Hebrews 13:15 - Coke's Commentary on the Holy Bible

By him therefore, &c.— "Since Jesus therefore hath suffered that he might redeem us with his blood, let us apply ourselves to God the Father, throughhim as the Mediator, and continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God through his mediation,—not the Jewish sacrifices of the fruits of the earth, of the flocks and herds, but the fruit of our lips; giving thanks to his name. Besides this sacrifice of praise, let us also offer the sacrifice of good works, &c. Hebrews 13:16." As the apostle was now writing to the Jews, he chose to speak of Christian duties and privileges in Jewish language, in order to convince them, that Christianity has all the advantages of which the Jewish church used to boast. As they had an altar, so have we; as they had an high-priest, through whose hands their sacrifices became acceptable to God, (which they would not have been, if they had been offered to God immediately by their own hands;) so we also have a great High-priest, who, as the Mediator between God and man, offers up our sacrifices of prayer and praise to God; who accepts these our sacrifices at Christ's hand, though he would not accept them, if we should offer them up immediately to him without a Mediator. The apostle here also teaches us the general form and method of Christian worship, which is, to offer up our prayers to God the Father through Jesus Christ the Mediator;—as the apostle says we must do continually, and as the precepts and examples recorded in the New Testament universally teach us. See on Hosea 14:2.