Heb 10:24-25

And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another-- and all the more as you see the Day approaching.

From Background Notes [BN] for March 10^th/11^th written by Pastor Bob Brown:

The writer of the Hebrews is anonymous, and that prompted some early church fathers to delay acceptance of the book into the New Testament.

Even Martin Luther, in the 16th century, questioned its inclusion. But anonymity is a problem for documents that claim to be letters, and scholars now generally believe that Hebrews is really a sermon or homily that lacks most marks of correspondence known in the 1st century, except for the ending in 13:22-25. Sermons were actually speeches, forms of rhetoric, a well-developed literary style for orally communicating ideas to an audience. Ancient teachers like Quintilian wrote training manuals for the construction of effective speeches, including the careful classification of different types and their distinctive purposes. The book of Hebrews is a special kind of speech: it is “a homily in the form of a ‘word of exhortation,’ as Hebrews 13:22 puts it.”2 Written “to create a conversation,” this homily invites the audience to get involved with what the writer is saying and to remember the precious memories of their past so as to encourage them. The writer does all of this with the finest Greek in the New Testament, and yet is perfectly willing to allow the sermon to remain anonymous.

Efforts to identify the author include claims that it is Paul or a woman or a member of Paul’s inner circle or

Apollos (Acts 18:24-28). This later suggestion finds hearty support from Luke Timothy Johnson and Ben
Witherington and who gives a fine parallel analysis of Hebrews and the Acts passage.3 But to whom did the writer address this sermon? Clearly, the ascription is to Jewish Christians (compare 2 Corinthians 11:22), and the oldest manuscript to have this title dates from the early 3rd century.4 Clement of Alexandria and Eusebius attest this title as well. There is good reason to believe that the writer addressed his words to an audience of Jewish Christians living outside of Palestine and having a good grasp of the Greek language.

Why was the sermon written? No doubt the audience faced extreme social pressures that threatened their faith and their continued participation and fellowship in the Christian community.  [BN, 2]

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