Hebrews 13:15-16 & 22-25 “This Is What Christians Do”

Translation & Sermon by Nate Wilson for Christ the Redeemer Church of Manhattan, KS, 19 Apr. 2019

Intro

1. The God of peace shares His peace with us,

2. God raises the dead to life imperishable,

3. Jesus is our great Shepherd,

4. God uses the means of the eternal covenant in His blood to save us,

5. God fixes up/equips us for good works, and

6. God accomplishes in us what is pleasing to him through Jesus.

1. Christians give thanks in Jesus’ name. (v.15)

Let it be through Him, therefore that we offer up a thanks-offering always to God, which is fruit of lips confessing His name,

2. Christians sacrificially share with the needy (v.16)

and never forget good works and sharing [κοινωνίας], for with such sacrifices God is well-pleased.

3. Christians bear with one another in love (v.22)

Now, brothers, I exhort you, bear with the matter of this exhortation, for I have indeed written to y’all with brevity.

4. Christians visit one another (v.23)

Our brother8 Timothy, you know, has been released; I will see y’all with him if he happens to come soon!

5. Christians greet one another (v.24)

Y’all greet all of your leaders and all of the saints. Those from Italy greet y’all.

6. Christians extend grace to one another (v.25)

May grace be with all of you. Amen.

Conclusion

1. Christians give thanks in Jesus’ name. (v.15)

2. Christians sacrificially share with the needy (v.16)

3. Christians bear with one another in love (v.22)

4. Christians visit one another (v.23)

5. Christians greet one another (v.24)

6. Christians extend grace to one another (v.25)

APPENDIX: Greek Text & English Versions of Hebrews 13:15-25A

Greek NT

NAW

KJV

15 δι᾿ αὐτοῦ οὖν ἀναφέρω­μεν θυσίαν αἰνέσεως διὰ παντὸς τῷ Θεῷ, τοῦτ᾿ ἔστι καρπὸν χειλέων ὁμολογούντων τῷ ὀνόματι αὐτοῦ.

15 Let it be through Him, therefore, that we offer up a thanks-offer­ing always to God, which is fruit of lips confessing His name,

15 By him there­fore let us offer the sacri­fice of praise to God contin­ually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name.

16 τῆς δὲ εὐποιΐας καὶ κοινωνίας μὴ ἐπιλανθάνεσθε· τοιαύταιςB γὰρ θυσίαις εὐαρεσ­τεῖταιC ὁ Θεός.

16 and never forget good works and sharing, for with such sacrifices God is well-pleased.

16 But to do good and to communicate forget not: for with such sacrifices God is well pleased.

22 Παρακαλῶ δὲ ὑμᾶς, ἀδελφοί, ἀνέχεσθε τοῦ λόγου τῆς παρα­κλήσεως· καὶ γὰρ διὰ βραχέωνD ἐπέστειλαE ὑμῖν.

22 Now, bro­thers, I exhort you, bear with the matter of this exhortation, for I have in­deed written to y’all with brevity.

22 And I beseech you, brethren, suffer the word of exhortation: for X I have written a letter unto you in few [words].

23 ΓινώσκετεF τὸν ἀδελφὸν [ἡμῶνG] Τιμόθεον ἀπο­λελυμένον, μεθ᾿ οὗ, ἐὰν τάχιονH ἔρχηται, ὄψομαι ὑμᾶς.

23 Our brother Timothy, you know, has been released; I will see y’all with him if he happens to come soon!

23 Know ye that our brother Timothy is set at liberty; with whom, if he come shortly, I will see you.

24 ᾿ΑσπάσασθεI πάντας τοὺς ἡγουμένους ὑμῶν καὶ πάντας τοὺς ἁγίους. ᾿Ασπάζον­ται ὑμᾶς οἱ ἀπὸ τῆς ᾿ΙταλίαςJ.

24 Y’all greet all of your leaders and all of the saints. Those from Italy greet y’all.

24 Salute all them that have the rule over you, and all the saints. They of Italy salute you.

25 ῾Η χάρις μετὰ πάντων ὑμῶν· ἀμήνK.

25 May grace be with all of you. Amen.

25 Grace be with you all. Amen. Written to the Hebrews from Italy, by Timothy.L


1"Jews themselves say, that in future time (i.e. in the days of the Messiah) all sacrifices shall cease, but קרבן תודה, 'the sacrifice of praise' shall not cease (Vajikra Rabba, sect. 9. fol. 153. 1. & sect 27. fol. 168. 4.).'' ~John Gill

2"[I]n Hosea 14:2 which is thought to be referred to here, it is, "the calves of our lips"; sacrifices of praise being instead of calves: and the apostle interprets it in great agreement with the Jewish writers; the Chaldee paraphrase explains it by מלי ספותנא, "the words of their lips": and so Jarchi, דברי שפתינו, "the words of our lips"; and Kimchi, וידוי שפתינו, "the confession of our lips": and it may be observed, that there is a great nearness in פרים, "calves", and פרי, "fruit"; though perhaps rather the phrase is borrowed from Isa. 57:19 where it is expressly had; the Septuagint indeed have it in Hos. 14:2" ~John Gill
“The Hebrew of Hosea 14:2 may be divided and vocalized either as parim sephathenu ‘bullocks of our lips,’ or as peri missephathenu ‘fruit of our lips.’ Of particular interest is the discovery of the expression, ‘the fruit of the lips’ in the Qumran literature (Hymns I.28), while the expression ‘the oblation of the lips’ is also found (The Community Rule X.4; cf. 26). This would seem to indicate that the Qumran understanding of Hosea 14:2 agreed with that of the Septuagint, and thus to confirm the correctness of our author’s language when he speaks of a ‘sacrifice’ which is the ‘fruit of lips.’” ~P.E. Hughes, A Commentary on the Epistle to the Hebrews.

3John Brown, in his commentary, also cited Lev. 7:14 and Deut. 12:12, 14:29, 16:11 as proof that the Jews did the same for their religious feasts.

4Gill also quoted a Jewish tradition: “greater is he who does alms than all sacrifices” (T. Bab. Succa, fol. 49. 2).

5It is also reminiscent of 1 Cor. 13:7 “Love bears all things...” but that is a different Greek verb [στέγει].

6Calvin supported this view (as did Brown “concisely,” Owen, Vincent and Gill), explaining that the apostle did not write so exhaustively as to preclude the need for further personal teaching. “Let us hence learn that the Scripture has not been committed to us in order to silence the voice of pastors... for the holy Spirit has so regulated the writings which he has dictated to the Prophets and the Apostles, that he detracts nothing from the order instituted by himself; and the order is, that constant exhortations should be heard in the Church from the mouth of pastors.”

7John Brown’s is 728 pages, Phillip Hughes’ is 623 pages, John Owens’ was 8 volumes!

8In arguing against Pauline authorship, Vincent noted that Paul usually put the word “brother” after a name rather than before as it is here, Gill noted that Paul usually (with the exception of Col 1:1) called Timothy “son” rather than “brother,” and Gardinier (editor of Chrysostom’s homilies) noted that coming “with Timothy” rather than bringing “Timothy with” him could indicate that Timothy was in a superior position to the author.

9This could comport with 2 Tim. 4:9 in favor of Pauline authorship. Gill noted of the author, “whether he ever had his liberty after this, and saw the Hebrews any more, cannot be said; the contrary seems most probable.Owen suggested the opposite, “Timothy...does not seem to have been present with the Apostle at the despatch of this epistle, but he believed it was in the mind of Timothy to visit them in Judea… What was the event of this resolution God only knows.”

10Acts 4:23, 5:40, 16:36; 17:9, 26:32. Just as many verses could be cited for the more innocuous meaning of “dismissed.” Of those who ventured to comment on this unknown circumstance: Chrysostom said, “I suppose he had been cast into prison: or if not this, that he was sent away from Athens.” Matthew Henry wrote, "It seems, Timothy had been a prisoner, doubtless for the gospel, but now he was set at liberty." John Owen: “...Timothy’s release out of prison...” and John Brown: “… it would appear from this passage that he had been cast into prison as an associate of Paul, or for preaching the Gospel himself.”

11John Gill quoted the Hist. Eccl. Magdeburg claiming that these were the first two men to preach in Italy.

12Except for James, Jude, and 1 & 3 John. Peter puts it up in the beginning of his epistles.

132nd John adds that it is also “from God the Father.”

14Chrysostom: “And what is ‘the grace’? Remission of sins, Cleansing: this is ‘with’ us.”

15cf. John Gill: “he wishes renewed discoveries of the love and favour of God; fresh communications of grace from Christ; an abundant supply of the spirit of grace; an increase of internal grace and external gifts; and a continuance of the Gospel of the grace of God.”
cf. John Brown: “May you be the objects of the continued love of the greatest, the wisest, and the best Being in the universe; and may He constantly bestow on you proofs of His peculiar love and care! ‘His favor is life, His loving-kindness is better than life.’ Nothing better, for time or for eternity, can be desired for ourselves or for others than the grace of God. Infinite power to guard, infinite wisdom to guide, infinite excellence and love to excite and gratify all the affections of the heart for ever and ever.”

AThe Greek is the Majority text, edited by myself to follow the majority of the earliest-known manuscripts only when the early manuscript evidence is practically unanimous. My original document includes notes on the NKJV, NASB, NIV, & ESV English translations, but since they are all copyrighted, I cannot include them in my online document. Underlined words in English versions indicate a standalone difference from all other English translations of a certain word. Strikeout usually indicates that the English translation is, in my opinion, too far outside the range of meaning of the original Greek word. The addition of an X indicates a Greek word left untranslated – or a plural Greek word translated as an English singular. [Brackets] indicate words added in English not in the Greek. {Pointed Braces} indicate words added in Greek to the original. Key words are colored consistently across the chart to show correlations.

BMost English versions render the dative as one of means, but Robertson suggested in his Grammar that it is causal.

CThe only other occurrences of this verb in the N.T. are in Heb. 11:5 & 6.

DMoulton’s Grammar noted: “The prepositional phrase dia braxewn denotes attendant circumstance, with the meaning ‘briefly.’” cf. 1 Pet. 5:12 δι’ ολιγων

EA.T. Robertson noted that this is an “epistolary aorist”

FThe imperative and indicative moods of this verb are spelled identically, but the Vulgate, NASB, NIV, and ESV, as well as Calvin and Beza all supported the imperative interpretation. Hughes asserted that it was imperative, but undermined that by his assertion that the “NEB ‘I have news for you,’ conveys the spirit more effectively than… ‘You should understand that...’”

GAlthough not in the majority of Greek manuscripts (and therefore not in the traditional T.R. or Patriarchal editions of the GNT), this word appears in all 5 of the oldest-known manuscripts (plus a dozen more), and the oldest one which does NOT contain the word dates to the 9th century. Once again, it makes no difference in meaning because, in Greek grammar, a definite article before a noun can legitimately be interpreted as a possessive pronoun.

HThe comparative adverb  is used for the positive, with the meaning ‘soon’” ~Turner’s Grammar (This was also Hughes’ comment on the previous instance of this word in v.19, a position debated by Blass & DeBrunner.)

II interpret the aorist tense of this imperative not as inceptive (“start greeting”) as I did at the end of 1 Corinthians, but rather as referring to a single occasion of conferring greetings. I am interpreting the present tense of the second instance of the verb in this verse as a real-time present (“they’re telling me as I write”) rather than as continuous action.

JIt is generally agreed by grammarians (as I have read it in Brown, Hughes, Turner, Robertson) that this grammar does not necessarily indicate where these Italians are at the time. They could be “from” in the sense of “native to” or “from” in the sense of “moved from.”

KThis word is in the majority of Greek manuscripts and thus in the traditional Textus Receptus and Patriarchal Greek Orthodox editions of the Greek New Testament, but is not in the western contemporary critical editions of the Greek New Testament (such as Nestle-Aland or the UBS) because it’s not in the two oldest-known manuscripts. (It is in 7/10 first-century manuscripts dating back to the 5th century, however.) The ancient Latin, Syriac, and central asian versions contain the Amen (the ancient Coptic versions go both ways), and Chrysostom includes it, but the “Amen” makes no real difference in meaning besides adding an air of finality to the last verse. In addition, the 1550 edition of the Textus Receptus by Stephens contains the following epilogue: προς εβραιους (“to the Hebrews” - this much is supported by א, A, C) εγραφη απο της ιταλιας (“written from Italy” - this phrase is supported by A, which substitutes “Rome” for “Italy” and also supported by at least 19 miniscules) δια τιμοθεου (“by Timothy” - this is supported by at least 22 Greek miniscule manuscripts, the earliest ones of which date to the 10th century – although at least three miniscules dating as far back as the 11th century substitute “Paul” for “Timothy.”), but the 1894 reprint of the Textus Receptus by Scrivner does not contain this postscript, nor do the Patriarchal or modern critical editions of the GNT (supported by the majority of Greek manuscripts, the oldest of which are P46 and D). Verse 23, with its separation between the first person author and the third person Timothy visiting, raises serious a logical objection to the later scribal claim of authorship by Timothy, although the Geneva Bible solves that problem with the viable translation of dia in terms of “sent by.”

LThis note began to appear in Bibles some 750 years after the book of Hebrews was written. It was not in the original letter; it is just a note by a scribe who copied the letter hundreds of years after it was written. It should also be noted that the interpretation of dia Timotheou as “by Timothy” can’t mean that the letter was written by Timothy - either as its author or as its amanuensis, because in v.23, the author talks about hoping that Timothy will visit him. The Geneva Bible’s translation “sent by Timothy” is plausible, however. Timothy could have come too late, and the author could have sent just his letter by Timothy rather than coming with Timothy.

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