Tag: love

We are now in Hebrews 13, the last chapter and final message of the book of Hebrews.  Having dealt with theological topics, particularly how Christ and the New Covenant supersedes the Mosaic covenant and the sacrifices, now our author turns to consider some of the core aspects of how to live a holy life.

As is common in other NT epistles (e.g., Romans 12-15), the author concludes the letter with a series of specific moral exhortations.  The change can be expressed in many ways—from exposition to exhortation, from creed to conduct, from doctrine to duty, from the indicative to the imperative.  Our New Testament authors always point out what God has done for us before telling us what we must now do for God.  This characteristic change actually took place in Hebrews in the shift between chapters 11 and 12 where the writer began to exhort his people regarding their duty to run the great race marked out for them.

I’ve always considered the third part of Hebrews to be neatly outlined with what has been historically called “the three theological virtues” of faith, hope, and love.  Chapter 11 presents a procession of men and women of faith worthy of emulation.   Chapter 12 sets forth warnings and essential advice to help believers stand strong in hope to endure the marathon of the Christian life.   Now, in chapter 13, the author examines the Christian’s life of love for God and love for others.  (Charles R. Swindoll, Swindoll’s Living Insights: Hebrews, 211)

After the warning that concludes chapter 12, the author moves back to the practical commands of chapter 13.  Look at the verse which immediately precedes, and remember that when this epistle was first written there were no chapter-breaks: 12:29 and 13:1 read consecutively, without any hiatus–“our God is a consuming fire: let brotherly love continue!” (Arthur W. Pink, An Exposition of Hebrews, 11).

So now we move from fire to function —from vertical to horizontal —from love for God to love for the church.

The implication is clear: what we think about God has everything to do with our relationship to each other and with the world.  For example, this logic is built into the very structure of the Ten Commandments.  The first four are penetratingly vertical and theological, followed by six that are intensely horizontal and ethical.  This is why worship is so important—because a proper grasp of God guides our behavior in the world.  Orthodoxy (right beliefs) should lead to doxology (worship of God in truth) and then to orthopraxy (right living).

So as our author finishes his letter, he states some specific points of application for the community (vv. 1-19), invokes a word of blessing (vv. 20-21), and greets the community (vv. 22-25).

The epistolary closing begins with a series of brief ethical directives.  These commands address three spheres: relationships with other believers, especially sufferers (Heb. 13:1-3); the meeting of physical needs (sexual and financial) in submission to and trust in God (vv. 4-6); and leadership transitions in the congregation (vv. 7-8). 

The brevity of the commands is more evident in Greek (many are only three or four words) than in English: “Let brotherly love continue” translates a Greek noun (with article) and a verb; “Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers” reflects a noun (with article), a negative particle, and a verb; and “Let marriage be held in honor” reflects an adjective and noun (with article).

Most of these commands are supported by rationales for obeying. For example, hospitality should be extended to strangers because “thereby some have entertained angels unawares” (v. 2); marriage should be honored because God will punish adulterers (v. 4); we should not crave money because God will never forsake us (vv. 5-6).

So let’s look today at verses 1-3.

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.

The first three verses of Hebrews 13 set the tone of the rest of this “love” chapter. (Charles R. Swindoll, Swindoll’s Living Insights: Hebrews, 212)  Our writer identifies three aspects of brotherly love, and devotes the first sentences of this pastoral exhortation to stress the importance of love’s necessary continuance, its generous expression in Christian hospitality, and its practical responsibility in caring for prisoners and the afflicted.  (Raymond Brown, The Bible Speaks Today:  Hebrews, 248).

These first three imperatives summon hearers to costly care for fellow Christians, particularly those in special need: strangers who need lodging, and believers enduring chains or mistreatment for Christ.

But the most basic and fundamental command insists that the practice of brotherly love (philadelphia) must “continue” across the whole congregation (cf. Rom. 12:10; 1 Thess. 4:9; 1 Pet. 1:22; 2 Pet. 1:7).  The Greek word here is philadelphia, and that city’s name means “brotherly love.”  In the New Testament’s understanding of the Christian faith as a family of brothers and sisters, it refers to “affection for a fellow Christian.”

In the Greek language there were four words for love.

• Eros was one word for love. It described, as we might guess from the word itself, erotic love, referring to sexual love.
• Storge was a second word for love. It is not used in the New Testament but referred to family love, the kind of love there is between a parent and child or between family members in general.
• Agape is the most powerful word for love in the New Testament, and was often used to describe God’s love towards us. It is a love that loves without changing. It is a self-giving love that gives without demanding or expecting re-payment.  It is a love that works for the good of another person even when that person deserves to be hated and can never repay, but you do it even at great personal cost.
• But the word here is phile, a word that speaks of brotherly friendship and affection.  It is the love of deep friendship and partnership.

For Christians, the common bond of union is Jesus Christ.  Our relationship with Him, established by the Holy Spirit, makes us all children of the Father, which in turn makes us spiritual “brothers and sisters.”  This kind of love demands something from each of us.  We’re not just attending spiritual meetings during the same time slot; we’re members of a body.  (Charles R. Swindoll, Swindoll’s Living Insights: Hebrews, 213)

“Let brotherly love continue.”  It is a universal command, applying to every fellow believer.  This is the big picture idea for how and why we look out for those around us and not just for ourselves.  It is also a present tense command, meaning that it is command that love to continue on and on.

Louis Evans notes that “The Greek verb is menetō, from monien, “to remain,” from which we get our word “monument.”  Let brotherly love stand unmovable and uneroded by the weather of history” (Louis H. Evans, Jr., The Communicator’s Commentary: Hebrews, 240).

The NIV translates this verse as “Keep on loving one another as brothers and sisters.”  That translation communicates well why we love.  It is because we are brothers and sisters to one another, because we belong to the same family.  We are linked together as a spiritual family.  We have a bond that is even stronger and tighter than biological bonds.

In the past, the hearers have shown love for God’s name by serving the saints (Heb. 6:9-10; cf. 10:32-34).  R. Kent Hughes describes:

At first, this love had come to those new believers as naturally as one’s first steps, very much like Paul’s allusion to the similar experience of the Thessalonians: “Now concerning brotherly love [philadelphia] you have no need for anyone to write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love one another” (1 Thessalonians 4:9).  For these new Christians, loving other believers was as easy as falling off a log.  They could not wait to get to church where they could drink in the fellowship of the godly.  The fellowship of their new brothers and sisters was delectably mysterious to them, and they rejoiced in plumbing the depth of each other’s souls” (R. Kent Hughes, Hebrews: Volume 2, pp. 206-207).

But apparently there had been an evident flagging of brotherly affection among the members of the tiny Jewish congregation as it rode the increasingly hostile seas of Roman culture.  History and experience show that persecution and the accompanying sense of dissonance with pagan and secular culture can bring two opposite effects.  One is to draw God’s people together, but the other is to promote disaffection. 

R. Kent Hughes relates the following incident as an example:

In the 1830s two New York Christians, Reverend John McDowall and Mr. Arthur Tappan, were drawn together in their battle against the abuse of women fallen to prostitution, and the two men formed the Magdalen Society.  But when their work began to probe too close to the heart of New York society, both found that they could “scarcely go into a hotel, or step for a moment on board a steamboat, without being annoyed by . . . angry hissing” (Marvin Olasky, Abortion Rites (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 1992), p. 140, which quotes from John McDowall, Magdalen Facts Number 1 (New York: Magdalen Society, 1832), p. 33).  This, along with threats from Tammany Hall and derisive newspaper coverage that branded Mr. Tappan as “Arthur D. Fanaticus,” brought immense stress upon the two men, which served to exacerbate their differences and finally ended their friendship (Olasky, Abortion Rites, pp. 140–142).

It doesn’t take persecution from the outside for brotherly love to disappear, however.  Friction and conflict between brothers and sisters in Christ can do that as well.  That love and affection is eroded when we fight with one another.

What impedes brotherly love?  What derails it?  What suffocates it?  In a word, selfishness, wanting things to please me, to go my way.  I remember years ago attending a Weekend to Remember by Family Life and they said that the chief enemy of the marriage relationship is selfishness.

Selfishness is to be focused on, preoccupied with, in love with, concerned with—self.  It is the characteristic of a heart that is turned inward upon itself.  We love self, preserve self, honor self, serve self, and defend self.  That is quite natural for us until God’s Spirit begins to produce a love for God and others in our hearts.

Erik Raymond asks: What impedes brotherly love in the church?  We could list 500 things but here are five big ones.

1. Isolation from others.  Regrettably some Christians do not make the Lord’s Day gathering a high priority.  What’s more, some have very little contact with other believers during the week.  It is very difficult to love other people when we are not with them.  This also reveals a selfishness that we know suffocates brotherly love: “Whoever isolates himself seeks his own desire….” (Prov. 18:1)

2. Disengagement.  When we are with our brothers and sisters we must be present with them.  It is not enough to physically be there we must actually be there.  Consider a holiday gathering where Grandma is talking about her health or some stories from her youth only to have someone sitting there a few feet away scanning Facebook, reading the news, or playing Candy Crush?  In order to do the requisite heart work in the church family we must be present not only physically but mentally, emotionally, and most importantly–spiritually.  Are you present with your church family?

3. Superficiality.  We have to remember that Christian love, at its heart, is a redemptive love.  This means that it is rooted in God saving us from our sin.  This includes the sin of selfishness.  When we love others we are to be helping them to become more like Jesus Christ.  If we are superficial, and by this I mean talking about all kinds of surface items, we will never get to the matters of the heart, the stuff that really matters.  Superficiality will prevent the type of redemptive love that irritates (in the right sense) our sinful preoccupation with ourselves.

4. Unresolved conflict.  When people have something against a brother or sister and they do not deal with the problem it creates a wedge in the relationship.  Unresolved conflict builds walls in relationships.  Each day that passes is another brick in the wall of separation.  When we do not deal with conflict we have to understand that we are neither loving God nor are we loving our brothers.  We are not loving God because we refuse to obey his commands and we are not loving our brother or sister because we do not care enough about holiness in their lives to actually speak with them about it.  I am sure you can see how this is self-worship instead of God worship.

5. Gossip.  This is talking about someone behind their back rather than going and talking to the person.  Often times it is the defaming of the character by spreading lies about them.  With gossip the heart bent in on itself attempts to rid itself of any competition by cutting other people down with their tongues.  Instead of speaking the truth in love gossipers speak lies in pride.

On the night before he was crucified our Lord washed his disciples’ feet.  The king of the universe took on the culturally lowest form of a servant and he bathed their feet.  This was demonstrating the type of service he has for his people.  And, it was to be the type of service that is to characterize his followers.  Indeed, their brotherly love was a telltale sign of their salvation.  As the Apostle John would later write: “We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brothers” (1 John 3:14).  Their impulse to brotherly love provided a sweet, inner self-authentication. It also announced to the world that their faith was the real thing, for Jesus said…

“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.  By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

Following Jesus’ example, who did not come to be ministered to but to minister, we should lose ourselves in the sustained, sympathetic, and loving care of others (John MacArthur Jr., The MacArthur NT Commentary: Hebrews, 428).

Francis Schaeffer, in his book The Mark of a Christian, tells us that love if the badge of true disciples.  He says its as if Jesus turns to the world and says, “I’ve got something to say to you.   On the basis of my authority, I give you a right: you may judge whether or not an individual is a Christian on the basis of the love he shows to all Christians” (Jn 13:33-35) (Francis Schaeffer; The Mark of the Christian, 13).

If I fail in my love toward Christians, it does not prove I am not a Christian.   What Jesus is saying, however, is that, if I do not have the love I should have toward all other Christians, the world has the right to make the judgment that I am not a Christian (Francis Schaeffer; The Mark of the Christian, 13-14).  The world will likely conclude that I am not a Christian.

What a glorious phenomenon brotherly love is—a sense of the same paternity (a brotherly and sisterliness taught by God, a desire to climb into each other’s souls), a sweet inner authentication, and the sign of the real thing to the world.

If that brotherly love is still there, our author wants them to fan it into flame so that it would burn brighter and brighter and continue on and on.  If it was in danger of going out, he is encouraging them (and us) to resurrect that love, that brotherly love for one another.  If you have grown weary of other believers in your church, if something has stuck in your craw and you cannot forgive, then pray and ask God to restore your brotherly affection for that brother or sister.

This is a choice you can make.  If you act in agape love towards that person, you will find your heart strangely warmed towards them.  We must will to love one another. George Whitefield and John Wesley did this even though they disagreed in matters of theology. Whitefield’s words say it all:

My honored friend and brother . . . hearken to a child who is willing to wash your feet. I beseech you, by the mercies of God in Christ Jesus our Lord, if you would have my love confirmed toward you . . . Why should we dispute, when there is no possibility of convincing? Will it not, in the end, destroy brotherly love, and insensibly take from us that cordial union and sweetness of soul, which I pray God may always subsist between us? How glad would the enemies of our Lord be to see us divided. . . . Honored sir, let us offer salvation freely to all by the blood of Jesus, and whatever light God has communicated to us, let us freely communicate to others.

The mark of a disciple is loving your spiritual siblings.  Clearly, we do need to love unbelievers, but that is not where love begins.  It begins with our family and we should love our family well and love them consistently.