Yep.
Thanks for coming to my TED talk today. 1
More seriously, I’ve been doing some thinking recently about verses in the Bible that are often used to justify this type of gospel outreach. Do they say what we think we say?
The word ‘prisoners’ and words like it actually crop up quite a lot in the Bible, and so it would be naive to suggest that a single article like this could explore all of them in sufficient depth. Instead, we’ll do some digging into a couple of verses in particular from the book of Hebrews:
10:34
For you had compassion on those in prison, and you joyfully accepted the plundering of your property, since you knew that you yourselves had a better possession and an abiding one.
And 13:3
Remember those who are in prison, as though in prison with them, and those who are mistreated, since you also are in the body.
I’ve seen verses quoted in at least a couple of places to seemingly justify prison ministry at large – go into prisons and visit prisoners of all faiths, be nice to them, encourage them, comfort them!
Now, before we go any further we need to say that this article should not be seen as a contribution to the whole ‘social justice debate.’ Goodness knows there’s been much ink spilt on this issue already by people much cleverer than me. Rather, this is intended as an observation both on how we tend to read the Bible, and how the way we read it can influence the decisions we make about the’ what and how’ of Christian mission.
With that said, let’s proceed!
A context without a context, is a context….
The actual quote (made by someone much cleverer than me) is ‘a text without a context is a con.’
The basic point is this: if you don’t read a verse or passage of God’s Word in its proper context then you can completely misunderstand what it’s actually saying!
This means we should probably look at the above verses in their context, that is within the book of Hebrews, and the passage within which they sit. We’ll tackle these in order.
And so, what’s the purpose of the book of Hebrews? Why was it written, and how did the author want his original readers to respond to what he was saying?
Hold fast to Christ, who is better
Hebrews was a letter written in around 65AD to a group of Jewish Christians (possibly living in Italy) who were undergoing some pretty serious suffering (see for example, 10:32, 11:36). The Roman Emperor at the time, Nero was known for severely persecuting Christians, and we see reference to this in the letter. Correspondingly, the original audience in Hebrews are encouraged not to become ‘weary’ and one could say that given the suffering they were experiencing such an exhortation is no surprise!
The temptation here is to pack it in altogether and/or to go back to something which wouldn’t have incurred such suffering. This ‘something’ is Judaism, which at the time would have been officially recognised by the Roman State, and adhering to Judaism would have meant a less persecuted life. Many could well have believed that what they were going back to was just as good as Christ anyway, so what’s the harm?
Very much, says the author.
Indeed, the author implores the reader throughout to ‘hold fast’ to their hope in Christ, and not to give up or drift back into the Judaism they’d recently left behind. This is why we get so many glorious descriptions of the many ways Christ is better than Old Testament Judaism. Christ is described as:
- Inaugurating and ensuring a better covenant
- Offering in himself a far superior sacrifice to the bulls and goats given in the Old Testament and;
- Guaranteeing in himself better access to God.
There’s much more besides, and so do give Hebrews a read, it’ll really encourage you!
We can now say the following: As the Jewish Christians are suffering for their faith, they are being tempted to grow weary, and as they’re perhaps growing weary they’re forgetting the amazingness of Christ and what he’s achieved for them. The author is therefore extremely concerned that they’re going to abandon Christ, and thus jeapordise their salvation.2 The remedy to this isn’t to try harder to be a good Christian, or to develop a stiff upper lip in response to their suffering but to remind themselves what they have in and through Christ. This ‘holding fast’ the author exhorts the readers to do is peppered throughout the letter.
We can therefore summarise the purpose of Hebrews thus: Hold fast (in suffering) to the better Christ.
Suffering servants….
The author doesn’t end here though.
As well as exhorting the audience to ‘hold fast’ vis a vis the above, he’s3 also very concerned about their holiness and service of the saints (the two are very closely, perhaps inextricably related.)
But it isn’t as straightforward as saying that our author is rebuking the original Jewish Christians for faltering in their service of other Christians, although there is truth in this. What’s interesting is that he commends them for their past and present service to the saints (6:9) and that he exhorts them to carry on in this vein, for such service will give them assurance of their hope in Christ until he (Christ) comes again in judgement. The push for holiness continues into chapter 12 (verse 14) whereby the author exhorts the reader to pursue holiness ‘without which no one will see the Lord.’ Holiness then as far as the author is concerned is not an option.
Crucially, as they are reminded, and continue to remind themselves of the supremacy of Christ, this will manifest itself in service of other Christians. The answer if we’re drifting away from Christ, backsliding or perhaps even considering abandoning him altogether isn’t to grit our teeth and work harder, but to remind ourselves of what we have in him. As we do, this will spill over into sacrificial service of others in the body. What we need then here is more of the gospel and a recentering to all the blessings we have in and through Christ. Hence, I actually find this so reassuring!
Having done the work on the book as a whole, we’re now ready to consider the verses given at the outset.
Let’s all visit the prisoners?
As I said at the beginning, the highlighted verses in chapters 10 and 13 of Hebrews have been used to justify prison ministry in the sense of going to visit prisoners at large. But is that right?
Well, in one sense of course it is – and we’ll consider this more in the final section of the article. And yet, I’m far from convinced we can get such an imperative from these verses.
For one thing, when you consider the immediate context (the surrounding verses) it’s clear that the author is referring to Christian brothers and sisters in prison. And even without looking at the surrounding verses, this shouldn’t surprise us. We’ve already said in our wider book analysis that the Jewish Christians here are going through some pretty intense suffering, and that although the challenge to not drift away from Christ is very real, they’re commended for serving the saints. For these reasons, it’s both no surprise that these Christians are being imprisoned, and that at least some are being commended for remembering and perhaps even visiting them.
And we’re further convinced of this when we look at the surrounding context. Let’s take chapter 13 first. Here’s 13:1-3
Let brotherly love continue. Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares. Remember those who are in prison, as though in prison with them, and those who are mistreated, since you also are in the body.
To begin, the author exhorts the readers to let brotherly love continue, and in the context of the book (and other New Testament epistles) it seems clear that the term ‘brotherly’ is extremely likely to refer to brothers and sisters in Christ.
“Ah!” you might retort, waggling your fingers, “but look at what it says in verse 2!” “it says strangers” “it tells us to show hospitality to strangers, so surely the instruction to remember those in prison, as though in prison with them can be expanded to mean all prisoners, even those who aren’t believers, right?! Right?!”
They surely have a point don’t they? Strangers must mean the populace at large, not just Christians. But look at the justification for doing this “for some have entertained angels unawares.” Hence, the author isn’t instructing the reader to show hospitality to strangers because it’s a good thing to do (although it very well might be) but here it’s because in doing so they are entertaining ‘angels unawares.’ And what are ‘angels’ in this context? It’s a tricky one, but I think the most likely option is believers outside of one’s congregation. That is, the referral to angels would have taken the reader back to Genesis 18 and 19 when Abraham and Lot welcomed God’s servants amidst a world that was against Him (that is, God). Lot in particular rescued two angels when faced with evil and aggression (Gen 19:1-5.) And so, the readers and us are instructed to show hospitality to persecuted believers as though we were suffering too.
This emphatic identification with suffering Christians carries on to v.3, whereby the readers are told to remember those in prison as in prison with them. Again, what follows this exhortation gives us vital clarity. We are also to remember those who are mistreated, since we are also in the body. The word ‘body’ is key – for in the context of the book it must refer to the body of believers – the body of Christ.4
In other words, both we and the original reader are to remember persecuted Christians in prison and those believers being physically mistreated, again, as though we too are in prison. I find this quite moving.
And so in summary we can say that Hebrews 13:3 instructs the Christian to remember those in prison who are there because of their faith. While the word ‘remember’ might be more in line with things like praying – it’s broad enough to include things like visiting, letter writing and other things one might consider ‘prison ministry.’ Further, this should come from remembering the many ways in which Christ is better than the ‘pre-Christ’ Jewish Old Testament things the original reader was tempted to go back to. As we said earlier, recentering ourselves on what we have in Christ leads to genuine Christian service.
I wonder whether today the temptation for us (remembering the social acceptability of Judaism back in 65 AD) would be to ‘go back’ to a Jesus that doesn’t mention judgement for sin, or to live a life that doesn’t accept the possibility of or need for suffering for his sake. To put it another way, are we willing to be mocked publicly for being a Christian? Are willing to say in the open that rebellion against God deservedly warrants an eternity in Hell?
More briefly in regard to chapter 10, the surrounding verses here say this:
But recall the former days when, after you were enlightened, you endured a hard struggle with sufferings, sometimes being publicly exposed to reproach and affliction, and sometimes being partners with those so treated. For you had compassion on those in prison, and you joyfully accepted the plundering of your property, since you knew that you yourselves had a better possession and an abiding one. Therefore do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward.
The argument is similar to chapter 13, but here the author is recalling how they (perhaps when they were confident in the ‘betterness’ of Christ) were willing to suffer for their faith, which included being put in prison. That is, because they knew their future reward (v.34) they were willing to suffer for their faith, which for them meant having compassion with those who were in prison because of their faith and joyfully losing their own property. And crucially, this was because they knew of their new creation future which would give them a ‘better possession.’ The author then exhorts his audience ‘not to throw away your confidence’ in Christ, which leads to this great reward and to keep going in suffering (v36-37.)
In summing up this section then, we can say that these verses regarding prisoners refer specifically to those who are there because of their trust in Jesus, and not those who may be in prison for other (just or unjust) reasons.
We would do well to remember those Christian believers who are indeed in prison for their faith, praying for and supporting them – for the author here clearly thinks this is an outworking of a vibrant Christ centred, hope filled faith.
Hence, while in the UK, the vast majority of Christians are not seriously persecuted (at least in the sense they’re not imprisoned or killed) for their faith (the odd street preaching incident aside) we do have brothers and sisters around the world who absolutely are imprisoned and are even killed for believing in the betterness of Jesus. The organisation Open Doors for instance estimates that in North Korea5, there are 50,000-70,000 Christians imprisoned in labour camps because of their faith, and it’s unlikely that they’ll ever be able to leave. The letter of Hebrews is certainly a challenge to me that praying for such persecuted believers is not an option, but an outworking of a firm confidence in the supremacy of Christ and what he brings.
And just on the UK situation, it’s worth considering that while the current situation means that Christians can practice their faith freely, this might not always be the case. It’d therefore be worth praying that just as our many brothers and sisters are around the world, we and those that come after us would continue to hold firm should such persecution befall us.
So what you’re saying is….
“OK, so what you’re saying here Mr Prison Man is that because these verses don’t support prison visiting en masse we SHOULDN’T do prison ministry! We SHOULDN’T visit prisoners, we SHOULDN’T do Bible studies with them, we SHOULDN’T do Sunday services.”
No, that’s not what I’m saying at all!
What I am saying is that we should be careful to not pluck verses from the Bible that seemingly justify an activity or certain ministry without first understanding the context.
However, when we consider Jesus’ Great Commission to ‘go and make disciples of all nations’, then prison ministry in the way described above makes much more sense.
It’s definitely true that when we consider Jesus’ command to make disciples that this should include prisoners.6 People often say to me that inmates must be particularly receptive to the gospel because of the particularly low point they’re at in their life. While this has some truth to it, the more involved I’ve become in this ministry the more I’ve seen this isn’t necessarily the case (the ‘why’s’ of this warrant another article!)
No, we should do prison ministry because the gospel really is for everyone, for the Jew and the Gentile, for the rich and poor man, and yes, for the prisoner and free man too. The gospel faithfully preached and clearly presented is sufficient to save and build up anyone, from the recently convicted paedophile in HMP Wandsworth to the City Banker at St Helen’s Bishopsgate. One of many wonderful things about the gospel is that it’s a great leveller, for all are equal in the sense they’ve fallen short and rebelled against God, going their own way and deserving an eternity of death and punishment as a result. The gospel then is the only way back into a relationship with God for both of these people. It’s for everyone, even those deemed by society as sub-human.
It’s also worth saying that as per Ephesians 4, it isn’t just that ‘we’ (the outsiders) going into serve those ‘inside.’ No, for Christians certainly exist inside the prison gates. Hence, prisoners if they are trusting Jesus as their Lord and Saviour are entirely capable (and called in fact) to build up the body of Christ. Their social standing doesn’t come into it. How great to know then that those who take part in prison ministry as well as speaking the truth in love are being built up too! I can recall countless times the prison ministry team and I at my church have felt the glorious effect of this in taking part in our ministry over the years.
Concluding remarks
In this article, we began by saying we’d be looking at some verses in Hebrews that appear to commend prison ministry, asking whether they mean what some think they do. To that end, we went on to argue that it’s very important to look at these ‘fridge magnet verses’ in their wider content. Accordingly, we said that Hebrews is a book exhorting the suffering reader to hold fast to Christ, through being reminded of how much better Christ is than Jewish Old Testament ways. We then went onto say that as the reader holds onto Christ, they’ll be more likely to keep going in endurance suffering, and get to the end (the New Creation.) As such, these verses in Hebrews 10 and 13 are actually focused on Christians who are suffering for their faith, not prisoners in general. And so while it’s important to establish this, when we consider Jesus’ great commission and the imperative for the whole body to build itself up, prison ministry can and should be done as a wider evangelistic and discipleship endeavour.
If you’ve made it this far, thank you for bearing with me and I hope this article has been of some help to you!
1 TED stands for ‘Technology, Entertainment and Design’ and TED talks are (according to their website) videos of 18 minutes or less from expert speakers on education, business, science, tech and creativity. Proponents enjoy their slick, pithy and engaging style while detractors bemoan their apparent simplicity, smugness and often pretentious tone.So there you are.
2 This isn’t the place for debating whether Christians can lose their salvation or not, but what is true is that the author in Hebrews is very concerned that they don’t!
3 It doesn’t say in the letter who the author is – a number of options have been put forward. I think the most likely option is the apostle Paul. The letter is in his literary style, see for example the final greeting – ‘Grace be with all of you’ and throughout it does sound very Pauline. Note also the Pauline-esque focus on the supremacy of Christ, present in many of his other letters. Finally, the obvious affection the author has for Timothy sounds very in line with what we know about Paul. Even if it isn’t Paul, I don’t think it changes the conclusions reached in this article.
4 The body of Christ, with its ‘Christian member body parts is a key concept present in a number of other letters of Paul.
5 See https://www.opendoorsuk.org/persecution/world-watch-list/north-korea/?ref=wwmap
6 It would be a bit churlish to suggest that ‘all nations’ just means geographical people groups, when clearly the tone and context of what Jesus says here, not to mention the whole bible pushes us to make disciples wherever we can!
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