Final Instructions

Hebrews 13:7-14

Main Idea: Christians must remember the unchanging faith of their leaders and safeguard it as they suffer with Jesus outside the camp.

1. Remember Your Leaders
2. Remember Your Savior
3. Do Not Be Led Astray
   1. Various kinds of strange teachings
   2. Strengthened by grace, not foods
4. Go Outside the Camp
   1. A better altar and its better sacrifice
   2. Enduring for an eschatological city

To the casual observer, this final section of Hebrews might seem somewhat disjointed, in much the same way that those who read a military briefing from World War II today might find that account disjointed. In a military briefing, a commanding officer informs troops about the battle plan, provides tactical information, makes clarifications, and gives personal instruction. Troops receiving such a briefing would certainly see the instructions as coherent, but we, being so far removed from the original situation, would find it perplexing. This is why these concluding commands in Hebrews 13 might seem disconnected to us. Hebrews 13:7-14 is a commanding officer’s last order of business with his troops. It was a word they needed to hear then, and it is a word we still need to hear now.

Remember Your Leaders

Hebrews 13:7

As we’ve already seen, the letter to the Hebrews is filled with moral exhortations. This final section is no different. Here the author exhorts his people to remember their leaders. Specifically, he wants them to remember those who spoke the word of God. In the immediate context of the letter, this refers to those who taught them the gospel. If we broaden out, this refers to those who taught them the whole Bible.

The command to “remember” might seem peculiar to us at first. We would expect the author to encourage his readers to honor, respect, or greet their leaders, but why the call to “remember” them? It might have something to do with the martyrdom that was taking place at the time the letter was written. When the writer calls his readers to remember, it’s very possible he is referring to leaders who had been killed for their faith.

The call to remember is a call to look back. The readers look back by considering the outcome of their leaders’ way of life and by imitating their faith. This exhortation is common in the New Testament and similar to what Paul writes in 2 Timothy 3. Paul calls Timothy to avoid a wicked example and urges the young pastor to imitate Paul himself instead. He encourages Timothy to imitate his conduct, aim in life, faith, patience, love, and sufferings. This is the kind of instruction we see here.

Discipleship consists of living our lives before others in such a way that they learn from us—not only from what we teach but also from how we live. The leaders Hebrews 13:7 mentions testified to Christ by their manner of life. We should remember the teaching of our leaders, but we should also remember and practice their way of life. These leaders were faithful, and the letter’s readers are called to imitate that faithfulness. We desperately need this kind of example today.

Remember Your Savior

Hebrews 13:8

The unchanging nature of Christ is something Scripture makes abundantly clear. Jesus Christ truly is the same yesterday, today, and forever. We hear something similar about God in the Old Testament: “I am the Lord—I do not change” (Mal 3:6 TLB).

Though our outward circumstances are always changing, we do not have to worry about Christ changing. His disposition toward us is fixed for eternity. We do not have to worry about him waxing and waning in his saving power. Our leaders may die, but Jesus will still be faithful to his children. We can rest in the absolute confidence that he will never change.

Some commentators suggest that this concise, Christological hymn has nothing to do with its context. To them it appears out of place in the midst of these exhortations. In reality, though, verse 8 grounds the exhortations. Our faith and its teachings do not change. There is no such thing as new and improved Christianity. What we have is the faith “that was delivered to the saints once for all” (Jude 3). Though the letter’s readers may have new leaders now and their circumstances will change, their Savior remains the same. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Therefore, we should remember the faithfulness of our leaders and not be led astray by anything contrary to the unchanging Christian message.

Do Not Be Led Astray

Hebrews 13:9

Christianity, if rightly understood, is the same yesterday, today, and forever. This is because Jesus Christ does not change. And it is by his unchanging nature that we should be able to detect false teaching and not be led astray by it. This is what the author presses his people toward in verse 9.

Various Kinds of Strange Teachings

The author uses two noteworthy words to describe the kind of teaching we should avoid: various and strange. Theological variation in the gospel is not something to be embraced; it is something to be avoided. After all, there is only one faith, one gospel, and one Savior. Additionally, we should be able to recognize a teaching as strange when it runs contrary to the sound doctrine of Scripture. Strange is attractive because it is unusual, but it ultimately leads us astray. That is why the author gives us this exhortation.

Though these various kinds of strange teachings are not explicitly identified, the following verses suggest that the author has teachings that derive from the Old Testament law in mind. They most likely focus on food regulations, which were meant to distinguish the Israelites as God’s holy people. Whatever they are, these teachings contradict the theological unity of the gospel message, so the readers are commanded to avoid them. The author warns his people that entertaining false teachings will lead them astray.

Strengthened by Grace, Not Foods

The author also reminds us that establishing or strengthening our hearts by grace, not through external food laws, is a good and wonderful thing. At first, the contrast might seem confusing. We understand the dichotomy between grace and law, between gospel and law, but what about between grace and external food laws? The author obviously expected his audience to understand his comment. They heard his word as Jews who had become Christians.

One of the dangers of external laws like the Jewish dietary restrictions is that we tend to overemphasize them. We think we can be justified by keeping them. It seems that the Jewish Christians to whom this letter was addressed were focusing so much on Old Testament dietary laws that they forgot the greater and weightier things—salvation through grace by faith in Christ. They, like us today, desperately needed to hear the main message of Hebrews: the new covenant inaugurated by Jesus’s blood is far superior to the old covenant.

Therefore, it does not matter how concerned we are with dietary rules, whether they are kosher or Atkins based. Christians live by grace, and our hearts are strengthened by grace. External matters cannot strengthen or save us. We are saved by the mercy of God, which has been demonstrated in the new covenant. This is exactly where the author takes us next.

Go Outside the Camp

Hebrews 13:10-14

Rather than eating the right foods as per the old covenant, new covenant Christians feed on Christ, which is yet another contrast between the old and new covenants. We have seen this kind of contrast throughout the entire letter. So once again the author stops to reinforce one of his main points: Christ is the mediator of a new and better covenant enacted on new and better promises.

A Better Altar and Its Better Sacrifice

In verse 10 the writer compares the new covenant altar—the cross of Christ—with the old covenant altar. He points back to the tabernacle rather than to the temple, as he often does, to inform his readers that those who serve at the old altar have no right to eat at the new one. But believers do have a right to eat at this new and better altar, for they enjoy fellowship with God through the blood of Jesus Christ. Once again, the writer is demonstrating that Jesus is indeed a far better high priest, for his food and altar surpasses the food and altar of the old covenant.

The author then brings up the bodies of the animals that were sacrificed under the old covenant. Although we don’t often think about what became of those carcasses, we know from Scripture that they were taken outside of the city and burned. It would have defiled the city if they’d been burned within its walls.

Like these old covenant sacrifices, “Jesus also suffered outside the gate.” This parallel is most explicitly seen in John 19:17-20, as Jesus carries his cross to Golgotha, which was outside the gates of Jerusalem. We also know from the Gospels that he was buried outside the gates. This is truly an amazing correlation. But what makes Jesus’s suffering outside the gates far superior to that of the Old Testament animals is what his suffering accomplishes: Jesus suffers outside the gates “so that he might sanctify the people by his own blood.” His blood actually makes believers holy. This astonishing reality once again reveals that the old covenant sin offerings pointed to the better new covenant offering of Jesus Christ’s blood.

Enduring for an Eschatological City

This reality also leads the author to draw implications for his people in verse 13. Since Jesus suffered outside the camp, his people must identify with him there. Following Jesus means joining him outside the camp. The writer’s people were tempted to find their identity in Judaism and the old covenant. Instead of “bearing his disgrace” for the sake of Christ, they were looking for safety and security in something other than Jesus. Thus, the author is telling us that we must go outside the camp—even if it means we must suffer—in order to shine forth as his disciples.

Verse 14 tells us why and how Christians can suffer for the sake of Christ: because we anticipate an everlasting city. Our hope is not in the fading city of man, it’s in the enduring city of God. We wait for an eschatological city, the heavenly Jerusalem. And it’s this city for which we can endure persecution outside the camp with Jesus.

Reflect and Discuss

1. Do some of the verses in this last chapter of Hebrews seem disjointed to you? How does understanding the epistolary (letter-like) nature of the book help you understand any seemingly random instructions?
2. Hebrews 13:7 calls Christians to “remember” their leaders. What does that look like practically? How might we apply this command today? What other instructions in this passage help us to apply the command to remember?
3. Who are some of the Hebrews 13:7 leaders in your life? How have they set an example for you in their faith and in their conduct? How are you conducting your own life so that others can learn from you?
4. What does it mean that Christ is unchanging? How does his unchanging nature relate to our relationship with him? How does this encourage you to go outside the camp with Jesus, even if that means suffering for his sake?
5. How is the statement about Jesus in verse 8 related to the commands given in verses 7 and 9? What implications does verse 8 have for us as we consider some supposed “Christian” leaders today and the content of their teaching?
6. With what various strange teachings does culture confront you? Do you ever feel tempted to entertain these teachings at all? Why or why not? How do these teachings differ from the one true and unchanging faith and message of Jesus?
7. What is the author of Hebrews trying to communicate when he encourages his readers not to be strengthened by foods? In what “external laws” are you tempted to find your own justification? What does grace have to do with establishing the heart?
8. How do verses 10-14 reiterate the main theme of the letter? Why don’t those who serve at the old altar have any right to eat at the new altar? What does this say about the old covenant now that the new covenant has come?
9. What does it mean for something to go outside the gate? How did old covenant sacrifices suffer outside the gate? How does this point to Jesus? What does it mean for us to go outside the camp with Jesus? What role does going outside the camp with Jesus play in our discipleship and Christian witness?
10. What do you often finding yourself looking to for safety and security in rather than bearing disgrace for Christ? What relationship does the coming city of God have to our suffering? How does the reality of an everlasting city motivate you to endure in the faith?