Hebrews 13:18

Pray for us: for we are persuaded that we have a good conscience, desiring to live honorably in all things. And I exhort you the more exceedingly to do this, that I may be restored to you the sooner.

The use of the plural "us" suggests that the author is associated with others and desires that all of them should be the beneficiaries of the prayers of the readers; but, since he shifted to the emphatic singular a few words later, it may be more properly understood as an editorial pronoun, like the editorial "we." This request for the prayers of his fellow Christians postulates a number of valid deductions: (1) Despite all the stern warnings in Hebrews, and the rebukes administered therein, the writer still holds his readers to be bona fide Christians in covenant relationship with God. Whatever their actual lapse, or threatened failure, they were yet safely within the body of the redeemed and were considered to be such persons whose prayers would benefit the devout author of this great epistle. (2) A second matter of interest is the basis upon which the author predicated his request for prayers, namely, that he was at the end of the things he could do himself toward the attainment of the object mentioned, and also that he had a clear conscience. As Westcott said, "The prayers of others will not avail for our neglect of duty. They help, when we have done our utmost, to supply what we have failed to do, and to correct that we have done amiss."[6] The author, therefore, reinforces his right to ask their prayers with the affirmation that he has a clear conscience and that all of his efforts have been directed to living "honor ably in all things." (3) Another deduction regards the increased efficacy of prayers offered by many, as contrasted with prayers offered by only one, or a few. The scriptures teach that the prayers of many may prevail where the prayers of one, or only a few, might not. Even an apostle depended on such reinforcements as prayer (Romans 15:30; Philemon 1:1:22); and if such a person as Paul needed such help of his prayers, how much more is it true of others? Nor can it be explained how such a thing is possible, any more than it can be explained how the wrapping or winding of a wire, carrying an electric current, around a magnetic field, should so fantastically increase the velocity of the current.

That I may be restored to you the sooner is not a reference to the imprisonment of the author, that idea being ruled out by what is said a little later in Hebrews 13:23; but it implies that circumstances beyond his control had hindered him until that time. It could have been illness, the press of duties, some unfinished project that he could not leave, or one of many things. Whatever it was, there was, as indicated here, a patient, humble submission to events as they had developed, and a casting of the whole problem upon the will of God through prayer.