7Remember your leaders who taught you the word of God. Think of all the good that has come from their lives, and follow the example of their faith. 8Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. 9So do not be attracted by strange, new ideas. Your strength comes from God’s grace, not from rules about food, which don’t help those who follow them. 10We have an altar from which the priests in the Tabernacle have no right to eat. 11Under the old system, the high priest brought the blood of animals into the Holy Place as a sacrifice for sin, and the bodies of the animals were burned outside the camp. 12So also Jesus suffered and died outside the city gates to make his people holy by means of his own blood. 13So let us go out to him, outside the camp, and bear the disgrace he bore. 14For this world is not our permanent home; we are looking forward to a home yet to come. 15Therefore, let us offer through Jesus a continual sacrifice of praise to God, proclaiming our allegiance to his name. 16And don’t forget to do good and to share with those in need. These are the sacrifices that please God. 17Obey your spiritual leaders, and do what they say. Their work is to watch over your souls, and they are accountable to God. Give them reason to do this with joy and not with sorrow. That would certainly not be for your benefit.
Hebrews 13:7-17
I have left this new section untitled as yet. I wonder if any of my readers have looked at the passage and done some thinking about it. Have a look at Gem 2172 where I gave you the sections and a breakdown of how the various versions have titled it. Some of the versions have divided it exactly the same as I have: namely Hebrews 13:7-17, while others have combined it into a larger unit. I have listed below the titles given to this section from that list.
- Warning Against Apostasy (7-17) [RV]
- Faithfulness and Obedience to Religious Leaders (7-19) [Jerusalem Bible]
The Joiners gave the whole Chapter the following alternative titles:
- Warnings and Requests [KJV]
- Jesus Doesn’t Change [MSG]
- Concluding Exhortations [NIV]
- Concluding Words [NLT]
- Sacrifices Pleasing to God [NLT in E-Sword]
- Exhortations to Various Duties [Thompson’s Chain Reference]
I hope some of my readers will suggest a title for this section. I think you will agree that the titles used thus far are not that helpful. Have you noticed the passage is bounded by a reference to ‘your leaders‘ (13:7) and ‘your spiritual leaders‘ (13:17). So my draft title for the moment is Remember Your Spiritual Leaders and Follow Their Example. Unless I, or one of you, come up with a better title I will go with that title. It is clear that the Jerusalem Bible takes the prize for giving us a working title which comes the closest to describing what is going on in this passage.
How might we follow their example do you think?
Do any of you see more difficulties which need addressing?
As I have said already in Gem 2172 there are difficult verses we need to resolve in order to understand the passage better. I find it interesting when the focus of Deeper Bible and the Gems I write match. At the moment in Deeper Bible 401 we are working our way through a series of problematic verses which are often wrongly interpreted in order that we might learn to rightly interpret the Word of God. We have some difficult verses in this passage. I am sure you have seen them. Unfortunately, what most of us do is put such passages or verses on the shelf figuring “I can’t work it out, I have never understood what ‘that’ means.” Well now is the time. Make sure you list for me any verses that puzzle you and let me know so we can address them together.
Kevin Ward focused on verse 13, and the verses either side: Hebrews 13:12-14. Notice the three-fold repetition of ‘outside the camp (gates)’. What is meant by that reference?
Michael Martens (a translator colleague with Wycliffe) drew attention to Hebrews 13:10. “Heb. 13:10 is a most difficult verse to interpret and to understand. and therefore difficult to translate meaningfully. ‘We have an altar from which those who serve the tent have no right to eat.’” What on earth does that mean?
Ross Robertson queried the last three verses. You will note I have separated them. Ross’ difficulty with these closing verses are due to the fact that it sounds like Paul, but he recalls I claim Hebrews was not written by Paul. “So what’s the story Ian?” What indeed Ross?
The positioning of verse 8 – ‘Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.’ That statement requires some attention. To set that verse in context has led to a diversity of exegesis. Should a verb be supplied and if so, where? The yesterday, today, and forever is interesting too. We need to spend some time on that.
The use of the word [brōmata] in verse 9 is also interesting as is the interpretation given to it which hopefully will enable us to come up with a context for verse 10 and the positioning and meaning of “outside the camp” or “outside the gates”. As you well know by now, the context and the positioning of these difficult to understand words and phrases can lead us to a better understanding of the whole. So I invite you to ask questions or point out the parts you have found difficult. It will all help us to arrive at a better understanding of this difficult passage.
My challenge to you, my readers, is to read this passage through a number of times (I suggest 7 times) and ponder the connectedness. Also feel free to suggest a title for this passage once you think you have understood the purpose of what the author of Hebrews was meaning. Hence I am giving you time to do that before we begin to look at this difficult passage.
Don’t judge life by one difficult season. And don’t judge the Bible by one difficult passage. Working our way through the difficulties is a good thing to do. Ask the Author to shed light on the matter.
Ian
Every opportunity has a difficulty, & every difficulty has an opportunity.
J Sidlow Baxter
Remember, you are made strong by the difficulties you FACE, not by those you EVADE!
Rick Godwin
Difficulties not only place a demand on your faith, but also reveal the depth of it!
Ian
The root of all difficulties is a lack of the sense of the Presence of God.
Emmett Fox
Title: Jesus and Leadership