How Do We Know That Paul Wrote Hebrews?

Determining the author of Hebrews is a matter of internal and historical evidence. The book, All Scriptures is Inspired of God and Beneficial (1990), published by Jehovah's Witnesses, says this about the evidence of Paul's authorship of the book of Hebrews:

The internal evidence of the book is all in support of Paul’s writership. The writer was in Italy and was associated with Timothy. These facts fit Paul. (Heb. 13:23, 24) Furthermore, the doctrine is typical of Paul, though the arguments are presented from a Jewish viewpoint, designed to appeal to the strictly Hebrew congregation to which the letter was addressed. On this point Clarke’s Commentary, Volume 6, page 681, says concerning Hebrews: “That it was written to Jews, naturally such, the whole structure of the epistle proves. Had it been written to the Gentiles, not one in ten thousand of them could have comprehended the argument, because unacquainted with the Jewish system; the knowledge of which the writer of this epistle everywhere supposes.” This helps to account for the difference of style when compared with Paul’s other letters.

The discovery in about 1930 of the Chester Beatty Papyrus No. 2 (P46) has provided further evidence of Paul’s writership. Commenting on this papyrus codex, which was written only about a century and a half after Paul’s death, the eminent British textual critic Sir Frederic Kenyon said: “It is noticeable that Hebrews is placed immediately after Romans (an almost unprecedented position), which shows that at the early date when this manuscript was written no doubt was felt as to its Pauline authorship.” On this same question, McClintock and Strong’s Cyclopedia states pointedly: “There is no substantial evidence, external or internal, in favor of any claimant to the authorship of this epistle except Paul.”

Add to this the fact that Paul was trained under Gamaliel the Elder, who was a foremost Pharisee, Jewish scholar, philosopher and Law teacher and who was so respected that the Mishnah referred to him as the end of the Law when he died, and was the first to earn the title "Rabban", which is higher than "Rabbi". (Ac 5:34; 22:3; Sotah 9:15) Paul was undoubtedly capable of carrying on a discourse worthy of a student of Gamaliel. It is not likely that there were many capable of such discourse as found in Hebrews. Paul was certainly the most likely candidate given his training and he demonstrated skills at law throughout the book of Acts. The only other person in the Scriptures who demonstrated that level of knowledge of the Law and Jewish history was Stephen, who died fairly early in the Christian era and whose stoning Paul watched and approved of before beginning an extended campaign of persecution against the Christians. (Acts 6:8-8:2) Hebrews, however, was written about 61 CE., during the time Paul was serving as a traveling overseer.

What is most important to determining the issue, however, is the internal evidence. Contrary to the claims of critics, that the flavor and tone of Hebrews denotes a different writings style to Paul's other works, note these commonalities between Hebrews and other of Paul's writings:

1. Romans and Galatians are the only other letters to go deep into Jewish history and the Law in just the same way as Hebrews, though written for different purposes.

2. Faith mentioned more frequently by Paul than any other Bible writer: Romans (60), Galatians (26), 1 Timothy (23), Hebrews (36)

3. Only disciple to emphasize that we are not under Law with clarity and brevity: Ro 6:15; 10:4; Ga 5:18; He 7:12, 18, 19; 8:13

4. Only disciple to refer to spiritual "milk" in relation to "solid food": 1Co 3:2; He 5:12-14

5. Only disciple to say that Christ learned obedience: Php 2:8; He 5:8

6. Only disciple to mention Christ's name being put above every other name: Eph 1:20, 21; Php 2:9, 10; He 1:4

7. Only disciple to mention God's promise to put all things under Christ's feet: 1Co 15:25-27; Eph 1:22; He 2:8

8. Only disciple to mention the Law as a shadow of the things to come: Col 2:16, 17; He 8:5; 10:1

9. The only disciple who Timothy served in traveling work and the only one to mention Timothy in his letters: Acts 16:3; Ro 16:21; 1Co 4:17; 2Co 1:1; Php 1:1; Col 1:1; 1Th 1:1; 2Th 1:1; 1Ti 1:1; 2Ti 1:2; Phm 1; Heb 13:23

So what do you think? Is this merely circumstantial evidence, or is it enough to say with certainty that Hebrews was written by Paul? If you disagree, please comment below with the evidence against Paul's authorship. Those posting against Paul's authorship without evidence, (For instance, stating simply an opinion against Paul's authorship,) and those who indicate being former members of Jehovah's Witnesses will not be permitted to post. This is not a forum for opinions.

So my question to the reader is, how can religions that claim to know the Bible not be able to discern that much, claiming that no one knows who wrote the Letter to the Hebrews? It seems to me that any religion not discerning this is not worthy of claiming to be teachers of the Bible.