Hebrews 13:1-14 NKJV
13 Let brotherly love continue. 2 Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some have unwittingly entertained angels. 3 Remember the prisoners as if chained with them—those who are mistreated—since you yourselves are in the body also.
4 Marriage is honorable among all, and the bed undefiled; but fornicators and adulterers God will judge.
5 Let your conduct be without covetousness; be content with such things as you have. For He Himself has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” 6 So we may boldly say:
“The Lord is my helper;
I will not fear.
What can man do to me?”
7 Remember those who rule over you, who have spoken the word of God to you, whose faith follow, considering the outcome of their conduct. 8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. 9 Do not be carried about with various and strange doctrines. For it is good that the heart be established by grace, not with foods which have not profited those who have been occupied with them.
10 We have an altar from which those who serve the tabernacle have no right to eat. 11 For the bodies of those animals, whose blood is brought into the sanctuary by the high priest for sin, are burned outside the camp. 12 Therefore Jesus also, that He might sanctify the people with His own blood, suffered outside the gate. 13 Therefore let us go forth to Him, outside the camp, bearing His reproach. 14 For here we have no continuing city, but we seek the one to come.
The author reminds us to continue in brotherly love. Brotherly love includes entertaining strangers and ministering to those of the body of Christ who have been imprisoned for the faith. Brotherly love includes honoring marriage by being content with one’s spouse—and if unmarried, content with God’s will—to not fall to the temptations of fornication and adultery. Brotherly love includes love for those who rule in the church—pastors—who speak God’s word to the congregation.
This love can only flow from a heart that is established by grace, not strange (false) doctrines or “with foods which have not profited those who have been occupied with them” (9). By this, the author means the Jewish sacrifices which were pictures of Christ. Christians do not eat from the Jewish altar that looked forward to Christ. Christians are nourished by the Christ who fulfilled the Old Testament sacrifices, especially the sacrifice on the Day of Atonement. The author alludes to this specific sin offering in verses 10-11, since the sin offering was not eaten, but taken outside the camp and burned (Lev 16:27), foreshadowing how Jesus would die outside the city of Jerusalem to make atonement for all people with His blood. Receiving Christ’s sacrifice by faith alone nourishes us for the life of brotherly love in this world.
It also reminds us that as Jesus died “outside the camp”, so we are follow Him outside the camp, that is, live in this world as strangers and pilgrims. We bear reproach as Christ did, enduring the hatred of the world as Christ endured it on His way to the cross. We bear Christ’s reproach because “here we have no continuing city, but we seek the one to come” (14). Because we look forward to the eternal blessedness of the new heavens and earth where righteousness dwells, we gladly endure all things in this life, saying, “The LORD is my helper; I will not fear. What can man do to me?” (6).
Let us pray: Nourish us, O Lord, with Your atoning sacrifice made outside the camp, so that we may live in brotherly love and follow You outside the camp of this world’s pleasures to our continuing city of everlasting life. Amen.