Personal exhortations.
This book "to the Hebrews" begins like a doctrinal treatise; but it ends like a letter. Hebrews 13:1-25. is written quite in the epistolary form; and concludes with some personal notices—the only such that are to be found in the book. The verses before us contain counsels suited to the individual Christian life. Here the apostle says in effect to his readers—Be not selfish (Hebrews 13:1-3); be not sensual (Hebrews 13:4); be not sordid (Hebrews 13:5, Hebrews 13:6).
I. AN EXHORTATION TO BROTHERLY LOVE. (Hebrews 13:1-3) In the New Testament, love of the brethren means love of the spiritual brotherhood of believers. The natural affection which subsists between brothers and sisters, although very sacred and beautiful, is not in itself Christian brotherly love. No more is patriotism, or love of country, a distinctively Christian sentiment. The brotherly love which the gospel inspires forgets all differences merely of kindred and nation. It is a spiritual bond, and unites the saint to all his fellow-believers everywhere. This love is not one of the things "that can be shaken" (Hebrews 12:27); it "never faileth" (1 Corinthians 13:8, 1 Corinthians 13:13). So, the apostle exhorts the Hebrews to make sure that it shall "remain" among themselves, and be as actively exercised in the future as in the past (Hebrews 6:10). For, the spirit which rejoices to recognize fellow-believers—taking pleasure in their society, laboring to promote their welfare, and throwing the veil of charity over their failings—is one of the richest and ripest fruits of the Christian life. Love of the brethren is the cement of a congregation. And only the man who cherishes it is, in the proper meaning of the word, a gentleman. In Hebrews 13:2, Hebrews 13:3, the apostle specifies two modes by which it is essential that brotherly love should be manifested; those, viz. of hospitality and sympathy. It is to be shown towards:
1. Brethren who are strangers. (Hebrews 13:2) The Christian Hebrews were to account it a sacred duty hospitably to entertain fellow-believers from other lands or districts, who might be traveling either on business, or in the service of the Church, or because driven from home by persecution. And not only a sacred duty, but a blessed privilege. For as Abraham and Lot (Genesis 18:1-33., 19) "entertained angels unawares," so the stranger whom the Christian receives may turn out to be a messenger from God to his soul—one whose presence may fill his house with the atmosphere of heaven. Should the stranger be a man whose mind is stored with the treasures of spiritual truth, and whose affections are devout and pure, his visit may prove a means of direct quickening to the religious life of the household. Samuel Rutherford experienced this privilege, when one Saturday evening he received a stranger into his pleasant manse at Anworth; for after being impressed at the family catechizing with the guest's answer that the number of the commandments was eleven, the "new commandment" (John 13:34) being cited as proof, he discovered by-and-by that his visitor was Archbishop Usher, the learned and devout primate of the Church of Ireland. But another and a still sweeter thought is not remote from the motive to hospitality contained in this verse, viz. that in entertaining Christ's servants we are receiving the Master himself: "I was a Stranger, and ye took me in" (Matthew 25:35).
2. Brethren who are sufferers. (Verse 3) The Hebrews were to "remember" the saints who might be in prison. They were to do so "as bound with them;"—a beautiful expression, breathing the aroma of true Christian sympathy. They were to pray earnestly for them, if possible visit them, minister to their wants, and strive to secure their liberation. Brotherly kindness would lead them to conceive of themselves as occupying the position of the sufferers. It would cause them to realize the "bonds" of their brethren as an affliction personal to themselves, just as the elder Brother's love does (Acts 9:4). But, since imprisonment is not the only calamity to which believers are exposed, the apostle proceeds to bespeak sympathy for all who in any way "are evil entreated" for Jesus' sake. We ourselves are liable to the same adversities which our brethren endure. Let us, therefore, identify ourselves with them. It is not enough that we contribute to public charities. Neither do we discharge all our duty when we employ some person as our proxy to care for the sufferers. True Christian sympathy requires that we bring ourselves into personal contact with them. Strength is often received from the glance of a sympathizing eye, or the grasp of a loving hand, or the utterance of a tender word of holy comfort.
II. A WARNING AGAINST IMPURITY. (Verse 4) The first part of this verse should certainly be translated as an exhortation. Marriage is to be" had in honor;" not so much here, however, as against celibacy, but in opposition to unchastity. The apostle in this precept elevates marriage to its rightful place as a Divine ordinance. The ethics of the New Testament magnify family life. The Christian religion, in honoring the family, guarding its rights, and proclaiming its duties, has invested home with a halo of loveliness. Wherever the sacred character of marriage is recognized and felt, the result will be purity. And, adds the apostle, there is judgment in reserve for those who dishonor God's ordinance in this matter. For the adulterer is guilty of the greatest of all social crimes, murder alone excepted. Whether, therefore, the breaker of the seventh commandment be a single or a married person, he shall not escape. The doom of impenitent sensualists will be none the less dreadful that the apostle does not here enlarge upon it. He feels it enough to say solemnly regarding such persons, "God will judge."
III. A DISSUASIVE AGAINST THE LOVE OF MONEY. (Verses 5, 6) Constantly in the New Testament sensuality and avarice are mentioned together as being sins of the same class. If sensuality hardens the human heart, sordidness does so also. The love of filthy lucre will drag a man down to perdition quite as readily and insidiously as the love of filthy lust. Avarice is often regarded as the national sin of the Hebrew race. The natural man Jacob is very prone to develop—unless Divine grace prevent—into the sordid, grasping Shylock. But the Anglo-Saxon nations are all powerfully predisposed to this sin too. In our own time how largely are riches over-estimated, both as a means of happiness and as an evidence of success in life! Even the Church of Christ is tempted to pay court to wealth. Yet it cannot be denied that the Savior forbids his people to make it one of their chief aims to accumulate gold. We are to be diligent in business, and neither despise money nor set our hearts upon it. To be "content with present things" (verse 5) is a high Christian attainment. And a man's habits of thought and life in connection with money are a touchstone of his character. "A right measure and manner in getting, saving, spending, giving, taking, lending, borrowing, and bequeathing, would almost argue a perfect man" (Henry Taylor). The apostle sustains his precept by an appeal to Scripture (verse 5). The words quoted, "I will in no wise fail thee," etc., contain in the original no fewer than five negatives, and are thus, as it were, a fivefold assurance of the Divine support. God gave this same promise to so many of the ancient saints—to Jacob, Joshua, Solomon, etc.—that it possesses the force of a spiritual adage, and thus may be personally appropriated by every believer. In all ages thousands of the people of God have rested on it, and have accordingly exemplified the rare and difficult grace of contentment. This is matter of history and of observation.
"O earth, so full of dreary noises!
O men, with wailing in your voices
O delved gold, the wailers heap!
O strife, O curse, that o'er it fall!
God strikes a silence through you all,
And giveth his beloved sleep."
(Mrs. Browning)
Seeing, then, that we who believe are assured of the Divine presence and help, why should we not have the "good courage" (verse 6) to say with the psalmist, "I will not fear: what shall man do unto me" (Psalms 118:6)? Avarice has its root in want of faith in God; but no one who is persuaded that the Lord is with him need dread any kind of poverty. Having Jehovah for his Champion, he will not "make gold his hope, or say to the fine gold, Thou art nay confidence." Divine grace will root up out of his heart the noxious weed of covetousness, and plant in its room the fair arid fragrant flower of contentment.
Deceased pastors.
Passing from admonitions bearing upon the individual Christian life, the writer now proceeds to exhort the brethren about matters arising out of their Church relations. He charges them to cherish the memory of their departed Christian teachers.
I. THE WORK OF THE PASTORATE. The duties of the gospel ministry, when these are faithfully discharged, may be said to be threefold.
1. To bear rule over the Church. Christ has given to his Church the "power of the keys," vesting it in her pastors and presbyters. This power, however, is simply ministerial. The rulers of the Church merely administer the laws given by the Lord Jesus Christ, her King and Head. While at liberty to frame by laws which may promote the edifying celebration of the ordinances which be has founded, they dare not prescribe new laws or appoint new ordinances. They are to admit to Church communion and exclude from it; but only upon the lines laid down in the New Testament.
2. To speak the Word of God. The main function of the ministry is to preach the gospel, and to teach Christian truth. The gospel is a definite "word;" and it is enshrined in a Book which is called "The Word." The preacher's text-book is not the newspaper, or the current literature of the day, but "the oracles of God." The great design of the Christian pulpit is to promote the intellectual and experimental knowledge of the Bible. And no minister "shall have lived in vain if it can be written over his grave, 'He made the people understand the Scriptures'" (Dr. John Hall).
3. To live a consistent Christian life. When a pastor is, like Barnabas, "a good man, and full of the Holy Ghost and of faith," it is to be expected that "much people will be added unto the Lord" (Acts 11:24). A holy example lends incalculable momentum to Christian teaching. "The life of a pious minister is visible rhetoric" (Hooker).
"To draw mankind to heaven by gentleness
And good example, was his business …
And Jesus' love, which owns no pride or pelf,
He taught; but first he followed it himself."
(Chaucer)
II. THE DUTY OF BELIEVERS TOWARDS THEIR DECEASED PASTORS. Although these are removed from us, we still have duties towards them. Indeed, the relationship of pastor and people, being spiritual in its nature, may be said to be prolonged into eternity. We must:
1. Remember their official work. We should recall the strain of their Christian teaching, and think with gratitude of their spiritual supervision. If we continue to "esteem them exceeding highly in love for their work's sake," they "being dead, shall yet speak" to us. Many a believer tools that he has had one spiritual guide in particular whose influence over his heart and life must continue unaffected by change or time; viz. the pastor under whose ministry he was converted, or whose teaching helped most powerfully to mould his Christian thought and give direction to his spiritual energies.
2. Consider their consistent Christian life. When a man's career is finished, it can be surveyed as a whole, and its moral worth appraised. So the character of a godly minister comes to be appreciated at its full value only when we are in a position to "consider the issue of his life." The early spiritual guides of the Hebrews had all died in faith; and some of them, it may be (e.g. Stephen, James the son of Zebedee, and James the Little), had obtained the crown of martyrdom. And what an evidence still of the truth of Christianity is the blameless, unselfish, beneficent career, continued through perhaps two generations, of a faithful Christian minister! What a magnificent sunset the close of the life of the pastor who can say upon his death-bed, "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith" (2 Timothy 4:7).
3. Imitate their holy fidelity. These primitive pastors had been sorely tried; yet they had never swerved from their loyalty to Christ and to his truth. Like the heroes of the old dispensation, whose exploits are recounted in Hebrews 11:1-40., they had "lived by faith." Why, then, should any of the members of the Church, whom they had taught, be guilty of apostasy? Those doctrines of grace which the teachers had held fast were surely worthy of the adherence of the disciples. Let us also continue steadfastly in the pure gospel truth which our departed spiritual guides adorned in their lives, and let us copy their holy and persevering fidelity to the Redeemer.
III. A BLESSED ENCOURAGEMENT TO DISCHARGE THIS DUTY. Hebrews 11:8 is to be read as an affirmation: "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday," etc. It expresses the glorious thought of the changelessness of the Redeemer. He is ever the same in his Divine nature, in his true humanity, in his mediatorial power, in his love and tenderness, in his gospel and its promises. More particularly here he is immutable:
1. As the theme of the pulpit. The preacher of the gospel dies, but "the Word of God" which he spoke is immortal. That Word has its focus in the person and work of the Savior. Its central fact is the death of Christ. The backbone of evangelical preaching is the scheme of redemption by him. And the singular vitality of the pulpit, as compared with other institutions—as, e.g. schools of philosophy, scientific societies, commercial guilds—is due to this undying theme; undying, because coeval with the deepest needs of men in all time. We should, then, remember those who "spake the Word of God," because the Word which they spoke is indestructible.
2. As the confidence of the sailors. The apostolic missionaries who had first preached to the Hebrews had made Jesus Christ their own Stay during life, and their "Guide even unto death." It was he who had succored them under all their afflictions and persecutions as ministers of the Word. And, although they were now dead, the same Savior still lived. It was fitted to be a powerful stimulus to the Hebrews to imitate the faithfulness of their ministers, that the immutable Redeemer remains forever with his people; and that they, too, could link their souls with him, and share in his immutability.
3. As the perpetual Pastor of the Church. The under-shepherds are taken away, but the chief Shepherd abides. Each of them was one of his "gifts for men," lent only for a season. But the ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ himself is perennial and inexhaustible. During the "yesterday" of the Jewish dispensation he made his sheep "to lie down in green pastures" (Psalms 23:2). During the today of the Christian dispensation he presides over his flock by his Spirit, "that they may have life, and may have it abundantly" (John 10:10). And, during the blessed "forever" which shall begin with the second coming, when all his sheep shall have been gathered from their various folds into the infinite meadows of heaven," the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall be their Shepherd, and shall guide them unto fountains of waters of life" (Revelation 7:17).