Tyndale Open Study Notes

Verse 1

13:1-6 This series of practical guidelines is similar to other ethics lists in the New Testament. It describes how to love others in the community of faith, a strong ethical foundation for all of life.

13:1 Keep on loving each other as brothers and sisters: Literally Continue in brotherly love. This instruction applies to everyone in the Christian community (see study notes on 2:11; 3:1).

Verse 2

13:2 Hospitality is another foundational principle in Jewish and Christian ethics (1 Pet 4:9; see also Matt 10:11; Acts 16:15; Titus 3:13; Phlm 1:22; 3 Jn 1:5-8). In the first century, most people did not stay at inns when traveling. • Some . . . have entertained angels: See Gen 18:2-15; Judg 13:2-23.

Verse 3

13:3 Remember those in prison: Prisoners often depended on family members and friends for their most basic needs. Christians were challenged to provide comfort, food, prayer, and other necessities for those imprisoned because of their faith (13:18-19; Matt 25:36; Col 4:18; 2 Tim 1:16).

Verse 4

13:4 Give honor to marriage means to protect it and hold it as highly valuable. • Immoral refers to all sexually illicit behavior. • Adultery breaks the marriage vow by engaging in sexual activity outside the marriage relationship.

Verse 5

13:5 Don’t love money: See 1 Tim 6:6-10. Instead, the believer is to be satisfied with what God has provided. Perhaps some in the community were under financial strain (see Heb 10:32-34). The promises of God still stand: “I will never fail you. I will never abandon you” (see Deut 31:6, 8).

Verse 6

13:6 This quotation from Ps 118:6 offers the response of faith: The Lord is my helper, so we can have no fear of what people might do.

Verse 7

13:7-19 This middle section of Ch 13 is bracketed by references to the community’s leaders (13:7, 17-19). Rabbis often used this technique, called inclusio, in which similar words or phrases were used to mark the beginning and ending of a unit, much as we would use a subheading in a book today. This section hints at several difficulties in the church to which Hebrews was originally addressed.

13:7 Remember your leaders: The word leaders was used for military, political, and religious leaders. These leaders, evidently founders of this community, taught . . . the word of God to them—a basic responsibility of those who lead (see 1 Tim 3:2; 2 Tim 2:15; Titus 1:9). Their lives and faith were an example to follow.

Verse 8

13:8 Though the community was facing new challenges, Jesus Christ is the same, and his Good News does not change. • yesterday: Jesus was the Father’s agent in creation (1:2, 10). • today: Jesus currently sits at the Father’s right hand (1:13; 7:26-28; 10:12). He will rule the universe forever (1:8, 10-12).

Verse 9

13:9-10 Since Jesus does not change (13:8), it is unwise for a believer to be attracted by strange, new ideas. The false teachings in view seemed to involve rules about food. In some branches of Judaism, certain ritual meals were understood as providing God’s grace to those participating. Some in the community might have been tempted to abandon the Christian community by participating in Jewish fellowship meals. These Jewish meals at times encouraged participants to focus on the Jerusalem altar. The author reminds his hearers that we have an altar of which those under the old covenant have no part—Christ’s sacrifice (7:27-28; 8:13; 9:11-14; 10:11-14).

Verse 11

13:11-12 The author describes the sacrifice on the Day of Atonement (Lev 16:1-28), in which animals were burned outside the camp (Lev 16:27). By analogy, Jesus suffered and died outside the city gates of Jerusalem. He was the supreme Day of Atonement sacrifice (Heb 9:11-14, 24-28; 10:1-4).

Verse 13

13:13 let us go out to him, outside the camp: We should stand with Jesus, identifying with him and rejecting the apparent safety and comfort of standing with the world against him. In standing with Christ, we bear the disgrace he bore (6:5-6; 12:1-3).

Verse 14

13:14 Like Abraham’s family (11:9-16), we are not ultimately invested in the world, for it is not our permanent home. We are looking for a home yet to come, the heavenly city of Jerusalem (12:22).

Verse 15

13:15-16 In light of Jesus’ decisive, sacrificial work on our behalf, we still have sacrifices to offer: praise and obedience. Because Christ has eradicated the sacrificial system of the old covenant through the sacrifice of himself (7:27-28; 8:13; 9:11-14; 10:11-14), these are the sacrifices that please God.

13:15 sacrifice of praise: This probably refers to a peace offering (Lev 7:11-14). The person bringing the offering had to be made ritually clean before the offering could be made. Our thank offering to God can be continual because Jesus has made us clean for all time. When we give thanks to Jesus continually, we are proclaiming our allegiance to his name.

Verse 16

13:16 to do good and to share with those in need: These are basic Christian sacrifices (6:10; 10:24, 34; 13:1-3); they characterize life in the Christian community.

Verse 17

13:17 The relationship between the spiritual leaders and the members of the church may have been strained, so the author exhorts the members to obey them and do what they say. • The Greek word translated obey can also mean follow, place confidence in, or be persuaded by. • Christian leaders watch over people’s souls (Acts 20:28-31; 1 Pet 5:1-4), a role that carries grave responsibility, making them accountable to God (Jas 3:1). • The word sorrow could be translated groaning; it speaks of emotional burden and stress. Having leaders who are stressed and burdened because of an unruly church does not benefit the church.

Verse 18

13:18-19 Pray for us: The author asks for prayer for himself using the “authorial plural” (see also 5:11; 6:9). • our conscience is clear: Cp. 2 Cor 1:11-12; 4:2.

Verse 20

13:20-21 Benedictions were an important element of letters, speeches, and sermons. The author of Hebrews weaves a number of important themes from the book into his benediction. • The image of our Lord Jesus as the great Shepherd of the sheep (cp. Ps 23) communicates God’s provision for and protection of his people (see also John 10:11-18; 1 Pet 2:25) and is specifically tied here to an eternal covenant.

Verse 22

13:22 this brief exhortation: This probably indicates that Hebrews was a sermon (cp. the same term in Acts 13:14-15, translated “encouragement”).

Verse 23

13:23 This Timothy may have been Paul’s traveling companion (see “Timothy” Profile); if so, his imprisonment is not mentioned elsewhere in the New Testament. He clearly knows the author and the recipients of this letter.

Verse 24

13:24-25 The book closes with a formal greeting and a blessing. • The believers from Italy: The author is probably writing back to Rome from elsewhere in the Mediterranean world; some scholars, however, have thought that the author was writing from Rome.