Duty to present pastors.
In Hebrews 13:7 the apostle had exhorted the Hebrews to honor the memory of their deceased ministers. But, if this was a duty incumbent on them, it was equally their duty to render Christian obedience to their living spiritual guides. These precepts connected with the pastoral relation remind us that even in the earliest times the Churches possessed a definite organization, and were presided over by regularly appointed spiritual office-bearers. A twofold duty towards their leaders is pointed out in these verses.
I. TO OBEY THEM. (Hebrews 13:17) The spiritual government of the Church is an ordinance of Christ, and a means of grace to his people. It is not, however, a despotic government. Pastors and presbyters are simply to administer the Law of Christ. They may not demand submission to what is based only upon their own will or caprice. But, within the limits of their rightful authority, they are to be honored and obeyed. Their public teaching is to be received with a view to personal edification. Their private pastoral admonitions are to be accepted as "an excellent oil "(Psalms 141:5). The censures of the Church, administered after conviction of scandalous sin, are to be submitted to, not as a penance, but as a means of spiritual benefit. The exhortation of this verse is needed in our own time. The present age is characterized not only by a healthy independence of thought, but also by an unhealthy impatience of legitimate authority—at once in the family, in the state, and in the Church. Yet there must be both government and discipline in every ecclesiastical society; and the proper administration of such is indispensable to the order and purity of the Church, if not even to her visible existence. In the latter part of the verse some reasons and motives are presented by which to enforce this duty of obedience in spiritual things.
1. The solemn work of the pastor. He "watches in behalf of your souls." If the Church ruler be worthy of his office, he will be full of vigilant solicitude for the salvation of the people whom the Lord Jesus has committed to his care. He will take trouble for their souls. He will seek to know the flock personally—their individual condition, character, and needs. He will try to establish true sympathy between himself and them. He will watch, that he may teach and warn and comfort, with a view to their salvation.
2. His responsibility to the chief Shepherd. Every minister knows that he "shall give account." In his private communion with his Master he ought from time to time to report to him upon the condition of his charge. And he must not forget that at the end of the days, when the Son of man shall separate the sheep from the goats, he shall address to him the solemn question, "Where is the flock that was given thee, thy beautiful flock?" (Jeremiah 13:20).
3. The hurtful recoil upon the souls of the people if they fail in obedience. A spirit of docility in the congregation will encourage its spiritual guides to do their responsible work with cheerfulness and joy. But when there is resistance to counsel and contumacy under discipline, the heart of the pastor will become cast down; he will be prone to feel his work irksome, and to do it "with grief," if indeed he be not tempted to abandon it altogether. And such a frame of mind in him will react in turn upon the congregation. A dejected minister will be more or less inefficient. The people will suffer much spiritual loss, for which they can only have themselves to blame.
II. TO PRAY FOR THEM. (Hebrews 13:18, Hebrews 13:19) In the verse preceding, the apostle has had in view the anxieties and burdens of the Christian ministry; so he now requests the prayers of the Hebrews for the pastors of the Church, and specially for himself. Here, for the first time in the course of this Epistle, the author—whoever he was—allows his personality to appear. He claims to stand in a pastoral relation to the Hebrews, not only on the ground of former intercourse, but in virtue of this letter, which he has weighted with precious instruction and affectionate appeal, Now, if apostles and inspired men felt the need of the intercessions of the Church, how earnestly ought she to pray for her ordinary pastors and teachers! And a congregation should not only implore Divine grace for "our beloved pastor"—a duty which is sometimes done in a spirit of parochial selfishness; we should also embrace in our intercessions the ministers of all the congregations with which we are associated in Church fellowship, and all the Lord's servants in the gospel everywhere. The writer advances two considerations in support of his request.
1. His purity of conduct. (Hebrews 13:18) He had the testimony of "a good conscience;" and yet he yearned for the sympathy of his brethren in all his labors and sufferings. Jewish zealots might asperse his motives and defame his character; but the prayers of his fellow-Christians would fortify him against such trials. And the Church ought still to pray for her godly pastors, that they may have grace "to live honestly in all things," preserving "a good conscience" in keeping their own hearts, in maintaining habits of study, in faithfully preaching the gospel, and in watching for souls by means of pastoral work.
2. His desire to revisit the Christian Hebrews. (Verse 19) The writer had resided among them at some former period, and he strongly wished to return to them so soon as circumstances might permit. He solicits their prayers, that the hindrances presently in his way may be removed. He makes this request very earnestly, and as a great personal favor to himself. We are reminded here, accordingly, that prayer is one of the powers which co-operate in the government of the world. The author of this Epistle was persuaded that the almighty energy of God is roused into action by the supplications of his people. He was quite sure that human prayers, not less than human deeds, are a factor in the Divine government. So he begged that the "voice" of the Church might "rise like a fountain for him night and day."
Concluding prayer for the Hebrews.
The apostle, having earnestly requested the prayers of the Christian Jews for himself, proceeds to plead for them at the throne of the heavenly grace. He virtually says, "Pray for me, brethren; I pray for you." And what a wonderful prayer is this! How brief, yet how comprehensive; how exquisitely simple, yet how deeply sublime! It is a benediction as well as a petition. And it is so richly colored with the doctrine which the writer has been discussing that it reads almost like a summary of the Epistle. Consider—
I. THE TITLE UNDER WHICH GOD IS ADDRESSED. "The God of peace." This is a Pauline expression. Outside of this book it occurs only in the writings of Paul. The appellation is profoundly suggestive. God is "the God of peace"
II. THE SPECIAL REDEMPTIVE ACT HERE CELEBRATED. It is that of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus—an event not referred to elsewhere in the Epistle. The God who works peace had sent his Son to obey and suffer and die for man's sin; and the same God had brought him again from the dead, and confirmed him in his high dignity as "the great Shepherd of the sheep." Throughout this prayer of benediction the writer seems to have in view Isaiah 63:11-14, and to think of the Lord Jesus by contrast with Moses, and the other shepherds of ancient Israel. Jacob and Joseph, Moses and Aaron, Samuel and David, had all been true" shepherds of his flock;" but the Lord Jesus is "the great Shepherd." The Hebrews were to cherish the memory of their own former pastors (Isaiah 63:7), and they had other pastors set over them now (Isaiah 63:17); but the Lord Jesus, the crucified and risen One, was ever their chief Pastor. He had laid down his life as "the good Shepherd," but in rising from the dead and ascending to heaven he had shown himself to be "the great Shepherd." On every account he is entitled to be called "great;" e.g. because all the prophets spoke of him, because all former true shepherds were types of him, because he is himself mighty to save, and because of the vastness of the flock over which he shall preside. Here in particular, however, the apostle calls him "great" because he has sealed the new and "eternal covenant" with his "blood." That blood was the blood of God' himself (Acts 20:28); and so the covenant confirmed with such a costly sacrifice cannot but be everlasting. Not only so, but the Lord Jesus died, not merely as a federal offering; he died as a Sin Offering. His death completed the fulfillment of the covenant stipulations on his and our part; and, as we know that God also will be faithful to the treaty on his side, we are sure it shall stand forever. Christ is "the Mediator of the new covenant" and "the great Shepherd of the sheep," through virtue of the merit of his blood.
III. THE SPIRITUAL BLESSING PRAYED FOR. (Verse 21) It is the gift of perfect sanctification, a blessing that had been expressly promised and guaranteed in connection with the new covenant (Jeremiah 31:33, Jeremiah 31:34). The God who has elevated the Lord Jesus to be the Head of the final dispensation is both able and willing to perform his own covenant promise. "Make you perfect;" i.e. put you into order, restore you, equip you. Naturally, every man needs to have his soul reorganized before he can learn to do God's will. And sometimes a good man requires, as many of these Hebrew believers did, a second conversion. The apostle prays that their equipment may be thorough; that it may be a deep and comprehensive work within the soul, wrought there by the power of the Holy Ghost, and which shall bear fruit outwardly in a career of perfect holiness that shall be "well-pleasing in God's sight." It is not enough to practice only some of the virtues of the Christian character; we must be "perfect in every good thing "—in worship and work, in thought and feeling, in body and spirit. The rule of our perfect equipment is "his will"—the mind of God as made known to us in Holy Scripture. And the medium by which it is accomplished is "through Jesus Christ"—by means of his gracious operations upon the heart by his Spirit. Perfect holiness in man is all of his creation: not by his doctrine merely, or by faith in him; but through himself, and by virtue of the believer's union to him.
IV. THE DOXOLOGY WITH WHICH THE PRAYER CLOSES. "To whom "—i.e. as we take it, to "the God of peace" who is addressed in the prayer. And yet, when "the glory" is ascribed to him, it is given to all the three Divine Persons—to God the Father, who "brought again our Lord Jesus from the dead;" to God the Son, "the great Shepherd of the sheep" and Mediator of "the eternal covenant;" and to God the Spirit, the executive of the Deity, who personally "worketh in us" and "makes us perfect." This doxology is the language of spiritual instinct; and, being such, it is irrepressible. So soon as any human heart really apprehends that Jehovah is "the God of peace," and feels grateful for his unspeakable gift of "the great Shepherd," and accepts the blessings of "the eternal covenant," and becomes conscious of the transforming influence of grace within itself,—how is that heart to be restrained from breaking forth into adoring praise, and from uttering the desire that the Divine glory should be universal and eternal? May our souls be in such full sympathy with this prayer of benediction as to join with emphasis in the apostle's rapturous and fervent "Amen"!