Our author is focusing on helping his readers to enjoy Christian fellowship by continuing in brotherly love.
1 Let brotherly love continue. 2Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares. 3Remember those who are in prison, as though in prison with them, and those who are mistreated, since you also are in the body.
Now our author moves to two very practical ways in which we show that love to one another—through hospitality, inviting people into our homes, and through ministering to those in prison, who can no longer join our company. Brotherly love must especially continue to brothers and sisters in need: strangers, prisoners, and victims of public mistreatment.
The general command (13:1) is linked to the second (v. 2) by vocabulary and syntax visible in the Greek original. In both, nouns containing the stem phil– (“love”) open the clause and are then followed by verbs:
- Brother-love (philadelphia) let continue
- Stranger-love (philoxenia) do not neglect
The second command is then linked to the third (v. 3) through synonymous verbs: “do not neglect” (or lit., “do not forget”) states negatively what “remember” (mimnēskesthe) states positively.
The author immediately addresses the all-too-common error of close church communities becoming ingrown, exclusive, and cliquish. To do this, the author intentionally juxtaposes two words that start out the same but end differently. We are not only to maintain philidelphia, but also philoxenia. Chances are, you’ve heard of xenophobia, the fear of “strangers” (xenos). Those on the outside. Foreigners. People not like us. Just as we are to love the brethren (philadelphia), we are to show love for strangers (philoxenia). (Charles R. Swindoll, Swindoll’s Living Insights: Hebrews, 213)
The first example of brotherly love is “showing hospitality to strangers.” Hospitality has always been one of the hallmarks of Christian community. It was especially important in the early church, which was very mission-oriented. As people went from place to place evangelizing the lost, they needed places to stay. In addition, people traveled to network with other believers.
But travel was difficult and dangerous at that time. There were few safe accommodations available. Even in first-century Roman lands, widespread hostels, and inns were associated with filth, drunkenness, prostitution, robbery, and murder.
A little historical research shows that inns were proverbially miserable places from earliest antiquity on. In Aristophanes’ The Frogs, Dionysus asks Heracles if he can tell him which inn has the fewest fleas. Plato, in The Laws, instances an innkeeper keeping his guests hostage. And Theophrastus puts innkeeping on the level of running a brothel (William Barclay, The Letter to the Hebrews (Philadelphia: Westminster, 1957), p. 218).
Thus inns were not congenial or healthy places for Christians. This, coupled with the fact that many Christians had suffered ostracism by both society and family, necessitated Christian hospitality—which was happily provided by brothers and sisters who could do so. Predictably, such hospitality was sometimes abused. The first-century pagan satirical writer Lucian describes how his Elmer Gantry-like protagonist Proteus Peregrinus took advantage of naive Christians, reporting that “he left home, then, for a second time, to roam about, possessing an ample source of funds in the Christians, through whose ministrations he lived in unalloyed prosperity” (The Passing of Peregrinus, 16).
Significantly, such abuses became so common that the Didache, an early Christian handbook, gave this advice:
Let every Apostle who comes to you be received as the Lord, but let him not stay more than one day, or if need be a second as well; but if he stays three days, he is a false prophet. And when an Apostle goes forth let him accept nothing but bread till he reach his night’s lodging; but if he ask for money, he is a false prophet.” (11:4–6) (Kirsopp Lake, trans., The Apostolic Fathers, vol. 1, The Loeb Classical Library (Cambridge, MA: Harvard, 1970), p. 327).
The effect of all this was that some Christians had noticeably cooled in their hospitality. As the country song says: “Fool me once—shame on you! Fool me twice—shame on me!”
To counter this destructive trend among his congregation, the writer again frames his advice as a command: “Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers” (v. 2a)—or more exactly, “Do not forget to show love to strangers.”
We pat ourselves on the back if we invite friends over to a meal or take them out to a restaurant, but this is talking about going “above and beyond” by doing this with people we don’t know, people we might never see again, people who will not likely return the favor.
The word hospitality, philoxenia, literally means “love of strangers,” so it was likely these traveling missionaries who are in view. Hospitality would meet their need of a place to lodge and get a meal or two.
This is expressed in the Apostle John’s third epistle:
5Beloved, it is a faithful thing you do in all your efforts for these brothers, strangers as they are, 6who testified to your love before the church. You will do well to send them on their journey in a manner worthy of God. 7For they have gone out for the sake of the name, accepting nothing from the Gentiles. 8Therefore we ought to support people like these, that we may be fellow workers for the truth. (3 John 5-8)
In contrast, an apparent leader named Diotrephes showed his true heart by not showing hospitality to these traveling ministers.
9I have written something to the church, but Diotrephes, who likes to put himself first, does not acknowledge our authority. 10So if I come, I will bring up what he is doing, talking wicked nonsense against us. And not content with that, he refuses to welcome the brothers, and also stops those who want to and puts them out of the church. (3 John 9-10)
Apparently Diotrephes was threatened by these traveling missionaries, thinking that their speaking abilities or some superior behaviors would challenge his position of authority. So he was “excommunicating” those who were practicing hospitality!
These “strangers” to be entertained, however, were not to be people who worked against God’s kingdom; that is, believers were not to welcome false teachers into their homes. 2 John 10-11 says, “Do not receive into the house or welcome anyone who comes to you and does not bring this teaching; for to welcome is to participate in the evil deeds of such a person” (NRSV). (Bruce Barton, Life Application Bible Commentary: Hebrews, 230)
Hospitality is a central virtue for Christians (Rom. 12:13; 1 Peter 4:9), which is why it is given as a requirement for elders in the church (1 Tim. 3:2).
To our author hospitality is so important that he tantalized his readers with the enchanting possibility —“for thereby some have entertained angels unawares” (v. 2b).
Abraham “entertained angels” when he showed them “hospitality” (Gen. 18:1-3). So did Lot (Gen. 19:1-3), Gideon (Judg. 6), and Manoah (Judg. 13). Hospitality is a concrete expression of Christian love today just as it was in the first century (cf. 3 John 5-8).
By presenting the delectable possibility of hosting a real angel, the preacher was not promoting hospitality on the chance that one might luck out and get an angel, but was simply saying that the possibility of its happening indicated how much God prizes hospitality in his people. Bishop Westcott was right: “We only observe the outside surface of those whom we receive. More lies beneath than we can see” (Westcott, The Epistle to the Hebrews , p. 430). However, notice that our text only says that “some have entertained angels,” not everyone.
Thomas Constable suggests that since the word “angel” means “messenger,” in both Greek and Hebrew, in one sense any time we entertain someone who brings a message from God (e.g., a visiting preacher or missionary) we entertain an angel.
Hospitality is a practical expression of love towards a person. Inviting someone into your home breaks down barriers. It could be the evangelistic secret of our age! While it is difficult to get into other peoples’ homes today through door-to-door evangelism, it is much more likely that an unbeliever, or someone you are trying to build a relationship with, is willing to step into your own home.
Rosaria Champaign Butterfield was a tenured professor of English and women’s studies at Syracuse University. In her late twenties, allured by feminist philosophy and LGBTQ+ politics, she adopted a lesbian identity. In 1997, while Rosaria was researching the Religious Right “and their politics of hatred against people like me,” she wrote an article against The Promise Keepers. Local Reformed Presbyterian pastor Ken Smith responded graciously to that article.
The Smiths invited Rosaria to their home to discuss her research and answer questions she had. Rosaria regularly met with Ken and his wife, Floy, over dinners in their home. Ken and Floy became a resource on the Religious Right and the Bible they loved. Eventually, they became her confidantes. In 1999, after reading through the Bible multiple times under Ken and Floy’s care, Rosaria converted to Christianity.
She says that Pastor Ken Smith and his wife, Floy, didn’t share the gospel with her and didn’t invite her to church early in their relationship and how WONDERFUL that was for her. It meant they didn’t see her as a project, but a neighbor. She notes that she didn’t set foot in a church for 2 years but was in their house EVERY week and talking about all kinds of things opposed to Christianity. Hospitality can have a powerful effect on those we invite into our homes!
If you look up our English word “hospitality” it means “treating strangers in a warm, friendly, generous way.” You receive someone you don’t know, who is not a part of your group – as a guest; so that they feel comfortable and at home. This is the exact opposite of ignoring them, treating them rudely or making fun of them.
The model of hospitality is Abraham. Hospitality was a high value in Jewish culture. Abraham’s interaction with three angels who seemed to be just “passing by” shows us some important principles of hospitality. It is found in Genesis 18.
1 And the Lord appeared to him by the oaks of Mamre, as he sat at the door of his tent in the heat of the day. 2 He lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, three men were standing in front of him. When he saw them, he ran from the tent door to meet them and bowed himself to the earth 3 and said, “O Lord, if I have found favor in your sight, do not pass by your servant. 4 Let a little water be brought, and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree, 5 while I bring a morsel of bread, that you may refresh yourselves, and after that you may pass on—since you have come to your servant.” So they said, “Do as you have said.” 6 And Abraham went quickly into the tent to Sarah and said, “Quick! Three seahs of fine flour! Knead it, and make cakes.” 7 And Abraham ran to the herd and took a calf, tender and good, and gave it to a young man, who prepared it quickly. 8 Then he took curds and milk and the calf that he had prepared, and set it before them. And he stood by them under the tree while they ate.
Notice first that Abraham was seated “at the door of his tent in the heat of the day.” I don’t know about you, but if it was the heat of the day, I would be inside. But Abraham was outside. Only there could he notice these “three men” outside his tent.
As with most ministry of Jesus in the New Testament, Abraham “lifted up his eyes and looked.” We find that this is the first step in showing compassion in the Gospels. Jesus first sees, then feels (compassion) and then acts. Abraham does the same. He notices these men. In order to practice hospitality, we have to be on the lookout for the “strangers” in our midst, or the new people at our church.
Next, Abraham ran to meet them. He took the initiative and he didn’t wait around for them to come to him, even though they were “standing in front of him” not too far away. He didn’t assume that they would favor him with their presence. He ran to meet them. People will know that we are friendly if we take the initiative to go to them, introduce ourselves, find out a little about them, and invite them into our home or out to eat.
Not only that, but Abraham humbled himself before them. He bowed down to the earth to show deference. This was the first phase of positioning himself before them as a servant. I’m not sure what the best equivalent for this is in our culture, but certainly it means that we position ourselves as servants, there to meet their needs.
Abraham then invited them to stay. Since he is exercising hospitality out of his home, he “invited his guests in.” He is expressing the same thing the disciples on the road to Emmaus did with Jesus, although he was at that moment a “stranger” to them,
28 So they drew near to the village to which they were going. He acted as if he were going farther, 29but they urged him strongly, saying, “Stay with us, for it is toward evening and the day is now far spent.” So he went in to stay with them.
And, of course, they received the blessing—having their eyes opened to His presence and having their hearts “burn” within them—all because they practiced hospitality.
We can see Abraham’s servant mentality in the actions he then took. He offered water to wash their feet (v. 4), shade to rest under (v. 4), then he offered them some food (v. 5). Abraham didn’t do it all himself, but mobilized his “team,” which included his wife and servants (vv. 6-7). When it was all prepared and ready to eat, verse 8 says Abraham, “took curds and milk and the calf that he had prepared, and set it before them. And he stood by them under the tree while they ate.”
In this case, Abraham didn’t eat all for the purpose of being readily available to serve his guests, more like a servant than the great and wealthy man that he was. Remember, it was hot out and he had been resting. But as soon as he saw them, he worked hard to make his home, their home. And he sacrificed of what he had to do this. I encourage you to follow the example of Abraham in providing hospitality to strangers and new people in your life.
What a difference this can make in someone’s life, just like Rosaria Champaign Butterfield. In March 1990 Clark and Ann Peddicord, Campus Crusade for Christ representatives in Germany, gave this report in a personal letter:
Last week the former communist dictator, Erich Honecher, was released from the hospital where he had been undergoing treatment for cancer. There is probably no single person in all of East Germany that is more despised and hated than he. He has been stripped of all his offices and even his own communist party has kicked him out. He was booted out of the villa he was living in; the new government refused to provide him and his wife with accommodation. They stood, in essence, homeless on the street. . . . It was Christians who stepped in. Pastor Uwe Holmer, who is in charge of a Christian help-center north of Berlin, was asked by Church leaders if he would be willing to take them in. Pastor Holmer and his family decided that it would be wrong to give away a room in the center that would be used for needy people, or an apartment that their staff needed; instead, they took the former dictator and his wife into their own home. It must have been a strange scene when the old couple arrived. The former absolute ruler of the country was being sheltered by one of the Christians whom he and his wife had despised and persecuted. In East Germany there is a great deal of hate toward the former regime and especially toward Honecher and his wife, Margot, who had ruled the educational system there for 26 years with an iron hand. She had made sure that very few Christian children were able to go on for higher education. There are ten children in the Holmer family and eight of them had applied for further education in the course of the past years: all had been refused a place at college because they were Christians, in spite of the fact that they had good or excellent grades in school. Pastor Holmer was asked why he and his family would open their door to such detestable people. . . . Pastor Holmer spoke very clearly, “Our Lord challenged us to follow him and to take in all who are weary and heavy laden—both in soul and in body. . . .”(Reported by George Cowan to Campus Crusade at the U.S. Division Meeting Devotions, Thursday, March 22, 1990).
The story is a miracle, for no one, apart from the grace of God and the example of Christ and the instruction of the New Testament, would thought of doing such a thing. Pastor Holmer was certainly informed by God’s Word, and perhaps even the teaching here of 13:2—“Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.”
Grace Still Amazes 