Could the letter to the Hebrews could be a gateway to other disputed letters in the NT, including I Peter, Jude, and II Peter? Let’s start specifically with I Peter. And why 1 Peter? Because although the author of Hebrews is considered anonymous (Brown 693), while the author of 1 Peter is most likely pseudonymous (Brown 718), a few of the theological messages in both letters are so strikingly similar, it’s as if the anonymous author of Hebrews borrowed from Peter’s letter, or vice versa.
That may be a bit of a stretch – though if both letters were written right around the 80’s AD, or sometime between 70 and 90 (Brown 684, 706), it fits with all disputed letters concentrating more on the Church as a visible institution and a more developed theology overall. In addition, because 1 Peter and Hebrews point out the relationship between the Israelites/Mosaic covenant and Christians following the salvific covenant established through Christ’s death and resurrection, it makes the theological similarities that much more noteworthy.
Side bar: This could open up a big discussion on typology, the Four Senses, the fascinating parallels between the OT and NT, and how the Church helped developed these approaches to interpreting Scripture. For now, this post is more about drawing parallels between Hebrews and 1 Peter.
Speaking of parallels, both Hebrews and 1 Peter refer to the OT and Jesus’ relationship as savior. In Hebrews, for instance, Jesus is the ultimate high priest with a mystical influence tracing back to Genesis, including Melchizedek’s role as a high priest. With this appointed power, Jesus makes an ultimate sacrifice – his own physical body – as an eternal means of salvation, thus supplanting the animal sacrifices that the Israelites performed in keeping with the Mosaic covenant (Brown 687, 688). In 1 Peter, Jesus has replaced the paschal lamb / the original meaning of Passover with his own blood sacrifice (Brown 709).
Both Hebrews and 1 Peter also compare the first Christians to the Israelites: As Christians dealt with multiple other cultures and could be potentially swayed away from their faith in Jesus, Hebrews reminds them not to fall into the same pattern of disobedience that plagued the Israelites (Brown 686). And 1 Peter — written to Gentile Christian whom he addresses as “the exiles of diaspora” and refers to them as the new “chosen people” (Brown 708) – also reminds Christians not to fallen into desires that break with the covenant now established through Christ (Brown 708. 709). Moreover, this example, as well as the one above, supports why 1 Peter 1:13 uses the “gird up your loins” passage from Exodus 12:11 to ensure that Christians stay vigilant in their faith (Senior 1730).
Of course, those aren’t the only similarities between the texts – yet they do reinforce a kind of synergy that happened when the disputed letters were written and to what degree they influenced each other, even if by chance.
Works Cited
Brown, Raymond. An Introduction to the New Testament. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1997.
Senior, Donald, et al. The Catholic Study Bible. Oxford University Press, 2016.
Ignatius Press. Holy Bible. Revised Standard Version, Second Catholic Edition. Ignatius Pr, 2016.