< Hebrews 13 >

The apostle concluded his letter to the Jewish Christians by giving them sundry commandments. In particular, he exhorted them, as Jesus had done, to love one another.v.1Waiting for response for Hebrews 13:1 In exhorting them to be hospitable he reminded them that some in the past have entertained angels without knowing it,v.2Waiting for response for Hebrews 13:2 e.g. Abraham. Genesis 18:3Waiting for response for Genesis 18:3 The apostle here gives many commandments, including not to depart from the true teaching of Christ into believing “strange doctrines”.v.9Waiting for response for Hebrews 13:9 Only maintenance of God’s truth will bring us eternal life like Jesus who is “the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever”.v.8Waiting for response for Hebrews 13:8 He suffered for us and, as prefigured in the Law of Moses, was taken without the gate of the city to suffer and bleed.vs.10-12Waiting for response for Hebrews 13:10-12 Therefore the apostle exhorted the disciples to “go forth unto him without the camp, bearing his reproach. For here have we no continuing city, but we seek one to come”.vs.13-14Waiting for response for Hebrews 13:13-14

We are not called upon to make animal sacrifices as the people of God were in the past, but we are required to “offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name”.v.15Waiting for response for Hebrews 13:15

Our circumstances are also different from those of the disciples in the first century. In those days disciples had Holy Spirit gifts, including the gift of government 1 Corinthians 12:28Waiting for response for 1 Corinthians 12:28 to rule the congregations, and the disciples were commanded to obey them that had the rule over them. There are no ecclesiastical rulers appointed by God today whom we must obey, although many claim this authority. The only divine authority extant is that of Holy Scripture which we can use to test those who claim ecclesiastical authority over others: “To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them”. Isaiah 8:20Waiting for response for Isaiah 8:20 Likewise, we cannot now pray for the apostles and those who were then with him in Rome vs.18-19Waiting for response for Hebrews 13:18-19 because they have passed into the grave and await resurrection from the dead. God has already brought Jesus, our shepherd, from the dead and he will raise his sheep also because of the shedding of his blood.v.20Waiting for response for Hebrews 13:20 Therefore the apostle prays that God will “make you perfect in every good work to do his will, working in you that which is wellpleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ; to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen”.v.21Waiting for response for Hebrews 13:21