Hebrews 13:1-6

Emphasis is first laid on the duty of brotherly love i.e. kindness towards fellow-Christians which was all-important in a struggling community like the early Church. Three aspects of this duty are particularly mentioned hospitality to travellers, care of prisoners, helpfulness towards those who are persecuted. The readers are to bear in mind that they also are in the body i.e. sojourners in this world and liable to its troubles. They are warned against two forms of vice to which the heathen society of the day was especially prone laxity in the marriage relation, and covetousness. Christians may well resist this latter temptation, for they have God's own promise that He will remember His people and provide for them. A promise like this ought to free them from all anxieties, and not merely from the fear of poverty (Hebrews 13:5 f.).