CHAP. 13. The exhortations with which the Epistle closes are various; but all are connected with the argument and with the condition of those addressed. The writer has sought to confirm their faith and grace, and now a loving holy life, which ever grows feeble with waning faith, is his chief concern... [ Continue Reading ]
Hebrews 13:1. The first admonition is to ‘brotherly love' a term used in the N. T. (not as in classic Greek to describe the love of brothers and sisters, but) to describe the love which Christians bear to one another in Christ, and as children of one Father (cp. Hebrews 2:11), part of the wider love... [ Continue Reading ]
Hebrews 13:2. Nor was this love confined to the family. The God they worshipped loves strangers (Deuteronomy 10:18-19). In His gracious philanthropy (Titus 3:4) He had welcomed _them_ when strangers; and now He sometimes sends His messengers His angels in the disguise of wayfarers, that He may know... [ Continue Reading ]
Hebrews 13:4-5. The writer now speaks of two relations of life which are often placed side by side in Paul's Epistles marriage and the purity which belongs to it, and covetousness, or ‘the love of money' (Ephesians 5:5; Colossians 3:5). The abrupt form of the sentences and the curt energy of the adm... [ Continue Reading ]
Hebrews 13:6. SO THAT WE BOLDLY SAY, THE LORD IS MY HELPER, I WILL NOT FEAR: WHAT SHALL MAN DO UNTO ME? So the Hebrew reads, and so more naturally the Greek of this passage.... [ Continue Reading ]
Hebrews 13:7. This verse is connected in part with the preceding. REMEMBER THEM WHO ARE YOUR LEADERS a title found only in this chapter in the Epistles, but used in the Gospels and Acts for the leaders of the Church (Acts 15:22; Luke 22:26). Leadership is the prominent thought with so much of ruling... [ Continue Reading ]
Hebrews 13:8. This verse is closely connected with the preceding, though not in the way the Authorised Version (with a colon, or sometimes a comma, at the end of Hebrews 13:7) indicates, as it is also with what follows. It is a general truth. JESUS CHRIST IS, THE SAME YESTERDAY (when our fathers liv... [ Continue Reading ]
Hebrews 13:9. Very different from the _varied_ and strange (foreign) doctrines (teachings) with which this Gospel is sometimes confounded, and very different from the _legal precepts_ as to meats which are profitless as means of quickened life, or of true salvation, by which we must NOT SUFFER OURSE... [ Continue Reading ]
Hebrews 13:10-12. And yet we have our altar and our meat. We are worshippers, nay, even _priestly_ worshippers. Our altar is the cross: our sin-offering the body of our Lord. ‘His flesh is meat indeed, and His blood is drink indeed.' But all is hidden from the view and forbidden to the touch of thos... [ Continue Reading ]
Hebrews 13:13. Of Christ the sin-offering we may partake, provided we go forth unto Him without the camp, bearing His reproach. The cross is the meeting-place of all who would be saved. To number ourselves with those who cast Him out, and so unconsciously made Him the antitype of the holiest of the... [ Continue Reading ]
Hebrews 13:14. Israel still claimed to be the people of God, and Jerusalem was outwardly His dwelling-place. But God had already quitted it. Jerusalem, with its temple and rites all were condemned. Here, therefore, we have no continuing city, no material temple, no imperfect sacrifice; but the cross... [ Continue Reading ]
Hebrews 13:15. Meanwhile our sacrifice or peace-offering is praise; ‘the perpetual offering,' as even Jews described it, ‘which is never to cease' the fruit, ‘the calves,' of lips that are ever giving thanks to His name. Praise, continuous praise, is the fitting recognition of an abiding Saviour and... [ Continue Reading ]
Hebrews 13:16. Nor is that all: there must be also the further sacrifice of a beneficent and generous life; for with such sacrifices ‘well-doing' and fellowship in love, in service, and in gifts God is well pleased. A life of cheerful thankfulness, of ceaseless well-doing, of ready participation wit... [ Continue Reading ]
Hebrews 13:17, etc. Having referred to deceased leaden and to their stedfastness, the writer is naturally led to speak of the danger of apostatizing to Judaism; he therefore exhorts them _to_ come completely out of it and boldly follow Christ. He now returns to their leaders. OBEY (give, and keep gi... [ Continue Reading ]
Hebrews 13:18. The writer now speaks of himself and of his colleagues, all watchers over them, and asks the prayers of his readers, as Paul does in all his Epistles. PRAY FOR US, FOR WE ARE PERSUADED (the perfect tense, ‘we trust,' gives place to the present passive) THAT WE HAVE A GOOD CONSCIENCE.... [ Continue Reading ]
Hebrews 13:19. AND I BESEECH YOU THE MORE EXCEEDINGLY (earnestly) TO DO THIS, _i.e_ to pray for us (comp. Philemon 1:22), THAT I MAY BE RESTORED TO YOU THE SOONER. This language agrees remarkably with the deep affection Paul cherished for the Hebrew Church at Jerusalem, a Church he visited many time... [ Continue Reading ]
Hebrews 13:20-21. To this desire for their prayers is added his own benediction, as in Paul's Epistles generally (1 Thessalonians 5:23, etc.). NOW THE GOD OF PEACE a common title of God in Paul's Epistles, used in different connections, and probably with different meanings. Here it is specially appr... [ Continue Reading ]
Hebrews 13:22. NOW I EXHORT YOU, BRETHREN, BEAR WITH (in the sense of giving a patient, willing audience to; see Acts 18:14; 2 Corinthians 11:4) THE WORD OF EXHORTATION. The language is partly apologetic, on the ground that the writer stands in no close relation to his readers, and yet had not spare... [ Continue Reading ]
Hebrews 13:23. KNOW YE (imperative rather than indicative, as a matter of joy, one of the prisoners whose bonds you shared in spirit is now free) THAT OUR BROTHER TIMOTHY IS SET AT LIBERTY (the most natural rendering. The word is used for entering on some official work, Acts 13:3; Acts 15:30; but a... [ Continue Reading ]
Hebrews 13:24. SALUTE ALL YOUR LEADERS, the chief men among you, AND ALL THE SAINTS, _i..e_ either of the Church or those Christians outside of the Church, whom they or their leaders might meet. THEY OF ITALY, _i..e_ those who belonged to Italy, whether then residing in Italy or not (comp. Acts 17:1... [ Continue Reading ]