inspired Scripture. The Council of Trent (1546) names it in the canon among "fourteen epistles of Paul the apostle", and the Catechism lists it after Philemon (120). How closely Paul himself stands behind the words was discussed from the earliest times, with great respect on all sides.

• St Clement of Rome, about 96, seems to echo Hebrews in his letter to the Corinthians (chapter 36), though he does not name it. Some scholars are more cautious about this link.
• St Clement of Alexandria, as Eusebius reports (Church History 6.14), holds that Paul wrote it in Hebrew and that Luke carefully put it into Greek.
• Origen, as Eusebius reports (6.25), says the thoughts are the Apostle's and the wording comes from someone who remembered his teaching. He commends any church that holds it as Paul's, and adds his famous line: "But who wrote the epistle, in truth, God knows."
• Tertullian names Barnabas as the writer.
• St Jerome (Illustrious Men 5) reports that many did not count it as Paul's because of its style and language, and that others named Barnabas, Luke or Clement.

East and West. The Greek East received it as Paul's early on. The West took longer: the Muratorian list leaves it out, and St Cyprian speaks of only seven churches addressed by Paul. By the Council of Carthage of 397 it stands in the list of the Scriptures, named apart from the thirteen letters of Paul. In the end the whole Church read it in the same way, as God's word.

A scholarly note. Traditionally the letter is linked to Paul; many scholars today think that another writer, perhaps of Paul's circle, composed it. The Greek style and the argument differ from his letters, and the writer places himself among those who received the message from others (2:3). Benedict XVI, in his audience of 31 January 2007, recalls Tertullian's view and calls it "not improbable" that Barnabas, a Levite, was the writer. He adds that some scholars suggest Apollos. Who held the pen is an open question. It does not touch the letter's inspiration, since God is its author and the human writer a true author under God (Dei Verbum 11).

Hebrews weaves teaching and urgent appeal together. Each stretch of argument about Christ ends in "therefore, let us".

• God has spoken his last word in the Son. God spoke truly through the prophets, and now he has spoken by a Son (1:1 to 2). "In him he has said everything" (Catechism 65). The Son reflects the Father's glory and bears the imprint of his being (1:3).
• Truly God and truly man. He sustains all things (1:3), and he shared our flesh and blood (2:14). He was tested in every respect, yet without sin (4:15; Catechism 467, 540). This is why he can help (2:18). By dying he destroyed the one who has the power of death, and set us at liberty from fear (2:14 to 15; Catechism 635).
• The merciful high priest. Only Hebrews in the New Testament gives Jesus this title in so many words (2:17; 3:1; 4:14 to 5:10). He always lives to intercede for us (7:25; Catechism 519, 2634).
• A priest like Melchizedek. Jesus was of the tribe of Judah (7:14), so his priesthood does not come through Levi. It rests on God's oath in Psalm 110 and on an indestructible life (7:16 to 21). Melchizedek's meeting with Abraham (Genesis 14:18 to 20) becomes a sign of him (7:1 to 3; Catechism 1544). Benedict XVI says that Melchizedek's offering of bread and wine is fulfilled in the Eucharist (16 November 2011).
• One sacrifice, once for all. Christ offered himself, willingly and in obedience (9:14; 10:5 to 10; Catechism 462, 606). His offering needs no addition, for it has "perfected for all time those who are sanctified" (10:14; Catechism 1544 to 1545).
• He has gone ahead into heaven. He entered "heaven itself" on our behalf (9:24; Catechism 662), so our hope reaches behind the curtain like an anchor (6:19 to 20; Catechism 1820). We may come near with boldness (4:16; 10:19 to 22).
• Faith that holds on. Faith is "the assurance of things hoped for" (11:1; Catechism 146). The heroes of Israel's story are our family in faith, a cloud of witnesses around us (12:1). To them the Catechism adds the Virgin Mary and many others, so that we may look to Jesus (165).
• Do not fall away. Hebrews has stern warnings (2:1 to 3; 3:12 to 14; 6:4 to 8; 10:26 to 31). They are spoken to wake up the sleepy, and the writer at once says he is sure of better things (6:9). In the early centuries rigorists used such lines to shut out those who had fallen. The Church did not follow them: "There is no offense, however serious, that the Church cannot forgive" (Catechism 982).
• Suffering as a Father's training. Jesus himself "learned obedience through what he suffered" (5:8; Catechism 2825). God treats us as his children (12:5 to 11).
• Worship and daily life belong together. Keep meeting together (10:25; Catechism 2178). Offer the sacrifice of praise (13:15; Catechism 1330). Sharing what you have is a sacrifice as well (13:16). Welcome strangers, remember prisoners, honour marriage, and keep clear of the love of money (13:1 to 6).

"Once for all", and the Mass

Readers sometimes ask: if Christ's sacrifice was once for all, what happens at Mass? The Catholic Church holds both truths together.

Christ's sacrifice on the cross is unique and is never repeated. The Mass does not add to it or offer a second one. The Eucharist is a sacrifice "because it re-presents (makes present) the sacrifice of the cross, because it is its memorial and because it applies its fruit" (Catechism 1366). "The sacrifice of Christ and the sacrifice of the Eucharist are one single sacrifice": the victim is one and the same, and "only the manner of offering is different" (Catechism 1367, quoting the Council of Trent). The Catechism says the same of his priesthood: "The redemptive sacrifice of Christ is unique, accomplished once for all; yet it is made present in the Eucharistic sacrifice of the Church" (1545).

Hebrews helps us see how this can be. The one who offered himself lives forever and holds his priesthood permanently (7:24 to 25). He stands now in the presence of God on our behalf (9:24). The earthly liturgy shares in that eternal liturgy (Catechism 1139). When the Church gathers, she does not go back to the cross by her own effort; Christ makes his one offering present, and we are joined to it with our praise, our sufferings, our prayer and our work (Catechism 1368).

St John Chrysostom put the question to his own people (Homily 17 on Hebrews, in substance): do we not offer every day? We do, he says, but as a remembrance of his death, and this is one offering and not many, for we always offer the same.

Hebrews does not describe the Mass itself.

Hebrews and Israel

Hebrews has sometimes been misread as if it looked down on Israel or wrote off God's covenant with her. That reading is wrong, and the Church rejects contempt for the Jewish people in any form.

• It honours Israel. God truly spoke through the prophets (1:1). The whole argument rests on Israel's Scriptures, which are quoted as God's living voice. The heroes of faith in chapter 11 are Israel's own. Jesus himself is of Judah (7:14). Christians have no faith to speak of apart from these ancestors.
• What it contrasts. The comparison is between priesthoods and offerings. The Pontifical Biblical Commission (2001, sections 42 and 50) says that for Hebrews the priesthood and sacrifices of the first covenant find their end in Christ's own offering, though it allows them a real ritual worth (9:13). A 2015 reflection of the Holy See's Commission for Religious Relations with the Jews points out that Hebrews was written to Christians of Jewish background and not to the Jews. It adds that the letter's contrast is between Christ's priesthood and the earthly priesthood, not between the Church and Judaism.
• "Obsolete" (8:13). This hard word comes straight after Jeremiah's promise, and it belongs to the writer's argument on the first covenant, its sanctuary and its offerings. It must not be pulled out of its place to make a statement about the Jewish people. Nowhere does Hebrews say that God has rejected them. "The New Testament never says that Israel has been rejected" (Biblical Commission, section 36).
• What the Church teaches. "The Old Covenant has never been revoked" (Catechism 121). The Council teaches that "the Jews should not be presented as rejected or accursed by God" (Nostra Aetate 4). Pope Francis says the same: "their covenant with God has never been revoked" (Evangelii Gaudium 247), recalling Romans 11:29. At the same time the Church confesses that Christ's sacrifice "completes and surpasses" all earlier sacrifices (Catechism 1330). She reads Hebrews with Romans 9 to 11, and she holds these truths together as a mystery she has not finished understanding.

• The Son. God's last word, the reflection of his glory, seated at his right hand (1:1 to 3). Hebrews applies the Psalms to him in the boldest terms: "Your throne, O God, is forever and ever" (1:8).
• Our brother. He is not ashamed to call us his brothers and sisters (2:11). Few New Testament books speak so tenderly of his human weakness.
• The one who wept. "In the days of his flesh" he prayed "with loud cries and tears" (5:7), words that make us think of Gethsemane (Catechism 2606). Benedict XVI, reading this passage with the priests of Rome (18 February 2010), said that a true mediator must be truly man and must suffer with others.
• Priest and victim. Other priests offered what was not themselves. He offered himself (7:27; 9:14). He is both the one who gives and the gift.
• The pioneer. He goes first and we follow. He is the "pioneer and perfecter of our faith" (12:2), the forerunner who has entered behind the curtain (6:20).
• The great shepherd. The God of peace brought him back from the dead (13:20). This is the only direct mention of his Resurrection in the letter, which mostly speaks of his being seated in glory. Both are one victory.
• The one who does not change. "The same yesterday and today and forever" (13:8). The priest who understood those first tired Christians understands us.

In the Catechism. God's last word, 65. Faith, 146, 165. The Son's coming to do the Father's will, 462, 606. Christ tested, 467, 540. His victory over death, 635. His entry into heaven, 662. Hope, 1817, 1820. The sacrifice of the Mass, 1330, 1366 to 1368. The one priesthood, 1544 to 1545. Sunday assembly, 2178. His prayer, 2606, 2634. Obedience, 2825.

The Fathers, in substance. St John Chrysostom left 34 homilies on the letter. In Homily 17 he answers those who ask why we offer daily: we offer the same remembrance, one and not many. Origen, on the question of its writer, says that God alone knows, and he treasures its thought all the same.

Benedict XVI. He gave no catechesis on Hebrews alone, but he returned to it often. On Melchizedek and Psalm 110: audience of 16 November 2011. On Christ the priest, in a long meditation with the priests of Rome: 18 February 2010. In his encyclical on hope, Spe Salvi, he reads 11:1 closely (section 7), and says that faith already gives us something of what we hope for. He also reflects on 10:34 (section 8) and on 11:13 to 16 (section 4).

In the liturgy.

• Syro-Malabar. In the 2025 to 2026 calendar, Hebrews is read at the Holy Qurbana on several Sundays, among them the First Sunday of Annunciation (11:1 to 12), the First Sunday of Nativity (11:32 to 38), the Fourth Sunday of Denha (6:1 to 12), the First Sunday of the Great Fast (2:10 to 18), and the First Sunday of the Dedication of the Church (9:1 to 14). The Sixth Thursday of Resurrection, the Ascension, has 10:1 to 14, and the Sacred Heart has 10:19 to 24.
• Syro-Malankara. The lectionary of 2025 to 2026 reads Hebrews often at the Holy Qurbono: on Hudos Eetho Sunday, the Renewal of the Church (9:1 to 14), on the Second Sunday after Yaldo (11:23 to 31), and on many weekdays and commemorations. Hebrews 13:7 to 16 comes again and again on the commemorations of bishops and priests.
• Latin. Hebrews is read on the Twenty-seventh to Thirty-third Sundays of Year B and the Nineteenth to Twenty-second of Year C. It comes on the First to Fourth Weeks of Ordinary Time on weekdays in Year I. It is also heard at the Mass of Christmas Day (1:1 to 6), on the Presentation of the Lord (2:14 to 18), on the Fourth Sunday of Advent of Year C (10:5 to 10), on the Fifth Sunday of Lent of Year B (5:7 to 9), on Good Friday (4:14 to 16; 5:7 to 9), and on Corpus Christi of Year B (9:11 to 15).

Hebrews is best heard first as a whole, in under an hour, the way the first hearers received it. Then take it in twelve days:

• Day 1: chapter 1 and 2:1 to 4. Read Psalm 2 alongside it.
• Day 2: 2:5 to 18. Stop at 2:18 and name your own testing.
• Day 3: chapters 3 and 4 with Psalm 95. What does "Today" mean for me?
• Day 4: 5:1 to 10. Read it with the story of Gethsemane.
• Day 5: 5:11 to 6:20. Do not skip the warning, and do not stop before the anchor.
• Day 6: chapter 7 with Genesis 14:17 to 20 and Psalm 110.
• Day 7: chapter 8 with Jeremiah 31:31 to 34.
• Day 8: chapter 9 with Leviticus 16.
• Day 9: chapter 10. Pray it before your next Mass or Qurbana.
• Day 10: chapter 11. Add one name of your own to the list.
• Day 11: chapter 12. Run.
• Day 12: chapter 13. Choose one practical thing to do this week.