The Letter to the HEBREWS Traditionally known as "The Epistle of Paul to the Hebrews," this New Testament writing can best be understood as an anonymous sermon written to encourage an early Christian community to continued faith and hope in the face of hardship. In a manner unique among New Testament books, the sermon develops the image of Christ as the great high priest who fulfills and completes the Jewish system of sacrifice. In a sophisticated rhetorical style, the author alternates argument and exhortation. Although it concludes with greetings and other features of a letter (13.22-25), the work has no opening greeting and no identification of the author or of those addressed. Rather, the author refers to it as a "word of exhortation" (13.22) a phrase used in Acts 13.15 to describe a synagogue sermon of Paul. When the New Testament was being formed, this anonymous sermon was attributed to Paul, presumably because of the growing authority of Paul's name and reputation as a letter writer. The early church leaders Qrigen, Clement, and Tertullian, however, recognized the differences in style and theology between Hebrews and Paul's letters. Clement argued that Luke translated Paul's Hebrew original into Greek and Origen suggested that a disciple of Paul wrote the letter based on Paul's notes. Modern interpreters have suggested other authors, including Apollos and Priscilla. There is not sufficient historical evidence, however, to prove that any person named in the New Testament was the author of Hebrews.