Compare Hebrews 13:10-14, Mark 8:34, Matthew 10:38, Luke 14:27, and Galatians 2:20. What does it mean to go to Jesus outside the camp?

The place outside the gate was the most impure of the whole camp. The carcasses of the sacrificial animals were burned there (Leviticus 4:12). Lepers were also excluded from the camp (Leviticus 13:46) and blasphemers and other criminals were executed there (Leviticus 24:10-16, Leviticus 24:23; 1 Kings 21:13; Acts 7:58). These regulations presupposed that the presence of God was within the camp. Anything that was impure was cast outside because God was unwilling to see any “unclean” or “indecent” thing in it (Numbers 5:3, Deuteronomy 23:14).

Image © Rolf Jansson from GoodSalt.com

Jesus suffered on the cross outside Jerusalem (John 19:17-20). This emphasizes the shame that was cast upon Him (Hebrews 12:2). He was officially condemned as one who had “blasphemed the Name” and, therefore, was repudiated by Israel and executed outside the wall (Mark 14:63-64; see Leviticus 24:11, Leviticus 24:16). Jesus was cast outside the camp as a “shameful,” “unclean,” or “indecent” thing (Hebrews 12:2). Paul, however, exhorts believers to follow Jesus outside the gate, enduring the shame that He endured (Hebrews 12:2; see Hebrews 13:13). This was also the path Moses followed, who chose to bear “the reproach of Christ” instead of the treasures of Egypt (Hebrews 11:26).

Paradoxically, however, Hebrews suggests that God’s presence is now outside the camp. The action of following Jesus outside the camp means not only “bearing His reproach,” or shame, but also going “forth to Him” (Hebrews 13:13, NKJV) just as those Israelites who “sought the Lord” went “outside the camp” in the desert when Moses removed God’s tent from the camp after the golden calf controversy (Exodus 33:7. NKJV). This account suggests that the rejection of Jesus by unbelievers also implied the rejection of God, as Israel did in the golden calf apostasy (Exodus chapters 32, 33). Thus, the path of suffering and shame is also the path to God.

Paul invites readers to follow Jesus as “the author and finisher” of their faith (Hebrews 12:2), implicitly inviting them also to consider their present sufferings a momentary discipline that will yield “the peaceable fruit of righteousness” (Hebrews 12:11). They are leaving behind a corrupted city or camp in search of “the city that is to come” whose architect is God (Hebrews 13:14, ESV; Hebrews 11:10, Hebrews 11:16).

<–Wednesday Friday–>

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Compare Hebrews 13:9; Hebrews 2:9; Hebrews 4:16; and Hebrews 6:19-20. Where is grace obtained? How are our hearts strengthened?

The relationship between false teachings and foods, touched on in Hebrews 13:9, probably does not refer to the distinction between clean and unclean foods.

Why?

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First, Paul does not seem concerned in the epistle with the distinction between clean and unclean foods. We know from Acts chapter 15 that the early Christian church affirmed both that believers are saved by grace (Acts 15:7-11) and that they should continue to observe some food regulations (Acts 15:19-20). The distinction between clean and unclean foods and other biblical regulations are not opposed to grace. In fact, Paul argues that the new covenant has put the law in the heart (Hebrews 8:10-12). What the author makes very clear, however, is that animal sacrifices and the Levitical priestly mediation in the sanctuary have been superseded by the superior sacrifice and priestly mediation of Jesus (Hebrews 8:4-5; Hebrews 10:1-18).

Second, the context suggests that Paul is criticizing the audience not for abstaining from certain foods but for partaking of them with the hope of somehow obtaining grace or merit (Hebrews 13:9). He is probably warning against participating in Jewish ritual or cultic meals that were celebrated as an extension of the animal sacrifices in the temple and which were supposed to provide spiritual benefits, or grace. But grace is not mediated through these meals; grace comes only through the sacrifice and priestly mediation of Jesus Christ. Believers “have an altar” (Hebrews 13:10), the cross of Christ, from which they can eat (John 6:47-58).

In Hebrews, “grace” comes from the throne of God (Hebrews 4:16). This grace, mediated through Christ, is an “anchor,” “sure and steadfast,” that is fastened to God’s throne itself (Hebrews 6:19-20; compare with Hebrews 4:16). It is this grace that we receive through the sacrifice of Christ, which provides stability and assurance to our hearts. When the heart has been “established” in this way, it will not be “carried about” by new doctrines (Hebrews 13:9), nor will it “drift away” from God (Hebrews 2:1, NKJV).

<–Tuesday Thursday–>

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