Hebrews 13:15

By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(15) By him.—Better, through Him. Through His sacrifice, which has made atonement, we are hallowed (Hebrews 13:12), and fitted for our priestly service (1Peter 2:5).

Let us offer the sacrifice.—Rather, let us offer up a sacrifice of praise continually unto God, that is, fruit of lips making confession to His name. The sacrifice we may bring is that symbolised by the thank-offering of Leviticus 7:12—where the same word is used. (See Psa. 1:14, 23.) “We will render the fruit of our lips” is the Greek version of Hosea 14:2; the Hebrew text (as we have it) differs in expression but not in meaning, “We will render our lips as bullocks”—i.e., as sacrifices. (Comp. Psalm 119:108; Isaiah 57:19.) The fruit is borne by lips which offer thankful acknowledgment to the name of God (Psalm 113:1).

MacLaren's Expositions

Hebrews

CHRISTIAN SACRIFICE

Hebrews 13:15-16.

MUCH attention is given now to the Study of comparative religion. The beliefs and observances Of the rudest tribes are narrowly scrutinised, in order to discover the underlying ideas. And many a practice which seems to be trivial, absurd, or sanguinary is found to have its foundation in some noble and profound thought. Charity and insight have both gained by the study.

But, singularly enough, the very people who are so interested in the rationale of the rites of savages will turn away when anybody applies a similar process to the ritual of the Jews. That is what this Epistle to the Hebrews does. It translates altar, ritual festivals, priests, into thoughts; and it declares that Jesus Christ’ is the only adequate and abiding embodiment of these thoughts. We are not dressing Christian truth in a foreign garb when we express the substance of its revelation in language borrowed from the ritualistic system that preceded it. But we are extricating truths, which the world needs to-day as much as ever it did, from the form in which they were embodied for one stage of religion, when we translate them into their Christian equivalents.

So the writer here has been speaking about Christ as by His death sanctifying His people. And on that great thought, that He is what all priesthood symbolises, and what all bloody sacrifices reach out towards, he builds this grand exhortation of my text, which is at once a lofty conception of what the Christian life ought to be, and a directory as to the method by which it may become so.

‘By Him let us offer sacrifices continually, for with such sacrifices God is well pleased.’

Now, it seems to me that there are here mainly three points to be looked at. First, the basis of; second, the material of; and third, the divine delight in, the sacrifices of the Christian life. And to these three points I ask your attention.

I. First, then, note here the emphatic way in which the one basis of Christian sacrifice is laid down.

Anybody who can consult the original will see, what indeed is partially expressed in our translation, that the position of these two words ‘through’ {or by} ‘Him’ underscores and puts great emphasis upon them. There are two thoughts which may be in-eluded in them; the one, that Jesus is the Priest by whose mediation we come to God, and the other that He is the sacrifice, on the footing of which we can present our sacrifices. It seems to me, however, that it is the latter idea principally that is in the writer’s mind here. And on it I touch lightly in a few words.

Now, let me recall to you, as a world-wide fact which is expressed in the noblest form in the ancient Jewish ritual, that there was a broad line of distinction drawn between two kinds of sacrifices, differing in their material and in their purpose. If I wanted to use mere theological technicalities, which I do not, I should talk about the difference between sacrifices of propitiation and sacrifices of thanksgiving. But let us put these well-worn phrases on one side, as far as we can, for the moment. Here, then, is the fact that all the world over, and in the Mosaic ritual, there was expressed a double consciousness one, that there was, somehow or other, a black dam between the worshipper and his Deity, which needed to be swept away; and the other, that when that barrier was removed there could be an uninterrupted flow of thanksgiving and of service. So on one altar was laid a bleeding victim, and on another were spread the flowers of the field, the fruits of the earth, all things gracious, lovely, fair, and sweet, as expressions of the thankfulness of the reconciled worshippers. One set of sacrifices expressed the consciousness of sin; the other expressed the joyful recognition of its removal.

Now I want to know whether that world-wide confession of need is nothing more to us than a mere piece of interesting reminiscence of a stage of development beyond which we have advanced. I do not believe that there is such a gulf of difference between the lowest savage and the most cultivated nineteenth-century Englishman, that the fundamental needs of the one, in spirit, are not almost as identical as are the fundamental needs of the one and the other in regard to bodily wants. And sure I am that, if the voice of humanity has declared all the world over, as it has declared, that it is conscious of a cloud that has come between it and the awful Power above, and that it seeks by sacrifice the removal of the cloud, the probability is that that need is your need and mine; and that the remedy which humanity has divined as necessary has some affinity with the remedy which God has revealed as provided.

I am not going to attempt theorising about the manner in which the life and death of Jesus Christ sweep away the battier between us and God, and deal with the consciousness of transgression, which lies coiled and dormant, but always ready to wake and sting, in human hearts. But I do venture to appeal to each man’s and woman’s own consciousness, and to ask, Is there not something in us Which recognises the necessity that the sin which stands between God and man shall be swept away? Is there not something in us which recognises the blessedness of the message, ‘The blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth from all sin’? Oh, brethren! do not fancy that it is a mere theological doctrine of an atonement that is in question. It is the possibility of loving access to God, as made possible through Jesus, and through Him alone, that I want to press upon your hearts.

‘Through Him let us offer.’

II. Secondly, notice the light which our text throws upon the material or contents of the Christian sacrifice.

I need not dwell at all, I suppose, upon the explanation of the words, which are plain enough. The writer seems to me to divide the sacrifice of praise, which he prescribes, into two parts, the praise of the lip and the praise of the life.

But before I deal with this twofold distribution of the thought, let me fix upon the main general idea that is expressed here, and that is that the highest notion, the noblest and purest of what a Christian life is, is that it is one long sacrifice. Have we risen to the height of that conception? I do not say, Have we attained to the fulfilment of it? The answer to the latter question one knows only too well. But has it ever dawned upon us that the true ideal of the Christian life which we profess to be living is this - a sacrifice?

Now, that thought involves two things. One is the continuous surrender of self, and that means the absolute suppression of our own wills; the bridling of our own inclinations and fancies; the ceasing obstinately to adhere to our own purposes and conceptions of What is good; the recognition that there is a higher will above us, ruling and guiding, to which we are to submit. Sacrifice means nothing if it does not mean surrender; and surrender is nothing if it is not the surrender of the will. It was a great deal easier for Abraham to take the knife in his hand, and climb the hill with the fixed intention of thrusting it into his son’s heart, than it is for us to take the sword of the Spirit in our hands and slay our own wills, and I am here to say that unless we do we have very little right to call ourselves Christians.

But, then, surrender is only half the conception of the sacrifice which has to be accomplished in our whole days and selves. Surrender to God is the full meaning of sacrifice. And that implies the distinct reference of all that I am, and all that I do, to Him, as not only commanding, but as being the aim and end of my life. We are to labour on as at His command. You in your counting-houses, and mills, and shops, and homes; and we students in our studies, and laboratories, and lecture-rooms, are to link everything with Him, with His will, and with the thought of Him. What vice could live in that light? What meanness would not be struck dead if we were connected with that great reservoir of electric force? What slothfulness would not be spurred into unhasting and unresting zeal if all our work were referred to God? Unless our lives be thus sacrifice, in the full sense of conscious surrender to Him. we have yet to learn what is the meaning and the purpose of the propitiatory sacrifice on which we say that our lives are built.

I need not, I suppose, remind you at any length of how our text draws broad and deep the distinction between the nature and the scope of the fundamental offering made by Christ, and the offerings made by us. The one takes away the separating barrier; the other is the flow of the stream where the barrier had stood. The one is the melting away of the cloud that hid the sun; the other is the flashing of the mirror of my heart when the sun shines upon it. Our sacrifice is thanksgiving. Then there will be no reluctance because duty is heavy. There will be no grudging because requirements are great. There will be no avoiding of the obligations of the Christian life, and rendering as small a percentage by way of dividend as the Creditor up in the heavens will accept. If the offering is a thank- offering, then it will be given gladly. The grateful heart does not hold the scales like a scrupulous retail dealer afraid of putting the thousandth part of an ounce more in than can be avoided.

‘Give all thou canst, high heaven rejects the lore

Of nicely calculated less or more.’

Power is the measure of duty, and they whose offering is the expression of their thankfulness will heap incense upon the brazier, and cover the altar with flowers.

Ah, brethren, what a blessed life it would be for us, if indeed all the painfulness and harshness of duty, with all the efforts of constraint and restriction and stimulus which it so often requires, were transmuted into that glad expression of infinite obligation for the great sacrifice on which our life and hopes rest!

I do not purpose to say much about the two classes of sacrifice into which our writer divides the whole. Words come first, work follows. That order may seem strange, because we are accustomed to think more of work than words. But the Bible has a solemn reverence for man’s utterances of speech, and many a protest against ‘God’s great gift of speech abused.’ And the text rightly supposes that if there is in us any deep, real, abiding, life-shaping thankfulness for the gift of Jesus Christ, it is impossible that our tongues should cleave to the roofs of our mouths, and that we should be contented to live in silence. Loving hearts must speak. What would you think of a husband who never felt any impulse to tell his wife that she was dear to him; or a mother who never found it needful to unpack her heart of its tenderness, even in perhaps inarticulate croonings over the little child that she pressed to her heart? It seems to me that a dumb Christian, a man who is thankful for Christ’s sacrifice and never feels the need to say so, is as great an anomaly as either of these I have described.

Brethren! the conventionalities of our modern life, the proper reticence about personal experience, the reverence due to sacred subjects, all these do prescribe caution and tact and many another thing, in limiting the evangelistic side of our speech; but is there any such limitation needful for the eucharistic, the thanksgiving side of our speech? Surely not. In some monasteries and nunneries there used to be a provision made that at every hour of the four and twenty, and at every moment of every hour, there should be one kneeling figure before the altar, repeating the psalter, so that night and day prayer and praise went up. It was a beautiful idea, beautiful as long as it was an idea, and, like a great many other beautiful ideas, made vulgar and sometimes ludicrous when it was put into realisation. But it is the symbol of what we should be, with hearts ever occupied with Him, and the voice of praise rising unintermittently from our hearts singing a quiet tune, all the day and night long, to Him who has loved us and given Himself for us.

And then the other side of this conception of sacrifice that my text puts forth is that of beneficence amongst men, in the general form of doing good, and in the specific form of giving money. Two aspects of this combination of word and work may be suggested. It has a message for us professing Christians. All that the world says about the uselessness of singing psalms, and praying prayers, while neglecting the miserable and the weak, is said far more emphatically in the Bible, and ought to be laid to heart, not because sneering, godless people say it, but because God Himself says it. It is vain to pray unless you work. It is sin to work for yourselves unless you own the bond of sympathy with all mankind, and live ‘to do good and to communicate.’ That is a message for others than Christians. There is no real foundation for a broad philanthropy except a deep devotion to God. The service of man is never so well secured as when it is the corollary and second form of the service of God.

III. And so, lastly - and only a word - note the divine delight in such sacrifice.

Ah! that is a wonderful thought, ‘With such sacrifices God is well pleased.’ Now I take it that that ‘such’ covers both the points on which I have been dwelling, and that the sacrifices which please Him are, first, those which are offered on the basis and footing of Christ’s sacrifice, and, second, those in which word and work accord well, and make one music.

‘With such sacrifices God is well pleased.’

We are sometimes too much afraid of believing that there is in the divine heart anything corresponding to our delight in gifts that mean love, because we are so penetrated with the imperfection of all that we can do and give; and sometimes because We are influenced by grand philosophic ideas of the divine nature, so that we think it degrading to Him to conceive Of anything corresponding to our delight passing across it. But the Bible is wiser and more reverent than that, and it tells us that, however stained and imperfect our gifts, and however a man might reject. them with scorn, God will take them if they are ‘such’ - that is, offered through Jesus Christ. I dare say there are many parents who have laid away amongst their treasures some utterly useless thing that one of their little children once gave them. No good in it at all! No; but it meant love. And, depend upon it, ‘if ye, being evil, know how to good gifts’ - though they are useless - ‘from your children, much more will your heavenly Father accept’ your stained sacrifices if they come through Christ.

Dear brethren, my text preaches to us what is the true sacrifice of the true priesthood in the Christian Church. There is one Priest who stands alone, offering the one sacrifice that has no parallel nor second. No other shares in His priesthood of expiation and intercession. But around, and deriving their priestly character from Him, and made capable of rendering acceptable sacrifices through Him, stand the whole company of Christian people. And besides these there are no priesthoods and no sacrifices in the Christian vocabulary or in the Christian Church. Would that a generation that seems to be reeling backwards to the beggarly elements of an official priesthood, with all its corruptions and degradations of the Christian community, would learn the lesson of my text! ‘Ye’ - all of you, and not any selected number amongst you - ‘ye, all of you are a royal priesthood.’ There are only two sacrifices in the Christian Church: the one offered once for all on Calvary, by the High Priest Himself; the sacrifice of ourselves, by ourselves, thank-offerings for Christ and His name, which are the true Eucharist.

Benson Commentary

Hebrews 13:15-16. Having mentioned the altar, the apostle now proceeds to speak of the sacrifice. By him therefore — Our great High-Priest, though persecuted by our unbelieving brethren, and exposed to many sufferings; let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually — For surely we have continual reason, having before us a prospect of such unutterable felicity and glory; that is, the fruit of our lips — It is generally granted that this expression is taken from Hosea, where the same duty is called the calves, or sacrifices, of our lips; for the sense is the same, and praise to God is intended in both places. But to do good, &c. — As if he had said, But while we present this verbal tribute, let us remember that another yet more substantial sacrifice is required, namely, to do good to our fellow- creatures, and that in every way in our power, to their souls as well as to their bodies, supplying, as we have ability, both their spiritual and temporal wants; for with such sacrifices God is well pleased — As his inspired servants have abundantly testified. Indeed they have been always more pleasing to him than any victims which, in the neglect of these, could be brought to his altar.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

13:7-15 The instructions and examples of ministers, who honourably and comfortably closed their testimony, should be particularly remembered by survivors. And though their ministers were some dead, others dying, yet the great Head and High Priest of the church, the Bishop of their souls, ever lives, and is ever the same. Christ is the same in the Old Testament day. as in the gospel day, and will be so to his people for ever, equally merciful, powerful, and all-sufficient. Still he fills the hungry, encourages the trembling, and welcomes repenting sinners: still he rejects the proud and self-righteous, abhors mere profession, and teaches all whom he saves, to love righteousness, and to hate iniquity. Believers should seek to have their hearts established in simple dependence on free grace, by the Holy Spirit, which would comfort their hearts, and render them proof against delusion. Christ is both our Altar and our Sacrifice; he sanctifies the gift. The Lord's supper is the feast of the gospel passover. Having showed that keeping to the Levitical law would, according to its own rules, keep men from the Christian altar, the apostle adds, Let us go forth therefore unto him without the camp; go forth from the ceremonial law, from sin, from the world, and from ourselves. Living by faith in Christ, set apart to God through his blood, let us willingly separate from this evil world. Sin, sinners, nor death, will not suffer us to continue long here; therefore let us go forth now by faith and seek in Christ the rest and peace which this world cannot afford us. Let us bring our sacrifices to this altar, and to this our High Priest, and offer them up by him. The sacrifice of praise to God, we should offer always. In this are worship and prayer, as well as thanksgiving.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

By him, therefore - The Jews approached God by the blood of the sacrifice and by the ministry of their high priest. The exhortation of the apostle here is founded on the general course of argument in the Epistle "In view of all the considerations presented respecting the Christian High Priest - his dignity, purity, and love; his sacrifice and his intercession, let us persevere in offering through him praise to God." That is, let us persevere in adherence to our religion.

The sacrifice of praise - For all the mercies of redemption. The Jews, says Rosenmuller (Alte u. neue Morgenland, in loc.), had a species of offerings which they called "peace-offerings, or friendship-offerings." They were designed not to produce peace or friendship with God, but to preserve it. Burnt-offerings, sin-offerings, and trespass-offerings, were all on account of transgression, and were designed to remove transgression. But in their peace-offerings, the offerer was regarded as one who stood in the relation of a friend with God, and the oblation was a sign of thankful acknowledgment for favors received. or they were connected with vows in order that further blessings might be obtained, or they were brought voluntarily as a means to continue themselves in the friendship and favor of God; Leviticus 7:11-12; compare Jenning's Jew. Ant. i.335.

That is, the fruit of our lips - The phrase "fruit of the lips." is a Hebraism, meaning what the lips produce; that is, words; compare Proverbs 18:20; Hosea 14:2.

Giving thanks to his name - To God; the name of one being often put for the person himself. "Praise" now is one of the great duties of the redeemed. It will be their employment forever.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

15. As the "altar" was mentioned in Heb 13:10, so the "sacrifices" here (compare 1Pe 2:5, namely, praise and doing good, Heb 13:16). Compare Ps 119:108; Ro 12:1.

By him—as the Mediator of our prayers and praises (Joh 14:13, 14); not by Jewish observances (Ps 50:14, 23; 69:30, 31; 107:22; 116:17). It was an old saying of the rabbis, "At a future time all sacrifices shall cease, but praises shall not cease."

of praise—for salvation.

continually—not merely at fixed seasons, as those on which the legal sacrifices were offered, but throughout all our lives.

fruit of our lips—(Isa 57:19; Ho 14:2).

giving thanks—Greek, "confessing." Bengel remarks that the Hebrew, "todah," is beautifully emphatic. It literally means "acknowledgment" or "confession." In praising a creature, we may easily exceed the truth; but in praising God we have only to go on confessing what He really is to us. Hence it is impossible to exceed the truth, and here is genuine praise.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Therefore, introducing this duty, shows it not only to issue from the former privilege of having Christ our altar and sacrifice, therefore we should use him, and sacrifice by him; and it is inferred as anticipating an objection of these Hebrews: That if the tabernacle service ceased, then they should have no sacrifice to offer unto God. Yea, saith the apostle,

let us offer, which is not hand work, but heart work, by a spirit of faith on this altar, the sacrifice of praise, 1 Peter 2:5, such as God requireth and accepts above all the sacrifices of beasts, &c., Psalm 50:23; praise for the grace privilege and honour of being denizens of his city, and of being brought home to it by suffering, Colossians 1:11,12; and this always throughout our life, to the God that is the author and distributer of all these blessings to us. This sacrifice of praise the Spirit interprets to be

the fruit of our lips, which the prophet styleth, calves of our lips, in Hosea 14:2. By both these must synecdochically be understood the Spirit and heart guiding the whole man in this matter, Romans 12:1, confessing that all it is capable of rendering is due from it to God, even all of love, praise, thanksgiving honour, for its redemption through Jesus Christ, whether continually expressed either by lip or life, as Psalm 50:23 1 Corinthians 6:20 Ephesians 5:20 Philippians 4:6,7 Col 3:17 1 Thessalonians 5:17,18.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise,.... For temporal and spiritual mercies; particularly for sanctification, or expiation of sin, by the blood of Christ; and for heaven, the continuing city, that is to come: this sacrifice is not a proper, nor a propitiatory one, but spiritual and evangelical; it is enjoined by God, is well pleasing to him, and glorifies him; and is our reasonable service, that believe in Christ; for being made priests by him to God, and having faith in him, such are capable of offering it aright; to do which, they are under the greatest obligations: and it is to be offered up by Christ, who is the same yesterday, today, and for ever; and who has suffered without the gate, that he might sanctify the people by his blood; it is to be done in imitation of him, and by his assistance; and for him, and blessings in him; and on him, as the altar, which sanctifies the gift; and through him, as the high priest and Mediator; for, as there is no coming to God but by Christ, and all our mercies come to us through him, and our thanksgivings are only acceptable to God on his account, it must be right to offer them up by him: and that,

to God continually: as the Creator and Preserver of us, in our beings; as the Father of mercies; as the Father of Christ; and as our covenant God and Father in him; since he is always bestowing mercies on us, of one kind or another; and, therefore, should be continually praised, even in times of adversity, affliction, and temptation; in the midst of reproach and persecution; even when unsettled in mind, body, and estate; since there is a continuing city to come; nor can a believer be in any state of life but he has something to be thankful for:

that is, the fruit of our lips; the sacrifice of praise is so called, in allusion to the offering of the firstfruits under the law; and to distinguish it from legal sacrifices; and to show in what way and manner we are to praise God, namely, with our lips: in Hosea 14:2 which is thought to be referred to here, it is, "the calves of our lips"; sacrifices of praise being instead of calves: and the apostle interprets it in great agreement with the Jewish writers; the Chaldee paraphrase explains it by , "the words of their lips": and so Jarchi, , "the words of our lips"; and Kimchi, , "the confession of our lips": and it may be observed, that there is a great nearness in "calves", and "fruit"; though perhaps rather the phrase is borrowed from Isaiah 57:19 where it is expressly had; the Septuagint indeed have it in Hosea 14:2 & the apostle adds, for further explanation,

giving thanks to his name; to the name of God; to the glory of his name; to the honour of his divine perfections; for mercies of every kind: the word signifies "a speaking together"; and may design not only the conjunction of the heart and tongue together in praise, but a social giving thanks to God by the saints, as a body together: the phrase , "the sacrifice of praise", is used by the Septuagint in 2 Chronicles 29:31. The apostle having shown that legal sacrifices were all superseded and abolished by the sacrifice of Christ, which is the design of this epistle, points out what sacrifice believers should offer up to God, under the Gospel dispensation; and the Jews themselves say, that

"in future time (i.e. in the days of the Messiah) all sacrifices shall cease, but , "the sacrifice of praise" shall not cease (b).''

(b) Vajikra Rabba, sect. 9. fol. 153. 1. & sect 27. fol. 168. 4.

Geneva Study Bible

{9} By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name.

(9) Now that those physical sacrifices are taken away, he teaches us that the true sacrifices of confession remain, which consist partly in giving thanks, and partly in liberality, with which sacrifices indeed God is now delighted.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Meyer's NT Commentary

Hebrews 13:15. Closing exhortation, through Christ, to offer to God sacrifices of praise. Deduced from Hebrews 13:8-14.

Διʼ αὐτοῦ] is with great emphasis preposed: through HIM (sc. Christ), but not through the intervention of the Jewish sacrificial institution. Through Him, inasmuch as by the all-sufficiency of His expiatory sacrifice once offered, He has qualified believers so to do.

θυσίαν αἰνέσεως] a praise-offering (זֶבַח תּוֹדָם), thus a spiritual sacrifice, in opposition to the animal sacrifices of Judaism.

διὰ παντός] continually. For the blessings obtained through Christ are so abundant and inexhaustible, that God can never be sufficiently praised for them.

τουτέστιν καρπὸν χειλέων ὁμολογούντων τῷ ὀνόματι αὐτοῦ] that is, fruit of lips which praise His name. Elucidation of the meaning in θυσίαν αἰνέσεως, in order further to bring into special relief the purely spiritual nature of this Christian thankoffering already indicated by those words. The expression καρπὸν χειλέων the author has derived from Hosea 14:3, LXX.: καὶ ἀνταποδώσομεν καρπὸν χειλέων ἡμῶν (in the Hebrew: נְשַׁלְּמָה פָרִים שְׂפָתֵינוּ, let us offer for oxen our own lips). For the thought, comp. Vajikra R. 9. 27, in Wetstein: R. Pinchas, R. Levi et R. Jochanam ex ore R. Menachem Galilaei dixerunt: Tempore futuro omnia sacrificia cessabunt, sacrificium vero laudis non cessabit. Omnes preces cessabunt, sed laudes non cessabunt. Philo, de Sacrificantibus, p. 849 E (with Mang. II. p. 253): τὴν ἀρίστην ἀνάγουσι θυσίαν, ὕμνοις καὶ εὐχαριστίαις τὸν εὐεργέτην καὶ σωτῆρα Θεὸν γεραίροντες.

The referring of αὐτοῦ to Christ (so Sykes, who finds the sense: confessing ourselves publicly as the disciples of Christ) is unnatural, seeing that God has been expressly mentioned only just before as the One to whom the θυσία αἰνέσεως is to be presented.

Expositor's Greek Testament

Hebrews 13:15. διʼ αὐτοῦ οὗν ἀναφέρωμεν.… Going without the camp as believers in the virtue of Christ’s atoning sacrifice, and bearing His shame as those who seek to be identified with Him, we are brought near to God and are disposed to offer Him a sacrifice of praise (Leviticus 7:2 ff.). The διʼ αὐτοῦ is in the emphatic position; “through Him” and not through any Levitical device. And this Christian sacrifice is not periodic, but being spiritual is also continual (διαπαντὸς). That there may be no mistake regarding the material of the sacrifice of praise, an explanation is added: τοῦτʼ ἔστιν καρπὸν χειλέων, “that is to say, the fruit of lips (cf. Hosea 14:3) celebrating His name”. Thayer gives this translation, supposing that ὁμολογ. is here used in the sense of ἐξομολογέω, Psalm 45:17, etc.; cf. also 1Es 9:8. But the sacrifice of praise which can be rendered with the lips is not enough. “Be not forgetful of beneficence and charity for with such sacrifices God is well pleased.”

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

15. the sacrifice of praise] A thanksgiving (Jeremiah 17:26; Leviticus 7:12), not in the form of an offering, but something which shall “please the Lord better than a bullock which hath horns and hoofs” (Psalm 69:31).

continually] Even the Rabbis held that the sacrifice of praise would outlast animal sacrifices and would never cease.

the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name] Rather, “the fruit of lips which confess to His name.” The phrase “the fruit of the lips” is borrowed by the LXX. from Isaiah 57:19. In Hosea 14:2 we have “so will we render the calves of our lips,” literally, “our lips as bullocks,” i.e. “as thank-offerings.” Dr Kay notices that (besides the perhaps accidental resemblance between פרי, perî, “fruit” and, פרים, parîm, “calves”) karpoma and similar words were used of burnt-offerings.

Bengel's Gnomen

Hebrews 13:15. Δἰ αὐτοῦ, by Him) 1 Peter 2:5.—θυσίαν, the sacrifice) The Altar is mentioned, Hebrews 13:10; now the sacrifices are enumerated: of praise here, of well-doing, Hebrews 13:16.—αἰνέσεως, of praise) for the salvation made sure.—διαπαντὸς, continually) A continual sacrifice. Nothing of the Mass. Forget not, which follows, Hebrews 13:16, corresponds to this word, continually.—καρπὸν χειλέων, the fruit of the lips) So the LXX., Hosea 14:3; also Isaiah 57:19 : but the Hebrew in the former is פָרִים שְׂפָתֵינוּ, in the latter, נוּב (נִיב) שְׂפָתַיִם.—ὁμολογούντων, confessing) in faith, while they despise all the reproach of the world, Hebrews 13:13.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 15. - Through him therefore let us offer the sacrifice (or, a sacrifice) of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of lips confessing to his Name. Θυσία αἰνέσεως is the designation in the ritual of the Law of the voluntary peace offering, offered by individuals on occasions calling for special thanksgiving (Leviticus 7:12). In the psalms it is used to express generally praise and thanksgiving (see Psalm 1:14, 23; 116:17. Θῦσον τῷ Θεῷ θυσίαν αἰνέσεως καὶ ἀπόδος τῷ ὑψίστῳ τὰς εὐχάς σου, etc.). In virtue of their participation in the true and complete Sin Offering, Christians may fulfill this part of the ancient symbolism, not occasionally, but "continually;" bringing to God, not fruits of the earth, but the "fruit of the lips" (an expression found in Hosea 14:2, where the LXX. has καρπὸν χειλέων ἡμῶν), i.e. continual praise, springing from thankful hearts. In the Eucharist especially (hence so called) such sacrifice is continually offered, over the one atoning Sacrifice which is pleaded and partaken cf. But not in communions only, but ever in their daily lives, such "sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving" is due. But, as the next verse reminds the readers, the "knit of the lips" is not enough; there is a further sacrifice of our own, whereby we must show that we are true partakers of Christ, and truly thankful. Hebrews 13:15

Vincent's Word Studies

By him therefore (δἰ αὐτοῦ)

Rend. "through him." Omit therefore. A.V. follows T.R. οὖν. Through Jesus, and not through the Jewish ritual.

Let us offer (ἀναφέρωμεν)

Lit. bring up the offering to the altar. See James 2:21, where the full phrase occurs. For the phrase offer up through Jesus Christ, comp. 1 Peter 2:5.

The sacrifice of praise (θυσίαν αἰνέσεως)

The Levitical term for a thank-offering. See lxx, Leviticus 7:2, Leviticus 7:3, Leviticus 7:5; 2 Chronicles 29:31; 2 Chronicles 33:16; Psalm 50:14, Psalm 50:23; Psalm 106:22; Psalm 115:8. Ἄινεσις praise, N.T.o. Often in lxx, oClass. For "the sacrifice" rend. "a sacrifice." The sacrifice of thanksgiving is to take the place of the animal sacrifice. For the emphasis on thanksgiving in N.T. see Ephesians 5:20; Colossians 1:12; 1 Thessalonians 5:18. The Rabbins had a saying, "in the future time all sacrifices shall cease; but praises shall not cease." Philo says: "They offer the best sacrifice who glorify with hymns the savior and benefactor, God."

That is the fruit of our lips (τουτέστιν καρπὸν χειλέων)

Omit our. From lxx of Hosea 14:3, where the Hebrew reads, "we will account our lips as calves" (offered in sacrifice). Comp. Isaiah 57:19.

Giving thanks to his name (ὁμολογούντων τῷ ὀνόματι αὐτοῦ)

The phrase N.T.o , olxx. Rend. "of lips which make confession to his name."