“Obey your spiritual leaders, and do what they say. Their work is to watch over your souls, and they are accountable to God. Give them reason to do this with joy and not with sorrow. That would certainly not be for your benefit. Pray for us, for our conscience is clear and we want to live honorably in everything we do. And especially pray that I will be able to come back to you soon.
Now may the God of peace—
who brought up from the dead our Lord Jesus,
the great Shepherd of the sheep,
and ratified an eternal covenant with his blood—
may he equip you with all you need
for doing his will.
May he produce in you,
through the power of Jesus Christ,
every good thing that is pleasing to him.
All glory to him forever and ever! Amen.
I urge you, dear brothers and sisters, to pay attention to what I have written in this brief exhortation. I want you to know that our brother Timothy has been released from jail. If he comes here soon, I will bring him with me to see you. Greet all your leaders and all the believers there. The believers from Italy send you their greetings. May God’s grace be with you all.”
We (and the foremost Bible scholars) have been puzzling over who may have written this letter. There is no name given, whereas many of Paul’s letters are directly signed by him at the end. This last portion of Hebrews gives us some clues: the person was in Italy, there seems to be a single author using “I” in closing despite several instances of “we” earlier, and the author traveled with Timothy. It’s possible that an author who served under Paul compiled some of his teachings into this letter, which is why it doesn’t have the same flow and style of Paul’s other letters. For those who want to puzzle over this a bit more, check out this blog from Zondervan.
As we close out this series, we are hit with one more point about Christian leaders. This can be a tough subject as unfortunately there have been some harmful church leaders out there. Perhaps you have been hurt by the church or know someone who has. While this passage encourages us to follow our leaders, it also includes a key statement: “they are accountable to God.” In many other books of the Bible, we have seen over and over again that God is on the side of the oppressed. Accountability to God is no lighthearted matter.
This letter’s closing is a beautiful, poetic benediction reminding us that God has come to us in peace. Through Jesus he has rescued us and is equipping us with everything we need to do God’s will. God is producing good things — eternally significant things — in you. Just as the author of this letter did, I pray grace over your life and ask that God would equip you with all that you need.