Philip Schaff's Popular Commentary (4 vols)

Hebrews 13:24

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 17:13). In these expressions there seems an intentional indefiniteness intended to conceal the place where the Epistle was written.

Grace be with you all (rather, Grace be with all of you; an order of words that gives individuality to the message as well as universality).

Amen: Grace, the free result of Divine love; grace which justifies and sanctifies and guides us; grace which begins and completes our salvation; an especially appropriate ending of this Epistle, and the characteristic ending of each of Paul's Epistles, and of his only, in the New Testament.

The only subscription that has any critical value is ‘To the Hebrews.' Variations are found in some MSS.; ‘was written from Italy by Timothy,' one MS. adding ‘in Hebrew;' ‘from Rome' (A). But no argument can be based on these readings.

Three lessons are suggested by the structure and argument of this Epistle.

1. The teaching which distinguishes doctrine from precept, and makes precept the more important, is rebuked by the very order of the Epistle itself, as in all Paul's Epistles. The doctrinal teaching suggests the form of the precepts, and supplies the strongest reasons for obedience. Spiritual truths on sin, Christ, redemption, eternal life, are largely the foundation and the motive-forces of practical duty.

2. The need of a priesthood, and the fact that Christ is the great High Priest, superseding every other, all-sufficient and eternal, are essential parts of the Gospel. Without the recognition of the first, there is no adequate sense of sin and of God. Without the recognition of the second, there is no pacifying of the conscience, and no free personal access to God as the loving Father of all who believe.

3. False conceptions of the Gospel and of God's way of peace, when based on institutions and teaching that are originally Divine, are among the greatest hindrances to salvation, and among the most fruitful sources of apostasy. Because Judaism was Divine, and the Jews believed it, they were in danger of rejecting Christ in greater danger than if they had been heathens. Truth blended with error, God's word misunderstood and believed, may be as great hindrances to holiness and charity as heresy or unbelief.

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Philip Schaff's Popular Commentary (4 vols)

Hebrews 13:24

Old Testament

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