CONCLUDING EXHORTATIONS TO LOVE (1); HOSPITALITY (2); KINDNESS TO PRISONERS AND THE SUFFERING (3); PURITY OF LIFE (4); CONTENTMENT (5); TRUSTFULNESS (6); SUBMISSION TO PASTORAL AUTHORITY (7, 8); STEADFASTNESS AND SPIRITUALITY (9) We may notice that the style of the writer in this chapter offers mor... [ Continue Reading ]
CH. 13. Concluding Exhortations to Love (1); Hospitality (2); Kindness to Prisoners and the Suffering (3); Purity of Life (4); Contentment (5); Trustfulness (6); Submission to Pastoral Authority (7, 8); Steadfastness and Spirituality (9); The Altar, the Sacrifice, and the Sacrifices of the Christian... [ Continue Reading ]
Ἡ ΦΙΛΑΔΕΛΦΊΑ. “_Your brotherly affection_.” Not only was “brotherly love” a new and hitherto almost undreamed of virtue but it was peculiarly necessary among the members of a bitterly-persecuted sect. Hence all the Apostles lay constant stress upon it (Romans 12:10; 1 Thessalonians 4:9; 1 Peter 1:22... [ Continue Reading ]
ΦΙΛΟΞΕΝΊΑΣ. The hospitality of Christians (what Julian calls ἡ περὶ ξένους φιλανθρωπία) was naturally exercised chiefly towards the brethren. The absence of places of public entertainment except in the larger towns, and the constant interchange of letters and messages between Christian communities—a... [ Continue Reading ]
ΤΩ͂Ν ΔΕΣΜΊΩΝ. Comp. Colossians 4:18. ὩΣ ΣΥΝΔΕΔΕΜΈΝΟΙ. Lit., “_as having been bound with them_.” In the perfectness of sympathy _their_ bonds are your bonds (1 Corinthians 12:26), for you and they alike are Christ’s slaves (1 Corinthians 7:22) and Christ’s captives (2 Corinthians 2:14 in the Greek).... [ Continue Reading ]
ΤΊΜΙΟΣ Ὁ ΓΆΜΟΣ Κ.Τ.Λ. Probably this is an exhortation, “Let marriage be held honourable among all,” or rather “in all respects.” Scripture never gives even the most incidental sanction to the exaltation of celibacy as a superior virtue, or to the disparagement of marriage as an inferior state. Celib... [ Continue Reading ]
Ὁ ΤΡΌΠΟΣ. Lit., “_Let your turn of mind be unavaricious_.” In the A.V. it is “Let your _conversation_ be without covetousness”; but the word here used is not the one generally rendered by “conversation” in the N.T. (ἀναστροφὴ as in Hebrews 13:7, “general walk,” Galatians 1:13; Ephesians 2:3), or “ci... [ Continue Reading ]
ΘΑΡΡΟΥ͂ΝΤΑΣ. “_We boldly say_,” not as in A.V. “we _may_ boldly say.” ΚΎΡΙΟΣ. Psalms 118:6. ΟΥ̓ ΦΟΒΗΘΉΣΟΜΑΙ. “_I will not fear. What shall man do unto me?_” The rendering of the A.V. “I will not _fear what man shall do_ unto me” is ungrammatical, as is that of the Vulg., “Non timebo quid faciat mi... [ Continue Reading ]
ΤΩ͂Ν ἩΓΟΥΜΈΝΩΝ … ΟἽΤΙΝΕΣ. “_Your leaders, who spoke to you_”; for, as the next clause shews, these spiritual leaders were dead. At this time the ecclesiastical organisation was still unfixed. The vague term “leaders” (found also in Acts 15:22), like the phrase “those set over you” (προϊστάμενοι, 1 T... [ Continue Reading ]
ἸΗΣΟΥ͂Σ ΧΡΙΣΤῸΣ … Ὁ ΑΥ̓ΤΌΣ. “_Jesus Christ is the same_” (comp. Hebrews 1:12). The A. V. by its omission of the copula seems to connect this with τὴν ἔκβασιν as if Jesus Christ were the “end of their conversation,” which it is scarcely necessary to say is impossible. The collocation “Jesus Christ” i... [ Continue Reading ]
ΠΑΡΑΦΈΡΕΣΘΕ אACDM. The περιφέρεσθε of the rec. (KL) comes from Ephesians 4:14. 9. ΔΙΔΑΧΑΙ͂Σ Κ.Τ.Λ. Lit., “_With teachings various and strange be ye not swept away_.” From the allusion to various kinds of food which immediately follows we infer that these “teachings” were not like the incipient Gnost... [ Continue Reading ]
ἝΧΟΜΕΝ ΘΥΣΙΑΣΤΉΡΙΟΝ. These seven verses form a little episode of argument in the midst of moral exhortations. They revert once more to the main subject of the Epistle—the contrast between the two dispensations. The connecting link in the thought of the writer is to be found in the Jewish boasts to w... [ Continue Reading ]
THE ONE SACRIFICE OF THE CHRISTIAN, AND THE SACRIFICES WHICH HE MUST OFFER... [ Continue Reading ]
ἜΞΩ ΤΗ͂Σ ΠΑΡΕΜΒΟΛΗ͂Σ. Of the sin-offerings the Priests could not, as in the case of other offerings, eat the entire flesh, or the breast and shoulder, or all except the fat (Numbers 6:20; Leviticus 6:26, &c.). The word for “burn” (_saraph_) means “entirely to get rid of,” and is not the word used fo... [ Continue Reading ]
ΔΙᾺ ΤΟΥ͂ ἸΔΊΟΥ ΑἽΜΑΤΟΣ. Lit., “_through_,” or “_by means of His own blood_.” The thought is the same as that of Titus 2:14, “Who gave Himself for us that He might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto Himself a peculiar people.” This sanctification or purifying consecration of His people by t... [ Continue Reading ]
ἘΞΕΡΧΏΜΕΘΑ. Let us go forth out of the city and camp of Judaism (Revelation 11:8) to the true and eternal Tabernacle (Exodus 33:7-8) where He now is (Hebrews 12:2). Some have imagined that the writer conveys a hint to the Christians in Jerusalem that it is time for them to leave the guilty city and... [ Continue Reading ]
ΤῊΝ ΜΈΛΛΟΥΣΑΝ. “_The city which is to be_” (Hebrews 11:10; Hebrews 11:16). Our earthly city here may be destroyed, and we may be driven from it, or leave it of our own accord; this is nothing,—for our real citizenship is in heaven (Philippians 3:20).... [ Continue Reading ]
ΘΥΣΊΑΝ ΑἸΝΈΣΕΩΣ. A thanksgiving (Jeremiah 17:26; Leviticus 7:12), not in the form of an offering, but something which shall “please the Lord better than a bullock which hath horns and hoofs” (Psalms 69:31). ΔΙΑΠΑΝΤΌΣ. Even the Rabbis held that the sacrifice of praise would outlast animal sacrifices... [ Continue Reading ]
ΚΟΙΝΩΝΊΑΣ. To share your goods with others (Romans 15:26). It is rendered “distribution” in 2 Corinthians 9:13. ΤΟΙΑΎΤΑΙΣ ΓᾺΡ ΘΥΣΊΑΙΣ. The verse is meant to remind them that sacrifices of well-doing and the free sharing of their goods are even more necessary than verbal gratitude unaccompanied by s... [ Continue Reading ]
THE DUTY OF OBEDIENCE TO SPIRITUAL AUTHORITY 17. ΤΟΙ͂Σ ἩΓΟΥΜΈΝΟΙΣ. See Hebrews 13:7. The repetition of the injunction perhaps indicates a tendency to self-assertion and spurious independence among them. “Bishops” in the modern sense did not as yet exist, but in the importance here attached to due s... [ Continue Reading ]
ΠΡΟΣΕΎΧΕΣΘΕ ΠΕΡῚ ἩΜΩ͂Ν. A frequent and natural request in Christian correspondence (1 Thessalonians 5:25; 2 Thessalonians 3:1; Romans 15:30; Ephesians 6:18; Colossians 4:3). The “us” probably means “me and those with me,” shewing that the name of the writer was well known to those addressed. ΠΕΙΘΌΜ... [ Continue Reading ]
CONCLUDING NOTICES AND BENEDICTIONS... [ Continue Reading ]
ἽΝΑ ΤΆΧΙΟΝ�. So St Paul in Philemon 1:22. We are unable to conjecture the circumstances which for the present prevented the writer from visiting them. It is clear from the word “restored” that he must once have lived among them.... [ Continue Reading ]
ΘΕῸΣ ΤΗ͂Σ ΕἸΡΉΝΗΣ. The phrase is frequent in St Paul (1 Thessalonians 5:23; 2 Thessalonians 3:16; Romans 15:33; Romans 16:20; Philippians 4:9). Ὁ�. Among many allusions to the Ascension and Glorification of Christ this is the only direct allusion in the Epistle to His Resurrection (but comp. Hebrews... [ Continue Reading ]
ΚΑΤΑΡΤΊΣΑΙ. Τελειόω, the verb so often used to express “perfecting,” is here replaced by another verb—“may He fit” or “stablish” or “equip you.” ΠΟΙΗ͂ΣΑΙ … ΠΟΙΩ͂Ν. There is a play on the words “to _do_ His will, _doing_ in you.” There is a similar play on words in Philippians 2:13. ὮΙ Ἡ ΔΌΞΑ Κ.Τ.Λ... [ Continue Reading ]
ἈΝΈΧΕΣΘΕ. “_Bear with the word of my exhortation_.” Comp. Acts 13:15. This is a courteous apology for the tone of severity and authority which he has assumed. ΚΑῚ ΓΆΡ. “_For indeed_,” as in Hebrews 12:29. ΔΙᾺ ΒΡΑΧΈΩΝ. “_In paucis_.” “_Briefly_,” considering the breadth and dignity of the subject, w... [ Continue Reading ]
ΓΙΝΏΣΚΕΤΕ. Either “ye are aware”; or “know ye,” i.e. let me inform you. ἈΠΟΛΕΛΥΜΈΝΟΝ. The word probably means (as in Acts 3:13; Acts 4:21) “has been set free from prison.” It is intrinsically likely that Timothy at once obeyed the earnest and repeated entreaty of St Paul, shortly before his martyrdo... [ Continue Reading ]
ἈΣΠΆΣΑΣΘΕ. This salutation to _all_ their spiritual leaders implies the condition of Churches, which was normal at that period—namely, little communities, sometimes composed separately of Jews and Gentiles, who in default of one large central building, met for worship in each other’s houses. ΟἹ�. Th... [ Continue Reading ]
Ἡ ΧΆΡΙΣ ΜΕΤᾺ ΠΆΝΤΩΝ ὙΜΩ͂Ν. This is one of the shorter forms of final conclusion found in Colossians 4:18; 1 Timothy 6:21; 2 Timothy 4:22; Titus 3:15. The superscription “Written to the Hebrews from Italy by Timothy” is wholly without authority, though found in K and some versions. It contradicts the... [ Continue Reading ]