Admonitions concerning Church discipline. The brethren are to cherish the memory of their former leaders, who instructed them in the truth of God and exemplified it in their life and death. Jesus Christ, in whom those departed leaders found their strength, is the same still, and will be the same for ever (Hebrews 13:7 f.). The mention of those revered teachers who have passed away suggests a warning against forgetfulness of the doctrines they had taught. Some peculiar form of error was threatening the Church; the nature of it cannot be precisely determined, but it seems to have laid stress on certain rules of eating and drinking, like the heresy at Colossæ (cf. Colossians 2:16-23). The writer declares that external devices of this kind have never helped those who trusted in them, and all strength must come from the grace of God (Hebrews 13:9). That Christianity is not concerned with matters of food is clear from this, that it depends on a sacrifice of which the priests were expressly forbidden to eat. For the rule is laid down (Leviticus 16:27) that the flesh of those animals which were offered on the Day of Atonement must not be divided among the priests, like that of other sacrificial victims, but must be carried outside the camp and burned (Hebrews 13:10 f.). Jesus, as the previous argument has shown, was the ideal counterpart of the victim of the Day of Atonement, and the analogy is further borne out by this, that He was taken outside the city to die (Hebrews 13:12). The service He requires, therefore, does not consist in any kind of ritual meal. It consists rather in suffering the world's scorn and rejection along with Him. He is to be found outside the camp, and we must be willing to be thrust out in order to join Him. We belong to the heavenly city, and can expect nothing else than to be treated as strangers by the world.
Hebrews 13:7. the issue of their life: i.e. their death which was in full accordance with their life.
Hebrews 13:10-13 are exceedingly difficult, and have been interpreted in a variety of ways. Some have explained them with reference to the Lord's Supper; others have taken them as a warning against all participation in the rites of Judaism. Perhaps the simplest explanation is that given above. The writer wishes to bring out the thought that ritual practices have nothing to do with Christianity, which has for its true service the imitation of Christ. In enforcing this truth he takes occasion to recall his conception of Christ as the final sacrifice, although he now dwells on a new aspect of it.
Resuming his practical admonitions, he exhorts his readers to be earnest in praise to God, offering this personal devotion as their daily sacrifice. And along with this sacrifice of praise they are to render Him that of active well-doing and beneficence (Hebrews 13:15 f.). They are to pay due reverence to the pastors set over them, who have made themselves responsible for their spiritual welfare. If all the members co-operate, the practical work will be done joyfully, and only when it is so done can it yield true results (Hebrews 13:17). In this connexion the writer, who is himself one of their pastors, makes request to his readers for their prayers; they are to pray especially that he may soon be restored to them after his enforced absence (Hebrews 13:18 f.).