From X Post:
Was Hebrews written by Paul? Should such a claim be raised to confessional status?
Teaching last evening in our Midweek Doctrine Series through the Belgic Confession, looking at Article 4: Canonical Books of the Holy Scriptures.
Struck by the explicit inclusion of Hebrews as among the "the fourteen epistles of the apostle Paul" in the listing of the NT books.
I'm sympathetic to this view and also like this structure for the NT:
4 Gospels and 1 Acts;
14 Pauline epistles;
7 General epistles;
1 Apocalypse (Revelation).
I wondered, however, how those who hold to the BC handle issues related to subscription if one does not hold to Pauline authorship of Hebrews (or takes an agnostic view on this matter).
I've been reading the study by Jan Van Bruggen (1909-1965), The Church Says Amen: An Exposition of the Belgic Confession (Inheritance, 2003) as a companion to the series.
Van Bruggen says here, "Hebrews is attributed to Paul, but that is incorrect (see Hebrews 2:3)" (36).
An editorial footnote adds: "Rev. Van Bruggen indeed states this strongly; however, since it is not certain who wrote the letter of Hebrews, it should not be ruled out that Paul could have written it. The annotations to this verse [Heb 2:3] in the Dutch Staten Bijbel makes a strong argument in favor of Paul's authorship" (36, n. 8).
Interesting that the WCF/2LBCF 1:3 does not make this explicit claim of Pauline authorship of Hebrews, though many of the framers likely would have agreed with it.
JTR
