The Expositor's Bible: The Epistle to the Hebrews. Edwards Thomas Charles

They ought to have been teachers of the elementary truths, in consequence of having discovered the higher truths for themselves, under the guidance of God’s Spirit. It ought to have been unnecessary for the Apostle to explain them. At this time the “teachers” in the Church had probably consolidated into a class formally set apart, but had not yet fallen to the second place, as compared with the “prophets,” which they occupy in the “Teaching of the Twelve Apostles.” A long time had elapsed since the Church of Jerusalem, with the Apostles and elders, had sat in judgment on the question submitted to their decision by such men as Peter, Barnabas, Paul, and James.86 Since then the Hebrew Christians had degenerated, and now needed somebody – it mattered little who it might be,87– to teach them the alphabet88 of Christian doctrine.