The Language of the Epistle to the Hebrews as Bearing upon Its ...

PAPERS.
The Language of the Epistle to the Hebrews
as bearing upon its Authorship.
BY PROF. FREDERIC GARDINER, D.D.
THE following investigation was originally entered upon without
much hope of obtaining certain results, but yet with the desire
to leave no stone unturned that might throw any light upon the
much-vexed question of the authorship of the Ep. to the Heb.
Similar investigations have already been made by many, but it was
preferred to undertake this independently. In the course of the
examination some points have been noted which seem worth record-
ing, and even negative results have their value, sometimes affording
a basis for positive conclusions.
It may be well to say at the outset, that it is not proposed here to
go over again the ground traversed by Delitzsch in his commentary
on this epistle in comparing its phraseology with that of S. Luke, nor
yet that of Lunemann, controverting the opinions of Delitzsch, and
himself contrasting the style of Hebrews with that of S. Paul, in the
introduction to his commentary; but to make more of a purely verbal
examination, although, of course, this must sometimes touch upon
paths already trodden.
In comparing the language of one book of the N. T. with that of
others, the relative length of the different books must be kept in
mind. The following table gives the number of lines in each of the
books as printed in Griesbach's manual edition of I805 :-
Matt. 2285 2 Cor. 56I I Tim. 222 2 Pet. 151
Mk. 14I9 Gal. 277 2 Tim. I64 I Jno. 244
Lk. 2432 Eph. 305 Titus 92 2 Jno. 30
Jno. I843 Phil. 202 Philemon 43 3 Jno. 29
Acts 2389 Col. I97 Heb. 656 Jude 67
Rom. 88i I Thess. I89 Jas. 221 Rev. II38
i Cor. 846 2Thess. Ioo i Pet. 228