Online Resource Library
Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadHeinrich Meyer Commentary - Hebrews 13:20 - 13:21
(Show All Books | Show All Chapters)
This Chapter Verse Commentaries:
Heb_13:20-21. A wish of blessing. Chrysostom: Πρῶτον παρʼ αὐτῶν αἰτήσας τὰς εὐχάς , τότε καὶ αὐτὸς αὐτοῖς ἐπεύχεται πάντα τὰ ἀγαθά .
ὁ Θεὸς τῆς εἰρήνης ] A designation of God very usual with Paul also. Its import may either be, as 1Th_5:23 (see at that place): the God of salvation, i.e. God, who bestows the Christian salvation; or, as Rom_15:33; Rom_16:20, Php_4:9, 2Co_13:11 : the God of peace, i.e. God, who produces peace. In favour of the first acceptation, which is defended by Schlichting, may be urged the tenor of the benediction itself. In favour of the latter acceptation decides, however, the connection of thought with Heb_13:18 f. For, since the closing half of Heb_13:18 betrayed the presupposition that the receivers of the epistle were biassed by prejudice against the person of the writer, there lies indicated in the fact, that in the following wish of blessing God is designated as the God who creates peace, the further idea, that He will also make peace between the readers and the writer, i.e. will bring the Christian convictions of the readers into harmony with that of the writer. So in substance Chrysostom ( τοῦτο εἶπε διὰ τὸ στασιάζειν αὐτούς . Εἰ τοίνυν ὁ θεὸς εἰρήνης θεός ἐστι , μὴ διαστασιάζετε πρὸς ἡμᾶς ), Oecumenius, Theophylact, Jac. Cappellus, and others. Wrongly do Grotius, Böhme, de Wette, Bisping, and others derive the appellation “the God of peace” from the supposition that reference is made to the contentions which prevailed amongst the members of the congregation itself. For the assumption of a state in which the congregation was rent by internal dissensions, is one warranted neither by Heb_12:14 nor by anything else in the epistle.
ὁ ἀναγαγὼν κ . τ . λ .] Further characterizing of God as the God who, by the raising of Christ from the dead, has sanctioned and attested the redeeming work of the same.
ὁ ἀναγαγὼν ἐκ νεκρῶν ] He who has brought up from the dead, i.e. who has raised from death. Wrongly do Bleek, de Wette, Bisping, Maier, Kluge, and Kurtz suppose that in ὁ ἀναγαγών is contained at the same time the exaltation into heaven. For, since ὁ ἀναγαγών does not stand absolutely, but has with it the addition ἐκ νεκρῶν , so must that idea also have been made evident by a special addition. There would thus have been written ὁ ἐκ νεκρῶν εἰς ὕψος ἀναγαγών , or something similar. Compare, too, Rom_10:7, where in like manner, as is shown by Heb_13:9, by the Χριστὸν ἐκ νεκρῶν ἀναγαγεῖν is denoted exclusively the resurrection of Christ, and not likewise His ascension.
τὸν ποιμένα τῶν προβάτων τὸν μέγαν ] the exalted (comp. Heb_4:14) Shepherd of the sheep. For the figure, comp. Joh_10:11 ff.; Mat_26:31; 1Pe_2:25; 1Pe_5:4 ( ὁ ἀρχιποιμήν ). According to Theophylact, Bengel, Bleek, de Wette, Delitzsch, Alford, Kurtz, Hofmann, and others, the author had in connection with this expression present to his mind LXX. Isa_63:10, where it is said in regard to Moses: ποῦ ὁ ἀναβιβάσας ἐκ τῆς θαλάσσης τὸν ποιμένα τῶν προβάτων ,—a supposition which, considering the currency of the figure in the N. T., may certainly be dispensed with.
ἐν αἵματι διαθήκης αἰωνίου ] in virtue of the blood of an everlasting covenant, i.e. in virtue of the shed blood of Christ, by which the New Covenant was sealed; comp. Heb_9:15 ff., Heb_10:29. Oecumenius, Theophylact, Clarius, Calvin, Bengel, Bleek, Bisping, Delitzsch, Alford, Kluge, Kurtz, Hofmann, Woerner, and others conjoin these words with ὁ ἀναγαγών , but then again differ from each other in the determining of the sense. According to Bleek and Kurtz (similarly Bisping), the author intends to say: “God brought up Christ from the dead in the blood of the everlasting covenant; in such wise that He took, as it were, the shed blood with Him, in that He opened up to Himself by the same the entrance into the heavenly sanctuary, and it retained continually its power for the sealing of an everlasting covenant.” But this interpretation falls with the erroneous presupposition that ὁ ἀναγαγών includes in itself likewise the idea of the exaltation to heaven. According to Oecumenius 2, Theophylact 2, and Calvin, ἐν , on the other hand, stands as the equivalent in signification to σύν : who has raised Christ from the dead with the blood of the everlasting covenant, so that this blood retains everlasting virtue; while Clarius (comp. the first interpretation in Oecumenius and Theophylact) understands the words as though εἰς τὸ εἶναι τὸ αἷμα αὐτοῦ ἡμῖν εἰς διαθήκην αἰώνιον had been written, and Bengel, as likewise Hofmann, makes ἐν αἵματι the same as διὰ τὸ αἷμα (for the blood’s sake). But all these acceptations are linguistically untenable. Equally inadmissible is it to take ἐν , in this combination, instrumentally (Delitzsch, Kluge: “by means of, by the power of, by virtue of;” Alford: “through the blood”). For if one insists on the strict signification of the instrumental explanation, there arises a false thought, since the means by the application of which the miraculous act of the resurrection was accomplished is not the blood of Christ, but the omnipotence of God. If, however, we mingle the notion of mediately effecting with that of the meritorious cause, as is done by Delitzsch and Alford, inasmuch as the former dilutes the “kraft” (by virtue of) into “virtute ac merito sanguinis ipsius in morte effusi,” the latter the “through” into “in virtue of the blood,” we come back to Bengel’s ungrammatical equalizing of ἐν αἵματι with διὰ τὸ αἷμα . Another class of expositors combine ἐν αἵματι διαθήκης αἰωνίου with the μέγαν immediately foregoing; either, as Sykes and Baumgarten, in taking τὸν μέγαν as a notion per se; or, as Starck, Wolf, and Heinrichs, prolonging in connection with it the idea of the shepherd. Nevertheless, it is most natural, with Beza, Estius, Grotius, Limborch, Schulz, Böhme, Kuinoel, Stuart, Stengel, Ebrard, Riehm (Lehrbegr. des Hebräerbr. p. 601), Maier, Moll, and others, to regard ἐν αἵματι διαθήκης αἰωνίου as instrumental nearer definition to the total idea τὸν ποιμένα τῶν προβάτων τὸν μέγαν ; in such wise that by the addition is indicated the means by which Christ became the exalted Shepherd, with whom no other shepherd may be placed upon a parallel. Comp. Act_20:28 : προσέχετε … παντὶ τῷ ποιμνίῳ , ἐν ᾧ ὑμᾶς τὸ πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον ἔθετο ἐπισκόπους , ποιμαίνειν τὴν ἐκκλησίαν τοῦ κυρίου , ἣν περιεποιήσατο διὰ τοῦ αἵματος τοῦ ἰδίου .
διαθήκης αἰωνίου ] Comp. Jer_32:40; Jer_50:5; Isa_55:3; Isa_61:8. Theodoret: Αἰώνιον δὲ τὴν καινὴν κέκληκε διαθήκην , ὡς ἑτέρας μετὰ ταύτην οὐκ ἐσομένης · ἵνα γὰρ μή τις ὑπολάβῃ , καὶ ταύτην διʼ ἄλλης διαθήκης παυθήσεσθαι , εἰκότως αὐτῆς τὸ ἀτελεύτητον ἔδειξεν .