Hebrews 13:7 Commentary - Dr Peter Masters

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Hebrews 13:7

Comments

The leading word in the seventh verse, and the key to spiritual progress is this word ‘remember’ – think, reflect, recall. Past teachers are probably in mind as well as present teachers. Remember their faith; remember their reverence and godly fear; remember their conduct and their motives; and remember their teaching. The writer refers to the elders, the pastors, and he uses these rather interesting words: ‘Remember them which have the rule over you who have spoken unto you the word of God.’ Now the word translated there ‘rule’ in the Greek New Testament refers to somebody who guides or leads, but it is quite clear here that the person is guiding or leading from the word of God. The Christian teacher, pastor, or preacher is not to dominate; he has no personal authority; he has no authority over your life himself. He guides and leads from the word of God. He expounds, teaches, and applies the word of the living God, and in so far as he does that his word should be taken very seriously.He must seek to prove everything he says from God's Word, because God's people are under Christ, not under the preacher. It is Christ's word and what he says that matters. If the preacher merely expresses his own opinions or unjustifiable conclusions then we are not obliged to listen to him. In fact, we shouldn't listen to him; it leads us astray. But if he is preaching God's word and is proving it to us then here is Christ's authority. Human lordship is forbidden by Jesus Christ, our Saviour. The disciples were clearly commanded not to be lords over the people; they were not to exercise personal authority. They were to bring out the authority of God's Word and explain it and apply it.Remember the teachers and the pastors not in terms of personal knowledge or personal admiration – that is the last thing that you want to do. Alas, that is what is sometimes done. That is what the apostle Paul was objecting to in 1 Corinthians 1: ‘I am of this preacher; I am of that preacher. I think this one is the best; no, that one.’ That is carnal. What we are to remember is their ‘conversation’. Again the Greek is quite illuminating. It is a compound word that means something like ‘their going and returning’. We might say their coming and going, their ins and outs. It means this; remember their business or their busyness. Remember the things they are engaged in, and support them. Consider their way of going about things. Did the preacher have a problem in his life? What did he do? Did he go to pieces or did he take it to the Lord in prayer? If you have seen elders, office bearers, preachers solving problems then remember that and do the same. Solve your problems in the same way: take them to the Lord.

Application

You read now and again, even from evangelical Bible believers, the assertion that the preacher is acting as the representative of Christ. So when you hear him, you are as it were hearing Christ. But that is an exaggeration and it is completely forced and unreal. No, the authority is in the word and the preacher must expound it, show his working, and apply it. He must decrease and fade while the word of God increases and is applied to the heart. You listen because you really are listening to God and not to a man and his mistakes and his opinions.

The preacher has four tasks. He is in evangelist: he is to seek to persuade sinners to come to Christ. He is to present the means of salvation, the son of God coming suffering and dying on Calvary, making an atonement for our sins. He is also to teach doctrine, the great doctrines of the faith which are in the Scripture. He is also to be an exhorter, and he is to apply these things to the heart both to encourage and also to convict. Then he is a representative of the glory of God and of Christ and he is to lift up souls and to show the greatness of these themes and these matters. In so far as he does that, we must try and retain the knowledge and the exhortation that we have. There must be preaching. There are quite a lot of people today who do not like preaching and they say let's minimise preaching. The house churches very often do this. They want all kinds of other means of communication. The emerging church has a bit of drama, cosy fireside chats and so on everybody involved, discussion groups, the blind leading the blind so often and everybody's opinion counts. Instead of expanding the word of God, it is a dozen opinions being shared from people, including young people who really would much prefer to be learning and deepening in the truth. There must be a proclamation of the word of God by people who are qualified according to Scripture and set aside to teach and can be trusted to have been prepared.

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Introduction

Hebrews 13:7 Commentary and Bible Study