Jun. 03, 2026

Dear Friends,

I hope you can join us tonight for Bible study as we study Hebrews 13:5-17. Notes are attached. 

LIVING THE CHRISTLIFE

WAYNE BARRETT

JUNE 3, 2026

Hebrews 13:5-17

5 Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will

never leave you nor forsake you.” 6 So we can confidently say,

“The Lord is my helper;

I will not fear;

what can man do to me?”

7 Remember your leaders, those who spoke to you the word of God. Consider the outcome of their way

of life, and imitate their faith.

8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. 9 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. 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 holy places 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 to him outside the camp and bear the

reproach he endured. 14 For here we have no lasting city, but we seek the city that 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 those who will

have to give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be of no

advantage to you.

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v 5 – “Keep your life free …”

“love of money” – aphilargyros—not + loving friend + of silver

“But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content. But those who desire to be rich

fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people

into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through

this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many

pangs.”—1 Timothy 6:10

“For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their

parents, ungrateful, unholy …”—2 Timothy 3:2

In a consumer-oriented, materialistic culture, this can be an especially challenging principle to

follow, but we are not excused from following it.

The first century culture was one of considerable privation—and yet, the love of money is still

warned against and condemned.

We are content, not because we are apathetic, but because we trust in God.

“No man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life. Just as I was with Moses, so I

will be with you. I will not leave you or forsake you.”—Joshua 1:5

v 6 – “So we can confidently say …”

more lit. “thus therefore being bold we do say”

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“The LORD is on my side; I will not fear. What can man do to me?”—Psalm 118:6

v 7 – “Remember your leaders …”

Remember does not imply that they had forgotten; it means bring to mind.

more lit. “Remember those leading you, of whom, considering the outcome of their conduct,

imitate the faith.”

This is not unusual in the first century for the apostles to say. The Apostle Paul, for example,

often puts forward himself and his team as examples to be followed.

The writer does not simply say Imitate the faith of your leaders. He says, considering the

outcome of their conduct [behavior], imitate their faith. It was not just because they were

leaders that they were models, but because their godly living was exemplary.

v 8 – “Jesus Christ is the same …”

more lit. “Jesus Christ yesterday, and today—the same [autos], and to the ages”

“yesterday” meaning in the past, the way we might say “those are yesterday’s ideas”, “today”

meaning at the present time, and “to the ages” meaning to eternity

“the same” can also be read “himself”

He is eternal. He does not change. Nor does the Gospel—which is the good news of the

(unchanging) Jesus Christ.

v 9 – “Do not be led away …”

more lit. “carried away”

even then, there were “diverse and strange teachings” that led people away from the Lord and the

true faith. Especially now, after 2,000 years of Christian life and teaching, we should take a

very dim view of anything “new.” Jesus does not change. The Gospel does not change. The

Bible does not change (although the meanings of words do!). New circumstances and

discoveries may call for new understandings about how those things relate to Christ and his

word and living unto him. But God’s revelation is complete in Christ.

“strengthened by grace”—an instructive comparison to false teaching, because “grace” is not a

teaching, it is the nature of the experience of our life in Christ. The particular damage of

these false teachings is that they lead a person away from this grace relationship—one which

certainly includes, but is not limited to, correct teaching.

In contrast with the apostles, the people promoting the diverse and strange teachings did not

benefit from their own teachings or have lives that any Christian would want to imitate.

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vv 10-15 – “We have an altar …”

This is a wonderful, powerful teaching of encouragement for all Jews who had embraced Jesus

as the Christ, and the new covenant as fulfilling and replacing the old—the major theme of

this book.

They had been put out of the synagogues and the Jewish community in general

This also meant that visiting and offering sacrifices at the Temple and participating in the annual

feasts was no longer a part of their lives—what had been at the very center of their religious

and social experience and belief

Related to this, it meant that Jerusalem could no longer claim the same place in their hearts and

belief. Jerusalem—over whom Jesus wept, where Jesus was rejected and crucified. The city

that rejected the Son of David, the Christ and King.

These things had been given up –but not given up in a loss, but in a gain of something

incomparably better—Jesus, the Christ.

v 10 – “We have an altar …”

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Even though we no longer have the altar of the temple, we have a better one. We have one that

even those who “serve the tent” have no right to eat.

(The priests, who were the only ones who could actually offer the sacrifices, also ate a

portion of the sacrifices.)

v 11 – “For the bodies of those animals …”

Bodies of the (many) animals whose blood was offered for sin (less any portions that may have

been taken by the priests) were taken out and burned—initially outside the camp of the

Israelites, later, outside the walls, i.e. the gates, of the temple.

This place—“outside the gates”—signified being excluded from the community and having no

worth. It was a stinking, smoking, “garbage dump” kind of place

v 12 – “So Jesus also suffered …”

This magnificent metaphor!

Jesus died for us and for the world “outside the gates.” Outside the gates of the very city and

system that had rejected him and had him killed.

v 13 – “Therefore let us go to him …”

Jesus has transformed the despised, excluded place, “outside the camp,” to a place of worship—

because that is where he died on a cross for us!

We will also “bear the reproach he endured”

In the first century (even now), the reproach from having left the Jewish beliefs and

practices and being rejected and shunned by that community

With any number of applications ever since

v 14 – “For here we have no lasting city …”

In this context, speaking specifically of Jerusalem –and it may be hard for us to appreciate the

weight of this statement to this audience at that time

The present Jerusalem as been replaced as the center of worship and affection. It is not the

lasting city.

But we now seek the “city that is to come”—the new Jerusalem, where “its temple is the Lord

God the Almighty and the Lamb” (Revelation 21:22).

The verse, two, with powerful application at the time, continues to have defining and powerful

application for all Christians.

v 15-16 – “Through him then …”

The “him” is Jesus, who “suffered outside the gate in order to sanctify the people through his

own blood.”

Acceptable worship has been redefined, fulfilled in Christ, worship in Spirit and in truth.

In the Greek, these verses (significantly) make one statement. More lit.:

“Through him, then, we should offer the sacrifice of praise through everything to God, that is,

the fruit of lips confessing his name, and moreover, of doing good and of sharing [koinónia]

not be forgetful; for indeed with such sacrifices God is well pleased.”

v 17 – “Obey your leaders and submit to them …”

“obey” – peithó, the root of this word is pistis—faith. It is more like when we say “to believe in

your leadership,” to trust your leaders and be persuaded by them. In the NASB, it is

rendered: persuaded, convinced, persuade, confident, obey, followed, have confidence.

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“submit” – hupeikó, to yield, to give way. This is the only time this word is used in the New

Testament. (There is another Greek word, hupotassó, meaning to be subject to or to submit to

within a more formal sense of authority, and this is the word appearing 41 times in the New

Testament.) This word, hupeikó, means more to let leaders lead, work with them, give them

the benefit of the doubt, yield yourself cooperatively with their leadership

“your leaders”—lit. “those leading you.” Even in this way, rather than pointing only to a

particular office, this has a more general application that only, say, to apostles or to elders.

“keeping watch … as those who will have to give an account” –

A sober recognition to those who teach and lead

“Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach

will be judged with greater strictness.”—James 3:1

“with joy and not with groaning” – what a contrast!

more lit. “for this [is] unprofitable for you” – indeed

When approved leadership cannot lead—or can do so only with “groaning,” the church

does not profit, even those causing the “groaning”!