The Book of HebrewsSample

Who was Hebrews Written To? Hebrews 13:24

The book of Hebrews doesn’t clearly identify its audience by name, city or region. Still, in general terms, we can be confident that the author wrote to a specific audience with whom he was personally familiar. In 13:19-24, the author assured his audience of his intent to visit them again. He spoke of Timothy, whom he called “our brother,” and he also mentioned a group of people from Italy that his audience apparently knew. 

There are important factors about this original audience that we should consider as we study the book of Hebrews.

First, there’s reason to think that at least a good portion of the original audience was Jewish. Hebrews 1:1 makes this clear: 

In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways.

Here, the author referred to how God had revealed himself to Israel in the Old Testament. But notice how he called Old Testament Israelites “our forefathers” — the ancestors of the author and his audience. 

It’s no wonder, that from as early as the time of Tertullian, who lived from about A.D. 155 to 230, the traditional title attached to this book has been “Pros Hebraious,” “For the Hebrews.”

Second, it’s also likely that the audience was in large part Hellenistic. The content of Hebrews indicates that the audience was familiar with theological teachings that were more common among Jews living outside of Palestine than among more traditional Jewish circles within Palestine.

A number of interpreters have tried to determine where the audience may have lived outside of Palestine. The fact that the first epistle of Clement of Rome referred to the book as early as A.D. 95 has led some to suggest that the audience was in Rome. Hebrews 13:24 has been used to support this point of view because it mentions “those from Italy.” These suggestions are interesting, but the most we can say, with any degree of confidence, is that the original audience consisted in large part of Hellenistic Jews who lived outside of Palestine.