If you are to go on a wilderness journey, you will need more than a guide or a map and compass. You will need the realization that you are entering into a hazardous world. There are many dangers to be aware of. In the Christian life, teachers are one such danger.
Our author has just expressed how his readers were to regard their former teachers: “Remember your leaders, those who spoke to you the word of God. Consider the outcome of their way of life, and imitate their faith” (Heb. 13:7). Those teachers, however, would not always be around, only Jesus remains the same (Heb. 13:8).
The New Testament era, just like ours, was rife with all kinds of heresies infecting the church. Paul warns the Ephesian elders about this in Acts 20:29, “I know that after my departure fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock…” We are “he sheep of his pasture” (Psalm 100:3) and need shepherds to guide us. As sheep, we are vulnerable to many dangers. False teachers are like wolves that come in and drag off the sheep into the forest never to be seen again, so our author says, “Do not be led away by diverse and strange teachings, for it is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace, not by foods, which have not benefited those devoted to them” (Heb. 13:9).
The church is always at risk of being “led away” (or “washed away,” as in a river current; cf. Eph. 4:15) by “diverse and strange teachings.” During the apostolic age, some denied Christ’s incarnation (1 John 4:1-3), while others emphasized ascetic self-denial and mystical visions (Col. 2:8, 16-23).
These false teachers not only exist outside the church, but in our very midst as well. Paul warned the elders at Ephesus, “from among your own selves will arise men speaking twisted things, to draw away the disciples after them” (Acts 20:30). The elders, therefore, were to “Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood” (Acts 20:38). False teachers are not only out there; they are also in here. And today, with our access to podcasts and YouTube false teaching can easily enter our inboxes and our homes.
While in the Philippines this past week one of the places we visited was Faith Academy. In their fine arts center the letter “F” on the word “Faith” had broken off and they joked, tongue-in-cheek, about deconstructed faith. Unfortunately that is not a laughing matter, as progressive Christianity has infiltrated many Christian churches.
Michael Kruger (https://rts.edu/resources/what-is-progressive-christianity/) identifies these problems with progressive Christianity: (1) a low view of Christ, emphasizing only that He is a moral example for us to follow; (2) a low view of salvation, focusing on moralism (good works) and being a good person rather than confessing that we are sinners in need of a Savior; (3) downplays our fallenness and sin altogether. Also, they argue that Christ’s death on the cross as a satisfaction of God’s wrath against our sin is “cosmic sadism” and they argue against the reality of hell.
The church throughout the centuries has faced many heresies and today battles liberalism, secularism and postmodernism. These seek to “lead us away” from our purity of devotion to Christ. That is why our author firmly commands us “Do not be led away.”
We do not know exactly what this false teaching was for the Hebrew church. We do know that it was (1) diverse, (2) strange, (3) involved more than one kind of teaching (note the plural), and (4) involved foods and eating. Thus, it was some strange teaching that combined esoteric eating practices with their Christian faith, designed either to make them into Christians or become better Christians.
The ESV Study Bible explains: “The central concern appears to be doctrines about foods (9:10; Rom. 14:17; Col. 2:16-17; 1 Tim. 4:3; cf. 1 Cor. 8:13). The author argues against such doctrines by: (1) juxtaposing them with grace (which truly nourishes the heart); (2) noting that special foods are of no spiritual benefit (cf. 1 Cor. 8:8); and (3) observing that the Christian altar is better than the food of the tabernacle. This may indicate that some Jewish notions (perhaps in a syncretistic mix) are being combated. Unlike most OT offerings, the tabernacle priests could not eat the sin offering from the Day of Atonement, since it was burned outside the camp (Lev. 16:27). However, all Christians partake of the Christian altar (i.e., Jesus’ sacrifice). Some see a reference to the Lord’s Supper here, while others view this as a broader reference to the saving results of the shedding of Jesus’ blood.
One way to recognize false teaching is simply by understanding that it is “strange” (ξέναις). In other words, it lies outside the familiar teachings that had been passed down to them from the apostles (Heb. 2:3-4). Whenever someone comes up with a completely novel interpretation of Scripture that “no one else has ever discovered,” we should treat it like the Bereans did when exposed to Paul’s teaching. Even though Paul was an entrusted apostle, they still kept “examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so” (Acts 17:11b). This reminds us that the way to be able to spot false teachings is to so immerse ourselves in truth so that errors are easily spotted.
Haddon Robinson illustrates this truth in his book Biblical Preaching: “A Chinese boy who wanted to learn about jade went to study with a talented old teacher. This gentle man put a piece of the precious stone into his hand and told him to hold it tight. Then he began to talk of philosophy, men, women, the sun and almost everything under it. After an hour he took back the stone and sent the boy home. The procedure was repeated for several weeks. The boy became frustrated. When would he be told about the jade? He was too polite, however, to question the wisdom of his venerable teacher. Then one day, when the old man put a stone into his hands, the boy cried out instinctively, ‘That’s not jade!'”
A teaching that is “old” might be less appealing than something that is new and shiny. The fundamental reason that we should be wary of “strange” teachings is because Jesus himself never changes. He is “the same yesterday today and forever” (v. 8). If Jesus is the same and doesn’t change, then we should never embrace radical new teachings about Him that lie in opposition to what the Bible, and historical interpretation, teaches.
What the author likely has in view here in this strange teaching about foods is what the whole book has been about from the beginning, which is that certain teachers wanted these Jewish people who had been exposed to Christianity to now go back to the old ways of Judaism, including its laws about food. Is God pleased with you when you eat unclean foods? These teachers were warning them that their diet was damning them and that they needed to go back to Judaism and its food laws.
But it is actually and only through Jesus Christ alone that anyone can become clean and acceptable to God. And while we understand (even more so today) that certain foods are more healthy for us to eat than others, whether we eat red meat or are vegetarians, whether we eat salt or sugar, or use substitutes, those are all for our physical health and have nothing to do with our spiritual condition. Paul says the same in 1 Corinthians 8:8: “Food will not commend us to God. We are no worse off [spiritually] if we do not eat, and no better off [spiritually] if we do.”
So we are being warned here in Hebrews 13 not to elevate issues of diet and nutrition and certain kinds of food and drink to a place where we begin to put our hope in them for our spiritual well-being and acceptance with God rather than in the person and work of Jesus Christ.
The reason that these readers were to avoid being led away by these strange teachings is that
“it is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace, not by foods, which have not benefited those devoted to them” (Heb. 13:9). It is possible that the author has in mind “the peace offerings that symbolized communion between the Lord and his people, since the meat of the sacrificed animal was shared by the Lord (blood sprinkled, fat and entrails burned), the priests, and the Israelite worshipers themselves (Lev. 3:1-17; 7:11-16). Such a fellowship meal in the OT sanctuary was rich in symbolism, but, since it conformed to “regulations for the body” (Heb. 9:10) that were temporary and external, it is no longer appropriate for new covenant believers. Now, believers under the New Covenant feed spiritually on Jesus Christ who is our Peace Offering.
It is grace which strengthens the believer’s heart, not subscription to rules and the avoidance of prohibited foods. There is no room now for material sacrifices, animal offerings, sacred meals and hallowed altars. All that is over and gone. Christians have determined to give central importance to one great aspect of their faith: Christ died for them. He was sacrificed for us and shed, not the blood of bulls, but his own blood. Those who stay within the narrow confines of Judaism and serve its tent, or tabernacle, can derive no benefit from the only sacrifice which really matters. (Raymond Brown, The Bible Speaks Today: Hebrews, 257)
Those Old Testament food offerings do not “strengthen” the heart, but rather the grace of God as expressed through the once-for-all, effective offering of Jesus Christ is what strengthens or establishes the heart.
Today, as Paul did long ago, we need to realize that all the food laws and all the sacrificial practices have been fulfilled in Christ (cf. Matt. 15:11; Mk. 7:18-23; Acts 10:15; Col. 2:16-23).
What does now “strengthen” (or “establish”: bebaioō; cf. 2:3; 6:19) the heart is God’s grace, received through faith in Jesus. By God’s grace Jesus tasted death on behalf of every believer (2:9), so that through him we can always draw near to God’s throne of grace to find grace (4:16).
Our author indicates for us how beneficial going to Jesus and His grace will be for us. He says “it is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace.” Because it is “good” it should be something that we want, that we desire and pursue after.
A heart “strengthened” is the opposite of one that is “carried about with every wind of doctrine” (Eph. 4:14) or “led away” (Heb. 13:9). There is no legalism in grace; grace is all that God affords us because of what Christ did, not because of anything that we do. Christ’s efficacy is the basis for God’s grace toward us. Thus, salvation is all of God and not of us. Grace assures the believer of eternal salvation. A person who believes this is “strengthened or established by grace.”
Our author emphasizes that there are not two ways to gain spiritual strengthening and life—through Christ and through foods—when he emphasizes, “not by foods, which have not benefited those devoted to them” (Heb. 13:9).
Instead of going to the temple altar “We have an altar from which those who serve the tent have no right to eat” (Heb. 9:10). The priests used to eat from the altar, eating certain parts of the animal sacrifices. But our author points to a better altar, a heavenly altar, one “from which those who serve the tent (the priests) have no right to eat.” Even those highly privileged in the Old Testament to eat from the earthly altar are forbidden to eat from this altar because on this altar is Jesus Christ and the only way to partake of Him is by grace through faith. Unbelieving Jews “have no right to eat” of (feed on) Christ, who was sacrificed on that cross altar.
“The old system of the tabernacle accomplishes nothing eternal, nothing spiritual, and nothing that can contribute to our salvation or sanctification. It never has in any permanent way. Christians have an altar completely distinct from the system of animal sacrifices at the tabernacle. Here “altar” is used as an image for the perfect sacrifice of Christ on the cross. Those who exchange the full atonement of the cross of Christ for the temporal, ritual cleansing of animal sacrifices thumb their noses at the Messiah” (Charles R. Swindoll, Swindoll’s Living Insights: Hebrews, 221).
“Christians had none of the visible apparatus which in those days was habitually associated with religion and worship–no sacred buildings, no altars, no sacrificing priest. Their pagan neighbors thought they had no God, and called them atheists; their Jewish neighbors, too, might criticize them for having no visible means of spiritual support” (F. F. Bruce, The New International Commentary on the NT: Hebrews, 379). So our author here wants to encourage his readers that true faith in Jesus Christ, though it has so little visible, external support (Heb. 11) it is nonetheless real and powerful and is our real strength.
For the writer, [our] altar is the cross on which Jesus offered himself as a sacrifice to God. And to the Christian the cross is a symbol that represents the completed work of redemption. As the author of Hebrews repeatedly confirms, Christ offered his sacrifice once for all (9:25, 26, 28; 10:9, 12, 14). The clause we have an altar, then, stands for the cross, which symbolizes the redemption Christ offers his people. (William Hendriksen & Simon J. Kistemaker, NT Commentary: Hebrews, 418)
Grace only goes to the humble, who know they do not deserve it and can never earn it so they instead rest in faith, they “dare not trust the sweetest frame, but wholly lean on Jesus’ name. This is the spiritual law behind Proverbs 3:34, which James 4:6 quotes: “‘God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.’” In our weakness, grace strengthens us.
In every one of Paul’s letters he opens by saying, “Grace be unto you.” And he concludes each of his letters with the same statement that we find in Hebrews 13:25 – “Grace be to you.” In other words, as you open God’s Word and read its contents, “grace” comes to you. Grace is the power of God released into your life through the Scriptures and the Holy Spirit. God wants your “heart” is to be “strengthened” by the power of His grace.
So we feed on Christ instead of the animal sacrifices. “We are allowed to feed on the sacrifice offered up for our sins, and not for our sins only, but for the sins of the whole people of God. And we thus have a far higher privilege in reference to sacred food, not merely than the Israelites, but even than the priests themselves enjoyed. Such seems to me the general meaning of the passage” (John Brown, Geneva Series Commentaries: Hebrews, 697-8).
Jesus told us in John 6:51, “ I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”
“God knows that the greatest battle His church faces is purity of doctrine, because that is the basis of everything else. Every bad practice, every bad act, every bad standard of conduct, can be traced [back] to bad belief. The end result of the work of apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers, and of believers becoming unified in the faith and maturing in Christ, is that “we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves, and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming” (Eph 4:14). A church that is not sound in doctrine is unstable and vulnerable” (John MacArthur Jr., The MacArthur NT Commentary: Hebrews, 436-7)
Posted by Melissa Taylor on FaceBook, 12/4/24
This passage is encouraging believers not to be deceived. The sad reality is that we 21st century Christians are even more easily deceived than the ancients, even though we have the completed Scriptures and two thousand years of solid theological and biblical teaching. But we are gullible and naïve, believing everything that internet tells us. We fail to test this against the Word because we know so little of the Bible or sound doctrine.
If you are faltering and your heart needs to be strengthened, don’t put your trust in any laws or principles or rules or ten steps, but reinforce your faith in Jesus Christ. Go to the Scriptures and allow God’s grace to inflame your heart and inform your mind so that your faith grows.
Jesus has fulfilled the sacrificial system of the old covenant. It does no one any good any longer to trust in those blood offerings or to eat the meat of the sacrificial animals. Most of us are not doing that, but we might be trusting in our religious faithfulness, our baptism, our perfect attendance, our spiritual disciplines. Rather, one must now come to the only altar where full forgiveness and salvation may be found: the cross of Jesus Christ. And when you come to that altar, eat all the grace you can get!
Grace Still Amazes 