originally addressed to a local church or churches by a writer whose
name has ever since been a fertile source of conjecture. The only fact
definitely established is that Paul did not write it. It is essentially
a combination of argument, doctrine, and exhortation. The aim is
apologetic as well as practical. Most of Paul's letters were written as
the thoughts, which he wished to communicate to those to whom he wrote,
came to his mind; but in the Epistle to the Hebrews the author evidently
follows a carefully elaborated plan. The argument is cumulative. The
thesis is that Christ, superior to all earlier teachers of his race, is
the perfect Mediator of Salvation.

[Sidenote: _Value of the Epistles_]

Thus the Epistles, originally personal notes of encouragement and
warning, growing sometimes into more elaborate treatises, were made the
means whereby the early Christian teachers imparted their doctrines to
constantly widening groups of readers. At best they were regarded simply
as inferior substitutes for the personal presence and spoken words of
their authors. Like the Old Testament books, their authority lies in the
fact that they faithfully reflect, in part at least, the greater
revelation coming through the lives and minds of the early apostles.

[Sidenote: _The larger group_]

As is well known, the twenty-one letters in our New Testament were
selected from a far larger collection of epistles, some of which were
early lost, while others, like the Epistles of Barnabas and Polycarp and
Clement, were preserved to share with those later accepted as canonical,
the study and veneration of the primitive Church.