“So do not be attracted by strange, new ideas. Your strength comes from God’s grace, not from rules about food, which don’t help those who follow them. We have an altar from which the priests in the Tabernacle have no right to eat. Under the old system, the high priest brought the blood of animals into the Holy Place as a sacrifice for sin, and the bodies of the animals were burned outside the camp. So also Jesus suffered and died outside the city gates to make his people holy by means of his own blood. So let us go out to him, outside the camp, and bear the disgrace he bore. For this world is not our permanent home; we are looking forward to a home yet to come. Therefore, let us offer through Jesus a continual sacrifice of praise to God, proclaiming our allegiance to his name. And don’t forget to do good and to share with those in need. These are the sacrifices that please God. Obey your spiritual leaders, and do what they say. Their work is to watch over your souls, and they are accountable to God. Give them reason to do this with joy and not with sorrow. That would certainly not be for your benefit. Pray for us, for our conscience is clear and we want to live honorably in everything we do. And especially pray that I will be able to come back to you soon. Now may the God of peace— who brought up from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great Shepherd of the sheep, and ratified an eternal covenant with his blood— may he equip you with all you need for doing his will. May he produce in you, through the power of Jesus Christ, every good thing that is pleasing to him. All glory to him forever and ever! Amen. I urge you, dear brothers and sisters, to pay attention to what I have written in this brief exhortation. I want you to know that our brother Timothy has been released from jail. If he comes here soon, I will bring him with me to see you. Greet all your leaders and all the believers there. The believers from Italy send you their greetings. May God’s grace be with you all.”
Hebrews 13:9-25 NLT
The author of Hebrews makes two remarkable claims in light of the context of the ancient world. First, it is that our strength comes from grace. Secondly, this is not a new idea, but that every other idea is a new idea, and we are not to be taken captive by them. Certainly, the idea that our strength comes from ourselves is a more familiar idea. It is, both embedded in the messaging of our culture and the meshed in our sinful nature. Yet, through the author’s skillful guidance, we can see that faith based salvation was always the original plan. Relationship with God by faith predates the sacrificial law. In fact, it is the basis for it. To this end, a Christian who lives by sacrifice is in a strange place of weakness. In the one vain, he hasn’t taken his faith far enough. In another vain, he has yet to be spiritually mature enough to stop trying. Faith in Christ is strength because it removes the weakness of men from trying to control the situations they are in. It is a quandary because its source is older and transcendent to our sin nature, but also a point of maturity for those impeded by their sin nature. It is the lifeline we have forgotten was always in our hands, waiting to be used. Christ sacrificed to open our eyes.
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