What Does God Want From Me? Part One March 19, 2017 Hebrews 13:1-3 1 Let brotherly love continue. 2 Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares. 3 Remember those who are in prison, as though in prison with them, and those who are mistreated, since you also are in the body. 1 More study helps at www.daretoventure.org
13:1. See comment on 10:25; cf. 12:14. The bonds of Christian community would also hinder apostasy from that community. 13:2. Hospitality normally involved housing and caring for travelers; the greatest example of this virtue cited in Jewish texts was Abraham, who welcomed the three visitors (Gen 18). Because at least two of them turned out to be angels, this text is the most natural referent of the exhortation. (Other stories, like the early Jewish story of Tobit or Greek stories about gods visiting people in disguise, are of more peripheral value, but illustrate how readily ancient readers might have received the exhortation.) 13:3. By the second century, Christians were known for their care for the imprisoned. Some philosophers regarded visiting those who were in prison as a virtue, although Palestinian Judaism was largely silent on the issue, compared to its emphasis on visiting the sick or helping the economically oppressed (except in the sense of Jews captured or enslaved by pagans). The prisoners probably refers to some Christians imprisoned for their faith or for practices related to it (as in 13:23). Roman law used prison as detention until punishment rather than as punishment itself; sometimes prisoners had to depend on 1 outside allies for food. (13:1) The words brotherly love are the translation of philadelphia (φιλαδελφια). The word agapao (ἀγαπαο) which speaks of God s love (John 3:16), of the love produced in the heart of the yielded believer by the Holy Spirit (Rom. 5:5), and the love defined by Paul in I Corinthians 13, is not used here. The one the writer uses is phileo (φιλεο), which speaks of human affection, fondness, a non-ethical, though perfectly legitimate, form of love. Expositor s labels these exhortations (vv. 1 3) as exhortations to social manifestations of the Christianity of the recipients of this letter. The same authority says: In the general decay of their faith, tendencies to disown Christian fellowship had become apparent (10:24, 25). The word brother in the Greek, adelphos (ἀδελφος), means from the same womb. Thus, the basis of their Christian fondness and affection for each other, the source of their Christian fellowship, was the fact that they all came from the same source, having one Father God. Translation. Let brotherly affection continue. (13:2) This tendency to the neglect of Christian fellowship would lead to failure to recognize the needs of Christians coming from a distance. Hospitality should be shown such, especially to those who because of their profession of the Messiah had suffered persecution (10:32 34). Translation. Of hospitality, be not forgetful, for through this (namely, 1 Keener, C. S. (1993). The IVP Bible background commentary: New Testament (Heb 13:1 3). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press. 2 More study helps at www.daretoventure.org
hospitality) some have shown hospitality to angels unawares. (13:3) Writing to these first-century Jews who were enduring the persecution of their brethren after the flesh who had not left the temple, the writer exhorts them to be mindful of their fellow-believers when they suffer imprisonment and adversity, remembering that each of them is still in the physical body, and thus subject to persecution. Translation. Be mindful of those in bonds as bound with them, of them who 2 are suffering ill-treatment as also yourselves being in a body. 1. The duty commanded is loving as brothers, and the way to do this is to keep on doing it. Love is the fountain and foundation of all mutual duties, moral and ecclesiastical. Loving as brothers is the basis of the love that is commanded here. Everyone who loves the father loves his child as well (1 John 5:1). It is by adoption that we are all taken into and made brothers in the same family: you have one Father, and he is in heaven (Matthew 23:8 9). This loving as brothers is a special grace of the Spirit. The fruit of the Spirit is love (Galatians 5:22), and is most often linked with faith in Christ Jesus (Philemon 5; 1 John 3:23). Nobody has this gift in himself, as it a gift that comes from above. Brotherly love was commanded by Christ himself. He calls it his commandment in a special way (John 15:12), and thus it is a new commandment (John 13:34; 1 John 2:7 8; 2 John 5). Christ s purpose in this is that it should bring special glory to God and be a witness to the world that we are his disciples: By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another (John 13:35). 2. Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some people have entertained angels without knowing it. Strangers, even among pagans, were thought of as people who were almost sacred, under God s special protection. So says Emmaus to Ulysses: O stranger! It is not lawful for me, though one should come more miserable than you are, to dishonor or disregard a stranger; for strangers and poor belong to the care of God (Homer, Odyssey 14:56). The Scripture frequently commands and encourages this duty (see Deuteronomy 10:19; Isaiah 58:7; Matthew 25:35; Luke 14:13; Romans 12:13; James 1:27; 1 Peter 4:9). 3. This is the second way to show brotherly love. The first concerned strangers; this concerns sufferers. People who are in prison must be remembered. It seems that those who are free are apt to forget Christ s prisoners, so it is necessary to remind them to remember those in prison. This involves caring for prisoners (Philippians 4:10); it 2 Wuest, K. S. (1997). Wuest s word studies from the Greek New Testament: for the English reader (Heb 12:28 13:3). Grand Rapids: Eerdmans. 3 More study helps at www.daretoventure.org
involves being compassionate toward prisoners, as if you were their fellow prisoners 3 (10:34). This also involves visiting prisoners (Matthew 25:36, 43). 1. Let brotherly love, &c. Probably he gave this command respecting brotherly love, because a secret hatred arising from the haughtiness of the Jews was threatening to rend the Churches. But still this precept is generally very needful, for nothing flows away so easily as love; when every one thinks of himself more than he ought, he will allow to others less than he ought; and then many offences happen daily which cause separations. He calls love brotherly, not only to teach us that we ought to be mutually united together by a peculiar and an inward feeling of love, but also that we may remember that we cannot be Christians without being brethren; for he speaks of the love which the household of faith ought to cultivate one towards another, inasmuch as the Lord has bound them closer together by the common bond of adoption. It was therefore a good custom in the primitive Church for Christians to call one another brothers; but now the name as well as the thing itself is become almost obsolete, except that the monks have appropriated to themselves the use of it when neglected by others, while at the same time they shew by their discords and intestine factions that they are the children of the evil one. 2. Be not forgetful to entertain strangers, &c. This office of humanity has also nearly ceased to be properly observed among men; for the ancient hospitality, celebrated in histories, is unknown to us, and Inns now supply the place of accommodations for strangers. But he speaks not so much of the practice of hospitality as observed then by the rich; but he rather commends the miserable and the needy to be entertained, as at that time many were fugitives who left their homes for the name of Christ. And that he might commend this duty the more, he adds, that angels had sometimes been entertained by those who thought that they received only men. I doubt not but that this is to be understood of Abraham and Lot; for having been in the habit of shewing hospitality, they without knowing and thinking of any such thing, entertained angels; thus their houses were in no common way honoured. And doubtless God proved that hospitality was especially acceptable to him, when he rendered such a reward to Abraham and to Lot. Were any one to object and say, that this rarely happened; to this the obvious answer is, That not mere angels are received, but Christ himself, when we receive the poor in his name. In the words in Greek there is a beautiful alliteration which cannot be set forth in Latin. 3. Remember them that are in bonds, or, Be mindful of the bound, &c. There is nothing that can give us a more genuine feeling of compassion than to put ourselves in the place of those who are in distress; hence he says, that we ought to think of those in bonds as though we were bound with them. What follows the first clause, As being yourselves also in the 3 Owen, J. (1998). Hebrews (pp. 257 258). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books. 4 More study helps at www.daretoventure.org
body, is variously explained. Some take a general view thus, Ye are also exposed to the same evils, according to the common lot of humanity; but others give a more restricted sense, As though ye were in their body. Of neither can I approve, for I apply the words to the body of the Church, so that the meaning would be this, Since ye are members of the same body, it behoves you to feel in common for each other s evils, that there may be 4 nothing disunited among you. 13:2 Some people argue that it is absurd to believe some have welcomed angels as guests. The Bible, however, is replete with examples of people who were visited by angels (Gn 22:15; Jdg 6:22; 2 Kg 1:3; 1 Ch 21:15 16; Zec 3:6; 4:4; Mt 1:24; 2:13; Lk 1:11 20; 1:26 38; 2:8 15; Jn 20:12; Acts 5:19 20; etc.). Belief in angels, whether seen or unseen, is 5 difficult only for those who do not believe in God or the truthfulness of Scripture. This is a PRESENT ACTIVE IMPERATIVE, meaning abide or continue. The thing the readers are to continue is brotherly love ( philadelphia, cf. Rom. 12:10; 1 Thess. 4:9; 1 Pet. 3:8). They have done this in the past (cf. 6:10; 10:32 35) and are encouraged to continue. It is a clear sign that one knows God (cf. John 13:33; 15:12, 17; 1 John 2:10; 3:11, 14, 17 24; 4:7 21; 2 John 5). 13:2 Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers This is a PRESENT MIDDLE (deponent) IMPERATIVE. It is a compound of phile and stranger i.e. love of strangers. There were no motels in those days except immoral inns and they were very expensive. Christians are called on to open their homes to itinerant ministers (cf. Matt. 25:35; Rom. 12:13; 1 Tim. 3:2; Titus 1:8; 1 Pet. 4:9; 2 Jn; Didache 11:4 6). entertained angels without knowing it This is an allusion to Gen. 18 where Abraham meets three angels who looked like men (cf. also Tobit chapters 4 7). This does not mean that Christians may have angels visit; as men of old helped strangers and received a blessing, so too, are believers to do. 13:3 Remember the prisoners This is a PRESENT MIDDLE (deponent) IMPERATIVE. These readers had followed Christ s words of Matt. 25:44 45, for in 10:32 36 they had helped other believers. Their imprisonment was not for evil deeds, but for their faith in Christ (cf. 1 Pet. 4:14 15). Imprisonment was a real possibility for all early believers as it is for many believers in today s world also. 4 Calvin, J., & Owen, J. (2010). Commentary on the Epistle of Paul the Apostle to the Hebrews (pp. 339 341). Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software. 5 Cabal, T., Brand, C. O., Clendenen, E. R., Copan, P., Moreland, J. P., & Powell, D. (2007). The Apologetics Study Bible: Real Questions, Straight Answers, Stronger Faith (p. 1838). Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers. 5 More study helps at www.daretoventure.org
since you yourselves also are in the body This could refer to (1) the physical body (cf. 2 Cor. 12:2, same Greek structure), susceptible to persecution and imprisonment or (2) the body of Christ (although the text does not have the expected Greek ARTICLE), the 6 Church, which was the object of persecution. 6 Utley, R. J. (1999). The Superiority of the New Covenant: Hebrews (Vol. Volume 10, p. 136). Marshall, Texas: Bible Lessons International. 6 More study helps at www.daretoventure.org