Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary Hebrews 13:20

"Now the God of peace, who brought again from the dead the great shepherd of the sheep with the blood of an eternal covenant, [even] our Lord Jesus," — Hebrews 13:20 (ASV)

God is called “the God of peace” a number of times in the Pauline writings (Romans 15:33; Romans 16:20; 2 Corinthians 13:11; 1 Thessalonians 5:23). “Peace” (GK 1645) connotes the fullest prosperity of the whole man, taking up as it does the OT concept of the Hebrew shalom (GK 8934). Here it reminds us that all our prosperity is centered in God and that a well-rounded life depends on him. The expression is especially suitable in view of what the letter discloses of the condition of the readers. They have had to cope with some form of persecution and were still not free from opposition. They were tempted to leave Christianity and have had to be warned of the dangers of apostasy. They may have had doubts about who their true leaders were. It is well for them to be reminded that real peace is in God.

The doxology goes on to characterize God in terms of the Resurrection. In the NT, Jesus is occasionally said to have risen. It is, however, much more common in the NT for the Resurrection to be ascribed to God, as here. The one whom God brought up from the dead is now described as “the great Shepherd of the sheep” (1 Peter 2:25; cf. also Mt 26:31; Mark 14:27). It is a piece of imagery that stresses the care of our Lord for his own, for sheep are helpless without their shepherd. But an aspect we in modern times sometimes miss is that the shepherd has absolute sovereignty over his flock (cf. Revelation 2:27; 12:5; 19:15; in each case the verb rendered “rule” in NIV means “to shepherd”). The adjective “great” (GK 3489) is used because Christ is not to be ranked with other shepherds. He stands out.

The Resurrection is linked with “the blood of the eternal covenant” (cf. Isaiah 55:3; Zechariah 9:11). It is interesting to see how the thought of covenant, one of the major themes of this letter, persists to the end. “Eternal” again brings out the point that this covenant will never be replaced by another as it replaced the old covenant. And it was established by “blood.” The author never forgets that. For him the death of Jesus is central. At the same time, his linking it with the Resurrection shows that he did not have in mind a dead Christ but one who, though he shed his blood to establish the covenant, lives forever. The expression “our Lord Jesus” is unusual outside of Acts, where it occurs a number of times. It combines the lordship of Christ and his real humanity, two themes of continuing importance.