A Bible Study in EasyEnglish (2800 word vocabulary) on the Book of Hebrews
Keith Simons
EasyEnglish is a system of simple English designed by Wycliffe Associates (UK).
Last part: Christian love (Hebrews 13:1)
Near the beginning of his book, the author of Hebrews told us that angels serve God’s people (Hebrews 1:14). Now, near the end, he tells us that sometimes the opposite can be true. Sometimes God’s people have served angels. They have been guests in our homes. Or, they have shared our food. But we have not known who they really were. We were simply carrying out our duty, as Christians, to love strangers.
The fact astonishes us. We consider it a great honour when an important person is our guest. We prepare our home especially for the visit. We serve our best food and we use our best plates.
Angels are especially important. They are God’s special servants, who bring messages from heaven. For that reason, they deserve great honour.
The author mentions this to show that Christians should be kind to strangers. And that is especially so if a stranger needs food, or a place to stay. If an angel visited, he might seem to be a stranger. And a Christian would not want to send that visitor away. So, Christians should always be ready to help strangers.
Abraham believed that he should look after strangers. He urged them to stay for a meal, and he provided water for them to wash (Genesis 18:1-15). Lot also looked after strangers. He urged them to stay in his home, and he protected them (Genesis 19:1-17). Samson’s parents wanted to provide a meal for a stranger (Judges 13:15-16). But on each of these occasions, the visitors were really angels. We do not know whether that happened to the first Christians, too. But we do know that sometimes, angels visited them (Acts 10:3; Acts 12:5-11).
My Bible tells me to ‘remember’ the prisoners, and that is a fair translation. But, of course, the author did not intend his readers merely to think about them.
And the prisoners did not only want people to visit them for friendship. They needed food, warm clothes (2 Timothy 4:13), and perhaps medicine. They needed people to look after their families while they were in prison.
Christians help all people, whether they are Christians or not. But, here and in Hebrews 10:34, the meaning is especially Christian prisoners who did not deserve any punishment. They were in prison because their enemies had accused them unfairly. Really, those Christians were suffering because they trusted God, and for no other reason.
There is a popular Christian song called ‘Bind us together, Lord.’ It is a prayer that the Lord (God) will join Christians by means of love. To ‘bind’ means to attach people or things together. In prison, the guards would bind chains to the prisoners’ feet so that they could not escape. In Acts 12:6, the guards attached Peter to two soldiers in this manner. But more usually, they attached a prisoner to other prisoners.
The author of Hebrews uses that idea as a word-picture. There is a link between the Christians who are in prison and the other Christians. A person would look after his relatives if they were in prison. Christians are sons and daughters of God, so they should behave like brothers and sisters. It is as if a chain joins the free Christians to those in prison.
During our lives on earth, we all sometimes suffer. That is just part of the nature of the human body. So we should help Christians who suffer because of their relationship with Christ. Our lives are like theirs. And their enemies may, in the future, be cruel to us, too.
© 2012, Keith Simons.