The
apostle, having treated largely of Christ, and faith, and free grace, and
gospel privileges, and warned the Hebrews against apostasy, now, in the
close of all, recommends several excellent duties to them, as the proper
fruits of faith (ver. 1-17); he then bespeaks their prayers for him, and
offers up his prayers to God for them, gives them some hope of seeing
himself and Timothy, and ends with the general salutation and benediction,
ver. 18, to the end.
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Various Duties.
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A. D. 62.
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1
Let brotherly love continue. 2 Be not forgetful to entertain
strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares. 3
Remember them that are in bonds, as bound with them; and them which
suffer adversity, as being yourselves also in the body. 4
Marriage is honourable in all, and the bed undefiled: but
whoremongers and adulterers God will judge. 5 Let your
conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such
things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake
thee. 6 So that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper,
and I will not fear what man shall do unto me. 7 Remember them
which have the rule over you, who have spoken unto you the word of God:
whose faith follow, considering the end of their conversation.
8 Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever. 9
Be not carried about with divers and strange doctrines. For it is a
good thing that the heart be established with grace; not with meats, which
have not profited them that have been occupied therein. 10 We
have an altar, whereof they have no right to eat which serve the
tabernacle. 11 For the bodies of those beasts, whose blood is
brought into the sanctuary by the high priest for sin, are burned without
the camp. 12 Wherefore Jesus also, that he might sanctify the
people with his own blood, suffered without the gate. 13 Let us
go forth therefore unto him without the camp, bearing his reproach.
14 For here have we no continuing city, but we seek one to come.
15 By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually,
that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name.
16 But to do good and to communicate forget not: for with such sacrifices
God is well pleased. 17 Obey them that have the rule over you,
and submit yourselves: for they watch for your souls, as they that must give
account, that they may do it with joy, and not with grief: for that is
unprofitable for you.
The design of Christ in
giving himself for us is that he may purchase to himself a peculiar
people, zealous of good works. Now the apostle calls the believing
Hebrews to the performance of many excellent duties, in which it becomes
Christians to excel.
I. To brotherly love (v.
1), by which he does not only mean a general affection to all men, as our
brethren by nature, all made of the same blood, nor that more limited
affection which is due to those who are of the same immediate parents, but
that special and spiritual affection which ought to exist among the children
of God. 1. It is here supposed that the Hebrews had this love one for
another. Though, at this time, that nation was miserably divided and
distracted among themselves, both about matters of religion and the civil
state, yet there was true brotherly love left among those of them who
believed on Christ; and this appeared in a very eminent manner presently
after the shedding forth of the Holy Ghost, when they had all things common,
and sold their possessions to make a general fund of subsistence to their
brethren. The spirit of Christianity is a spirit of love. Faith works by
love. The true religion is the strongest bond of friendship; if it be not
so, it has its name for nothing. 2. This brotherly love was in danger of
being lost, and that in a time of persecution, when it would be most
necessary; it was in danger of being lost by those disputes that were among
them concerning the respect they ought still to have to the ceremonies of
the Mosaic law. Disputes about religion too often produce a decay of
Christian affection; but this must be guarded against, and all proper means
used to preserve brotherly love. Christians should always love and live as
brethren, and the more they grow in devout affection to God their heavenly
Father the more they will grow in love to one another for his sake.
II. To hospitality: Be
not forgetful to entertain strangers for his sake, v. 2. We must
add to brotherly kindness charity. Here observe, 1. The duty required--to
entertain strangers, both those that are strangers to the commonwealth
of Israel, and strangers to our persons, especially those who know
themselves to be strangers here and are seeking another country, which is
the case of the people of God, and was so at this time: the believing Jews
were in a desperate and distressed condition. But he seems to speak of
strangers as such; though we know not who they are, nor whence they come,
yet, seeing they are without any certain dwelling place, we should allow
them room in our hearts and in our houses, as we have opportunity and
ability. 2. The motive: Thereby some have entertained angels unawares;
so Abraham did (Gen. xviii.), and Lot (Gen. xix.), and one of those that
Abraham entertained was the Son of God; and, though we cannot suppose this
will ever be our case, yet what we do to strangers, in obedience to him, he
will reckon and reward as done to himself. Matt. xxv. 35, I was a
stranger, and you took me in. God has often bestowed honours and favours
upon his hospitable servants, beyond all their thoughts, unawares.
III. To Christian
sympathy: Remember those that are in bonds, v. 3. Here
observe,
1. The duty--to remember
those that are in bonds and in adversity. (1.) God often orders
it so that while some Christians and churches are in adversity others enjoy
peace and liberty. All are not called at the same time to resist unto blood.
(2.) Those that are themselves at liberty must sympathize with those that
are in bonds and adversity, as if they were bound with them in the same
chain: they must fell the sufferings of their brethren.
2. The reason of the duty:
As being yourselves in the body; not only in the body natural, and so
liable to the like sufferings, and you should sympathize with them now that
others may sympathize with you when your time of trial comes; but in the
same mystical body, under the same head, and if one member suffer all the
rest suffer with it, 1 Cor. xii. 26. It would be unnatural in Christians
not to bear each other's burdens.
IV. To purity and
chastity, v. 4. Here you have, 1. A recommendation of God's ordinance
of marriage, that it is honourable in all, and ought to be so
esteemed by all, and not denied to those to whom God has not denied it. It
is honourable, for God instituted it for man in paradise, knowing it was not
good for him to be alone. He married and blessed the first couple, the first
parents of mankind, to direct all to look unto God in that great concern,
and to marry in the Lord. Christ honoured marriage with his presence and
first miracle. It is honourable as a means to prevent impurity and a defiled
bed. It is honourable and happy, when persons come together pure and
chaste, and preserve the marriage bed undefiled, not only from unlawful but
inordinate affections. 2. A dreadful but just censure of impurity and
lewdness: Whoremongers and adulterers God will judge. (1.) God knows
who are guilty of such sins, no darkness can hide them from him. (2.) He
will call such sins by their proper names, not by the names of love and
gallantry, but of whoredom and adultery, whoredom in the single state and
adultery in the married state. (3.) He will bring them into judgment, he
will judge them, either by their own consciences here, and set their sins
in order before them for their deep humiliation (and conscience, when
awakened, will be very severe upon such sinners), or he will set them at his
tribunal at death, and in the last day; he will convict them, condemn them,
and cast them out for ever, if they die under the guilt of this sin.
V. To Christian
contentment, v. 5, 6. Here observe, 1. The sin that is contrary to
this grace and duty--covetousness, an over eager desire of the wealth
of this world, envying those who have more than we. This sin we must allow
no place in our conversation; for, though it be a secret lust lurking in the
heart, if it be not subdued it will enter into our conversation, and
discover itself in our manner of speaking and acting. We must take care not
only to keep this sin down, but to root it out of our souls. 2. The duty and
grace that is contrary to covetousness--being satisfied and pleased with
such things as we have; present things, for past things cannot be
recalled, and future things are only in the hand of God. What God gives us
from day to day we must be content with, though it fall short of what we
have enjoyed heretofore, and though it do not come up to our expectations
for the future. We must be content with our present lot. We must bring our
minds to our present condition, and this is the sure way to contentment; and
those who cannot do it would not be contented though God should raise their
condition to their minds, for the mind would rise with the condition. Haman
was the great court-favourite, and yet not contented--Ahab on the throne,
and yet not contented--Adam in paradise, and yet not contented; yea, the
angels in heaven, and yet not contented; but Paul, though abased and empty,
had learned in every state, in any state, therewith to be
content. 3. What reason Christians have to be contented with their lot.
(1.) God hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee, v.
5, 6. This was said to Joshua (ch. i. 5), but belongs to all the
faithful servants of God. Old-Testament promises may be applied to
New-Testament saints. This promise contains the sum and substance of all the
promises. I will never, no, never leave thee, nor ever forsake
thee. Here are no fewer than five negatives heaped together, to confirm
the promise; the true believer shall have the gracious presence of God with
him in life, at death, and for ever. (2.) From this comprehensive promise
they may assure themselves of help from God: So that we may boldly say,
The Lord is my helper; I will not fear what man shall do unto me, v.
6. Men can do nothing against God, and God can make all that men do against
his people to turn to their good.
VI. To the duty Christians
owe to their ministers, and that both to those that are dead and to those
that are yet alive.
1. To those that are dead:
Remember those that have had the rule over you, v. 7. Here
observe,
(1.) The description given
of them. They were such as had the rule over them, and had spoken to them
the word of God; their guides and governors, who had spoken to them the word
of God. Here is the dignity to which they were advanced--to be rulers and
leaders of the people, not according to their own will, but the will and
word of God; and this character they filled up with suitable duty: they did
not rule at a distance, and rule by others, but they ruled by personal
presence and instruction, according to the word of God.
(2.) The duties owing to
them, even when they were dead.
[1.] "Remember
them--their preaching, their praying, their private counsel, their
example."
[2.] "Follow
their faith; be stedfast in the profession of the faith they preached
to you, and labour after the grace of faith by which they lived and died so
well. Consider the end of their conversation, how quickly, how
comfortably, how joyfully, they finished their course!" Now this duty
of following the same true faith in which they had been instructed the
apostle enlarges much upon, and presses them earnestly to it, not only from
the remembrance of their faithful deceased guides, but from several other
motives.
First, From the
immutability and eternity of the Lord Jesus Christ. Though their ministers
were some dead, others dying, yet the great head and high priest of the
church, the bishop of their souls, ever lives, and is ever the same;
and they should be stedfast and immovable, in imitation of Christ, and
should remember that Christ ever lives to observe and reward their faithful
adherence to his truths, and to observe and punish their sinful departure
from him. Christ is the same in the Old-Testament day, in the gospel day,
and will be so to his people for ever.
Secondly, From the
nature and tendency of those erroneous doctrines that they were in danger of
falling in with.
a. They were divers
and various (v. 9), different from what they had received from their
former faithful teachers, and inconsistent with themselves.
b. They were
strange doctrines: such as the gospel church was unacquainted with foreign
to the gospel.
c. They were of an
unsettling, distracting nature, like the wind by which the ship is tossed,
and in danger of being driven from its anchor, carried away, and split upon
the rocks. They were quite contrary to that grace of God which fixes and
establishes the heart, which is an excellent thing. These strange doctrines
keep the heart always fluctuating and unsettled.
d. They were mean
and low as to their subject. They were about external, little, perishing
things, such as meats and drinks, &c.
e. They were
unprofitable. Those who were most taken with them, and employed about them,
got no real good by them to their own souls. They did not make them more
holy, nor more humble, nor more thankful, nor more heavenly.
f. They would
exclude those who embraced them from the privileges of the Christian altar (v.
10): We have an altar. This is an argument of the great weight, and
therefore the apostle insists the longer upon it. Observe,
(a.) The Christian
church has its altar. It was objected against the primitive Christians that
their assemblies were destitute of an altar; but this was not true. We
have an alter, not a material altar, but a personal one, and that is
Christ; he is both our altar, and our sacrifice; he sanctifies the gift. The
altars under the law were types of Christ; the brazen altar of the
sacrifice, the golden altar of his intercession.
(b.) This altar
furnishes out a feast for true believers, a feast upon the sacrifice, a feast
of fat things, spiritual strength and growth, and holy delight and
pleasure. The Lord's table is not our altar, but it is furnished with
provision from the altar. Christ our passover is sacrificed for us (1
Cor. v. 7), and it follows, therefore let us keep the feast. The
Lord's supper is the feast of the gospel passover.
(c.) Those who
adhere to the tabernacle or the Levitical dispensation, or return to it
again, exclude themselves from the privileges of this altar, from the
benefits purchased by Christ. If they serve the tabernacle, they are
resolved to subject themselves to antiquated rites and ceremonies, to
renounce their right to the Christian altar; and this part of the argument
he first proves and then improves.
[a.] He proves that
this servile adherence to the Jewish state is a bar to the privileges of the
gospel altar; and he argues thus:--Under the Jewish law, no part of the
sin-offering was to be eaten, but all must be burnt without the camp while
they dwelt in tabernacles, and without the gates when they dwelt in cities:
now, if they will still be subject to that law, they cannot eat at the
gospel-altar; for that which is eaten there is furnished from Christ, who is
the great sin-offering. Not that it is the very sin-offering itself, as the
papists affirm; for then it was not to be eaten, but burnt; but the gospel
feast is the fruit and procurement of the sacrifice, which those have no
right to who do not acknowledge the sacrifice itself. And that it might
appear that Christ was really the antitype of the sin-offering, and, as
such, might sanctify or cleanse his people with his own blood, he conformed
himself to the type, in suffering without the gate. This was a striking
specimen of his humiliation, as if he had not been fit either for sacred or
civil society! And this shows how sin, which was the meritorious cause of
the sufferings of Christ, is a forfeiture of all sacred and civil rights,
and the sinner a common plague and nuisance to all society, if God should be
strict to mark iniquity. Having thus shown that adherence to the Levitical
law would, even according to its own rules, debar men from the Christian
altar, he proceeds,
[b.] To improve
this argument (v. 13-15) in suitable advices. First, Let us go
forth therefore unto him without the camp; go forth from the ceremonial
law, from sin, from the world, from ourselves, our very bodies, when he
calls us. Secondly, Let us be willing to bear his reproach, be
willing to be accounted the offscouring of all things, not worthy to live,
not worthy to die a common death. This was his reproach, and we must submit
to it; and we have the more reason because, whether we go forth from this
world to Christ or no, we must necessarily go forth in a little time by
death; for here we have no continuing city. Sin, sinners, death, will
not suffer us to continue long here; and therefore we should go forth now by
faith, and seek in Christ the rest and settlement which this world cannot
afford us, v. 14. Thirdly, Let us make a right use of this
altar; not only partake of the privileges of it, but discharge the duties of
the altar, as those whom Christ has made priests to attend on this altar.
Let us bring our sacrifices to this altar, and to this our high priest, and
offer them up by him, v. 15, 16. Now what are the sacrifices which we
must bring and offer on this altar, even Christ? Not any expiatory
sacrifices; there is no need of them. Christ has offered the great sacrifice
of atonement, ours are only the sacrifices of acknowledgment; and they
are, 1. The sacrifice of praise to God, which we should offer up to God
continually. In this are included all adoration and prayer, as well as
thanksgiving; this is the fruit of our lips; we must speak forth the
praises of God from unfeigned lips; and this must be offered only to God,
not to angels, nor saints, nor any creature, but to the name of God alone;
and it must be by Christ, in a dependence upon his meritorious satisfaction
and intercession. 2. The sacrifice of alms-deeds, and Christian charity: To
do good, and to communicate, forget now; for with such sacrifices God is
well pleased, v. 16. We must, according to our power, communicate
to the necessities of the souls and bodies of men; not contenting ourselves
to offer the sacrifice of our lips, mere words, but the sacrifice of good
deeds; and these we must lay down upon this altar, not depending upon the
merit of our good deeds, but of our great high priest; and with such
sacrifices as these, adoration and alms thus offered up, God is well
pleased; he will accept the offering with pleasure, and will accept and
bless the offers through Christ.
2. Having thus told us the
duty Christians owe to their deceased ministers, which principally consists
in following their faith and not departing from it, the apostle tells us
what is the duty that people owe to their living ministers (v. 17)
and the reasons of that duty: (1.) The duty--to obey them, and submit
themselves to them. It is not an implicit obedience, or absolute submission,
that is here required, but only so far as is agreeable to the mind and will
of God revealed in his word; and yet it is truly obedience and submission,
and that not only to God, but to the authority of the ministerial office,
which is of God as certainly, in all things belonging to that office, as the
authority of parents or of civil magistrates in the things within their
sphere. Christians must submit to be instructed by their ministers, and not
think themselves too wise, too good, or too great, to learn from them; and,
when they find that ministerial instructions are agreeable to the written
word, they must obey them. (2.) The motives to this duty. [1.] They have the
rule over the people; their office, though not magisterial, yet is truly
authoritative. They have no authority to lord it over the people, but to
lead them in the ways of God, by informing and instructing them, explaining
the word of God to them, and applying it to their several cases. They are
not to make laws of their own, but to interpret the laws of God; nor is
their interpretation to be immediately received without examination, but the
people must search the scriptures, and so far as the instructions of their
minister are according to that rule they ought to receive them, not as
the word of men, but, as they are indeed, the word of God, that works
effectually in those that believe. [2.] They watch for the souls of the
people, not to ensnare them, but to save them; to gain them, not to
themselves, but to Christ; to build them up in knowledge, faith, and
holiness. They are to watch against every thing that may be hurtful to the
souls of men, and to give them warning of dangerous errors, of the devices
of Satan, of approaching judgments; they are to watch for all opportunities
of helping the souls of men forward in the way to heaven. [3.] They must
give an account how they have discharged their duty, and what has become of
the souls committed to their trust, whether any have been lost through their
neglect, and whether any of them have been brought in and built up under
their ministry. [4.] They would be glad to give a good account of themselves
and their hearers. If they can then give in an account of their own fidelity
and success, it will be a joyful day to them; those souls that have been
converted and confirmed under their ministry will be their joy, and their
crown, in the day of the Lord Jesus. [5.] If they give up their account
with grief, it will be the people's loss as well as theirs. It is the
interest of hearers that the account their ministers give of them may be
with joy, and not with grief. If faithful ministers be not successful, the
grief will be theirs, but the loss will be the people's. Faithful ministers
have delivered their own souls, but a fruitless and faithless people's blood
and ruin will be upon their own heads.
18
Pray for us: for we trust we have a good conscience, in all things willing
to live honestly. 19 But I beseech you the rather to do
this, that I may be restored to you the sooner. 20 Now the God
of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great
shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant,
21 Make you perfect in every good work to do his will, working in you that
which is wellpleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ; to whom be
glory for ever and ever. Amen. 22 And I beseech you, brethren,
suffer the word of exhortation: for I have written a letter unto you in few
words. 23 Know ye that our brother Timothy is set at
liberty; with whom, if he come shortly, I will see you. 24
Salute all them that have the rule over you, and all the saints. They of
Italy salute you. 25 Grace be with you all. Amen.
Here, I. The apostle
recommends himself, and his fellow-sufferers, to the prayers of the Hebrew
believers (v. 18): "Pray for us; for me and Timothy"
(mentioned v. 23), "and for all those of us who labour in the
ministry of the gospel."
1. This is one part of the
duty which people owe to their ministers. Ministers need the prayers of the
people; and the more earnestly the people pray for their ministers the more
benefit they may expect to reap from their ministry. They should pray that
God would teach those who are to teach them, that he would make them
vigilant, and wise, and zealous, and successful--that he would assist them
in all their labours, support them under all their burdens, and strengthen
them under all their temptations.
2. There are good reasons
why people should pray for their ministers; he mentions two:--
(1.) We trust we have a
good conscience, &c., v. 18. Many of the Jews had a bad
opinion of Paul, because he, being a Hebrew of the Hebrews, had cast off the
Levitical law and preached up Christ: now he here modestly asserts his own
integrity: We trust we have a good conscience, in all things willing to
live honestly. We trust! he might have said, We know; but he
chose to speak in a humble style, to teach us all not to be too confident of
ourselves, but to maintain a godly jealousy over our own hearts. "We
trust we have a good conscience, an enlightened and well-informed
conscience, a clean and pure conscience, a tender and faithful conscience, a
conscience testifying for us, not against us: a good conscience in all
things, in the duties both of the first and second table, towards God
and towards men, and especially in all things pertaining to our ministry; we
would act honestly and sincerely in all things." Observe, [1.] A good
conscience has a respect to all God's commands and all our duty. [2.] Those
who have this good conscience, yet need the prayers of others. [3.]
Conscientious ministers are public blessings, and deserve the prayers of the
people.
(2.) Another reason why he
desires their prayers is that he hoped thereby to be the sooner restored to
them (v. 19), intimating that he had been formerly among them,--that,
now he was absent from them, he had a great desire and real intention to
come again to them,--and that the best way to facilitate his return to them,
and to make it a mercy to him and them, was to make it a matter of their
prayer. When ministers come to a people as a return of prayer, they come
with greater satisfaction to themselves and success to the people. We should
fetch in all our mercies by prayer.
II. He offers up his
prayers to God for them, being willing to do for them as he desired they
should do for him: Now the God of peace, &c., v. 20. In
this excellent prayer observe, 1. The title given to God--the God of
peace, who was found out a way for peace and reconciliation between
himself and sinners, and who loves peace on earth and especially in his
churches. 2. The great work ascribed to him: He hath brought again from
the dead our Lord Jesus, &c. Jesus raised himself by his own power;
and yet the Father was concerned in it, attesting thereby that justice was
satisfied and the law fulfilled. He rose again for our justification; and
that divine power by which he was raised is able to do every thing for us
that we stand in need of. 3. The titles given to Christ--our Lord Jesus, our
sovereign, our Saviour, and the great shepherd of the sheep, promised in Isa.
xl. 11, declared by himself to be so, John x. 14, 15. Ministers are
under-shepherds, Christ is the great shepherd. This denotes his interest in
his people. They are the flock of his pasture, and his care and concern are
for them. He feeds them, and leads them, and watches over them. 4. The way
and method in which God is reconciled, and Christ raised from the dead: Through
the blood of the everlasting covenant. The blood of Christ satisfied
divine justice, and so procured Christ's release from the prison of the
grace, as having paid our debt, according to an eternal covenant or
agreement between the Father and the Son; and this blood is the sanction and
seal of an everlasting covenant between God and his people. 5. The mercy
prayed for: Make you perfect in every good work, &c., v.
21. Observe, (1.) The perfection of the saints in every good work is the
great thing desired by them and for them, that they may here have a
perfection of integrity, a clear mind, a clean heart, lively affections,
regular and resolved wills, and suitable strength for every good work to
which they are called now, and at length a perfection of degrees to fit them
for the employment and felicity of heaven. (2.) The way in which God makes
his people perfect; it is by working in them always what is pleasing in his
sight, and that through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever.
Observe, [1.] There is no good thing wrought in us but it is the work of
God; he works in us, before we are fit for any good work. [2.] No good thing
is wrought in us by God, but through Jesus Christ, for his sake and by his
Spirit. And therefore, [3.] Eternal glory is due to him, who is the cause of
all the good principles wrought in us and all the good works done by us. To
this every one should say, Amen.
III. He gives the Hebrews
an account of Timothy's liberty and his hopes of seeing them with him in a
little time, v. 23. It seems, Timothy had been a prisoner, doubtless
for the gospel, but now he was set at liberty. The imprisonment of faithful
ministers is an honour to them, and their enlargement is matter of joy to
the people. He was pleased with the hopes of not only seeing Timothy, but
seeing the Hebrews with him. Opportunities of writing to the churches of
Christ are desired by the faithful ministers of Christ, and pleasant to
them.
IV. Having given a brief
account of this his letter, and begged their attention to it (v. 22),
he closes with salutations, and a solemn, though short benediction.
1. The salutation. (1.)
From himself to them, directed to all their ministers who had rule over
them, and to all the saints; to them all, ministers and people. (2.) From
the Christians in Italy to them. It is a good thing to have the law of holy
love and kindness written in the hearts of Christians one towards another.
Religion teaches men the truest civility and good-breeding. It is not a sour
nor morose thing.
2. The solemn, though
short benediction (v. 25): Grace be with you all. Amen. Let
the favour of God be towards you, and his grace continually working in you,
and with you, bringing forth the fruits of holiness, as the first-fruits of
glory. When the people of God have been conversing together by word or
writing, it is good to part with prayer, desiring for each other the
continuance of the gracious presence of God, that they may meet together
again in the world of praise.
