Hebrews 13:20,21

Hebrews 13:20-21. To this desire for their prayers is added his own benediction, as in Paul's Epistles generally (1 Thessalonians 5:23, etc.). Now the God of peace a common title of God in Paul's Epistles, used in different connections, and probably with different meanings. Here it is specially appropriate; partly because of the troubles that harassed and threatened them, and partly because it implies how completely God had been pacified and reconciled through the death of His Son, who ‘came preaching peace.' God is further described, who brought again from the dead (not too much for ἁγα and ἰϰ), as one who had made full atonement for sin, and having paid the debt, could no longer be held in the bondage of the grave. Only here in this Epistle is the resurrection named, probably as proving the completeness of Christ's work. Everywhere else Christ passes from the altar to the Holy of Holies as priest and offering, to make intercession for us. The phrase, ‘from the dead,' coupled with what follows, ‘that great Shepherd of the sheep,' points to Isaiah 63:11, where Moses, the shepherd of the sheep, is said to have been brought up out of the sea. Moses from the sea, Christ from the dead, each for his own work.

The great shepherd of the sheep, who had given His life for them, who was great as Priest (Hebrews 10:21), and great as Shepherd too. His self-sacrificing tenderness, His ceaseless care. His power, His resources, His authority, all are included in this title a favourite representation of our Lord in ancient Art.

In the blood of the everlasting covenant, i.e God brought Him from the dead by virtue of, in the power of, the blood, which ratified not the temporary covenant of Sinai, but the eternal covenant of grace. God's peace is not a truce for a time; it is a permanent peace, an agreement for eternity. The interpretation that Christ was made shepherd by virtue of the blood of the covenant is hardly scriptural. He was shepherd before He died. The acceptance of His atonement, the efficacy of His blood, was the condition of His resurrection. If He had not risen, it must have been because atonement was not made; and if atonement was not made, we should still have been in our sins.

Even our Lord Jesus Christ. Here the name that is above every name (our ‘Lord') is given to Jesus. He who is the Shepherd, who died for His sheep, who keeps them, feeds them, guides them, protects them, is also their lord; the Lord of their hearts as He is also of their creed. By His resurrection God acknowledges the validity of the atonement; by accepting Christ as Lord, we make the blessings of it our own.

Perfect you (not the common word so translated. It means to complete all the parts, to put them in order, and fit them for use), make you ready, active, fit, in every good work to do (literally, to do out and out so as to accomplish the force of the tense) his will, doing in you (the same repetition of words as in Philippians 2:13) that which is well-pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ Whether God works through Jesus Christ, or whether what is well-pleasing to God is well-pleasing through Jesus Christ, has been much discussed. The former is preferable to the latter; but there is no reason why both should not be combined. God works in us through Him what is well-pleasing through Him. To whom, i.e to God, the principal subject of the sentence; to Him who brought up from the dead the Lord Jesus, who can perfect us, and is working for this purpose. Glory and dominion are ascribed to the Son in Revelation 1:5-6, and perhaps in 1 Peter 4:11, as they are to the Father, Philippians 4:20, and to both, Revelation 5:13; and so it is not material to whom we refer the inscription here. But it is more natural to refer it to the Father, to whom the prayer is presented.