Hebrews 13:1-3 – Our obligation to fellow believers

In Hebrews 11 we learn much about faith, and in Hebrews 12, about hope. We now come to the issue of love. Here we are concerned not only with the theological aspect but also the practical ones. While faith and hope are God-ward oriented, this upcoming chapter deals with the virtue of love, which is man-ward oriented.  

Here in this last chapter of the book, the writer shows us how his message to the Hebrew believers can be applied at the horizontal level. His emphasis here is more about right duties rather than just right doctrines. Bear in mind that the believers to whom he wrote to were facing the temptation to return to their former faith. Looming before them was also the impending Roman persecution that eventually came upon the church. Like them, the church today is also like a ship in the midst of impending storm. We learn from them three important tips to stay afloat in the midst of storm. Here are a series of specific instructions to encourage and enable the believers to continue to worship and serve God.

In these three verses, we believers are reminded concerning what we as members of the redeemed community could do, relating to other members. In the light of God’s awesomeness described in Hebrews 12:29, there are three things to act upon. Firstly, believers ought to keep on loving one another and let brotherly love continues. In the presence of extreme stress, it would be hard to maintain flagging love. Hence, we need to keep up with brotherly love for each other to motivate us to do and act rightly. Secondly, believers are to practice hospitality. To encourage believers to do so, the author said that some had unknowingly entertained angels by being hospitable. Perhaps this has an inference to Genesis 19. In that account, Abraham entertained angels and in that process also entertained Jehovah. Thirdly, the author instructed believers to have regards for each other. Believers must build empathy and to project themselves in the lives of those in prison, and to feel how they feel. Believers are also reminded that each one also has a body and hence, could project themselves into the feeling of how their fellow members would feel. This would enable each one to empathize with the needy.

Simply put, these verses constitute a call for us to do three things – to love others in the fellowship, to practice hospitality, and to develop empathy for others.