Hebrews 13:21

13:16-21 We must, according to our power, give to the necessities of the souls and bodies of men: God will accept these offerings with pleasure, and will accept and bless the offerers through Christ. The apostle then states what is their duty to living ministers; to obey and submit to them, so far as is agreeable to the mind and will of God, made known in his word. Christians must not think themselves too wise, too good, or too great, to learn. The people must search the Scriptures, and so far as the ministers teach according to that rule, they ought to receive their instructions as the word of God, which works in those that believe. It is the interest of hearers, that the account their ministers give of them may be with joy, and not with grief. Faithful ministers deliver their own souls, but the ruin of a fruitless and faithless people will be upon their own heads. The more earnestly the people pray for their ministers, the more benefit they may expect from their ministry. A good conscience has respect to all God's commands, and all our duty. Those who have this good conscience, yet need the prayers of others. When ministers come to a people who pray for them, they come with greater satisfaction to themselves, and success to the people. We should seek all our mercies by prayer. God is the God of peace, fully reconciled to believers; who has made a way for peace and reconciliation between himself and sinners, and who loves peace on earth, especially in his churches.

He is the Author of spiritual peace in the hearts and consciences of his people. How firm a covenant is that which has its foundation in the blood of the Son of God! The perfecting of the saints in every good work, is the great thing desired by them, and for them; and that they may at length be fitted for the employment and happiness of heaven. There is no good thing wrought in us, but it is the work of God. And no good thing is wrought in us by God, but through Christ, for his sake and by his Spirit.

Make you {h} perfect in every good work to do his will, {i} working in you that which is wellpleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ; to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen. (h) Make you fit or suitable. (i) From this comes that saying of the fathers, that God crowns his work in us.

Hebrews 13:21 . Καταρτίσαι , fit or join you perfectly together ) 1 Corinthians 1:10 , note [the antithesis of σχίσματα , divisions ].— ποιῆσαι , ποιῶν ) God doing, we will do . [ God fits us for doing; nay, indeed He rather does Himself, 2 Peter 1:3 .—V. g.]— τὀ θέλημα , the will ) Comp. Isaiah 53:10 on the resurrection of Christ and progress of the Divine will .— διὰ , through ) Construed with ποιῶν , doing, working , Php 1:11 .— ᾧ , to whom ) viz. to GOD, Hebrews 13:20 ; Romans 16:27 , note; Galatians 1:5 , note. Then, and then only, can glory be given to God, if we subject ourselves to His salutary will. Comp. concerning Christ , 2 Peter 3:18 .— δόξα , glory ) They to whom he wrote had not afforded any occasion for a joyful exordium or commencement, in which thanks might be given; Paul therefore uses in this passage the Doxology, as at Galatians 1:5-6 , note. Hebrews 13:21

21 . make you perfect ] Not the verb so often used to express “perfecting” but another verb—“may He fit” or “stablish” or “equip you.” to do his will, working in you … ] In the Greek there is a play on the words “to do His will, doing in you.” There is a similar play on words in Php 2:13 . to whom be glory for ever and ever ] Lit. “to whom be the glory (which is His of right) unto the ages of the ages.” The same formula occurs in Galatians 1:5 ; 2 Timothy 4:18 . The doxology may be addressed to Christ as in 2 Peter 3:18 .

21. Make you perfect—properly said of healing a rent; join you together in perfect harmony [Bengel]. to do his will, working in you—(Heb 10:36); rather as Greek, "doing in you." Whatever good we do, God does in us. well-pleasing in his sight—(Isa 53:10; Eph 5:10). through Jesus Christ—"God doing (working) in you that … through Jesus Christ" (Php 1:11). to whom—to Christ. He closes as he began (Heb 1:1-14), with giving glory to Christ.

(21) Make you perfect. —To “make perfect” is the translation of two different words in this Epistle. In the one, which is of frequent occurrence ( Hebrews 2:10 ; Hebrews 10:1 ; Hebrews 12:23 , et al. ) , “perfect” stands contrasted with that which is immature, which has not attained its end and aim. The other, which is used here (and in a somewhat different sense in Hebrews 10:5 ; Hebrews 11:3 ), rather conveys the thought of completeness, complete equipment or preparation. Every good work.—The best authorities read “every good thing;” and below, substitute “us” for “you.” Working.—Literally, doing, or making. The words of Philippians 2:12-13, are different, but the general thought is the same. “Well pleasing” recalls Hebrews 11:5; Hebrews 12:28; Hebrews 13:16. (Romans 12:2; Ephesians 5:10.) Through Jesus Christ.—That is, “working in us through Jesus Christ that which is well-pleasing in His sight.” In Hebrews 13:20 (as in Hebrews 2:9) we read of the exaltation of “Jesus.” Here, where the subject of thought is the lasting mediation of our High Priest, the writer introduces the complete name “Jesus Christ,” thus preparing for the doxology which follows. That this ascription of praise is addressed to our Saviour (as in 2Timothy 4:18; Revelation 1:6; 2Peter 3:18), it seems hardly possible to doubt. Glory.—Rather, the glory. (See Galatians 1:5.)

Make you perfect in every good work to do his will: may this God dispose, incline, and fit you for, may he finish and perfect in you, grace to perform all the forementioned duties, and every other good work, which he enjoineth on you towards God, one another, and all men, 2 Corinthians 13:9 Ephesians 4:12 Titus 3:14 1 Peter 4:2 5:10 , according to his written will and law, Ephesians 2:10 . Working in you that which is well-pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ: working in you by his Spirit continually, that all these good works may satisfy his expectation, be a sweet savour in his nostrils, and so pleasing in his sight, that his soul may delight in them, Philippians 2:13 Colossians 1:9,10 ; that God’s good-will may return unto them, and he may reward them according to their works, Hebrews 11:5,6 ; while all is rendered by Jesus Christ, sprinkled with his blood, and perfumed with his incense, Hebrews 10:19-22 . As they are to have all done through Christ, so through his merit and intercession the apostle begs all this from the Father for them. To whom be glory for ever and ever; to this God the Father, in the Son, and by the Spirit, working all this good in them and for them, be really, truly, heartily, and perpetually, throughout all ages, ascribed the honour and glory due to him for the glorious manifestation of his perfections in them, Ephesians 3:21 Philippians 4:20 2 Peter 3:18 Revelation 4:11 5:13 .

Hebrews GREAT PRAYER BASED ON GREAT PLEAS Hebrews 13:21 . Massive foundations prognosticate a great building. We do not dig deep, and lay large blocks, in order to rear some flimsy structure. We have seen, in a previous sermon, how the words preceding my text bring out certain great aspects of the divine character and work, and now we have to turn to the great prayer which is based upon these. It is a prophecy as well as a prayer; for such a contemplation of what God is and does makes certain the fulfilment of the desires which the contemplation excites. Small petitions to a great God are insults. He is ‘the God of peace,’ therefore we may ask Him to ‘make us perfect,’ and be sure that He will. He is the God ‘that brought again from the dead the great Shepherd of the sheep,’ therefore we may ask Him and be sure. He is the God who has sealed an ‘everlasting covenant’ with us by the blood of the Shepherd, therefore we may ask Him and be sure. This prayer is the parting highest wish of the writer for his friends. Do our desires for ourselves, and for those whom we would seek to bless, run in the same mould? How strange it is that Christian people, who believe in the God whom the previous verse sets before us, so imperfectly and languidly cherish the confidence which inspires desires, for themselves and their brethren, such as those of our text this morning! Let us look at these great petitions, then, in the light of the great name on which they are based. I.

And, first, I ask you to consider the prayer which the name excites. ‘Make you perfect in every good work.’ Now, I need only observe here, in regard to the language of the petition, that the word translated ‘make perfect’ is not the ordinary one employed for that idea, but a somewhat remarkable one, with a very rich and pregnant variety of significance. For instance, it is employed to describe the action of the fisherman apostles in mending their nets. It is employed to describe the divine action which ‘by faith we understand’ when He ‘made the worlds.’ It is employed to describe the action which the Apostle commends to one of his churches when he bids them ‘restore such an one in the spirit of meekness.’ It is the condition which he described when he desired another of his churches to be ‘perfectly joined together, in one mind and in one judgment.’ It is still again the expression employed when he speaks of ‘filling up,’ or ‘perfecting that which is lacking in their faith.’ The general idea of the word, then, is to make sound, or fit, or complete, by restoring, by mending, by filling up what is lacking, and by adapting all together in harmonious cooperation. And so this is what Christians ought to look for, and to desire as being the will of God concerning them. The writer goes on to still further deepen the idea when he says, ‘make you perfect in every good work’ where the word work is a supplement, and unnecessarily limits the idea of the text.