What does it mean that we should entertain strangers because we might entertain angels (Hebrews 13:2)?

The verses that immediately follow give the direction that was more particularly needed. "Forget not hospitality; for by it some unawares entertained angels. Remember the prisoners, as bound with [them], the ill-treated, as being yourselves also in a body" (verses 2, 3). To entertain strangers is a happy form of exercising brotherly kindness. Yet is it especially liable to be imposed on, were it not that the Lord's over-ruling eye is over all, and He permits nothing that does not work for good to those that love God. The danger for the believer is that he should be vexed at advantage taken, and lest he should slacken in consequence. But if men abuse kindness thus, the Lord accepts the good and forgets it not. The encouragement assigned is that some, as Abraham and Lot of old, entertained angels unawares. To receive God's children now is assuredly no less honour in His eyes. Another mode of brotherly kindness is in active remembrance of those who, as early Christians, had to bear the stigma of public bonds or prison. If we failed to realise the uncomeliness of holding aloof from brethren thus put to shame, the affecting reference of the apostle to Onesiphorus in his own case at Rome, which we find in 2 Tim. 1 and with less detail elsewhere, may give a just sense of its sweet seasonableness and value before the Lord. Then again how many are the "ill-treated" though not in a prison! Let us not forget such, as being ourselves also in a body.* Compare Heb. 10:32-34.

In two ways we now read it could be shown — first in extending hospitality to strangers, and next in remembering those suffering for the truth's sake.

Hospitality. — Hospitality now inculcated, a feature, as we read elsewhere, which should characterise the elders in the different assemblies (1 Tim. 3:2; Titus 1:8), encouragement to cultivate it is here furnished the Hebrews by references to their past history. "Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares" (Heb. 13:2). To whom are we referred? Again we go back to patriarchal history, and find two examples of it. Three men appeared to Abraham as he sat at his tent door in the heat of the day (Gen. 18:2). Their presence aroused him into activity at a time when ordinarily he might have desired quiet repose. He first ran to meet them. Next he hastened to Sarah's tent to order preparations for their entertainment. Then he himself ran to the herd, and fetched a calf to be killed for the repast. After that, when ready he waited on them. Readiness to show hospitality characterised him that day. And though three men had appeared, in the sequel it came out that two were angels, and One was the Lord Himself. Richly was the patriarch rewarded. God made known to him what He was about to do, having first confirmed the promise of a son by Sarah, fixing now the date of his birth (Gen. 18:10). And telling Abraham of the impending overthrow of Sodom, He allowed the patriarch to intercede with Him to spare it if only ten righteous were found in it.

Nor was Abraham the solitary instance of His grace that day. Lot showed his readiness to entertain the two angels who appeared as men at the gate of the city of Sodom. He urged them greatly to enter into his house. They accepted his pressing invitation. He feasted them, and then learnt that his visitors were angels, and was indebted to them under God for his deliverance on the morrow (Gen. 19). Neither Abraham nor Lot had cause to regret his hospitality. Then in Christian times such a spirit manifested, as occasion required, was of real service in the Church of God. Christians are exhorted to it by Paul (Rom. 12:13), and Peter writes to the strangers scattered abroad to the same effect (1 Peter 4:9). And two there were specially, it would seem, distinguished in this service — Gaius of Corinth (Rom. 16:23), and Gains who lived, we conclude, somewhere in Asia Minor (3 John). Like the different Marys who were characterised by personal ministry, the two Gaiuses were noted for hospitality.

Verse 2. Nor should their love confine itself within the house. The God of their worship is a lover of the stranger (Deut. 10:18-19). In His gracious philanthropy* He had succoured them when strangers. He had clothed them in their nakedness, and had given them His living bread to eat. What they had freely received they should be ready to distribute. Their temporal not less than their spiritual blessings were the gifts of God, who sometimes put His angels into the disguise of wayfarers, that He might know if they who bore His gracious name before the world were like Him in the largeness of their hearts. They should remember this, not doubting that the God who gave them richly all things to enjoy, would bless them largely in requital of the kindness done to those whom He commended to their love.

The absence of evil qualities is not enough. The assembly of God is the only sphere on earth for the exercise and display of that which is divine. To steer clear, therefore, of the ordinary snares of men in office never could satisfy the mind of God. The overseer, without a thought of invitation or recompence in return, was called to be hospitable; and we know from other scriptures, that this was not to be exercised after the manner of men but according to faith. So in the Epistle to the Hebrews the saints in general were called not to be forgetful of hospitality, for by it some have entertained angels unawares. It is plain therefore, that it was not in the least on the ground of previous knowledge, or of social equality. Had there been suspicion of a stranger, assuredly it would have excluded all such entertainment as God's word reports of old, and recommends now. So in faith and love Abraham received into hospitality, not angels only, but Jehovah Himself in the guise of man. Hospitality like this was not to be laid on the shelf, or vainly admired as a patriarchal virtue. Beyond question the overseer was not to be behind the saints in general, but to be a lover of hospitality.

You notice, he does not say, Have brotherly love, but, "Let brotherly love continue;" as the apostle says to the Thessalonians: "As touching brotherly love, ye need not that I write unto you; for ye yourselves are taught of God to love one another." The Spirit of God never contemplates the saints as being without love; but encourages them to let it abound, by putting no hindrance to the natural outflow of every renewed heart. It is to show itself practically, as in the next exhortation, as to hospitality. This refers to the familiar scene in the life of Abraham when he received the three guests at his tent door at Mamre, and round that he had been entertaining, unawares, the Lord Himself and His angelic messengers.

As these Hebrew saints had, through grace, opened their hearts to the love of the brethren, so also were they to open their homes to any one who might have need; a word appropriate to times of stress, when limited abilities might tempt them to selfishness.

Verses 2 and 3 indicate two directions in which brotherly love is to express itself. First, in hospitality; that is, in the love of strangers. The world is usually prepared to receive those they esteem as important or influential, and thus to do honour to the distinguished guest. We are bidden to rise above merely worldly motives and to receive brethren unknown to us simply because they are brethren. This is true brotherly love in manifestation: a manifestation all too often but very little seen in our land. Second, it is to come out in the remembrance of brethren in adversity, particularly of those suffering imprisonment.

The first six verses of this chapter have a striking moral relationship to what has gone before. We have seen that though God's dispensational ways have undergone a mighty change in the advent of His beloved Son, yet His nature and character remain unchangeable. Now these verses show that moral responsibilities are not abolished either. "Let brotherly love continue." Dispensational change was not to change this at all: It is a character applicable to all ages. "Be not forgetful to entertain strangers; for thereby some have entertained angels unawares." Abraham's hospitality (Gen. 18) is a lovely example, not only for his earthly seed, Israel, but for ourselves. This is a general rule, though 2 John 8-11 is an important exception: one who comes propagating a doctrine that dishonors the Person of Christ, must be refused all hospitality, and not even accorded the cour­tesy of a common greeting.

But communion with God will not leave us indifferent to the temporal necessities of saints — rather the reverse, for in His presence the heart learns to care for all His interests. Nor thus will hospitality ever become a burden to us. Not that hospitality is the indiscriminate welcome of everyone: 2 John 10 & 11 prove the need of discrimination, as do such passages as Romans 16:17; 2 Thess. 3:14-15; Titus 3:10-11; 1 Tim. 5:22. These are plain exceptions to the general rule of a cordial welcome; and some in entertaining strangers have entertained angels unawares.

"When he saw them, he ran to meet them from the tent door." He was one of those who, like Lot in the next chapter, had an ungrudging hospitality, which had its reward in this, that, ready as they were to receive those who looked but strangers, they were really entertaining "angels unawares." Nay, more: this present occasion was the most remarkable entertainment ever enjoyed by any on the earth until Jesus came. Some might count it even more wonderful than that; because the Lord Jesus, being pleased by being born of a woman to become a man and to tabernacle amongst us, came down habitually into human circumstances as a man with men. I do not doubt, however, that, in all these manifestations of the Lord in the Old Testament, we are to understand the Son of God was the one manifested. Not only was He pleased to come in the appearance of a man, which may have been the case on other occasions also, as seen in the history of Noah, Gideon, and others; but here it is said there were three men, meaning by this of course what they seemed to the eyes of men. The peculiar privilege here was that God Himself deigned to be the guest of Abraham: yea, and more than that, for He treats him as His intimate, stamping on the patriarch for ever that remarkable designation, "the friend of God," which is founded on this very chapter. Assuredly the circumstances are such, that we do well to look into them with care.

This prompt response of faith on Abraham's part invited another manifestation of the Lord to him, with which Genesis 18 opens. It evidently took place very soon after the other. It was unusual in character, differing from any preceding appearance inasmuch as "three men" approached, and it was "in the heat of the day," just when no one would pay a visit in the ordinary way. Abraham's hospitality rose to the occasion, and angels were entertained unawares, as Hebrews 13:2 puts it — indeed more than this for one of the three was a manifestation of Jehovah Himself. The picture presented of patriarchal simplicity is striking and beautiful, and the heavenly Visitors partook of the refreshment provided.