Remember the Prisoners

As If Chained with Them

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Near the end of the letter to the Hebrews, God gave His people some short commands about how to love one another.

Brotherly love. “Let brotherly love continue” (Hebrews 13:1). Everyone who trusts Jesus belongs to God’s family. Brotherly love means loving each other like brothers and sisters.

Remember. “Remember the prisoners as if chained with them” (13:3). Some believers were in prison because they followed Jesus.

As if chained with them. To remember them means more than knowing their names. It means caring as if you were in the chains right beside them.

Those who are mistreated. The verse goes on: “those who are mistreated—since you yourselves are in the body also.” Mistreated means treated badly.

In the body. We have bodies that can feel pain too. We know what hurting feels like, so we can care for those who hurt.

Like Paul and Silas. Paul and Silas were beaten and locked in the stocks for obeying Jesus (Acts 16:22-24). Many Christians today are treated badly for following Jesus too.

Jesus counts it as care for Him. Jesus said, “I was in prison and you came to Me” (Matthew 25:36). When we care for His people, we care for Him.

Out of sight. It is easy to forget people we cannot see. That is why God tells us on purpose to remember them.

How to remember. We can pray for believers in prison by name. We can learn about Christians who are mistreated in other countries. We can thank God for our own freedom and use it to help them.

One family everywhere. Christians live in every country of the world. When believers far away suffer for Jesus, they are still our brothers and sisters, and their pain matters to us.

Jesus remembered us. Our sin held us like chains, and we could not set ourselves free. But Jesus did not forget us. He came to us.

He took our place. Jesus was arrested, beaten and nailed to the cross for our sins. Then He rose again on the third day.

Believe on Him. “If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved” (Romans 10:9). Everyone who trusts Him belongs to His family.

What to do. This week, pray every day for Christians who are in prison for Jesus. Ask a parent or teacher to help you learn about one of them.

Hebrews closes with a set of short commands for life in God’s family. Three of them stand together in 13:1-3.

Brotherly love (13:1). “Let brotherly love continue.” Love already exists among believers. It must not run out when following Jesus becomes costly.

Strangers (13:2). “Do not forget to entertain strangers.” Love reaches out to people we do not yet know.

Syndeo (13:3). “Remember the prisoners as if chained with them.” As if chained with them is one Greek word built on syndeo (say: soon-DEH-oh), to be bound together with. Believers are to think of imprisoned Christians as if the same chain held them both.

The mistreated. “Those who are mistreated—since you yourselves are in the body also.” Being in the body means we share the same human weakness. Their pain could have been ours.

Philippi as an example. Paul and Silas were beaten with rods and fastened in the stocks for setting a girl free in Jesus’ name (Acts 16:18-24). Their suffering was for Christ.

Christ’s own words. “I was in prison and you came to Me” (Matthew 25:36). Jesus joins Himself so closely to His people that care for them is care for Him.

Out of sight. It is easy to forget people we cannot see. Prisoners are out of sight, and so are believers in distant lands. Hebrews calls for remembering on purpose, not a passing feeling.

Remembering today. Christians in many countries are imprisoned or mistreated for their faith. Remembering them means praying for them by name, learning their stories, and supporting those who help them.

Bound for us. Christ was arrested and bound for our sake, and He died on the cross for our sins. Paul wrote of “the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me” (Galatians 2:20). Then Christ rose from the dead.

Freedom with a purpose. Believers who live where they can worship freely have time, voices and resources that persecuted believers lack. Hebrews 13:3 turns that freedom into a duty of love.

One family. Through faith in Him, we are joined to every believer everywhere, including those in chains. Their need is a family need.

Application. Choose one country where Christians suffer for Jesus. Pray for them by name this week, as if you were chained with them.

Partakers with Me of Grace

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Years after the night in the Philippian jail, Paul was in chains again. From prison he wrote a letter to the church at Philippi, the church that began in Acts 16.

Praying with joy. Paul told them he prayed “always in every prayer of mine making request for you all with joy” (Philippians 1:4).

From the first day. He thanked God “for your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now” (1:5). The first day was in Acts 16, when the first people in Philippi trusted Jesus.

Fellowship. Fellowship means sharing. The Philippians shared in Paul’s work of telling the good news. They prayed for him and helped him.

In my heart. “Because I have you in my heart” (1:7). Paul loved them deeply.

In my chains. “Both in my chains and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel, you all are partakers with me of grace” (1:7). Partakers are people who share something together. Paul was in chains, and the believers stood with him.

Sharing grace. The believers were not in prison themselves. But by praying, caring and helping, they shared in God’s grace with Paul.

Longing. “For God is my witness, how greatly I long for you all with the affection of Jesus Christ” (1:8). Paul’s love for them came from Jesus Himself.

A church born in a prison night. The jailer and his household were among the first believers in Philippi. Now their church remembered Paul in his chains.

Grace for sinners. Grace is God’s kindness that we do not deserve. We have all sinned, and our sin separates us from God.

The cross. Jesus died on the cross to take the punishment for our sins, and God raised Him from the dead. “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life” (John 3:16).

Grace for you. This grace is a free gift. You cannot earn it, and you do not have to be grown up to receive it. Anyone who trusts Jesus shares in it.

Partners today. You can be a partner with believers who suffer for Jesus. You can pray, give, write and speak up for them.

What to do. Ask your family or church about a missionary or a Christian in prison. Pray for them by name every day this week, and thank God that you share His grace together.

Some years after Acts 16, Paul wrote to the church at Philippi while he was a prisoner (Philippians 1:7).

Prayer with joy (1:4). “Always in every prayer of mine making request for you all with joy.” Paul, in chains, prayed for the church with joy, not self-pity.

From the first day (1:5). “For your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now.” The first day reaches back to Acts 16, when the first believers in Philippi trusted Christ. Fellowship here is active partnership: they shared in spreading the gospel.

In my heart (1:7). “Just as it is right for me to think this of you all, because I have you in my heart.” Paul’s confidence in them came from love.

Synkoinonos (1:7). “Inasmuch as both in my chains and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel, you all are partakers with me of grace.” Partakers with me is synkoinonos (say: soong-koy-noh-NOSS), a fellow-sharer. The Philippians shared his chains by sharing his cause.

Defense and confirmation. Paul’s imprisonment became a place to defend and confirm the gospel. Those who prayed for him had a part in that work.

The affection of Christ (1:8). “For God is my witness, how greatly I long for you all with the affection of Jesus Christ.” Paul loved them with the love Christ gave him.

Full circle. The church that began with two beaten missionaries and a trembling jailer became a church that stood by a missionary in chains. The God who opened the prison doors in Acts 16 kept that church faithful.

Both directions. Paul prayed for the Philippians, and the Philippians stood with Paul. Fellowship in the gospel runs both ways: the believer in chains and the believer who is free share one grace.

Partners today. Missionaries and persecuted believers still depend on partners who pray and give. A young believer can be that kind of fellow-sharer.

Grace defined. Grace is God’s undeserved favor. “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9).

The cost of grace. Christ died on the cross for our sins and rose again. Every sinner who believes is brought into this fellowship of grace.

Application. Partnership is not only for adults. Pray regularly for a believer who suffers for Christ, and look for ways your family or church can support them.

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