Hebrews shares similarities in its description and function of Jesus’ death with Romans and Mark, pointing to the strong probability that the author of Hebrews contributed to the development of the tradition about Jesus’ death, as that tradition was preserved in Christianity at Rome. Each of these three Roman Christian texts understands the death of Jesus as an atoning sacrifice (Romans 3:25; Mark 10:45; Hebrews 2:17), actualized by his obedient faith in God (Romans 5:19; Mark 14:36; Hebrews 5:8). Each portrays the death of Jesus as a real death (Romans 5:6-8; Mark 15: 34, 37; Hebrews 5:7) that effected redemption (Romans 3:24; Mark 8:34-35; Hebrews 9:12, 15). Hebrews’ distinctive contribution to the development of the tradition of the death of Christ lies in the relation of his suffering to his priesthood as seen in Hebrews 5:5-10, where the human suffering and death of Jesus is framed by the notice that he was appointed a high priest by God (v. 5) and then designated a high priest by God because of his suffering and death (v. 10). Building on the inherited tradition of the death of Christ among Roman Christians, the author of Hebrews contributed to the development of that tradition by explaining Christ’s death as a constitutive element of his priesthood.