What is the exact meaning of Hebrews 13:8??? in context

1. Introduce destructive heresies
2. Deny the atoning work of Jesus Christ on the Cross which will cost them their salvation
3. The truth of the Gospel will be ridiculed because of their sinfulness
4. They will exploit the faithful with lies in order to satisfy their greed
5. They revile the holy things they do not understand
6. They promote sinful behaviour as natural, healthy behaviour
7. They seduce unstable or unlearned people
8. Their hearts are full of greed
9. Their promises are empty like waterless springs
10. They promise freedom but they are slaves of corruption

Daniel Marsh said:

Hebrews 13:5-19 Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (RSVCE)
5 Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have; for he has said, “I will never fail you nor forsake you.” 6 Hence we can confidently say,

“The Lord is my helper,
I will not be afraid;
what can man do to me?”

7 Remember your leaders, those who spoke to you the word of God; consider the outcome of their life, and imitate their faith. 8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and for ever. 9 Do not be led away by diverse and strange teachings; for it is well that the heart be strengthened by grace, not by foods, which have not benefited their adherents. 10 We have an altar from which those who serve the tent have no right to eat. 11 For the bodies of those animals whose blood is brought into the sanctuary by the high priest as a sacrifice for sin are burned outside the camp. 12 So Jesus also suffered outside the gate in order to sanctify the people through his own blood. 13 Therefore let us go forth to him outside the camp, bearing abuse for him.14 For here we have no lasting city, but we seek the city which is to come. 15 Through him then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name. 16 Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God.

17 Obey your leaders and submit to them; for they are keeping watch over your souls, as men who will have to give account. Let them do this joyfully, and not sadly, for that would be of no advantage to you.

18 Pray for us, for we are sure that we have a clear conscience, desiring to act honorably in all things. 19 I urge you the more earnestly to do this in order that I may be restored to you the sooner.

What exactly does verse 8 mean in context?

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Daniel Marsh said:

Hebrews 13:5-19 Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (RSVCE)
5 Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have; for he has said, “I will never fail you nor forsake you.” 6 Hence we can confidently say,

“The Lord is my helper,
I will not be afraid;
what can man do to me?”

7 Remember your leaders, those who spoke to you the word of God; consider the outcome of their life, and imitate their faith. 8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and for ever. 9 Do not be led away by diverse and strange teachings; for it is well that the heart be strengthened by grace, not by foods, which have not benefited their adherents. 10 We have an altar from which those who serve the tent have no right to eat. 11 For the bodies of those animals whose blood is brought into the sanctuary by the high priest as a sacrifice for sin are burned outside the camp. 12 So Jesus also suffered outside the gate in order to sanctify the people through his own blood. 13 Therefore let us go forth to him outside the camp, bearing abuse for him.14 For here we have no lasting city, but we seek the city which is to come. 15 Through him then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name. 16 Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God.

17 Obey your leaders and submit to them; for they are keeping watch over your souls, as men who will have to give account. Let them do this joyfully, and not sadly, for that would be of no advantage to you.

18 Pray for us, for we are sure that we have a clear conscience, desiring to act honorably in all things. 19 I urge you the more earnestly to do this in order that I may be restored to you the sooner.

What exactly does verse 8 mean in context?

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notreligus said:

The Book of Hebrews is an admonishment to the Jews who were having a problem with moving beyond the Mosaic Law and coming under the authority of Christ and the New Covenant. Jesus Christ was revealed in the Pentateuch. Let's look at John Chapter Five:

Joh 5:36 But the testimony that I have is greater than that of John. For the works that the Father has given me to accomplish, the very works that I am doing, bear witness about me that the Father has sent me.
Joh 5:37 And the Father who sent me has himself borne witness about me. His voice you have never heard, his form you have never seen,
Joh 5:38 and you do not have his word abiding in you, for you do not believe the one whom he has sent.
Joh 5:39 You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me,
Joh 5:40 yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life.
Joh 5:41 I do not receive glory from people.
Joh 5:42 But I know that you do not have the love of God within you.
Joh 5:43 I have come in my Father's name, and you do not receive me. If another comes in his own name, you will receive him.
Joh 5:44 How can you believe, when you receive glory from one another and do not seek the glory that comes from the only God?
Joh 5:45 Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father. There is one who accuses you: Moses, on whom you have set your hope.
Joh 5:46 For if you believed Moses, you would believe me; for he wrote of me.
Joh 5:47 But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe my words?"

Jesus is telling the Jews that they should know who He is! Yet they are blind to the truth. The words of Moses have condemned them because Moses revealed Christ to them but they chose to ignore Him.

Who is revealed in this passage?

Gen 3:21 And the LORD God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins and clothed them.

The Son is revealed here. He will come to the Earth in the future and His sacrifice will be a permanent sin covering.

Who is revealed in this passage?

Isa 53:1 Who has believed what he has heard from us? And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?
Isa 53:2 For he grew up before him like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground; he had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him.
Isa 53:3 He was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
Isa 53:4 Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted.
Isa 53:5 But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed.
Isa 53:6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
Isa 53:7 He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth.
Isa 53:8 By oppression and judgment he was taken away; and as for his generation, who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people?
Isa 53:9 And they made his grave with the wicked and with a rich man in his death, although he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth.
Isa 53:10 Yet it was the will of the LORD to crush him; he has put him to grief; when his soul makes an offering for guilt, he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days; the will of the LORD shall prosper in his hand.
Isa 53:11 Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied; by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities.
Isa 53:12 Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong, because he poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many, and makes intercession for the transgressors.

Most of the Jews rejected what was said about the Christ in the Law and by the prophets. Today there are Jews who still believe that this Isaiah passage is not about the Messiah but about the nation, Israel

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Daniel Marsh said:

Does God change in nature?

Does God always work the same way at all times?

If God does always work the same, then would be denying that he came in the flesh?

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Daniel Marsh said:

Does God change in nature?

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Does God always work the same way at all times?

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If God does always work the same, then would be denying that he came in the flesh?

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Hieronymus said:

No.Probably not.
This is of course the mystery regarding the Word becoming flesh, dying, being resurrected in the flesh and taken up to Heaven in the (resurrected) flesh, where He is now, on the right hand of the Father.
He will return, apparently 'as He was slain' (correct me if i'm wrong) which is in the flesh.
So it would seem that the Word has permanently 'changed' into a flesh human.
But then how can God have remained the same?
I have no answer, other than that God 'intruded' our space time reality coming from God's eternal reality, in which there may be no time, or where there are more dimensions than in our space-time reality.
So we can not fathom how this works 'technically' i.m.o.

I'm lacking Bible knowledge here though (shame on me..), but isn't it written that Jesus will eventually be 'one of us humans' (albeit in Heaven and 'as angels' rather than flesh).
That would imply God, YHWH Elohim (the singular plurality we call "Trinity") truly gave his Son.
Sorry, i'm really not sure about this... thinking out loud on this one..

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Daniel Marsh said:

I know that Jesus as God came in the flesh Phil 2.

I often hear Hebrews 13:8 quoted as if God does not change how he interacts will people in different times.

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notreligus said:

This is what you are referring to:

1Corinthians 15:28 When all things are subjected to him, then the Son himself will also be subjected to him who put all things in subjection under him, that God may be all in all. ESV

1Corinthians 15:28 When everything and everyone is finally under God's rule, the Son will step down, taking his place with everyone else, showing that God's rule is absolutely comprehensive - a perfect ending! The Message Bible

This very passage is why I refuse to accept The Message Bible as having any credibility.

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Jesus is not merely a man or a created being as that translation/paraphrase implies. I believe that Jesus pre-existed but some are hung up on His not being known as Jesus until He was revealed in a human body. Jesus was/is the only and unique Son of God. You may have heard others say, "Jesus was 100% God and 100% human." That is true.

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notreligus said:

This is what you are referring to:

1Corinthians 15:28 When all things are subjected to him, then the Son himself will also be subjected to him who put all things in subjection under him, that God may be all in all. ESV

1Corinthians 15:28 When everything and everyone is finally under God's rule, the Son will step down, taking his place with everyone else, showing that God's rule is absolutely comprehensive - a perfect ending! The Message Bible

This very passage is why I refuse to accept The Message Bible as having any credibility. Jesus is not merely a man or a created being as that translation/paraphrase implies. I believe that Jesus pre-existed but some are hung up on His not being known as Jesus until He was revealed in a human body. Jesus was/is the only and unique Son of God. You may have heard others say, "Jesus was 100% God and 100% human." That is true.

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oOKnights TemplarOo said:

Hebrews 13:8: Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever, if their leaders have indeed suffered death for faith in Jesus Christ?

The declaration of Jesus' constancy in the eternal "now" of past, present, and future is introduced by mentioning "God's word" and their leader's "faith": Remember your leaders who spoke the word of God to you. Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith. The martyrdom of their leaders has continuing value, not just temporary value in the witness to faith in the moment of their deaths. Jesus Christ is eternal, their leaders may have left this material and temporal world but because Christ is eternal they also have the promise of eternity. The words and acts which should be imitated continue beyond their earthly lives.

The faithfulness and endurance of Christian leaders who spoke the words of God is contrasted with false teachers and "strange teaching." Peter's warning concerning those Christians who develop their own heretical doctrines and distort the truth of the Gospel of salvation in 2 Peter 2:1-21

These false teachers will:

1. Introduce destructive heresies
2. Deny the atoning work of Jesus Christ on the Cross which will cost them their salvation
3. The truth of the Gospel will be ridiculed because of their sinfulness
4. They will exploit the faithful with lies in order to satisfy their greed
5. They revile the holy things they do not understand
6. They promote sinful behaviour as natural, healthy behaviour
7. They seduce unstable or unlearned people
8. Their hearts are full of greed
9. Their promises are empty like waterless springs
10. They promise freedom but they are slaves of corruption

If God didn't spare the fallen angels, or those who perished in the time of Noah, or the sinful cities of Sodom and Gomorrah why would He spare those who lead people away from the gift of salvation?
It would have been better had these false teachers never known the Gospel of salvation with all its obligations than to have apostatized from the true faith, their judgment will be harsher because they knew the truth and rejected it and unless they repent and return to the true Church, there is no salvation for them only judgment.

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