Formative Events | Timeline | Text | Questions
Some of the people who have been suggested as authors of Hebrews: follow the links to see the texts that reference them
Prisca | Barnabas | Luke | Clement | Apollos
Prisca (b. 14?), from Antioch (my guess), wife of Aquila (b. 12), from Pontus (Black Sea southern coast); fellow workers with Paul (b. between 5 and 10). They were all tentmakers.
| Acts |
| 18:2 And found a certain Jew
named Aquila, born in Pontus, lately come from Italy, with his wife Priscilla;
(because that Claudius had commanded all Jews to depart from Rome:) and
came unto them. 18:18 And Paul [after this] tarried [there] yet a good while, and then took his leave of the brethren, and sailed thence into Syria, and with him Priscilla and Aquila; having shorn [his] head in Cenchrea: for he had a vow. 18:26 And he [Apollos] began to speak boldly in the synagogue: whom when Aquila and Priscilla had heard, they took him unto [them], and expounded unto him the way of God more perfectly. |
| Romans |
| 16:3 Greet Priscilla and Aquila my helpers in Christ Jesus: |
| 1 Corinthians |
| 16:19 The churches of Asia salute you. Aquila and Priscilla salute you much in the Lord, with the church that is in their house. |
| 2 Timothy |
| 4:19 Salute Prisca and Aquila, and the household of Onesiphorus. |
Barnabas (Mark's cousin)
| Acts |
| 4:36 And Joses, who by the
apostles was surnamed Barnabas, (which is,
being interpreted, The son of consolation,) a Levite, [and] of the country
of Cyprus, 9:27 But Barnabas took him, and brought [him] to the apostles, and declared unto them how he had seen the Lord in the way, and that he had spoken to him, and how he had preached boldly at Damascus in the name of Jesus. 11:22 Then tidings of these things came unto the ears of the church which was in Jerusalem: and they sent forth Barnabas, that he should go as far as Antioch. 11:25 Then departed Barnabas to Tarsus, for to seek Saul: 11:30 Which also they did, and sent it to the elders by the hands of Barnabas and Saul. 12:25 And Barnabas and Saul returned from Jerusalem, when they had fulfilled [their] ministry, and took with them John, whose surname was Mark. 13:1 Now there were in the church that was at Antioch certain prophets and teachers; as Barnabas, and Simeon that was called Niger, and Lucius of Cyrene, and Manaen, which had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch, and Saul. 13:2 As they ministered to the Lord, and fasted, the Holy Ghost said, Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them. 13:7 Which was with the deputy of the country, Sergius Paulus, a prudent man; who called for Barnabas and Saul, and desired to hear the word of God. 13:43 Now when the congregation was broken up, many of the Jews and religious proselytes followed Paul and Barnabas: who, speaking to them, persuaded them to continue in the grace of God. 13:46 Then Paul and Barnabas waxed bold, and said, It was necessary that the word of God should first have been spoken to you: but seeing ye put it from you, and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, lo, we turn to the Gentiles. 13:50 But the Jews stirred up the devout and honourable women, and the chief men of the city, and raised persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and expelled them out of their coasts. 14:12 And they called Barnabas, Jupiter; and Paul, Mercurius, because he was the chief speaker. 14:14 [Which] when the apostles, Barnabas and Paul, heard [of], they rent their clothes, and ran in among the people, crying out, 14:20 Howbeit, as the disciples stood round about him, he rose up, and came into the city: and the next day he departed with Barnabas to Derbe. 15:2 When therefore Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and disputation with them, they determined that Paul and Barnabas, and certain other of them, should go up to Jerusalem unto the apostles and elders about this question. 15:12 Then all the multitude kept silence, and gave audience to Barnabas and Paul, declaring what miracles and wonders God had wrought among the Gentiles by them. 15:22 Then pleased it the apostles and elders, with the whole church, to send chosen men of their own company to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas; [namely], Judas surnamed Barsabas, and Silas, chief men among the brethren: 15:25 It seemed good unto us, being assembled with one accord, to send chosen men unto you with our beloved Barnabas and Paul, 15:35 Paul also and Barnabas continued in Antioch, teaching and preaching the word of the Lord, with many others also. 15:36 And some days after Paul said unto Barnabas, Let us go again and visit our brethren in every city where we have preached the word of the Lord, [and see] how they do. 15:37 And Barnabas determined to take with them John, whose surname was Mark. 15:39 And the contention was so sharp between them, that they departed asunder one from the other: and so Barnabas took Mark, and sailed unto Cyprus; |
| 1 Corinthians |
| 9:6 Or I only and Barnabas, have not we power to forbear working? |
| Galatians |
| 2:1 Then fourteen years after
I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas,
and took Titus with [me] also. 2:9 And when James, Cephas, and John, who seemed to be pillars, perceived the grace that was given unto me, they gave to me and Barnabas the right hands of fellowship; that we [should go] unto the heathen, and they unto the circumcision. 2:13 And the other Jews dissembled likewise with him; insomuch that Barnabas also was carried away with their dissimulation. |
| Colossians |
| 4:10 Aristarchus my fellowprisoner saluteth you, and Marcus, sister's son to Barnabas, (touching whom ye received commandments: if he come unto you, receive him;) |
Luke (companion to Paul)
| Colossians |
| 4:14 Luke, the beloved physician, and Demas, greet you. |
| 2 Timothy |
| 4:11 Only Luke is with me. Take Mark, and bring him with thee: for he is profitable to me for the ministry. |
According to a string of scholars, Luke has no theology of the cross - this is a bit of a shock at first. It has been traditional to see him as a gentile - but this will not stand the tests - e.g. from Anderson's article on the Vineyard parable:
"A common explanation of Luke's editorial policy is that Luke is making changes in the traditions transmitted to him because his Gentile audience can not understand the Hebraic, Semitic, Judaic nature of the original gospel. This explanation cannot be the reason Luke omits the details of the hedge, winepress and watchtower because the parable concludes with an allusion to Psalm 118:22 about 'the stone which the builders rejected' that would be equally obtuse to a Gentile audience. None of the Gospels tell us Jesus is the stone which was rejected or that 'builders' is a term for the religious aristocracy. The Semitic character of the parable is clearly established by this quotation and the wordplay it invites between the son = ha-ben and the stone = ha-'eben."
What we have instead in Anderson's attractive thesis is that the Luke-Theophilus dialogue is an explanation of the Gospel to a former high priest (Theophilus 37-41, one of the 5 sons of Caiaphas who were high priests in the first century). As such the priest would relate to the continuing cult sacrifices as being effective for forgiveness for the Jewish nation and if anything, a theology of the cross that replaced the temple (as the Pauline theology does well before the temple's destruction) would not help a former high priest accept the Gospel.
Would Hebrews be Luke's development of a theology of the cross? There are apparently some similarities of style in the writing of Luke, Acts, and Hebrews...
http://www.geocities.com/gospelofluke/
Clement. (Bishop of Rome? 90s)
| Philippians |
| 4:3 And I intreat thee also, true yokefellow, help those women which laboured with me in the gospel, with Clement also, and [with] other my fellowlabourers, whose names [are] in the book of life. |
See also http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/04012c.htm
Origen identifies Pope Clement with St. Paul's fellow-labourer, Phil., iv, 3, and 80 do Eusebius, Epiphanius, and Jerome- but this Clement was probably a Philippian. In the middle of the nineteenth century it was the custom to identity the pope with the consul of 95, T. Flavius Clemens, who was martyred by his first cousin, the Emperor Domitian, at the end of his consulship. But the ancients never suggest this, and the pope is said to have lived on till the reign of Trajan. It is unlikely that he was a member of the imperial family. The continual use of the Old Testament in his Epistle has suggested to Lightfoot, Funk, Nestle, and others that he was of Jewish origin. Probably he was a freedman or son of a freedman of the emperor's household, which included thousands or tens of thousands. We know that there were Christians in the household of Nero (Phil., iv, 22). It is highly probable that the bearers of Clement's letter, Claudius Ephebus and Valerius Vito, were of this number, for the names Claudius and Valerius occur with great frequency in inscriptions among the freedmen of the Emperor Claudius (and his two predecessors of the same gens) and his wife Valeria Messalina. The two messengers are described as "faithful and prudent men, who have walked among us from youth unto old age unblameably", thus they were probably already Christians and living in Rome before the death of the Apostles about thirty years earlier.
Apollos at same location as Paul at least once.
| Acts |
| 18:24 And a certain Jew named Apollos,
born at Alexandria, an eloquent man, [and] mighty in the scriptures, came
to Ephesus. 19:1 And it came to pass, that, while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul having passed through the upper coasts came to Ephesus: and finding certain disciples, |
| 1 Corinthians |
| 1:12 Now this I say, that
every one of you saith, I am of Paul; and I of Apollos;
and I of Cephas; and I of Christ. 3:4 For while one saith, I am of Paul; and another, I [am] of Apollos; are ye not carnal? 3:5 Who then is Paul, and who [is] Apollos, but ministers by whom ye believed, even as the Lord gave to every man? 3:6 I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase. 3:22 Whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come; all are yours; 4:6 And these things, brethren, I have in a figure transferred to myself and [to] Apollos for your sakes; that ye might learn in us not to think [of men] above that which is written, that no one of you be puffed up for one against another. 16:12 As touching [our] brother Apollos, I greatly desired him to come unto you with the brethren: but his will was not at all to come at this time; but he will come when he shall have convenient time. |
| Titus |
| 3:13 Bring Zenas the lawyer and Apollos on their journey diligently, that nothing be wanting unto them. |