The group a gapao, a gape, and a gapetos is noteworthy. They are very common in the Pauline writings, but are rare both in St. Luke and in Hebrews. In fact only one of them, a gapetos, occurs at all in the Acts, and none of them are ever used by St. Luke except in recording the words of others. So also of the Hebrews. Of the five instances of their use, two are in quotations from the LXX. They are common enough in other writers, but are special favorites of St. John. Of the 154 instances in "other writers," 109 are in St. John, so that the words may be called Pauline and Johannean. Their rarity in St. Luke and Hebrews may be partly explained by the fact that a gape is an exclusively biblical word, and that a gapao also is used in a higher sense in the sacred than in profane writings. Still they were common words in the Christian community, and they mark a distinction in thought between St. Luke and Hebrews on the one side, and St. Paul and the rest of the new Testament on the other. The actual number of instances of their use is: Hebrews, 5 times; St. Luke, 15; St. Paul, 135; all others (John, 109), 154; but if we exclude from the enumeration all quotations from the LXX, and all record of the words of others, the numbers become: Hebrews, 3; St. Luke, ; St. Paul, 132; all others (John, 43), 87. The comparison is too obvious to call for proportionate numbers. As an appendix to this group it may be mentioned that phileo never occurs in Hebrews, is used only twice by St. Luke, twice by St. Paul, and 21 times elsewhere, 15 of which are in St. John.
A word especially appropriate to Hebrews, and one which might have been expected there very often, ha giasmos, occurs but once, while it is used eight times by St. Paul, and is not found in the rest of the New Testament. On the other hand, haima, which we might have expected frequently in St. Paul as well as in Hebrews, is very common in the latter and not at all so in the former. Proportionate numbers are: Hebrews, 231 times; St. Luke, 31; St. Paul, 24; all others, 44. Here, from the nature of the writings, we may not be surprised at the commonness of the word in Hebrews; but its comparative rarity in St. Paul is remarkable. His subjects led to it, and had it come to his mind as readily as it did to that of the author of Hebrews, it must have occurred in his writings much oftener.
The group of words, a letheia, a lethes, a lethinos, a lethos, and a letheuo, which we are accustomed to consider peculiarly Johannean, is also very frequent in St. Paul, but comparatively rare in St. Luke and Hebrews. The actual numbers are: Hebrews, 4 (a lethinos three times, a letheia once); St. Luke, 12; St. Paul, 55; all others, 114 (of which St. John, 95).
Of the group a stheneia, a stheneo, a sthenema, and a sthenes, only two occur in Hebrews-- a stheneia (four times) and a sthenes (once). The actual occurrences of the whole together are: Hebrews, 5 times; St. Luke, 15; St. Paul, 43; all others, 21; or proportionately, Hebrews, 58; St. Luke, 23; St. Paul, 90; all others, 21. This is evidently an especially Pauline class of words.
The words of opposite signification, bebaios, bebaioo, bebaiosis,--very infrequent in the LXX,--do not occur at all in St. Luke, and are relatively far more frequent in Hebrews than anywhere else. The proportionate numbers are: Hebrews, 92 times; St. Luke, ; St. Paul, 15; elsewhere, 3. Evidently St. Paul preferred to dwell upon weakness, the author of Hebrews upon strength.
There is a similar contrast between the verb e lpizo and the noun e lpis on the one hand, and the verb e pangellomai and the noun e pangelia on the other. Kleronomeo, kleronomia, and kleronomos are most common in Hebrews. The proportionate numbers are:--
Hebrews. St. Luke. St. Paul. All Others.
e lpizo and e lpis. 69................... 20................. 100................. 10
e pangellomai and e pangelia.. 208................... 16................... 57................... 9
kleronomeo, kleronomia, kleronomos.. 104................... 11................... 33................... 8
---- ---- ---- ----
Together........... 381........... 47........... 190........... 27
It is plain that while the author of Hebrews dwelt much more upon the brightness of the future than any other writer, he preferred to speak of it in the light of promise and of inheritance, while it rested in St. Paul's mind more as a hope. This is the more noteworthy because the ideas of sonship and of adoption are very common in St. Paul. He alone uses the word huiothesia five times.
The words he mera and semeron are curiously infrequent in a writer of the present urgency of St. Paul, and are relatively most common in St. Luke and Hebrews, but most so in the last. In proportion the numbers are: Hebrews, 278; St. Luke, 207; St. Paul, 100; all others, 153. That is, Hebrews uses them nearly three times as often as St. Paul.
The names for God and for our Lord are used by the various writers with much difference, and with an evident preference in each of them for his own accustomed word. The proportionate numbers (which can take no note of periphrases) are as follows:--
Hebrews. St. Luke. St. Paul. All Others.
theos................. 774................. 463............... 1016............... 419
Kurios............. 185................. 335................. 524............... 213
Iesous.......... 150................. 255................. 405............... 519
Christos......... 150................... 69................. 562............... 102
In all cases St. Paul uses these words most freely (about twice as often as anybody else), except that in the case of ' Iesous he is exceeded by "other writers" as a result of the large amount of narrative contained in them. Theos is used in Hebrews next in frequency to St. Paul, but with a long interval between them, and very much more often than elsewhere. Kurios is used least frequently in Hebrews, while ' Iesous and Christos are employed there, one with exactly the same frequency as the other, though St. Luke, St. Paul, and the other writers employ them very unequally, one preferring one and another the other. The use of these words is so much a matter of habit, habit alike of writing and of mode of thinking, that these go far to differentiate the writers.
Kerugma, kerux, and kerusso are none of them ever used in Hebrews. For the others proportionate numbers are: St. Luke, 27 times; St. Paul, 35; all others, 20.
The group kauchaomai, kauchema, and kauchesis is almost exclusively Pauline, occurring in his writings 58 times, while it is nearly absent from Hebrews, only kauchema being used, and that but once. These words do not occur in the other New Testament writers except three times in James. So also logizomai and makrothumia are especially Pauline. They each occur only once in Hebrews. The first is found twice, the second not at all in St. Luke; but logizomai occurs 34 times in St. Paul, four times in other writers, while makrothumia is used by St. Paul ten times, and only three times elsewhere.
Manthano is used 16 times by St. Paul, only once each by Hebrews and St. Luke, and seven times elsewhere. Parakaleo and paraklesis are much more frequent in St. Paul's writings than elsewhere, but in this case he is more nearly approached by Hebrews than by others--yet with a great difference. Proportionate numbers are: Hebrews, 81; St. Luke, 54; St. Paul, 137; all others, 22. The word proseuche occurs in Hebrews but once, and proseuchomai not at all. This is a noteworthy omission in our epistle, although it is also true that they are not used by St. John, except proseuche three times in Revelation. The two words are found in St. Luke and St. Paul each 33 times, and in the other writers 43 times. The words sarx and sarkikos are favorites of St. Paul. They occur seven times in Hebrews, six times in St. Luke, 102 times in St. Paul, and 46 times (of which one-half are in St. John) elsewhere. Proportionately Hebrews uses them about two-thirds as often as St. Paul, and nearly twice as often as all other writers together. The group phroneo, phronema, and phronesis is characteristic. None of them are found at all in Hebrews, and they occur but twice in St. Luke, and twice in the other writers (Matthew, 1, Mark, 1, in parallel passages), both in the record of the words of others; but St. Paul uses them 31 times. (He uses phronema, however, only in Romans--four times.) A word used in a figurative sense especially characteristic of St. John (31 times), phos, never occurs in Hebrews. It is used 16 times by St. Luke, 12 times by St. Paul, and ten times by other writers. It is more or less used by every New Testament writer except the author of Hebrews, and St. Jude in his very short epistle. Chairo is also used by every other writer (St. Luke, 19 times; St. Paul, 27 times), except Hebrews and St. Jude. St. Paul greatly delights in the word charis, and in the idea conveyed by it; he never wrote an epistle without it, and uses it 101 times. In Hebrews it is found eight times, in St. Luke 24, and in all others 22, not occurring in the first two Gospels.
The foregoing list is somewhat long of words characteristic of phases of thought which are especially favorite with St. Paul, and either wholly unused or much less frequently employed in Hebrews. A corresponding list may be made of other words especially common in Hebrews, but less used by St. Luke and St. Paul. Before going to this, however, a few words are to be considered which in their frequency of usage are characteristic of all three, or of two of these writers as distinguished from others, although with some differences between them.
Most prominent in this latter class is nomos, which we are accustomed to think especially Pauline. It is indeed used much oftener by St. Paul than by any other writer, yet it also occurs in Hebrews with a frequency distinguishing that Epistle from any other writing. The proportionate numbers are: Hebrews, 162; St. Luke, 44; St. Paul, 227; all others, 33. Nevertheless, the assimilation here is more apparent than real; for St. Paul employs it chiefly of a method of salvation, while it refers in Hebrews mostly to a definite collection of statutes. In the same way pistis is usually regarded as a characteristically Pauline word. It is relatively much more common in Hebrews; for the proportionate numbers are: Hebrews, 369; St. Luke, 42; St. Paul, 262; all others, 43. But here also there is a shade of distinction in the force of the word as used by the two writers; St. Paul's pistis is reliance upon Christ as the means of salvation in opposition to the law and the works of the law, while in the Hebrews it is only a general reliance on God's grace and promises. Of course, it is not denied that St. Paul sometimes uses a word, so common, in such varied shades of meaning, in a more general way as in 1 Cor. xiii. 2, 13; xvi. 13; 2 Cor. v. 7 , etc.; but the distinction in the shade of meaning between his habitual employment of the word, and that common in the Epistle to the Hebrews is easily recognized. In this connection pisteuo must be mentioned, though belonging in the former category. The proportionate instances of its use are: Hebrews, 23; St. Luke, 76; St. Paul, 100; all others (of which St. John, 99), 143. It is therefore a comparatively rare word in Hebrews. The adjective pistos, which ought perhaps hardly to be considered in this connection, is used proportionately, in Hebrews, 58 times; St. Luke, 6; St. Paul, 61; all others, 23. Peitho somewhat associates the three writers together, although most frequent in Hebrews, occurring proportionately, in Hebrews, 58 times; St. Luke, 33; St. Paul, 43; all others, 6. Suneideo and suneidesis are used proportionately: Hebrews, 58; St. Luke, 8 (all in Acts); St. Paul, 37 (but suneideo only once); all others, 4. The word soter, though used by St. Luke four times, St. Paul 12, and by others eight times, never occurs in Hebrews; but this is not remarkable, as it is not found in the much larger books of Matthew, Mark, and Revelation; moreover, it should be taken in connection with soteria and soterion, which also do not occur in the first two Gospels, but are found in Hebrews 7 times, St. Luke 13, St. Paul 19, and all others 9 times. This would give them a relatively greater frequency in Hebrews; but they are also common words in St. Luke and St. Paul. The word psuche, while a little more common relatively in Hebrews, is yet frequent enough in St. Luke and other writers, though not a favorite with St. Paul. Proportionate numbers are: Hebrews, 69; St. Luke, 57; St. Paul, 29; all others, 54.