Final Instructions

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.