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

LANGUAGE OF THE EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS.
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More than this: he was a Levite. The particular line of argument
adopted in the main part of the Ep. to the Heb. is one which would
have occurred to few, and scarcely to any who was not familiar with
the temple ritual. There is no evidence that this was the case with
Apollos; but with Barnabas the temple service was a matter of professional
duty, as well as the prompting of his devout heart. Indeed,
an objection to the authorship of Barnabas has been based on this
very point;- it is said that the author does not show that nicely
accurate precision in his statements which might be expected from
one personally familar with the temple. The points referred to admit
of easy explanation on other grounds; but were they better taken, considering
that the service of the Levites was altogether subordinate to
that of the priests, and did not lead them into the vado itself, the
objection seems hypercritical. It is not unlikely that when Barnabas
became a Christian he was on duty in the temple precincts, and came
into the Church among that "great company of the priests " who
"were obedient to the faith" (Acts vi. 7).
The only important objection proposed to the authorship of Barnabas
is, that from the time of Tertullian down, there has never been
any considerable weight of opinion in its favor. This is easily
accounted for by the almost universal acceptance of the so-called
Ep. of Barnabas as his work. The two could not have been written
by the same person. But since that epistle has been abundantly
proved to have been the work of another, and is probably of a somewhat
later age, there is nothing to hinder the belief that the devout
Levite of Cyprus, the early convert to Christianity while still in strong
sympathy with the Christian Jews, the man of benevolence and wealth,
and therefore probably of education, by birth the appointed servant
of the temple, the man of independence and dignity, and yet of such
tender sympathy as to be surnamed "the son of consolation," the
long and intimate companion of S. Paul, and for years in the position
of his superior, - there is nothing to hinder the acceptance of the
early ecclesiastical statement that he was also the author of the Epistle
to the Hebrews.