Hebrews 13:17-19: Pray for Us
2024-03-16
This section deals with relationships with leaders. First, it deals with relating to the local church elders. Second, it deals with relating to the apostle himself.
Hebrews 13:17
Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves: for they watch for your souls, as they that must give account, that they may do it with joy, and not with grief: for that is unprofitable for you. (Hebrews 13:17)
We dealt with this verse previously. With the leadership, we recall that they willingly guide Christians to maturity. It is our part to listen to and submit to their guidance, which makes their jobs easier (“with joy”) rather than more difficult (“with grief”). It is helpful to both them and us when we submit to their guidance.
Hebrews 13:18
Pray for us: for we trust we have a good conscience, in all things willing to live honestly. (Hebrews 13:18)
There are two things for which the apostle asked for prayer. The first thing is in this verse, and the second is in the next verse.
He says, “Pray for us.” Who are the people that are included in “us”? It is not for certain. The phrase “pray for us” appears in two other places in the New Testament.
“Brethren, pray for us” (1 Thessalonians 5:25). No specifics are given, but this is the apostle’s prayer.
“Finally, brethren, pray for us, that the word of the Lord may have free course, and be glorified, even as it is with you: And that we may be delivered from unreasonable and wicked men: for all men have not faith” (2 Thessalonians 3:1-2). Here, we see the apostle requests prayer for the Gospel to be freely proclaimed so that God is glorified, and that they will be delivered from those who are rejecting the Gospel.
In both cases in these other epistles, the “us” likely represents the named senders of the Thessalonian epistles: “Paul, and Silvanus, and Timotheus” (1 Thessalonians 1:1; 2 Thessalonians 1:1). However, the use of this phrase “Pray for us” does not necessarily lead us to believe that the people with Paul are the same this time. Timothy is mentioned in Hebrews 13:23, so he may be one of the others with him intended here. However, these prayer requests help inform us of his motivations here in Hebrews.
The first request for prayer in Hebrews is implied from this: “for we trust we have a good conscience, in all things willing to live honestly.” Perhaps this suggests that many were questioning Paul’s integrity. This has happened before. “And Paul, earnestly beholding the council, said, Men and brethren, I have lived in all good conscience before God until this day. And the high priest Ananias commanded them that stood by him to smite him on the mouth” (Acts 23:1-2). “Am I therefore become your enemy, because I tell you the truth?” (Galatians 4:16).
If this was the case, Paul and his companions would not want this to hinder the Gospel. Recall his request in 2 Thessalonians 3:1-2. He wanted that which distracts people from the Gospel removed. Paul’s and his companions’ consciences were clear and lived with integrity in every way so that their lives matched the Gospel they preached.
Prayer is something we can do for every Gospel minister and for each other, that our lives match the Gospel we confess.
Hebrews 13:19
But I beseech you the rather to do this, that I may be restored to you the sooner. (Hebrews 13:19)
The second reason for eliciting prayer, and the more prominent reason, was for Paul to come to them quickly. According to Hebrews 13:23, his hindrance was contingent on Timothy coming to him, as perhaps he would relieve him of some of the duties he had in Italy.
Letters only go so far, and there were some hard things that the apostle told the people in the letter. Only face-to-face communication can help in some matters. As the apostle John said to his friends: “Having many things to write unto you, I would not write with paper and ink: but I trust to come unto you, and speak face to face, that our joy may be full” (2 John 1:12). Because the Hebrew believers were having so much trouble grasping Christ, either because of ingrained tradition or persecution, Paul could help them through their individual issues.
Paul also just wanted to see fellow Christians “just because.” “For I long to see you, that I may impart unto you some spiritual gift, to the end ye may be established” (Romans 1:11). “But now when Timotheus came from you unto us, and brought us good tidings of your faith and charity, and that ye have good remembrance of us always, desiring greatly to see us, as we also to see you” (1 Thessalonians 3:6). “For God is my record, how greatly I long after you all in the bowels of Jesus Christ” (Philippians 1:8).