behind the situation described in 10:32–35, the expulsion would have been a number of years prior to the writing of Hebrews. There is yet another point of reference in Hebrews that may narrow the timeframe further. In 12:4 the author says that the readers are being persecuted but had not yet faced martyrdom: “In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood.” Again, if the writer addresses the church in Rome, this would place the composition of Hebrews prior