to lead his converts to this Christianity, for only for such
Christianity was "the time fulfilled" within the empire of the world.
The Acts of the Apostles gives eloquent testimony to the pressing
difficulties which under such circumstances stand in the way of a
historical understanding of the Gentile Christians in view of the work
and the theology of Paul. Even the Epistle to the Hebrews is not a
Jewish Christian writing, but there is certainly a peculiar state of
things connected with this document. For, on the one hand, the author
and his readers are free from the law; a spiritual interpretation is
given to the Old Testament religion, which makes it appear to be
glorified and fulfilled in the work of Christ; and there is no mention
of any prerogative of the people of Israel. But, on the other hand,
because the spiritual interpretation, as in Paul, is here teleological,
the author allows a temporary significance to the cultus as literally
understood, and therefore, by his criticism he conserves the Old
Testament religion for the past, while declaring that it was set aside,
as regards the present, by the fulfilment of Christ. The teleology of
the author, however, looks at everything only from the point of view of
shadow and reality, an antithesis which is at the service of Paul also,
but which in his case vanishes behind the antithesis of law and grace.
This scheme of thought, which is to be traced back to a way of looking
at things which arose in Christian Judaism, seeing that it really
distinguishes between old and new, stands midway between the conception
of the Old Testament religion entertained by Paul, and that of the
common Gentile Christian as it is represented by Barnabas. The author of
the Epistle to the Hebrews undoubtedly knows of a twofold covenant of
God. But the two are represented as stages, so that the second is
completely based on the first. This view was more likely to be
understood by the Gentile Christians than the Pauline, that is, with
some seemingly slight changes, to be recognised as their own. But even
it at first fell to the ground, and it was only in the conflict with the
Marcionites that some Church Fathers advanced to views which seem to be
related to those of the Epistle to the Hebrews. Whether the author of
this Epistle was a born Jew or a Gentile--in the former case he would
far surpass the Apostle Paul in his freedom from the national claims--we
cannot, at any rate, recognise in it a doc