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Hebrews 13:17 – Obey Your Leaders
Obey your leaders, and submit to them; for they keep watch over your souls, as those who will give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with grief for this would be unprofitable for you. (Hebrews 13:17)
To whom is this command directed? It is directed to the church concerning their relationship with its spiritual leaders. In looking at how the flock is to respond, we can also see how the shepherds are to lead.
The church is to “obey.” To see what it means to obey (peitho) and to be obeyed, let’s first discover how this word is used elsewhere, and the context:
- (Acts 13:43 NASB) Now when the meeting of the synagogue had broken up, many of the Jews and of the God-fearing proselytes followed Paul and Barnabas, who, speaking to them, were urging (peitho) them to continue in the grace of God.
- (Acts 17:4 NASB) And some of them were persuaded (peitho) and joined Paul and Silas, along with a large number of the God-fearing Greeks and a number of the leading women.
- (Acts 18:4 NASB) And he was reasoning in the synagogue every Sabbath and trying to persuade (peitho) Jews and Greeks.
- (Acts 19:8 NASB) And he entered the synagogue and continued speaking out boldly for three months, reasoning and persuading (peitho) them about the kingdom of God.
- (Acts 26:28 NASB) Agrippa replied to Paul, “In a short time you will persuade (peitho) me to become a Christian.”
- (Acts 28:23 NASB) When they had set a day for Paul, they came to him at his lodging in large numbers; and he was explaining to them by solemnly testifying about the kingdom of God and trying to persuade (peitho) them concerning Jesus, from both the Law of Moses and from the Prophets, from morning until evening.
- (Acts 28:24 NASB) Some were being persuaded (peitho) by the things spoken, but others would not believe.
In looking at these verses, what do you think is the tool of choice in getting people to “obey” and in them choosing to “obey?”
In Hebrews 13:17, peitho is translated “obey.” Now let’s look at the all the various ways that peitho is translated elsewhere in the NASB: assure (1), confident (3), convinced (7), followed (2), have confidence (2), having confidence (2), listen (1), obey (3), obeying (1), persuade (4), persuaded (8), persuading (1), put…trust (1), put confidence (1), put…confidence (1), relied (1), seeking the favor (1), sure (2), took…advice (1), trust (2), trusted (1), trusting (1), trusts (1), urging (1), win…over (1), won over (2).
In looking at these verses, what do you think is the reason why people “obeyed?”
Finally, let’s look at the definition. What does it mean to “obey?”
- Thayer:
1) persuade – 1a) to persuade, i.e. to induce one by words to believe; 1b) to make friends of, to win one’s favor, gain one’s good will, or to seek to win one, strive to please one; 1c) to tranquillize; 1d) to persuade unto, i.e. move or induce one to persuasion to do something
2) be persuaded – 2a) to be persuaded, to suffer one’s self to be persuaded; to be induced to believe: to have faith: in a thing; 2a1) to believe; 2a2) to be persuaded of a thing concerning a person; 2b) to listen to, obey, yield to, comply with
3) to trust, have confidence, be confident
- Strong – 1) A primary verb; to convince (by argument, true or false); by analogy to pacify or conciliate (by other fair means); reflexively or passively to assent (to evidence or authority), to rely (by inward certainty)
- Vine – “to persuade, to win over, in the Passive and Middle voices, to be persuaded, to listen to, to obey….The obedience suggested is not by submission to authority, but resulting from persuasion.”
So basically, it means to be persuaded, to listen to, and therefore to obey….The obedience suggested is not by submission to overt authority, but results from persuasive reasoning.
The idea is to trust our leaders, not blindly, but because they are able to convince us through their example, wisdom, love for our soul, and biblical knowledge. What is implied by this word is communication and conduct.
In focusing on the congregation being persuaded, and the leaders doing the persuading, what we have described here is a leadership style. Leadership styles vary according to the person, position, and need.
- A father leads his children differently than a husband leads his wife.
- A father leads his teenager differently than he leads his toddler.
- A father leads his children differently than does a mother.
- An elder will lead a struggling Christian differently than a troublemaker.
Leadership styles vary, but here in Hebrews 13:17 we see the main style that overseers are to use – persuasion. Which best describes a pastor?
- Rule from Power?
- Rule from Position?
- Rule from Persuasion?
I am not saying there is never a need by an elder to use his “position.” In fact, that can be involved in using persuasion – respecting the position of leadership. I am saying that we as followers shouldn’t make the elders go there. As an analogy, think of a parent. How does a parent get his or her child to obey?
- Do parents ever have to use Power? “If you don’t clean your room, there will be no T.V. tonight!”
- Do parents ever need to use their position? “Because I am the parent and you are the child, that’s why!” Or, “Because I said so!”
- But shouldn’t parents begin with persuasion? What are we doing as parents? Aren’t we training our children to become adults, to learn to make their own decisions? As such, shouldn’t we convince them by showing them why they should obey? Don’t we won’t them to learn to have confidence in us also?
But as we all know, parents don’t always use persuasion first, then position, and finally power. Elders probably don’t always use the correct order either. The overseers do have authority. Their authority is primarily vested in the word of God, and only secondarily in their position as elders. Unfortunately, we as the flock are not always willing to be persuaded and elders have to resort to different leadership techniques which contradicts the preferred attitude further described in Hebrews 13:17 – “Let them do this with joy and not with grief, for this would be unprofitable for you.” If we want their work to be joyful and not burdensome, then be properly persuaded. Elders, try to persuade first. Remember the “authority” of an elder is born of concern, not coercion. The “authority” of an elder is born of service, not supremacy.
Another action word that describes our obeying is our submitting. Submit/ hupeiko means to retire, withdraw, (hupo, under, eiko, to yield), hence to yield, submit. From Homer on down, submit applied to combatants no longer resisting. Submission is hard. Gentlemen, if you don’t believe me, ask your wives! They don’t always agree with us as we lead, but they know we have their best interests at heart – at least we better! The same is true with our overseers. We must submit and they must be persuading us, giving us confidence in them as leaders, by not “lording it over those allotted to (their) charge, but proving to examples to the flock” (1 Peter 5:3)
Why should we submit to those leading? Three reasons: 1) They are (or should be) working hard to persuade us – they should want what is right and good scripturally, not just their own personal wants; 2) Because of their work – they watch over our souls. To watch means to be sleepless, keep awake, watch. 3) Because they were willing to assume this work; that in and of itself deserves respect if our souls are their primary reason for serving as overseers. Other men might qualify for this work . . . except they do not desire to do it (1 Timothy 3:1). That is a shame which should be personally questioned. What desire must a leader have? Is it a desire to rule? No. It is a desire for us. It is love.
Notice to whom this text says it will be unprofitable. If we fight and fuss, whine and complain, human nature will take over the leaders causing them to let us go our own way. On second thought, that trait is not human nature. Even God, with reference to the Gentiles, gave them over (Romans 1:24,26). The end result is that we hurt ourselves.
Either that or, we will foolishly persuade them by our stubbornness that we cannot be persuaded and they might have to resort to other means of leadership which might or might not be scriptural. This would be to their shame if unscriptural and to our detriment spiritually. Our reaction of submission to their example, wisdom and love for our souls creates a spirit of joy.
Here is my Perryphrase of Hebrews 13:17 – Be persuaded by trusting those spiritually leading you, and don’t fight against them. Why? Because they love you enough to go sleepless in watching over your souls, knowing they will give an account for your soul. Your trusting and not fighting them will allow them to watch over your soul with joy and not with grief. If you don’t trust and yield, it will be unprofitable for you.
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