Hebrews 13:1 - Meaning and Application

Christ’s purpose in giving himself for us was to buy a people for himself, a people set apart and eager to do good works. So the apostle now calls the believing Hebrews to practice many excellent duties, things in which Christians ought to stand out.

First, he calls them to brotherly love (Hebrews 13:1). He does not mean only a general kindness toward all people, since all are our brothers by nature and made from the same human stock. He also does not mean only the closer affection owed to those with the same parents. He means that special, spiritual love that should exist among God’s children.

This love was already present among the Hebrews, and the writer assumes it. At that time, the Jewish nation was badly divided over religion and civil life, yet there was real brotherly love among those who believed in Christ. That love showed itself clearly after the Holy Spirit was given, when believers held things in common and sold their property to help support their brothers and sisters. The spirit of Christianity is a spirit of love. Faith works through love, and true religion is the strongest bond of friendship. If it is not, then it is only a name.

This brotherly love was in danger of fading, especially in a time of persecution when it was most needed. It was also threatened by disputes among them about how much respect they should still give to the ceremonies of Moses, that is, the law God gave through Moses. Arguments about religion too often cool Christian affection, but believers must guard against that. They should do everything they can to keep brotherly love alive. Christians should always love and live like brothers. The more they grow in devotion to God their heavenly Father, the more they will love one another for his sake.

Second, he urges hospitality: “Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers” (Hebrews 13:2). We must add kindness to brotherly love. The duty is to welcome strangers, both those who are strangers to the people of Israel and those who are strangers to us personally. This especially includes those who know they are strangers in this world and are looking for another country, which was true of God’s people at that time. The believing Jews were in a hard and desperate condition. Yet he speaks generally of strangers. Even when we do not know who they are or where they come from, if they have no certain home, we should make room for them in our hearts and homes as far as we are able.

The reason is clear: some have welcomed angels without knowing it. Abraham did so (Genesis 18), and Lot did as well (Genesis 19). One of the visitors Abraham welcomed was the Son of God. We should not assume this will happen to us, but whatever we do for strangers in obedience to Christ, he counts and rewards it as done for himself (Matthew 25:35). God has often given honors and blessings to hospitable servants far beyond what they expected.

Third, he calls them to Christian sympathy: “Remember those in prison” (Hebrews 13:3). The duty is to remember those who are in chains and trouble. God often arranges matters so that while some Christians and churches are in distress, others enjoy peace and freedom. Not all are called at the same time to suffer to the point of bloodshed. Those who are free must share the feelings of those in prison and hardship, as if they were chained with them. They must truly feel their brothers’ suffering.

The reason is that they are themselves still in the body. That means, first, they are in physical bodies and may suffer the same things, so they should show sympathy now in hope that others will do the same for them if their own time of trial comes. It also means they belong to the same spiritual body, under the same head. If one part suffers, all the rest suffer with it (1 Corinthians 12:26). It would be unnatural for Christians not to carry one another’s burdens.

Fourth, he urges purity and chastity (Hebrews 13:4). He speaks well of God’s ordinance of marriage. Marriage is honorable in all, and all should esteem it so. It should not be denied to those to whom God has not denied it. It is honorable because God established it for humanity in Eden, knowing it was not good for man to be alone. He joined and blessed the first couple, the first parents of the human race, so that all might look to God in this important matter and marry in the Lord. Christ honored marriage by his presence and by his first miracle. Marriage is also honorable because it helps prevent impurity and a defiled bed. It is honorable and happy when people come together pure and stay pure, keeping the marriage bed undefiled, not only from unlawful acts but also from sinful desires.

He then gives a serious and just warning about impurity and sexual sin: “God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterers” (Hebrews 13:4). God knows who is guilty of such sins, and no darkness can hide them from him. He calls these sins by their proper names, not by softer words like love or romance, but by whoredom and adultery, meaning sexual sin outside marriage and betrayal within marriage. He will bring these sins into judgment. He may do this through a person’s own conscience in this life, laying sins out before them so they are deeply humbled. A guilty conscience, once awakened, is very severe. Or he may judge them at death and on the last day. He will expose, condemn, and cast out forever those who die in the guilt of this sin.

Fifth, he calls them to Christian contentment (Hebrews 13:5, 6). The sin opposite to this grace is covetousness, an eager craving for worldly wealth and envy toward those who have more than we do. We must allow this sin no place in our lives. Even if it hides in the heart, if it is not conquered, it will show itself in speech and conduct. We must not only hold it down, but root it out of our souls.

The duty that stands against covetousness is to be satisfied with what we have. That means present things, since the past cannot be brought back and the future is only in God’s hand. Whatever God gives us from day to day, we must be content with it, even if it is less than we had before or less than we hope for later. We must bring our minds into agreement with our present condition, and that is the sure path to contentment. Those who cannot do that would not be content even if God raised their condition to match their desires, because their desires would rise with it. Haman was a favorite at court and still was not content. Ahab sat on a throne and still was not content. Adam was in paradise and still was not content. Even the angels in heaven are not described here as content by nature. But Paul, though humbled and in need, had learned in whatever state he was to be content.

God has said, “I will never leave you or forsake you” (Hebrews 13:5, Hebrews 13:6). He said this to Joshua (Joshua 1:5), but it belongs to all God’s faithful servants. Promises given in the Old Testament can be rightly applied to believers in the New Testament. This promise holds the heart of all God’s promises. It means, “I will never, no never, leave you, and I will never forsake you.”

The promise is strengthened by five negatives, piled up to make it firm. The true believer will have God’s gracious presence in life, at death, and forever. From this full promise, believers may confidently say, “The Lord is my helper; I will not fear what man can do to me” (Hebrews 13:6). Men can do nothing against God, and God can turn all they do against his people into good.

Christians also owe a duty to their ministers, both to those who have died and to those still alive. To those who have died, Scripture says, “Remember those who had rule over you” (Hebrews 13:7). These were their guides and leaders, men who spoke to them the word of God. Their dignity was not in ruling by their own will, but in leading by God’s word. They did not lead from a distance or through others, but by personal presence and teaching according to God’s word.

Even after they are dead, believers should remember such ministers for their preaching, their prayers, their private counsel, and their example. They should follow their faith, staying firm in the same truth they preached, and also seeking the grace of faith by which they lived and died well. They should consider how their lives ended, how quickly, how peacefully, and how joyfully they finished their course.

The apostle presses this duty strongly, and he gives several reasons. First, Jesus Christ never changes. Even if some ministers are dead and others are dying, the great head and high priest of the church, the overseer of believers’ souls, always lives and is always the same. Christians should be steady and unshaken in imitation of Christ. They should remember that Christ lives forever to watch over and reward faithful loyalty to his truth, and to judge sinful turning away from it. He is the same in Old Testament days, in gospel days, and forever with his people.

Second, they should beware of false teachings because of what such teachings are like. These doctrines were varied and different from what they had received from faithful teachers, and they did not even agree with themselves. They were strange to the gospel church and outside the gospel itself. They were unsettling and distracting, like a ship tossed by the wind, in danger of losing its anchor, being carried away, and crashing on the rocks. They were opposite to the grace of God, which settles and strengthens the heart. Strange doctrines keep the heart changing and unsettled.

They were also low and petty, dealing with outward and temporary things like foods and drinks. They were unprofitable, because people who were most drawn to them gained no real good for their souls. These teachings did not make them more holy, more humble, more thankful, or more heavenly. They would also shut people out from the blessings of the Christian altar (Hebrews 13:10): “We have an altar.” This is a weighty point, so the apostle spends time on it.

The Christian church does have an altar. Some accused the early Christians of having no altar, but that was false. We do have an altar, not a physical one, but a personal one, Christ himself. He is both our altar and our sacrifice, and he makes the gift holy. The altars under the law pointed to Christ, with the bronze altar showing sacrifice and the golden altar showing intercession.

This altar provides a feast for true believers, a feast on the sacrifice, a feast of rich food, spiritual strength and growth, and holy joy. The Lord’s table is not our altar, but it is supplied from the altar. Christ our Passover has been sacrificed for us (1 Corinthians 5:7), and therefore we should keep the feast. The Lord’s Supper is the feast of the gospel Passover.

Those who cling to the tabernacle or the Levitical system, or go back to it, shut themselves out from the blessings of this altar and from the benefits Christ purchased. If they serve the tabernacle, they choose old rites and ceremonies and give up their right to the Christian altar. The apostle first proves this, then applies it.

He shows that continuing under the Jewish law bars people from the privileges of the gospel altar. Under that law, no part of the sin offering was to be eaten, but it had to be burned outside the camp when they lived in tents, and outside the city gates when they lived in cities. So if they still hold to that law, they cannot eat at the gospel altar. What is eaten there comes from Christ, the great sin offering. It is not the sacrifice itself, as the Roman Catholics say, for the sin offering was burned, not eaten. Rather, the gospel feast is the fruit and result of that sacrifice, and those who do not acknowledge the sacrifice itself have no right to the feast.

To show that Christ was truly the fulfillment of the sin offering and could cleanse his people with his own blood, he matched the type by suffering outside the gate. This was a clear sign of his humiliation, as if he were unfit for either sacred or civil society. It also shows how sin, which deserved Christ’s sufferings, cuts a person off from all sacred and civil rights, and makes the sinner a public burden and danger to society, if God were strict to mark iniquity.

After showing that holding to the Levitical law would, by its own rules, keep people from the Christian altar, he moves on to use this argument in a fitting way (Hebrews 13:13-15). First, let us go out to him outside the camp, away from the ceremonial law, away from sin, away from the world, and even away from ourselves and our bodies when he calls us.

Second, let us be ready to bear Christ’s reproach. We should be willing to be treated as the refuse of the world, not worthy to live, or even to die an ordinary death. That was his reproach, and we must accept it as part of following him. We have even more reason to do so because, whether we go out of this world to Christ or not, we must soon leave it by death. Here we have no lasting city, and sin, sinners, and death will not let us stay long. So we should now go out by faith and seek in Christ the rest and stability this world cannot give us (Heb 13:14).

Third, let us use this altar rightly. We should not only enjoy its blessings, but also carry out its duties, as people whom Christ has made priests to serve at this altar. Let us bring our sacrifices to this altar, and to our high priest, and offer them through him (Heb 13:15, Heb 13:16). What sacrifices should we bring and offer on this altar, which is Christ? Not sacrifices for sin, because there is no need for those. Christ has already offered the great sacrifice of atonement, that is, the sacrifice that makes us right with God. Ours are sacrifices of thanks and praise.

The first is the sacrifice of praise to God, which we should offer continually. This includes worship, prayer, and thanksgiving. It is the fruit of our lips. We must speak God’s praise from sincere lips, and this praise is for God alone, not for angels, saints, or any creature. It must also be offered through Christ, depending on his full payment for sin and his intercession, his work of speaking for us before the Father.

The second is the sacrifice of helping others and Christian love. “Do good and share with others” is something we must not forget, because God is pleased with such sacrifices (Heb 13:16). According to our ability, we should meet the needs of people’s souls and bodies. We should not be satisfied with words only, the sacrifice of our lips, but should offer the sacrifice of good works. We must lay these on this altar too, not trusting in the worth of our own deeds, but in our great high priest. God is pleased with sacrifices like these, praise and generosity offered through Christ. He accepts the gift with delight, and he accepts and blesses the giver through Christ.

Having spoken of the duty Christians owe to their departed ministers, mainly to follow their faith and not turn from it, the apostle now tells us the duty owed to living ministers (Heb 13:17) and the reasons for it. The duty is to obey them and submit to them. This is not blind obedience or total surrender. It means obeying in everything that agrees with God’s will revealed in his Word. Even so, it is real obedience and submission, and not only to God, but also to the authority of the minister’s office, which comes from God just as surely as the authority of parents or civil rulers in their proper place. Christians should let their ministers teach them, and should not think they are too wise, too good, or too important to learn from them. When they find that ministerial teaching matches Scripture, they should obey it.

There are also reasons for this duty. First, ministers have rule over the people. Their office is not one of domination, but it is truly authoritative. They have no right to lord it over people, but to lead them in God’s ways by teaching them, explaining Scripture, and applying it to their needs. They are not to make laws of their own, but to explain God’s laws. Even so, people should not accept a minister’s interpretation without checking it. They must search the Scriptures, and as far as the minister’s teaching agrees with that rule, they should receive it, not as mere human opinion, but as the Word of God, which works powerfully in those who believe.

Second, ministers watch over souls, not to trap them, but to save them. Their aim is not to draw people to themselves, but to Christ, and to build them up in knowledge, faith, and holiness. They must watch against anything harmful to souls, warn people about dangerous errors, Satan’s tricks, and coming judgments, and look for every chance to help people move forward on the way to heaven.

Third, ministers must give an account of how they have done their duty, and what has become of the souls entrusted to them. They must answer whether any were lost through their neglect, or whether any were brought in and strengthened through their ministry. Fourth, they would gladly give a good account of themselves and their hearers. If they can report faithfulness and fruit, it will be a joyful day for them. The souls converted and strengthened under their ministry will be their joy and crown on the day of the Lord Jesus.

Fifth, if they must give their account with grief, that loss belongs to the people as well as to them. It is in the hearers’ own interest that their ministers can give their account with joy, not grief. If faithful ministers are not successful, the grief is theirs, but the loss is the people’s. Faithful ministers will have done their duty and saved themselves, but the blood and ruin of a fruitless and unfaithful people will be on their own heads.