Hebrews 13
v.1
Keep on loving each other as brothers.
v.2
Remember those in prison as if you were their fellow prisoners, and those who are mistreated as if you yourselves were suffering.
v.3
Remember those in prison as if you were their fellow prisoners, and those who are mistreated as if you yourselves were suffering.
This is empathy.
Religion teaches us to identify ourselves with all who are oppressed, and to feel what they suffer as if we endured it ourselves. Infidelity and atheism are cold and distant. They stand aloof from the oppressed and the sad. But Christianity unites all hearts in one; binds us to all the race, and reveals to us in the case of each one oppressed and injured, a brother.
v.4
Marriage should be honored by all, and the marriage bed kept pure for God will judge the adulterer and all the sexually immoral.
The object here is to state that “honor” is to be shown to the marriage relation. It is not to be undervalued by the pretence of the superior purity of a state of celibacy, as if marriage were improper for any class of people or any condition of life; and it should not be dishonored by any violation of the marriage contract. The course of things has shown that there was abundant reason for the apostle to assert with emphasis, that “marriage was an honorable condition of life.” There has been a constant effort made to show that celibacy was a more holy state; that there was something in marriage that rendered it “dishonorable” for those who are in the ministry, and for those of either sex who would be eminently pure. This sentiment has been the cause of more abomination in the world than any other single opinion claiming to have a religious sanction. It is one of the supports on which the Papal system rests, and has been one of the principal upholders of all the corruptions in monasteries and nunneries. The apostle asserts, without any restriction or qualification, that marriage is honorable in all; and this proves that it is lawful for the ministers of religion to marry, and that the whole doctrine of the superior purity of a state of celibacy is false; see this subject examined in the notes on 1 Corinthians 7.
v.5
Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.”
Here it is – ‘For he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.’ This is the reason why we must not be covetous. There is no room to be covetous, no excuse for being covetous, for God hath said, ‘I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.’ We ought to be content. If we are not content, we are acting insanely, seeing the Lord has said, ‘I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.’
v.6
So we say with confidence, “The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?”
Same as Psalm 118:6-7
v.7
Remember your leaders, who spoke the word of God to you. Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith.
In my Bible, I wrote Jenna and Tyler Huson. Thank you, Lord, for the Husons. I have considered the outcome of the life they’ve chosen in you with the many trials it came with, and I remember them for how they’ve put their faith in you. May the seeds they’ve sown in me bear much fruit.
v.8
Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.
v.9
Do not be carried away by all kinds of strange teachings. It is good for our hearts to be strengthened by grace, not by ceremonial foods.
See more in Barnes on Hebrews 13 9 Hebrews13 v 9.
v.15-16
Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise - the fruit of lips that confess his name. 16And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased.
Loving hearts must speak. What would you think of a husband who never felt any impulse to tell his wife that she was dear to him; or a mother who never found it needful to unpack her heart of its tenderness, even in perhaps the inarticulate croonings over the little child that she pressed to her heart? It seems to me that a dumb Christian, a man who is thankful for Christ’s sacrifice and never feels the need to say so, is as great an anomaly as either of these I have described.
The Greek word means having in common with others. The meaning is, that they were to show liberality to those who were in want, and were to take special pains not to forget this duty. We are prone to think constantly of our own interests, and there is great danger of forgetting the duty which we owe to the poor and the needy. On the duty here enjoined, see the notes on Galatians 6:10.
v.17
Obey your leaders and submit to their authority. They keep watch over you as men who must give an account. Obey them so that their work will be a joy, not a burden, for that would be of no advantage to you.
v.21
equip you with everything good for doing his will, and may he work in us what is pleasing to him, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.
The meaning here is, that Paul prayed that God would fully endow them with whatever grace was necessary to do his will and to keep his commandments; see the word explained in the notes on Hebrews 11:3). It is an appropriate prayer to be offered at all times, and by all who love the church, that God would make all his people perfectly qualified to do all his will.