The Vision (8.30.24): Seven Parallels Between Melchizedek and Christ

 

Image: Ripening tomatoes, North Garden, Virginia, August 2024.

Note: Devotion taken from last Sunday's sermon on Genesis 14:18-20; Hebrews 7.

Hebrews 7:14 For it is evident that our Lord sprang out of Juda; of which tribe Moses spake nothing concerning priesthood. 15 And it is yet far more evident: for that after the similitude of Melchisedec there ariseth another priest, 16 Who is made, not after the law of a carnal commandment, but after the power of an endless life.

In the book of Hebrews, the inspired author (I believe it was the apostle Paul) makes comparison between the lesser ministry of the mysterious Melchizedek to Abraham in Genesis 14:18-20 and the greater ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Here are at least seven parallels that might be drawn: 

1.  Melchizedek was a priest and king.  The Lord Jesus Christ is our great Prophet, Priest, and King.

2.  Melchizedek’s name meant “My king is righteous.” The Lord Jesus Christ is the true “King of righteousness” (Hebrews 7:2).

How did Christ exercise his kingship?  As a servant.  His coronation was in humiliation on the cross.  His crown was one of twisted thorns, his scepter a reed, his raiment a purple rag.  But by his death he justified many. Indeed, he is the King of justification.

3.  Melchizedek was the King of Salem, the king of peace.  The Lord Jesus Christ is the true King of Salem, the Prince of Peace.

Our Lord is this in two ways:

First, in the ultimate sense he gives us peace with God: “Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Romans 5:1).

Second, he gives us peace within ourselves and with others: “And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:7).

The old adage is:  No Jesus, no peace; Know Jesus, know peace.

As one cheesy church sign which I once saw on the roadside in Houston, Texas several years ago put it: “If your life is in pieces, look to Jesus for peace.”

4.  Melchizedek met with Abraham.  The Lord Jesus meets with us.

He does so often unexpectedly, surprisingly, seeming to appear out of nowhere.

5.  Melchizedek was made “like unto a Son of God” (Hebrews 7:3).  The Lord Jesus Christ is the Son of God.

6.  Melchizedek represented a continuing priesthood, unlike that of Levi and Aaron.  The Lord Jesus Christ is the eternal priest who gave himself once for sin on the cross and now ever liveth to make intercession for us (cf. Hebrews 7:25).

7.  Abraham gave tithes to Melchizedek.  We give our lives to Christ with gratitude, as living sacrifices (Romans 12:1-2).

Now consider how great this man Melchizedek was!  Yet, the Lord Jesus is greater than Melchizedek. He is our greater Melchizedek. He is the King of righteousness and the King of peace.

Grace and peace, Pastor Jeff Riddle

Hilarion Alfeyev on Pauline Authorship of Hebrews

Image: Dunes, Topsail Island, North Carolina, June 2020

I'm continuing to work my way through Volume 1 of Hilarion Alfeyev's Jesus Christ: His Life and Teaching. In an overall discussion of how the prologue of John and Hebrews serve as "manifestos of the faith of the ancient church" in Jesus as not a mere prophet but as the Son of God (369-370), Alfeyev adds this footnote on the authorship of Hebrews:

Here and later in the present book, as well as in other books in the series Jesus Christ: His Life and Teaching, we will refer to the epistle of the Hebrews as one of the general epistles of the apostle Paul, in accordance with the attribution accepted in the tradition of the Church. An analysis of the polemics surrounding the authorship of this epistle is outside the scope of our investigation (369, n. 8).

It is interesting that though conversant with the findings of modern historical-critical methodology on this subject (the authorship of Hebrews), as on other topics, Alfeyev's orientation is to adopt the traditional perspective.

JTR

Origen on the Pauline Authorship of Hebrews

Image: Origen teaching his students, etching by Jan Luyken (1649-1712)

It seems every discussion of the authorship of Hebrews must throw in the quote attributed to Origen by Eusebius: “But who wrote the epistle, in truth God knows” (Eusebius, EH, 6.25). This is taken to mean that Origen believed it impossible to know who wrote the work.

David Alan Black points out in episode 19 of the Hoi Polloi podcast, however, that if you read Origen’s works he consistently attributes Hebrews to Paul. See also his book, The Authorship of Hebrews: The Case for Paul (Engerion, 2013).

In On First Principles, for example, before offering a citation from Hebrew 6:7, Origen writes, “To show more clearly, however, what we mean, let us take the illustration employed by the apostle Paul in the Epistle to the Hebrews” (3.1.10).

In his Epistle to Africanus, Origen goes even further, in reference to his interpretation of Hebrews 11, when he says, “However, some one hard pressed by this argument may have recourse to the opinion of those who reject this Epistle as not being Paul’s; against whom I must at some other time use other arguments to prove that it is Paul’s” (v. 9). See also Matthew J. Thomas, “Origen on Paul’s Authorship of Hebrews, New Testament Studies, Vol. 65, No. 4 (2019): 598-609 (read the abstract here, which concludes, that Origen’s “surprisingly consistent testimony is that the epistle is indeed Paul’s”).

JTR

Eusebius, EH.3.37-38: Quadratus, Hebrews, and Clement

A new episode has been posted to the series on Eusebius of Caesarea’s The Ecclesiastical History: book 3, chapters 37-38. Listen here.

Notes and Commentary:

Eusebius here continues to describe the expansion of the Christian movement after the time of the apostles.

He begins with reference to one named Quadratus who was said to have prophetic powers like the daughters of Philip, but emphasizes that there were a large number of unnamed men who “built in every place upon the foundations of the churches laid by the Apostles.”

He notes that it would be impossible to describe exhaustively all “the shepherds or evangelists in the churches throughout the world,” noting, though, that it is natural to take notice of those who left behind useful writings.

Here he notes again the letters of Ignatius of Antioch as well as the first epistle of Clement of Rome to the Corinthians.

Eusebius adds some interesting views on Hebrews here, noting that Clement made use of parallel thoughts from Hebrews and made quotations from it.

This, he suggests, proves the antiquity of Hebrews. He suggests that Paul originally wrote Hebrews in the native language of the Jews and that it was translated by either Luke or Clement.

He also refers to 2 Clement but sees it as spurious, and he likewise rejects the authenticity of other writings attributed to Clement, like a supposed dialogue between Peter and Apion. These pseudo-Clementine works are rejected, because they are not mentioned ‘by the ancient writers nor do they preserve the pure type of apostolic orthodoxy.”

Conclusion:

This analysis is interesting in noting the distinction between canonical, apostolic works (including Hebrews as in the Pauline tradition, even if translated by someone else) and non-canonical, post-apostolic works (like the authentic writings of Clement).

These chapters are also interesting in drawing a distinction between the age of the apostles and the age that followed, in which, Eusebius seems to indicate, the exercise of extra-ordinary gifts were diminishing.

JTR

The Vision (8.23.19): He will not forget your work

Note: Devotion taken from 7.28.19 sermon from 1689 Confession 16:6.

Hebrews 6:10: For God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labor of love, which ye have shewed toward his name, in that ye have ministered to the saints, and do minister.

London Baptist Confession 16:6: Yet notwithstanding the persons of believers being accepted through Christ, their good works also are accepted in him; not as though they were in this life wholly unblamable and unreprovable in God’s sight, but that he, looking upon them in his Son, is pleased to accept and reward that which is sincere, although accompanied with many weaknesses and imperfections.

The picture that comes to mind here is of a parent who has very young children, and the children take a crayon, and they scribble some works of “art”, and they come and present it, with real sincerity to the parents. And it’s just a scribble. It is filled with weaknesses and imperfections. It is not “gallery ready.” But it is deeply pleasing to the parents, who put it on the refrigerator, or they might even frame it and put on their walls. “This is what my beloved child did for me!”

So, our good works, though they are but filthy rags in God’s sight (Isaiah 64:6), are accepted by God in Christ.

The key prooftext for this paragraph is Hebrews 6:10, in which the inspired author says that God will not forget your work and labor of love in his name, your ministry to the saints.

It may seem like no one else remembers, no one else notices, no one else acknowledges, but God does. And who are we really serving anyhow?

The first time I ever preached from this verse was when we had returned from two years of missionary service in Hungary in a missionary debriefing conference with our fellow returned missionaries.

A large group of young people in their twenties had gone out to places around the world two years before. Some came back exhilarated, others exhausted and disappointed. Some openly wondered whether they had been able to accomplish anything. Some came back to families and friends who didn’t understand why they had even gone in the first place. Two did not come back. They had died while on the field. One was killed in an act of terrorism in China, and one had died of natural causes in rural Africa. Several had come back with life altering diseases, including some who came back from Kazakhstan with hepatitis.

And all for what? We must remember that God is not unrighteous. He will not forget our work and labor of love showed toward his name when we have ministered to the saints and continue to minister. He accepts our good works in Christ, despite their many weaknesses and imperfections.

Grace and peace, Pastor Jeff Riddle

The Vision (10.7.16): Suffer the Word of Exhortation

 Note:  Last Sunday morning we completed our series through Hebrews.  You can listen to the 46 sermons in the series here.  The devotion is taken from the last Sunday’s sermon on Hebrews 13:22-25.

And I beseech you, brethren, suffer the word of exhortation: for I have written a letter unto you in few words (Hebrews 13:22).

Hebrews ends with an exhortation to “suffer [anechomai:  to sustain, bear, endure] the word [logos] of exhortation [paraklesis].”

What is the “word of exhortation”?  It is the entire book of Hebrews.  I noted at the very beginning of this series the question of the genre of Hebrews.  Is it a sermon or a letter?  In v. 22 we have evidence it is both.  It is a sermon, a word of exhortation (v. 22a).  It is also a letter:  “for I have written a letter (epistello:  the root of “epistle”) unto you in a few words” (v. 22b).

Though the inspired author is speaking here of the book of Hebrews, in particular, he is also speaking of the entirety of the Scripture. The whole Bible, the whole counsel of God, is to us a word of exhortation.  Sometimes it is a word of admonishment.  And sometimes it is a word of comfort.  Compare:

Romans 15: 4 For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort [paraklesis] of the scriptures might have hope.

Sometimes we think people don’t read the Bible or like to hear it preached and taught because it is too difficult for them to understand.  It only needs translation into our modern idiom.  The poet T. S. Eliot in a review of the New English Bible observed that the writings of Paul are indeed hard to understand.  He added that there can be no easy translation of the concepts in Paul anymore than there can be an easy translation of the philosopher Immanuel Kant’s Critique of Pure Reason, a notoriously difficult to understand work of philosophy.  Perhaps we don’t like the intake of the word because we don’t like being offended by what it has to say, by the changes that it demands and expects, or by the challenges it poses.

But the inspired author of Hebrews says, “suffer the word of exhortation.”  This is a key to the Christian life.   When one becomes a Christian he must become not only a believer in Jesus but also, correspondingly, a believer in the Scriptures.  To trust Christ is to trust his Word.

Compare chapter 14 in the Second London Baptist Confession “Of Saving Faith” and paragraph 2:

By this faith a Christian believes to be true whatsoever is revealed in the Word for the authority of God himself, and also apprehends an excellency therein above all other writings and all things in the world, as it bears forth the glory of God in his attributes, the excellency of Christ in his nature and offices, and the power and fullness of the Holy Spirit in his workings and operations: and so is enabled to cast his soul upon the truth consequently believed; and also acts differently upon that which each particular passage thereof contains; yielding obedience to the commands, trembling at the threatenings, and embracing the promises of God for this life and that which is to come; but the principle acts of saving faith have immediate relation to Christ, accepting, receiving, and resting upon him alone for justification, sanctification, and eternal life, by virtue of the covenant of grace.

Indeed, to be a believer is to suffer (receive with reverence and submission) his revealed truth in Hebrews and in the rest of Scripture also.

Grace and peace, Pastor Jeff Riddle

The Vision (9.30.16): Now the God of peace ... make you perfect ...

Devotion taken from last Sunday morning's sermon on Hebrews 13:20-21.

Hebrews 13: 20 Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, 21 Make you perfect in every good work to do his will, working in you that which is wellpleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ; to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.

Here at the close of Hebrews (13:20-21) we find a prayer.  It may be broken down into three simple parts:

First, there is the subject or actor:  The God of peace (v. 20).

Second, there is the action that is requested:  make you perfect (v. 21).

Third, there is the object of the verb:  you (v. 21).  The “you” here originally referred to wavering Hebrew Christians and, through the miracle of the inscripturation of the Word, it is applied to every generation of believers down to this present time.

Let’s meditate on this petition:  “Now the God of peace … make you perfect…”

The verb here is interesting.  There is another verb which means to perfect or be perfected.  It is teleio-o.  It has the sense of to be mature or to reach moral perfection.

But the verb here in Hebrews 13:21 is katartiz-o.  You can hear the root of the English word “artisan” in there.  It means to render, to make sound, to make complete.  It is also used in Greek to refer to mending or repairing something that has been broken or rent.  In those cases it means to make complete or to restore.

This verb is used in Matthew 4:21 and Mark 1:19 to describe how James and John were mending their broken nets.

In 1 Corinthians 1:10 Paul uses this verb to speak of his desire that the fractious Corinthians have no divisions among them and be “perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment.”

In Galatians 6:1 Paul uses this verb to urge that “if a man be overtaken in a fault” that those who are spiritual among them should “restore such an one in the spirit of meekness.”

In 1 Thessalonians 3:10 Paul speaks of having prayed night and day for those brethren that God might “perfect what is lacking in your faith.”

Think again now of the context of this book and of the original recipients:  wavering Jewish Christians.

Their profession of faith might have appeared in their own eyes and in the eyes of others as something broken, torn, un-useable.  But the inspired author prays to a God who told the prophet Ezekiel to prophesy to a valley of dry bones, to a Christ who told a lame man to take up his bed and walk and who told dead Lazarus to come forth from the tomb, to the Father who raised Jesus, that Great Shepherd of the Sheep, from the dead.

He prays that that same God will “make perfect” these hearers.  The God of peace is a God who mends, completes, and repairs beleaguered disciples. 

Grace and peace, Pastor Jeff Riddle

The Vision (9.23.16): A duty of God’s people toward their spiritual leaders: “Pray for us”

 Note:  Devotion taken from last Sunday morning’s sermon on Hebrews 13:17-19.

“Pray for us” (Hebrews 13:18a).

In addition to obedience and submission to those who have the rule over them (Hebrews 13:17), the inspired author adds in v. 18 another duty which God’s people have toward their spiritual leaders.  They are to pray for them.  Pastors and elders need the prayers of God’s people.  We need your prayers, because we are often on the frontlines of spiritual warfare.  We are often under attack.  Satan likes nothing better than to discourage a man who is in the ministry or to try to remove him from his office and calling.  Just as in battle one force will attempt to take out the officers to demoralize the troops and take away their coordination and leadership, so our enemy loves to attack and discourage the elders.

In 1605 the English Puritan pastor Williams Perkins wrote a booklet titled “The Calling of the Ministry” (reprinted by Banner of Truth in the Puritan paperback titled The Art of Prophesying).   One chapter is titled, “The Scarcity of True Ministers.”  In it Perkins ponders why so few men in his own day seemed to be called to or qualified for the ministry.  He gave three reasons:

First, the contempt with which the calling is treated.  It is always hated by wicked and irreverent men because it reveals their filthiness and unmasks their hypocrisy.  The teaching of ministers is often a fretting corrosive on their conscience, preventing them from weltering and wallowing quietly in their sins—as they would be able to do under other circumstances.  This is why they spurn both the calling of ministers and ministers themselves.  They watch them carefully to latch onto their smallest failures, hoping to disgrace them.  They imagine that by casting contempt on the calling of the preacher they can remove the shame from their own degraded ways.

It is inevitable that they should hate those who are called to the ministry, since they harbor deadly hatred both for the law and the gospel message which they bring, and for the God whose representatives they are…..

The second reason is the difficulty of discharging the duties of a minister’s calling.  To stand in God’s presence, to enter into the holy of holies, to go between God and his people, to be God’s mouth to his people, and the people’s to God … to take the care and charge of souls—these considerations overwhelm the consciences of men who approach the sacred seat of the preacher with reverence and not with rashness…..

The third and last reason is especially relevant to ministry in the NT era, namely the inadequacy of the financial recompense and status given to those who enter this calling….. (in The Art of Prophesying, pp. 94-95).

A few years ago I went to an office building to take care of some business.  When the man at the counter found out I was in the ministry, his face became very grave and serious, and he told me, almost through tears, that he had once been in the ministry.  He did not have to say much more, because I understood.  Indeed, I have met many men who used to be in the ministry.  Some no doubt left because they were not called.  But some have left through grief and discouragement.  Perhaps they lacked the prayers of God’s people to uphold them.

“Brethren, pray for us” (1 Thessalonians 5:25).

Grace and peace, Pastor Jeff Riddle

The Vision (9.9.16): We Have An Altar

Image:  Nuns paying tribute to Mother Theresa.

Note:  Devotion taken from last Sunday morning’s sermon on Hebrews 13:10-14.

We have an altar from which those who serve the tabernacle have no right to eat (Hebrews 13:10).

For here we have no continuing city, but we seek the one to come (Hebrews 13:14).

In v. 10 the inspired author declares, “We have an altar….”  What did he means by this?  Why does he say it?  I think we have to imagine there were Jewish apologists who were working on these Jewish Christians to attempt to have them deny Christ and return to their old religion.  In this way, they would have been anti-evangelists.  Of course, no one who is ever truly converted will ultimately fall away (cf. John 10:27-29; Rom 8:38-39; Phil 1:6).

So, perhaps these Jewish apologists were saying:  "Look, we have the temple.  It sits there as a tangible object in the city of Jerusalem.  And we have an altar upon which sacrifices are offered for our sins."

Perhaps they added:  “We have our holy days.  We have the Day of Atonement.  We have the Passover.  We have the Pentecost.  We have the Feast of Booths.  And what do you Christians have?  All you Christians have is your memory of Jesus dying a shameful death on the cross.  All you have is your preaching about his supposed resurrection.  All you have is your hope that he will one day come again.  We, on the other hand, have real religious objects, real holy days, real rituals to perform so you can outwardly see our religion.”

As I read this I thought of the news that this weekend the Roman Catholic church will announce that Mother Theresa is now a "saint" (an unbiblical concept since all Christians are saints; you are made one of the saints the moment you are converted—you do not have to wait for church approval!).  I heard a news report of two persons who claim to have been healed after they prayed to Mother Theresa (another unbiblical concept since prayer is directed to God alone and needs no merely human mediator).  The desire to have a saint, like the desire to have a physical altar is a desire to have the visible, the physical, the tangible.  But it sets up an idol.  This is why the second commandment forbade graven images.  The danger is that one might focus on the object rather than upon the Lord himself.  This comes from Christ not being enough, but of needing more.

But listen as the inspired author says, “We [Christians] have an altar…”  What did he mean?  Did the early Christians have a physical altar stashed away somewhere?  No, he is talking about Christ.  The altar was the place where the offerings were laid.  What he is saying is that in Christ an offering was made for our sin once for all.  Christ is our altar!  He says this in much the same way that Paul in 1 Corinthians 5:7 says, “For even Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us.”  I can imagine someone asking Paul:  “Hey, Paul, why do you Christians no longer celebrate the Passover?”  And I hear Paul saying:  “We have a Passover.  Our Passover is Christ.”

The inspired author later adds:  “For we have no continuing city, but we seek one to come” (v. 14).

This takes us back to Father Abraham and mother Sarah in the faith hall of fame (see 11:13-16).  Like them, we too are homeless.  We are ex-pats.  We are men without a country.  We are living away from our true land.  But we are seeking it.  And one day it is coming to us.  Till then we must stand with Christ and persevere.

So, we are always confident, always cheerful, always glad in Christ, never flagging in zeal.  So, we will not drop out.  We will not give up.  We do not have a physical temple.  But we have something better, something more beautiful in its sheer simplicity and truth.  We have an altar:  The Lord Jesus Christ.  He died for us.  He was raised for us.  He lives for us.  He is coming again for us.

Grace and peace, Pastor Jeff Riddle 

The Vision (9.2.16): Remember your spiritual leaders

Image:  Scene from Lynchburg RB fellowship (8.28.16)

Note:  Devotion taken from last Sunday morning’s sermon from Hebrews 13:7-9.

Remember those who rule over you, who have spoken the word of God to you, whose faith follow, considering the outcome of their conduct (Hebrews 13:7).

We begin with a command:  “Remember (the verb mnemoneuo:  to remember, to be mindful of, to call to mind, to think of, to hold in memory, to keep in mind) them which have the rule over you, who have spoken unto you the word of God” (v. 7a).  Some interpreters have suggested that this refers to remembering leaders who had died, perhaps as martyrs.  But it might also refer simply to keeping in mind leaders of both past and present.  One interpreter adds:  “It apparently required some effort for the Hebrews to respect their former leaders [he assumes they are dead], for otherwise the exhortation would not have been necessary” (Guthrie, p. 270).

There is something that might be jarring about this command for those of us living in our modern egalitarian, personal freedom culture.  This is hierarchical language.  The phrase “them which are over you” is from the Greek verb hegeomai.  It refers to those in leadership, those with authority to command and rule. This verb is the root for the English word “hegemony”:  rule or dominance of one over another.  This English term has a negative connotation that the Greek word does not.

Is it talking about civil rulers?  No.  Clearly the reference here is to spiritual leaders, to church officers, and especially to the elders.  Why?  Because they are the teachers, those “who have spoken unto you the word of God.”  The elders must be “apt to teach (cf. 1 Tim 3:2). They are those who are able “by sound doctrine” to exhort and convince (Titus 1:9).  The elders do not bear the sword, like the civil magistrate (cf. Romans 13:4).  Their only “weapon” is the word of God and their own words as they exposit the Scriptures.

Hebrews and the rest of the NT assume that Christians will be in churches where there will be officers whose duty and responsibility it is to teach the word of God and to exercise spiritual rule (cf. 1 Corinthians 16:15-16; 1 Thessalonians 5:12-13; Hebrews 13:17, 24).

Now, this rule is not like secular rule.  It is not tyrannical rule.  It is not authoritarian but authoritative.  Consider Peter’s exhortation that the elders not be “lords over God’s heritage” but “ensamples to the flock” (1 Peter 5:1-3).

That same theme is struck in Hebrews 13:7b:  “whose faith follow, considering the end of their conversation.” The verb rendered as “follow” is mimeo from which we get “mimic” and “mimeograph.”  The phrase could literally be rendered as “imitate their faith.” 

This is another very Pauline sounding exhortation.  In 1 Corinthians 11:1 Paul exhorts, “Be ye followers [noun:  mimetes] of me, even as I also am of Christ” (cf. 1 Corinthians 4:6; 2 Thessalonians 3:7-9).

The Christian faith is taught but it is also caught.  It is taken in through the mind and heart by teaching.  And it is taken in through the ear and the eyes through watching and listening to examples.

So, the inspired author adds, “considering the end [ekbasis:  the outcome, the result] of their conversation [anastrophe:  manner of life, conduct, deportment]” (v. 7).

This is why when Paul lists the qualifications for an overseer (elder or pastor) in 1 Timothy 3 there is so much stress on his life and the life of his family (1 Timothy 3:1-7).  Does he manage his own life and his own household well?  Does he have a good relationship with his wife and children?  Are his children obedient?  In this way being an elder is like being a politician.  Not only does he have this calling but so does his family.

The key thing is that he be a model in his faith, in his fundamental trust and confidence in the Lord.

Here is the application:  To be faithful to the word of God means, in part, submitting yourself to the oversight and shepherding of a local, visible church wherein there are elders who labor in teaching and exhortation and who provide living examples of men who are attempting, albeit always imperfectly but not with egregious failings, to live out the Christian life before the body.

Every Christian should be part of such a church and every church should have such elders who teach the word and offer Christ-like rule within the body.

Consider Spurgeon’s Baptist catechism:

Q. 79:  What is the duty of such as are rightly baptized?

A:  It is the duty of such as are righty baptized, to give up themselves to some particular and orderly Church of Jesus Christ, that they may walk in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless.

Grace and peace, Pastor Jeff Riddle

The Vision (8.26.16): Let "philadelphia" continue

Image:  Scene from campfire after CRBC midweek meeting (8.26.16)

Note:  The devotion below is from last Sunday’s sermon on Hebrews 13:1-6.

Let brotherly love continue (Hebrews 13:1).

The word rendered “brotherly love” in Greek is philadelphia.  It comes from two words: that for “love” (philos) and that for “brother” (adelphos).  This is the same word that gives the name to the city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

This word is used throughout the NT to describe the special affection and concern that believers are to have for one another. Compare:

Romans 12: 10 Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love; in honour preferring one another;

1 Thessalonians 4: 9 But as touching brotherly love ye need not that I write unto you: for ye yourselves are taught of God to love one another.

1 Peter 1: 22 Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently:

Christians are called to love their neighbor as themselves.  We are to have a general love for all humanity, but we are to have a special love for one another.  This was taught by Jesus himself in the new commandment:

John 13: 34 A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.

35 By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.

How does this philadelphia manifest itself among Christians?  Consider Paul’s instructions to the church at Corinth in the so-called “love chapter” of 1 Corinthians 13 (Note:  Though Paul uses the word agape here, translated as “charity” in the KJV, and not philadelphia, his focus is still on love of the brethren):

1 Corinthians 13: 4 Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up,

5 Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil;

 6 Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth;

 7 Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.

Indeed, let philadelphia continue!

Grace and peace, Pastor Jeff Riddle

The Vision (8.19.16): A Root of Bitterness

Note:  Devotion taken from sermon notes from 8.17.16 message at CRBC on Hebrews 12:12-17.

Hebrews 12:14 Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord: 15 Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled;

There is as strong “horizontal” emphasis in this passage which begins in v. 14 with the command:  “Follow peace with all men, and holiness….”.  This reaches a resounding conclusion in v. 15b, which warns, “lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you.” What a powerful image!  We can envision a root reaching its tentacles deep into the heart.  It is a bitter, a foul, a distasteful root.   But what is the root of bitterness? 

It might be seen as personal bitterness.  It is the holding of a grudge.  It is unresolved anger.  It is hanging on to a grievance.  It is having a sour and bitter and diseased heart.  This, however, may reflect a modern psychology-influenced type of interpretation.

The older interpreters saw the “root of bitterness” somewhat differently.  Matthew Poole described it as embracing doctrinal and practical error:  “The Apostle intending hereby the hindering the springing up and growing of errors, heresies, or immoralities, as profaneness, filthiness, etc., which are apt to infect churches and, as they spread, to molest, trouble, and disturb them, and to keep them from pursuing holiness….”

Owen likewise sees it as referring to the concealing of a heart “inclined unto apostasy.”  It is hidden “for a season, like a root it the earth.”  Those who harbor this root gradually have it discovered in several ways:  “Commonly they begin the discovery of themselves in the neglect of church assemblies and duties” thence “they proceed to perverse disputing, and contentions against the truth” and “so go on to manifest themselves.”  He adds:  “this root will not always lie covered, this evil heart will manifest itself” (Owen, Hebrews, Vol. 7, p. 292).

The inspired author closes with this sad truth:  “thereby many be defiled.”  Sadly, a root of bitterness growing in one person’s heart most often does damage to others.

May we guard against nurturing or hiding a root of bitterness in our hearts, whether it be a grudge against a brother or neighbor, or a doctrinal or practical error.

Grace and peace, Pastor Jeff Riddle