Homilies on the Gospel of St. John and the Epistle to the Hebrews

NPNF (V1-14)St. Chrysostom346Another question may be asked of the same kind. May not some indication of authorship befound in the number and character of the words common only to the Hebrews with St. Paul, withSt. Luke, and with the other writers respectively? There are 34 words common to St. Luke andHebrews, and found nowhere else; to St. Paul and Hebrews, 46; to all others and Hebrews, 28. Or,proportioning these numbers to the length of the several books, common to Luke and Hebrews,53.5; to St. Paul and Hebrews, 85.56; to other writers and Hebrews, 28; or nearly twice as manycommon to Hebrews with St. Luke, and more than three times as many common to Hebrews withSt. Paul, as there are common to Hebrews with other writers. This examination tends like the other,but much more strongly, to connect this Epistle both with St. Luke and St. Paul, but especially withthe latter. It falls in with the vacillating opinion of Origen, already given, and with his report of thecurrent traditions of his time.But much more important than the mere numerical statement, is the character of some of thesewords, used in common by these writers and by no others. Most of them, indeed, have nothingcharacteristic, and many are used but once by each of the writers, and that apparently without anyspecial design. There are several, however, worthy of more consideration. The noun and theverb , which might be expected to be common enough, are used only in Luke and Hebrews,the noun once in Luke, eight times in Hebrews; the verb 11 times in Luke, three times in Hebrews;or together, 12 times and 11 times. The noun μ is used once in Luke, five times in Hebrews,and nowhere else, while the verb μ is used five times by St. Paul, three times in Hebrews, andby no other writer. μ occurs three times in Luke, twice in Hebrews, and nowhere else.is used four times in Luke, twice in Hebrews, and not elsewhere. The word for star in Greek haseither form, or , and both are common in the LXX; but the former is used exclusively bySt. Luke (three times) and also in Hebrews, where, however, it occurs but once; but is usedexclusively by all the other New Testament writers, by St. Paul three times, by others 21 times. Onthe other hand, μ occurs twice in Hebrews, nine times in St. Paul, and in no other writer. Theverb (occurring three times) is peculiar to Hebrews, as is also the adverb , while theadjective occurs once in Hebrews, and seven times in St. Paul, being found nowhere else inthe New Testament. The striking adverb , not found in any other New Testament writer, occursthree times in Hebrews and twice in St. Paul. The verb with the nouns and andthe adjective , though common enough in the LXX, and apparently sufficiently often calledfor, are used in the New Testament only by St. Luke, St. Paul, and in Hebrews. The verb occursonce in each of them; is used once by St. Luke, three times by St. Paul, twice in Hebrews;three times by St. Paul, twice in Hebrews; while the adjective occurs only once in the last;i.e. taking the whole group together, it is employed twice by St. Luke, seven times by St. Paul, andsix times in Hebrews, and never elsewhere. The much more important word μ is used only inSt. Paul and Hebrews, three times in each. The same is true of μ , a word which might havebeen expected more frequently. There seems to be nothing peculiar about μ which yet happensto be found only in St. Paul (three times) and in Hebrews (twice). The words and alsooccur only in these writers, the former four times, the latter once in St. Paul; the former twice, thelatter once in Hebrews; or together, five times and three times. We are surprised to find such a wordas only in these writers, in each of them twice. The remarkable word , afterwards inanother sense of so much importance theologically, is found only in these writers, in St. Paul threetimes, in Hebrews twice.510