{"commentary":{"id":"jamieson-fausset-brown","name":"Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary","website":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jamieson-Fausset-Brown_Bible_Commentary","licenseUrl":"https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/","licenseNotes":null,"licenseNotice":null,"englishName":"Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary","language":"eng","textDirection":"rtl","sha256":"db3d4c8b3c1f32ef9d1430a57392e02bda3a17aac1f9bbe398461de021a3cb13","availableFormats":["json"],"listOfBooksApiLink":"/api/c/jamieson-fausset-brown/books.json","listOfProfilesApiLink":"/api/c/jamieson-fausset-brown/profiles.json","numberOfBooks":66,"totalNumberOfChapters":1187,"totalNumberOfVerses":17056,"totalNumberOfProfiles":0,"languageName":"English","languageEnglishName":"English"},"book":{"id":"HEB","commentaryId":"jamieson-fausset-brown","name":"Hebrews","commonName":"Hebrews","introduction":"CANONICITY AND AUTHORSHIP.--CLEMENT OF ROME, at the end of the first century (A.D), copiously uses it, adopting its words just as he does those of the other books of the New Testament; not indeed giving to either the term \"Scripture,\" which he reserves for the Old Testament (the canon of the New Testament not yet having been formally established), but certainly not ranking it below the other New Testament acknowledged Epistles. As our Epistle claims authority on the part of the writer, CLEMENT'S adoption of extracts from it is virtually sanctioning its authority, and this in the apostolic age. JUSTIN MARTYR quotes it as divinely authoritative, to establish the titles \"apostle,\" as well as \"angel,\" as applied to the Son of God. CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA refers it expressly to Paul, on the authority of PantÃ&brvbrnus, chief of the Catechetical school in Alexandria, in the middle of the second century, saying, that as Jesus is termed in it the \"apostle\" sent to the Hebrews, Paul, through humility, does not in it call himself apostle of the Hebrews, being apostle to the Gentiles. CLEMENT also says that Paul, as the Hebrews were prejudiced against him, prudently omitted to put forward his name in the beginning; also, that it was originally written in Hebrew for the Hebrews, and that Luke translated it into Greek for the Greeks, whence the style is similar to that of Acts. He, however, quotes frequently the words of the existing Greek Epistle as Paul's words. ORIGEN similarly quotes it as Paul's Epistle. However, in his Homilies, he regards the style as distinct from that of Paul, and as \"more Grecian,\" but the thoughts as the apostle's; adding that the \"ancients who have handed down the tradition of its Pauline authorship, must have had good reason for doing so, though God alone knows the certainty who was the actual writer\" (that is, probably \"transcriber\" of the apostle's thoughts). In the African Church, in the beginning of the third century, TERTULLIAN ascribes it to Barnabas. IRENÆUS, bishop of Lyons, is mentioned in EUSEBIUS, as quoting from this Epistle, though without expressly referring it to Paul. About the same period, Caius, the presbyter, in the Church of Rome, mentions only thirteen Epistles of Paul, whereas, if the Epistle to the Hebrews were included, there would be fourteen. So the canon fragment of the end of the second century, or beginning of the third, published by MURATORI, apparently omits mentioning it. And so the Latin Church did not recognize it as Paul's till a considerable time after the beginning of the third century. Thus, also, NOVATIAN OF ROME, CYPRIAN OF CARTHAGE, and VICTORINUS, also of the Latin Church. But in the fourth century, HILARY OF POITIERS (A.D. 368), LUCIFER OF CAGLIARI (A.D. 371), AMBROSE OF MILAN (A.D. 397) and other Latins, quote it as Paul's; and the fifth Council of Carthage (A.D. 419) formally reckons it among his fourteen Epistles.\n\nAs to the similarity of its style to that of Luke's writings, this is due to his having been so long the companion of Paul. CHRYSOSTOM, comparing Luke and Mark, says, \"Each imitated his teacher: Luke imitated Paul flowing along with more than river fulness; but Mark imitated Peter, who studied brevity of style.\" Besides, there is a greater predominance of Jewish feeling and familiarity with the peculiarities of the Jewish schools apparent in this Epistle than in Luke's writings. There is no clear evidence for attributing the authorship to him, or to Apollos, whom ALFORD upholds as the author. The grounds alleged for the latter view are its supposed Alexandrian phraseology and modes of thought. But these are such as any Palestinian Jew might have used; and Paul, from his HebrÃ&brvbro-Hellenistic education at Jerusalem and Tarsus, would be familiar with PHILO'S modes of thought, which are not, as some think, necessarily all derived from his Alexandrian, but also from his Jewish, education. It would be unlikely that the Alexandrian Church should have so undoubtingly asserted the Pauline authorship, if Apollos, their own countryman, had really been the author. The eloquence of its style and rhetoric, a characteristic of Apollos' at Corinth, whereas Paul there spoke in words unadorned by man's wisdom, are doubtless designedly adapted to the minds of those whom Paul in this Epistle addresses. To the Greek Corinthians, who were in danger of idolizing human eloquence and wisdom, he writes in an unadorned style, in order to fix their attention more wholly on the Gospel itself. But the Hebrews were in no such danger. And his HebrÃ&brvbro-Grecian education would enable him to write in a style attractive to the Hebrews at Alexandria, where Greek philosophy had been blended with Judaism. The Septuagint translation framed at Alexandria had formed a connecting link between the latter and the former; and it is remarkable that all the quotations from the Old Testament, excepting two (Heb 10:30; Heb 13:5), are taken from the Septuagint. The fact that the peculiarities of the Septuagint are interwoven into the argument proves that the Greek Epistle is an original, not a translation; had the original been Hebrew, the quotations would have been from the Hebrew Old Testament. The same conclusion follows from the plays on similarly sounding words in the Greek, and alliterations, and rhythmically constructed periods. CALVIN observes, If the Epistle had been written in Hebrew, Heb 9:15-17 would lose all its point, which consists in the play upon the double meaning of the Greek \"diathece,\" a \"covenant,\" or a \"testament,\" whereas the Hebrew \"berith\" means only \"covenant.\"\n\nInternal evidence favors the Pauline authorship. Thus the topic so fully handled in this Epistle, that Christianity is superior to Judaism, inasmuch as the reality exceeds the type which gives place to it, is a favorite one with Paul (compare Co2 3:6-18; Gal 3:23-25; Gal 4:1-9, Gal 4:21-31, wherein the allegorical mode of interpretation appears in its divinely sanctioned application--a mode pushed to an unwarrantable excess in the Alexandrian school). So the Divine Son appears in Heb 1:3, &c., as in other Epistles of Paul (Phi 2:6; Col 1:15-20), as the Image, or manifestation of the Deity. His lowering of Himself for man's sake similarly, compare Heb 2:9, with Co2 8:9; Phi 2:7-8. Also His final exaltation, compare Heb 2:8; Heb 10:13; Heb 12:2, with Co1 15:25, Co1 15:27. The word \"Mediator\" is peculiar to Paul alone, compare Heb 8:6, with Gal 3:19-20. Christ's death is represented as the sacrifice for sin prefigured by the Jewish sacrifices, compare Rom 3:22-26; Co1 5:7, with Heb. 7:1-10:39. The phrase, \"God of Peace,\" is peculiar to Paul, compare Heb 13:20; Rom 15:33; Th1 5:23. Also, compare Heb 2:4, Margin, Co1 12:4. Justification, or \"righteousness by faith.\" appears in Heb 11:7; Heb 10:38, as in Rom 1:17; Rom 4:22; Rom 5:1; Gal 3:11; Phi 3:9. The word of God is the \"sword of the Spirit,\" compare Heb 4:12, with Eph 6:17. Inexperienced Christians are children needing milk, that is, instruction in the elements, whereas riper Christians, as full-grown men, require strong meat, compare Heb 5:12-13; Heb 6:1, with Co1 3:1-2; Co1 14:20 Gal 4:9; Col 3:14. Salvation is represented as a boldness of access to God by Christ, compare Heb 10:19, with Rom 5:2; Eph 2:18; Eph 3:12. Afflictions are a fight, Heb 10:32; compare Phi 1:30; Col 2:1. The Christian life is a race, Heb 12:1; compare Co1 9:24; Phi 3:12-14. The Jewish ritual is a service, Rom 9:4; compare Heb 9:1, Heb 9:6. Compare \"subject to bondage,\" Heb 2:15, with Gal 5:1. Other characteristics of Paul's style appear in this Epistle; namely, a propensity \"to go off at a word\" and enter on a long parenthesis suggested by that word, a fondness for play upon words of similar sound, and a disposition to repeat some favorite word. Frequent appeals to the Old Testament, and quotations linked by \"and again,\" compare Heb 1:5; Heb 2:12-13, with Rom 15:9-12. Also quotations in a peculiar application, compare Heb 2:8, with Co1 15:27; Eph 1:22. Also the same passage quoted in a form not agreeing with the Septuagint, and with the addition \"saith the Lord,\" not found in the Hebrew, in Heb 10:30; Rom 12:19.\n\nThe supposed Alexandrian (which are rather Philon-like) characteristics of the Epistle are probably due to the fact that the Hebrews were generally then imbued with the Alexandrian modes of thought of Philo, &c., and Paul, without coloring or altering Gospel truth \"to the Jews, became (in style) as a Jew, that he might win the Jews\" (Co1 9:20). This will account for its being recognized as Paul's Epistle in the Alexandrian and Jerusalem churches unanimously, to the Hebrews of whom probably it was addressed. Not one Greek father ascribes the Epistle to any but Paul, whereas in the Western and Latin churches, which it did not reach for some time, it was for long doubted, owing to its anonymous form, and generally less distinctively Pauline style. Their reason for not accepting it as Paul's, or indeed as canonical, for the first three centuries, was negative, insufficient evidence for it, not positive evidence against it. The positive evidence is generally for its Pauline origin. In the Latin churches, owing to their distance from the churches to whom belonged the Hebrews addressed, there was no generally received tradition on the subject. The Epistle was in fact but little known at all, whence we find it is not mentioned at all in the Canon of Muratori. When at last, in the fourth century, the Latins found that it was received as Pauline and canonical on good grounds in the Greek churches, they universally acknowledged it as such.\n\nThe personal notices all favor its Pauline authorship, namely, his intention to visit those addressed, shortly, along with Timothy, styled \"our brother,\" Heb 13:23; his being then in prison, Heb 13:19; his formerly having been imprisoned in Palestine, according to English Version reading, Heb 10:34; the salutations transmitted to them from believers of Italy, Heb 13:24. A reason for not prefixing the name may be the rhetorical character of the Epistle which led the author to waive the usual form of epistolary address.\n\nDESIGN.--His aim is to show the superiority of Christianity over Judaism, in that it was introduced by one far higher than the angels or Moses, through whom the Jews received the law, and in that its priesthood and sacrifices are far less perfecting as to salvation than those of Christ; that He is the substance of which the former are but the shadow, and that the type necessarily gives place to the antitype; and that now we no longer are kept at a comparative distance as under the law, but have freedom of access through the opened veil, that is, Christ's flesh; hence he warns them of the danger of apostasy, to which Jewish converts were tempted, when they saw Christians persecuted, while Judaism was tolerated by the Roman authorities. He infers the obligations to a life of faith, of which, even in the less perfect Old Testament dispensation, the Jewish history contained bright examples. He concludes in the usual Pauline mode, with practical exhortations and pious prayers for them.\n\nHIS MODE OF ADDRESS is in it hortatory rather than commanding, just as we might have expected from Paul addressing the Jews. He does not write to the rulers of the Jewish Christians, for in fact there was no exclusively Jewish Church; and his Epistle, though primarily addressed to the Palestinian Jews, was intended to include the Hebrews of all adjoining churches. He inculcates obedience and respect in relation to their rulers (Heb 13:7, Heb 13:17, Heb 13:24); a tacit obviating of the objection that he was by writing this Epistle interfering with the prerogative of Peter the apostle of the circumcision, and James the bishop of Jerusalem. Hence arises his gentle and delicate mode of dealing with them (Heb 13:22). So far from being surprised at discrepancy of style between an Epistle to Hebrews and Epistles to Gentile Christians, it is just what we should expect. The Holy Spirit guided him to choose means best suited to the nature of the ends aimed at. WORDSWORTH notices a peculiar Pauline Greek construction, Rom 12:9, literally, \"Let your love be without dissimulation, ye abhorring . . . evil, cleaving to . . . good,\" which is found nowhere else save Heb 13:5, literally, \"Let your conversation be without covetousness, ye being content with,\" &c. (a noun singular feminine nominative absolute, suddenly passing into a participle masculine nominative plural absolute). So in quoting Old Testament Scripture, the writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews quotes it as a Jew writing to Jews would, \"God spoke to our fathers,\" not, \"it is written.\" So Heb 13:18, \"We trust we have a good conscience\" is an altogether Pauline sentiment (Act 23:1; Act 24:16; Co2 1:12; Co2 4:2; Ti2 1:3). Though he has not prefixed his name, he has given at the close his universal token to identify him, namely, his apostolic salutation, \"Grace be with you all\"; this \"salutation with his own hand\" he declared (Th2 3:17-18) to be \"his token in every Epistle\": so Co1 16:21, Co1 16:23; Col 4:18. The same prayer of greeting closes every one of his Epistles, and is not found in any one of the Epistles of the other apostles written in Paul's lifetime; but it is found in the last book of the New Testament Revelation, and subsequently in the Epistle of CLEMENT OF ROME. This proves that, by whomsoever the body of the Epistle was committed to writing (whether a mere amanuensis writing by dictation, or a companion of Paul by the Spirit's gift of interpreting tongues, Co1 12:10, transfusing Paul's Spirit-taught sentiments into his own Spirit-guided diction), Paul at the close sets his seal to the whole as really his, and sanctioned by him as such. The churches of the East, and Jerusalem, their center, to which quarter it was first sent, received it as Paul's from the earliest times according to Cyril, Bishop of Jerusalem (A.D. 349). JEROME, though bringing with him from Rome the prejudices of the Latins against the Epistle to the Hebrews, aggravated, doubtless, by its seeming sanction of the Novatian heresy (Heb 6:4-6), was constrained by the force of facts to receive it as Paul's, on the almost unanimous testimony of all Greek Christians from the earliest times; and was probably the main instrument in correcting the past error of Rome in rejecting it. The testimony of the Alexandrian Church is peculiarly valuable, for it was founded by Mark, who was with Paul at Rome in his first confinement, when this Epistle seems to have been written (Col 4:10), and who possibly was the bearer of this Epistle, at the same time visiting Colosse on the way to Jerusalem (where Mark's mother lived), and thence to Alexandria. Moreover, Pe2 3:15-16, written shortly before Peter's death, and like his first Epistle written by him, \"the apostle of the circumcision,\" to the \"Hebrew\" Christians dispersed in the East, says, \"As our beloved brother Paul hath written unto you\" (Pe2 3:15), that is, to the Hebrews; also the words added, \"As also in all his Epistles\" (Pe2 3:16), distinguish the Epistle to the Hebrews from the rest; then he further speaks of it as on a level with \"other Scriptures,\" thus asserting at once its Pauline authorship and divine inspiration. An interesting illustration of the power of Christian faith and love; Peter, who had been openly rebuked by Paul (Gal 2:7-14), fully adopted what Paul wrote; there was no difference in the Gospel of the apostle of the circumcision and that of the apostle of the uncircumcision. It strikingly shows God's sovereignty that He chose as the instrument to confirm the Hebrews, Paul, the apostle of the Gentiles (Rom 11:13); and on the other hand, Peter to open the Gospel door to the Gentiles (Act 10:1, &c.), though being the apostle of the Jews; thus perfect unity reigns amidst the diversity of agencies.\n\nRome, in the person of CLEMENT OF ROME, originally received this Epistle. Then followed a period in which it ceased to be received by the Roman churches. Then, in the fourth century, Rome retracted her error. A plain proof she is not unchangeable or infallible. As far as Rome is concerned, the Epistle to the Hebrews was not only lost for three centuries, but never would have been recovered at all but for the Eastern churches; it is therefore a happy thing for Christendom that Rome is not the Catholic Church.\n\nIt plainly was written before the destruction of Jerusalem, which would have been mentioned in the Epistle had that event gone before, compare Heb 13:10; and probably to churches in which the Jewish members were the more numerous, as those in Judea, and perhaps Alexandria. In the latter city were the greatest number of resident Jews next to Jerusalem. In Leontopolis, in Egypt, was another temple, with the arrangements of which, WIESELER thinks the notices in this Epistle more nearly corresponded than with those in Jerusalem. It was from Alexandria that the Epistle appears first to have come to the knowledge of Christendom. Moreover, \"the Epistle to the Alexandrians,\" mentioned in the Canon of Muratori, may possibly be this Epistle to the Hebrews. He addresses the Jews as peculiarly \"the people of God\" (Heb 2:17; Heb 4:9; Heb 13:12), \"the seed of Abraham,\" that is, as the primary stock on which Gentile believers are grafted, to which Rom 11:16-24 corresponds; but he urges them to come out of the carnal earthly Jerusalem and to realize their spiritual union to \"the heavenly Jerusalem\" (Heb 12:18-23; Heb 13:13).\n\nThe use of Greek rather than Hebrew is doubtless due to the Epistle being intended, not merely for the Hebrew, but for the Hellenistic Jew converts, not only in Palestine, but elsewhere; a view confirmed by the use of the Septuagint. BENGEL thinks, probably (compare Pe2 3:15-16, explained above), the Jews primarily, though not exclusively, addressed, were those who had left Jerusalem on account of the war and were settled in Asia Minor.\n\nThe notion of its having been originally in Hebrew arose probably from its Hebrew tone, method, and topics. It is reckoned among the Epistles, not at first generally acknowledged, along with James, Second Peter, Second and Third John, Jude, and Revelation. A beautiful link exists between these Epistles and the universally acknowledged Epistles. Hebrews unites the ordinances of Leviticus with their antitypical Gospel fulfilment. James is the link between the highest doctrines of Christianity and the universal law of moral duty--a commentary on the Sermon on the Mount--harmonizing the decalogue law of Moses, and the revelation to Job and Elias, with the Christian law of liberty. Second Peter links the teaching of Peter with that of Paul. Jude links the earliest unwritten to the latest written Revelation. The two shorter Epistles to John, like Philemon, apply Christianity to the minute details of the Christian life, showing that Christianity can sanctify all earthly relations. \n\n\n\nNext: Hebrews Chapter 1\n\n","order":58,"numberOfChapters":13,"sha256":"e2432a664409bcc0cf92e670c2220bb5fc904394385d617eaafb6c9c5c24b6ca","firstChapterNumber":1,"firstChapterApiLink":"/api/c/jamieson-fausset-brown/HEB/1.json","firstChapterReference":{"commentaryId":"jamieson-fausset-brown","book":"HEB","chapter":1},"lastChapterNumber":13,"lastChapterApiLink":"/api/c/jamieson-fausset-brown/HEB/13.json","lastChapterReference":{"commentaryId":"jamieson-fausset-brown","book":"HEB","chapter":13},"totalNumberOfVerses":288},"chapter":{"number":13,"content":[{"type":"verse","number":7,"content":["Two manifestations of \"brotherly love,\" hospitality and care for those in bonds. \n\nBe not forgetful--implying it was a duty which they all recognized, but which they might forget to act on (Heb 13:3, Heb 13:7, Heb 13:16). The enemies of Christianity themselves have noticed the practice of this virtue among Christians [JULIAN, Epistles, 49]. \n\nentertained angels unawares--Abraham and Lot did so (Gen 18:2; Gen 19:1). To obviate the natural distrust felt of strangers, Paul says, an unknown guest may be better than he looks: he may be unexpectedly found to be as much a messenger of God for good, as the angels (whose name means messenger) are; nay more, if a Christian, he represents Christ Himself. There is a play on the same Greek word, Be not forgetful and unaware; let not the duty of hospitality to strangers escape you; for, by entertaining strangers, it has escaped the entertainers that they were entertaining angels. Not unconscious and forgetful of the duty, they have unconsciously brought on themselves the blessing.\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":3,"content":["Remember--in prayers and acts of kindness. \n\nbound with them--by virtue of the unity of the members in the body under one Head, Christ (Co1 12:26). \n\nsuffer adversity--Greek, \"are in evil state.\" \n\nbeing yourselves also in the body--and so liable to the adversities incident to the natural body, which ought to dispose you the more to sympathize with them, not knowing how soon your own turn of suffering may come. \"One experiences adversity almost his whole life, as Jacob; another in youth, as Joseph; another in manhood, as Job; another in old age\" [BENGEL].\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":4,"content":["is, &c.--Translate, \"Let marriage be treated as honorable\": as Heb 13:5 also is an exhortation. \n\nin all--\"in the case of all men\": \"among all.\" \"To avoid fornication let EVERY MAN have his own wife\" (Co1 7:2). Judaism and Gnosticism combined were soon about to throw discredit on marriage. The venerable Paphnutius, in the Council of Nice, quoted this verse for the justification of the married state. If one does not himself marry, he should not prevent others from doing so. Others, especially Romanists, translate, \"in all things,\" as in Heb 13:18. But the warning being against lasciviousness, the contrast to \"whoremongers and adulterers\" in the parallel clause, requires the \"in all\" in this clause to refer to persons. \n\nthe bed undefiled--Translate, as Greek requires \"undefiled\" to be a predicate, not an epithet, \"And let the bed be undefiled.\" \n\nGod will judge--Most whoremongers escape the notice of human tribunals; but God takes particular cognizance of those whom man does not punish. Gay immoralities will then be regarded in a very different light from what they are now.\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":5,"content":["conversation--\"manner of life.\" The love of filthy lust and the love of filthy lucre follow one another as closely akin, both alienating the heart from the Creator to the creature. \n\nsuch things as ye have--literally, \"present things\" (Phi 4:11). \n\nI will never leave thee, nor forsake thee--A promise tantamount to this was given to Jacob (Gen 28:15), to Israel (Deu 31:6, Deu 31:8), to Joshua (Jos 1:5), to Solomon (Ch1 28:20). It is therefore like a divine adage. What was said to them, extends also to us. He will neither withdraw His presence (\"never leave thee\") nor His help (\"nor forsake thee\") [BENGEL].\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":6,"content":["may--rather as Greek, expressing confidence actually realized, \"So that we boldly (confidently) say\" (Psa 56:4, Psa 56:11; Psa 118:6). Punctuate as both the Hebrew and the Greek require, \"And (so) I will not fear: what (then) shall man do unto me?\"\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":7,"content":["Remember--so as to imitate: not to invoke in prayer, as Rome teaches. \n\nhave the rule--rather, \"who have had the rule over you\": your spiritual leaders. \n\nwho--Greek, \"the which\": such persons as. \n\nhave spoken unto you--\"spake\" (so the Greek aorist means) during their lifetime. This Epistle was among those written later, when many of the heads of the Jerusalem Church had passed away. \n\nwhose faith--even unto death: probably death by martyrdom, as in the case of the instances of faith in Heb 11:35. Stephen, James the brother of our Lord and bishop of Jerusalem, as well as James the brother of John (Act 12:2), in the Palestinian Church, which Paul addresses, suffered martyrdom. \n\nconsidering--Greek, \"looking up to,\" \"diligently contemplating all over,\" as an artist would a model. \n\nthe end--the termination, at death. The Greek, is used of decease (Luk 9:31; Pe2 1:15). \n\nof their conversation--\"manner of life\": \"religious walk\" (Gal 1:13; Eph 4:22; Ti1 4:12; Jam 3:13). Considering how they manifested the soundness of their faith by their holy walk, which they maintained even to the end of that walk (their death by martyrdom).\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":8,"content":["This verse is not, as some read it, in apposition with \"the end of their conversation\" (Heb 13:7), but forms the transition. \"Jesus Christ, yesterday and to-day (is) the same, and (shall be the same) unto the ages (that is, unto all ages).\" The Jesus Christ (the full name being given, to mark with affectionate solemnity both His person and His office) who supported your spiritual rulers through life even unto their end \"yesterday\" (in times past), being at once \"the Author and the Finisher of their faith\" (Heb 12:2), remains still the same Jesus Christ \"to-day,\" ready to help you also, if like them you walk by \"faith\" in Him. Compare \"this same Jesus,\" Act 1:11. He who yesterday (proverbial for the past time) suffered and died, is to-day in glory (Rev 1:18). \"As night comes between yesterday and to-day, and yet night itself is swallowed up by yesterday and to-day, so the \"suffering\" did not so interrupt the glory of Jesus Christ which was of yesterday, and that which is to-day, as not to continue to be the same. He is the same yesterday, before He came into the world, and to-day, in heaven. Yesterday in the time of our predecessors, and to-day in our age\" [BENGEL]. So the doctrine is the same, not variable: this verse thus forms the transition between Heb 13:7 and Heb 13:9. He is always \"the same\" (Heb 1:12). The same in the Old and in the New Testament.\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":9,"content":["about--rather, as oldest manuscripts read, \"carried aside\"; namely, compare Eph 4:14. \n\ndivers--differing from the one faith in the one and the same Jesus Christ, as taught by them who had the rule over you (Heb 13:7). \n\nstrange--foreign to the truth. \n\ndoctrines--\"teachings.\" \n\nestablished with grace; not with meats--not with observances of Jewish distinctions between clean and unclean meats, to which ascetic Judaizers added in Christian times the rejection of some meats, and the use of others: noticed also by Paul in Co1 8:8, Co1 8:13; Co1 6:13; Rom 14:17, an exact parallel to this verse: these are some of the \"divers and strange doctrines\" of the previous sentence. Christ's body offered once for all for us, is our true spiritual \"meat\" to \"eat\" (Heb 13:10), \"the stay and the staff of bread\" (Isa 3:1), the mean of all \"grace.\" \n\nwhich have not profited--Greek, \"in which they who walked were not profited\"; namely, in respect to justification, perfect cleansing of the conscience, and sanctification. Compare on \"walked,\" Act 21:21; namely, with superstitious scrupulosity, as though the worship of God in itself consisted in such legal observances.\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":10,"content":["Christianity and Judaism are so totally distinct, that \"they who serve the (Jewish) tabernacle,\" have no right to eat our spiritual Gospel meat, namely, the Jewish priests, and those who follow their guidance in serving the ceremonial ordinance. He says, \"serve the tabernacle,\" not \"serve IN the tabernacle.\" Contrast with this servile worship ours. \n\nan altar--the cross of Christ, whereon His body was offered. The Lord's table represents this altar, the cross; as the bread and wine represent the sacrifice offered on it. Our meat, which we by faith spiritually eat, is the flesh of Christ, in contrast to the typical ceremonial meats. The two cannot be combined (Gal 5:2). That not a literal eating of the sacrifice of Christ is meant in the Lord's Supper, but a spiritual is meant, appears from comparing Heb 13:9 with Heb 13:10, \"with GRACE, NOT with MEATS.\"\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":11,"content":["For just as \"the bodies of those beasts whose blood is brought into the sanctuary by . . . are burned without the camp,\" so \"Jesus also that . . . suffered without the gate\" of ceremonial Judaism, of which His crucifixion outside the gate of Jerusalem is a type. \n\nfor--reason why they who serve the tabernacle, are excluded from share in Christ; because His sacrifice is not like one of those sacrifices in which they had a share but answers to one which was \"wholly burned\" outside (the Greek is \"burnt completely,\" \"consumed by burning\"), and which consequently they could not eat of. Lev 6:30, gives the general rule, \"No sin offering whereof any of the blood is brought into the tabernacle of the congregation to reconcile withal in the holy place, shall be eaten; it shall be burnt in the fire.\" The sin offerings are twofold: the outward, whose blood was sprinkled on the outward altar, and of whose bodies the priests might eat; and the inward, the reverse. \n\nthe sanctuary--here the Holy of Holies, into which the blood of the sin offering was brought on the day of atonement. \n\nwithout the camp--in which were the tabernacle and Levitical priests and legal worshippers, during Israel's journey through the wilderness; replaced afterwards by Jerusalem (containing the temple), outside of whose walls Jesus was crucified.\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":12,"content":["Wherefore Jesus--In order that the Antitype might fulfil the type. \n\nsanctify--Though not brought into the temple \"sanctuary\" (Heb 13:11) His blood has been brought into the heavenly sanctuary, and \"sanctifies the people\" (Heb 2:11, Heb 2:17), by cleansing them from sin, and consecrating them to God. \n\nhis own--not blood of animals. \n\nwithout the gate--of Jerusalem; as if unworthy of the society of the covenant-people. The fiery ordeal of His suffering on the cross, answers to the burning of the victims; thereby His mere fleshly life was completely destroyed, as their bodies were; the second part of His offering was His carrying His blood into the heavenly holiest before God at His ascension, that it should be a perpetual atonement for the world's sin.\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":13,"content":["therefore--This \"therefore\" breathes the deliberate fortitude of believers [BENGEL]. \n\nwithout the camp--\"outside the legal polity\" [THEODORET] of Judaism (compare Heb 13:11) \"Faith considers Jerusalem itself as a camp, not a city\" [BENGEL]. He contrasts with the Jews, who serve an earthly sanctuary, the Christians to whom the altar in heaven stands open, while it is closed against the Jews. As Jesus suffered without the gate, so spiritually must those who desire to belong to Him, withdraw from the earthly Jerusalem and its sanctuary, as from this world in general. There is a reference to Exo 33:7, when the tabernacle was moved without the camp, which had become polluted by the people's idolatry of the golden calves; so that \"every one who sought the Lord went out unto the tabernacle of the congregation (as Moses called the tabernacle outside the camp), which was without the camp\"; a lively type of what the Hebrews should do, namely, come out of the carnal worship of the earthly Jerusalem to worship God in Christ in spirit, and of what we all ought to do, namely, come out from all carnalism, worldly formalism, and mere sensuous worship, and know Jesus in His spiritual power apart from worldliness, seeing that \"we have no continuing city\" (Heb 13:14). \n\nbearing--as Simon of Cyrene did. \n\nhis reproach--the reproach which He bare, and which all His people bear with Him.\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":14,"content":["here--on earth. Those Hebrews who clung to the earthly sanctuary are representatives of all who cling to this earth. The earthly Jerusalem proved to be no \"abiding city,\" having been destroyed shortly after this Epistle was written, and with it fell the Jewish civil and religious polity; a type of the whole of our present earthly order of things soon to perish. \n\none to come-- (Heb 2:5; Heb 11:10, Heb 11:14, Heb 11:16; Heb 12:22; Phi 3:20).\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":15,"content":["As the \"altar\" was mentioned in Heb 13:10, so the \"sacrifices\" here (compare Pe1 2:5, namely, praise and doing good, Heb 13:16). Compare Psa 119:108; Rom 12:1. \n\nBy him--as the Mediator of our prayers and praises (Joh 14:13-14); not by Jewish observances (Psa 50:14, Psa 50:23; Psa 69:30-31; Psa 107:22; Psa 116:17). It was an old saying of the rabbis, \"At a future time all sacrifices shall cease, but praises shall not cease.\" \n\nof praise--for salvation. \n\ncontinually--not merely at fixed seasons, as those on which the legal sacrifices were offered, but throughout all our lives. \n\nfruit of our lips-- (Isa 57:19; Hos 14:2). \n\ngiving thanks--Greek, \"confessing.\" BENGEL remarks that the Hebrew, \"todah,\" is beautifully emphatic. It literally means \"acknowledgment\" or \"confession.\" In praising a creature, we may easily exceed the truth; but in praising God we have only to go on confessing what He really is to us. Hence it is impossible to exceed the truth, and here is genuine praise.\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":16,"content":["But--But the sacrifice of praise with the lips (Heb 13:15) is not enough; there must be also doing good (beneficence) and communicating (that is, imparting a share of your means, Gal 6:6) to the needy. \n\nwith such--and not mere ritualistic sacrifices.\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":17,"content":["Obey them that have the rule over you--(Compare Heb 13:7, Heb 13:24). This threefold mention of the rulers is peculiar to this Epistle. In other Epistles Paul includes the rulers in his exhortations. But here the address is limited to the general body of the Church, in contrast to the rulers to whom they are charged to yield reverent submission. Now this is just what might be expected when the apostle of the Gentiles was writing to the Palestine Christians, among whom James and the eleven apostles had exercised a more immediate authority. It was important he should not seem to set himself in opposition to their guides, but rather strengthen their hands; he claims no authority directly or indirectly over these rulers themselves [BIRKS]. \"Remember\" your deceased rulers (Heb 13:7). \"Obey\" your living rulers; nay, more, not only obey in cases where no sacrifice of self is required, and where you are persuaded they are right (so the Greek, for \"obey\"), but \"submit yourselves\" as a matter of dutiful yielding, when your judgment and natural will incline you in an opposite direction. \n\nthey--on their part; so the Greek. As they do their part, so do you yours. So Paul exhorts, Th1 5:12-13. \n\nwatch--\"are vigilant\" (Greek). \n\nfor--Greek, \"in behalf of.\" \n\nmust give account--The strongest stimulus to watchfulness (Mar 13:34-37). CHRYSOSTOM was deeply struck with these words, as he tells us [On the Priesthood, 6], \"The fear of this threat continually agitates my soul.\" \n\ndo it--\"watch for your soul's eternal salvation.\" It is a perilous responsibility for a man to have to give account for others' deeds, who is not sufficient for his own [ESTIUS, from AQUINAS]. I wonder whether it be possible that any of the rulers should be saved [CHRYSOSTOM]. Compare Paul's address to the elders, Act 20:28; Co1 4:1-5, where also he connects ministers' responsibility with the account to be hereafter given (compare Pe1 5:4). \n\nwith joy--at your obedience; anticipating, too, that you shall be their \"joy\" in the day of giving account (Phi 4:1). \n\nnot with grief--at your disobedience; apprehending also that in the day of account you may be among the lost, instead of being their crown of rejoicing. In giving account, the stewards are liable to blame if aught be lost to the Master. \"Mitigate their toil by every office of attention and respect, that with alacrity, rather than with grief, they may fulfil their duty, arduous enough in itself, even though no unpleasantness be added on your part\" [GROTIUS]. \n\nthat--Grief in your pastors is unprofitable for you, for it weakens their spiritual power; nay, more, \"the groans (so the Greek for 'grief') of other creatures are heard; how much more of pastors!\" [BENGEL]. So God will be provoked to avenge on you their \"groaning\" (Greek). If they must render God an account of their negligence, so must you for your ingratitude to them [GROTIUS].\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":18,"content":["Pray for us--Paul usually requests the Church's intercessions for him in closing his Epistles, just as he begins with assuring them of his having them at heart in his prayers (but in this Epistle not till Heb 13:20-21), Rom 15:30. \"Us,\" includes both himself and his companions; he passes to himself alone, Heb 13:19. \n\nwe trust we have a good conscience--in spite of your former jealousies, and the charges of my Jewish enemies at Jerusalem, which have been the occasion of my imprisonment at Rome. In refutation of the Jews' aspersions, he asserts in the same language as here his own conscientiousness before God and man, Act 23:1-3; Act 24:16, Act 24:20-21 (wherein he virtually implies that his reply to Ananias was not sinful impatience; for, indeed, it was a prophecy which he was inspired at the moment to utter, and which was fulfilled soon after). \n\nwe trust--Greek, \"we are persuaded,\" in the oldest manuscripts. Good conscience produces confidence, where the Holy Spirit rules the conscience (Rom 9:1). \n\nhonestly--\"in a good way.\" The same Greek word as \"good conscience.\" Literally, \"rightly,\" \"becomingly.\"\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":19,"content":["the rather--Greek, \"I the more abundantly beseech you.\" \n\nto do this--to pray for me. \n\nthat I may be restored to you-- (Plm 1:22). It is here first in the letter he mentions himself, in a way so unobtrusive, as not to prejudice his Hebrew readers against him, which would have been the result had he commenced this as his other Epistles, with authoritatively announcing his name and apostolic commission.\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":20,"content":["Concluding prayer. \n\nGod of peace--So Paul, Rom 15:33; Rom 16:20; Co2 13:11; Phi 4:9; Th1 5:23; Th2 3:16. The Judaizing of the Hebrews was calculated to sow seeds of discord among them, of disobedience to their pastors (Heb 13:17), and of alienation towards Paul. The God of peace by giving unity of true doctrine, will unite them in mutual love. \n\nbrought again from the dead--Greek, \"brought up,\" &c.: God brought the Shepherd; the Shepherd shall bring the flock. Here only in the Epistle he mentions the resurrection. He would not conclude without mentioning 'the connecting link between the two truths mainly discussed; the one perfect sacrifice and the continual priestly intercession--the depth of His humiliation and the height of His glory--the \"altar\" of the cross and the ascension to the heavenly Holy of Holies. \n\nLord Jesus--the title marking His person and His Lordship over us. But Heb 13:21, \"through Jesus Christ.\" His office, as the Anointed of the Spirit, making Him the medium of communicating the Spirit to us, the holy unction flowing down from the Head on the members (compare Act 2:36). \n\ngreat-- (Heb 4:14). \n\nshepherd of the sheep--A title familiar to his Hebrew readers, from their Old Testament (Isa 63:11; Septuagint): primarily Moses, antitypically Christ: already compared together, Heb 3:2-7. The transition is natural from their earthly pastors (Heb 13:17), to the Chief Pastor, as in Pe1 5:1-4. Compare Eze 34:23 and Jesus' own words, Joh 10:2, Joh 10:11, Joh 10:14. \n\nthrough the blood--Greek, \"in,\" in virtue of the blood (Heb 2:9); it was because of His bloody death for us, that the Father raised and crowned Him with glory. The \"blood\" was the seal of the everlasting covenant entered into between the Father and Son; in virtue of the Son's blood, first Christ was raised, then Christ's people shall be so (Zac 9:11, seemingly referred to here; Act 20:28). \n\neverlasting--The everlastingness of the covenant necessitated the resurrection. This clause, \"the blood of the everlasting covenant,\" is a summary retrospect of the Epistle (compare Heb 9:12).\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":21,"content":["Make you perfect--properly said of healing a rent; join you together in perfect harmony [BENGEL]. \n\nto do his will, working in you-- (Heb 10:36); rather as Greek, \"doing in you.\" Whatever good we do, God does in us. \n\nwell-pleasing in his sight-- (Isa 53:10; Eph 5:10). \n\nthrough Jesus Christ--\"God doing (working) in you that . . . through Jesus Christ\" (Phi 1:11). \n\nto whom--to Christ. He closes as he began (Heb 1:1-14), with giving glory to Christ.\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":22,"content":["suffer the word--The Hebrews not being the section of the Church assigned to Paul (but the Gentiles), he uses gentle entreaty, rather than authoritative command. \n\nfew words--compared with what might be said on so important a subject. Few, in an Epistle which is more of a treatise than an Epistle (compare Pe1 5:12). On the seeming inconsistency with Gal 6:11, compare Note, see on Gal 6:11.\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":23,"content":["our brother Timothy--So Paul, Co1 4:17; Co2 1:1; Col 1:1; Th1 3:2. \n\nis set at liberty--from prison. So Aristarchus was imprisoned with Paul. BIRKS translates, \"dismissed,\" \"sent away,\" namely, on a mission to Greece, as Paul promised (Phi 2:19). However, some kind of previous detention is implied before his being let go to Philippi. Paul, though now at large, was still in Italy, whence he sends the salutations of Italian Christians (Heb 13:24), waiting for Timothy to join him, so as to start for Jerusalem: we know from Ti1 1:3, he and Timothy were together at Ephesus after his departing from Italy eastward. He probably left Timothy there and went to Philippi as he had promised. Paul implies that if Timothy shall not come shortly, he will start on his journey to the Hebrews at once.\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":24,"content":["all--The Scriptures are intended for all, young and old, not merely for ministers. Compare the different classes addressed, \"wives,\" Eph 5:22; little children, Jo1 2:18; \"all,\" Pe1 3:8; Pe1 5:5. He says here \"all,\" for the Hebrews whom he addresses were not all in one place, though the Jerusalem Hebrews are chiefly addressed. \n\nThey of Italy--not merely the brethren at Rome, but of other places in Italy.\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":25,"content":["Paul's characteristic salutation in every one of his other thirteen Epistles, as he says himself, Co1 16:21, Co1 16:23; Col 4:18; Th2 3:17. It is found in no Epistle written by any other apostle in Paul's lifetime. It is used in Rev 22:21, written subsequently, and in CLEMENT OF ROME. Being known to be his badge, it is not used by others in his lifetime. The Greek here is, \"The grace (namely, of our Lord Jesus Christ) be with you all.\"\n\n\n\n\n\nNext: James Introduction\n\n"]}],"introduction":"EXHORTATION TO VARIOUS GRACES, ESPECIALLY CONSTANCY IN FAITH, FOLLOWING JESUS AMIDST REPROACHES. CONCLUSION, WITH PIECES OF INTELLIGENCE AND SALUTATIONS. (Heb. 13:1-25)\n\nbrotherly love--a distinct special manifestation of \"charity\" or \"love\" (Pe2 1:7). The Church of Jerusalem, to which in part this Epistle was addressed, was distinguished by this grace, we know from Acts (compare Heb 6:10; Heb 10:32-34; Heb 12:12-13). \n\ncontinue--Charity will itself continue. See that it continue with you.\n\n"},"thisChapterLink":"/api/c/jamieson-fausset-brown/HEB/13.json","thisChapterReference":{"commentaryId":"jamieson-fausset-brown","book":"HEB","chapter":13},"nextChapterApiLink":"/api/c/jamieson-fausset-brown/JAS/1.json","nextChapterReference":{"commentaryId":"jamieson-fausset-brown","book":"JAS","chapter":1},"previousChapterApiLink":"/api/c/jamieson-fausset-brown/HEB/12.json","previousChapterReference":{"commentaryId":"jamieson-fausset-brown","book":"HEB","chapter":12},"numberOfVerses":24}