The Christ Church Wednesday Bible Study Group is doing a study through the New Testament book of Hebrews. The word better is used thirteen times in the book of Hebrews as the writer shows the superiority of Christ and His salvation over the Hebrew system of religion. Jesus Christ and the Christian life He gives us are better because His blessings are eternal and they give us perfect standing before God. This study is not a diet for “spiritual babes” who want to be spoon-fed and coddled. In this letter you will find “strong meat” that demands some chewing and enjoying.
The writer presented great examples of faith in Hebrews 11, and the encouragements to faith in Hebrews 12. In Hebrews 13, he presents the evidence of faith that should appear in our lives if we are really walking by faith and not by sight.
These are the notes to Session 17
Look ahead—the unshakable kingdom
Hebrews 12:25-29 NIV See to it that you do not refuse him who speaks. If they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, how much less will we, if we turn away from him who warns us from heaven? At that time his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, “Once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens.” The words “once more” indicate the removing of what can be shaken—that is, created things—so that what cannot be shaken may remain. Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God with reverence and awe, for our “God is a consuming fire.”
God is speaking to us today through His Word and His workings in the world. If God shook things at Sinai and those who refused to hear were judged, how much more responsible are we today who have experienced the blessings of the new covenant! God today is shaking things. He wants to reveal the unshakable realities that are eternal. Too many people (including Christians) are building their lives on things that can shake.
The “shaking” quotation is from Haggai 2:6
Haggai 2:6 NIV “This is what the Lord Almighty says: ‘In a little while I will once more shake the heavens and the earth, the sea and the dry land.
It refers to that time when the Lord shall return and fill His house with glory. As events draw nearer to that time, we shall see more shaking in this world. But a Christian can be confident, for he shall receive an unshakable kingdom. In fact, he is a part of God’s kingdom today.
What do we do as we live in a shaking world? Listen to God speak and obey Him. Receive grace day by day to serve Him “with reverence and godly fear.” Do not be distracted or frightened by the tremendous changes going on around you. Keep running the race with endurance. Keep looking to Jesus Christ. Remember that your Father loves you. And draw on God’s enabling grace.
While others are being frightened, you can be confident!
Your Faith is Showing
The writer presented great examples of faith in Hebrews 11, and the encouragements to faith in Hebrews 12. In Hebrews 13, he presents the evidence of faith that should appear in our lives if we are really walking by faith and not by sight. The emphasis in this last section of the book is on living by faith. There are four such evidences.
Enjoying Spiritual Fellowship
Hebrews 13:1-6 NIV Keep on loving one another as brothers and sisters. Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it. Continue to remember those in prison as if you were together with them in prison, and those who are mistreated as if you yourselves were suffering. Marriage should be honored by all, and the marriage bed kept pure, for God will judge the adulterer and all the sexually immoral. Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.” So we say with confidence, “The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can mere mortals do to me?”
The basis for this fellowship is brotherly love. As Christians, these Hebrew people no doubt had been rejected by their friends and families. But the deepest kind of fellowship is not based on race or family relationship; it is based on the spiritual life we have in Christ. A church fellowship based on anything other than love for Christ and for one another simply will not last.
Some scriptures on brotherly love;
Romans 12:10 NIV Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves.
1 Thessalonians 4:9-10 NIV Now about your love for one another we do not need to write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love each other. And in fact, you do love all of God’s family throughout Macedonia. Yet we urge you, brothers and sisters, to do so more and more,
1 Peter 1:22 NIV Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for each other, love one another deeply, from the heart.
2 Peter 1:5-7 NIV For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love.
Where there is true Christian love, there will also be hospitality.
Hebrews 13:2 NIV Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it.
This was an important ministry in the early church because persecution drove many believers away from their homes. Also, there were traveling ministers who needed places to stay.
An example of someone showing hospitality to angels and not realizing it, at least until later was Abraham in Genesis 18.
Genesis 18:1-5, 9-10 NIV .The Lord appeared to Abraham near the great trees of Mamre while he was sitting at the entrance to his tent in the heat of the day. Abraham looked up and saw three men standing nearby. When he saw them, he hurried from the entrance of his tent to meet them and bowed low to the ground. He said, “If I have found favor in your eyes, my Lord, do not pass your servant by. Let a little water be brought, and then you may all wash your feet and rest under this tree. Let me get you something to eat, so you can be refreshed and then go on your way—now that you have come to your servant.” “Very well,” they answered, “do as you say.” “Where is your wife Sarah?” they asked him. “There, in the tent,” he said. Then one of them said, “I will surely return to you about this time next year, and Sarah your wife will have a son.” Now Sarah was listening at the entrance to the tent, which was behind him.
You and I may not entertain angels in a literal sense (though it is possible), but any stranger could turn out to be a messenger of blessing to us. (The word angel simply means “messenger.”)
So, we should always be hospitable because we never know it may be a messenger from God and we don’t want to miss out on any blessings because we were not hospitable.
Hebrews 12:25-29 NIV See to it that you do not refuse him who speaks. If they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, how much less will we, if we turn away from him who warns us from heaven? At that time his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, “Once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens.” The words “once more” indicate the removing of what can be shaken—that is, created things—so that what cannot be shaken may remain. Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God with reverence and awe, for our “God is a consuming fire.”
God is speaking to us today through His Word and His workings in the world. If God shook things at Sinai and those who refused to hear were judged, how much more responsible are we today who have experienced the blessings of the new covenant! God today is shaking things. He wants to reveal the unshakable realities that are eternal. Too many people (including Christians) are building their lives on things that can shake.
The “shaking” quotation is from Haggai 2:6
Haggai 2:6 NIV “This is what the Lord Almighty says: ‘In a little while I will once more shake the heavens and the earth, the sea and the dry land.
It refers to that time when the Lord shall return and fill His house with glory. As events draw nearer to that time, we shall see more shaking in this world. But a Christian can be confident, for he shall receive an unshakable kingdom. In fact, he is a part of God’s kingdom today.
What do we do as we live in a shaking world? Listen to God speak and obey Him. Receive grace day by day to serve Him “with reverence and godly fear.” Do not be distracted or frightened by the tremendous changes going on around you. Keep running the race with endurance. Keep looking to Jesus Christ. Remember that your Father loves you. And draw on God’s enabling grace.
While others are being frightened, you can be confident!
Your Faith is Showing
The writer presented great examples of faith in Hebrews 11, and the encouragements to faith in Hebrews 12. In Hebrews 13, he presents the evidence of faith that should appear in our lives if we are really walking by faith and not by sight. The emphasis in this last section of the book is on living by faith. There are four such evidences.
- Enjoying Spiritual Fellowship
- Submitting to Spiritual Leadership
- Sharing in Spiritual Worship
- Experiencing Spiritual Lordship
Enjoying Spiritual Fellowship
Hebrews 13:1-6 NIV Keep on loving one another as brothers and sisters. Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it. Continue to remember those in prison as if you were together with them in prison, and those who are mistreated as if you yourselves were suffering. Marriage should be honored by all, and the marriage bed kept pure, for God will judge the adulterer and all the sexually immoral. Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.” So we say with confidence, “The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can mere mortals do to me?”
The basis for this fellowship is brotherly love. As Christians, these Hebrew people no doubt had been rejected by their friends and families. But the deepest kind of fellowship is not based on race or family relationship; it is based on the spiritual life we have in Christ. A church fellowship based on anything other than love for Christ and for one another simply will not last.
Some scriptures on brotherly love;
Romans 12:10 NIV Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves.
1 Thessalonians 4:9-10 NIV Now about your love for one another we do not need to write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love each other. And in fact, you do love all of God’s family throughout Macedonia. Yet we urge you, brothers and sisters, to do so more and more,
1 Peter 1:22 NIV Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for each other, love one another deeply, from the heart.
2 Peter 1:5-7 NIV For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love.
Where there is true Christian love, there will also be hospitality.
Hebrews 13:2 NIV Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it.
This was an important ministry in the early church because persecution drove many believers away from their homes. Also, there were traveling ministers who needed places to stay.
An example of someone showing hospitality to angels and not realizing it, at least until later was Abraham in Genesis 18.
Genesis 18:1-5, 9-10 NIV .The Lord appeared to Abraham near the great trees of Mamre while he was sitting at the entrance to his tent in the heat of the day. Abraham looked up and saw three men standing nearby. When he saw them, he hurried from the entrance of his tent to meet them and bowed low to the ground. He said, “If I have found favor in your eyes, my Lord, do not pass your servant by. Let a little water be brought, and then you may all wash your feet and rest under this tree. Let me get you something to eat, so you can be refreshed and then go on your way—now that you have come to your servant.” “Very well,” they answered, “do as you say.” “Where is your wife Sarah?” they asked him. “There, in the tent,” he said. Then one of them said, “I will surely return to you about this time next year, and Sarah your wife will have a son.” Now Sarah was listening at the entrance to the tent, which was behind him.
You and I may not entertain angels in a literal sense (though it is possible), but any stranger could turn out to be a messenger of blessing to us. (The word angel simply means “messenger.”)
So, we should always be hospitable because we never know it may be a messenger from God and we don’t want to miss out on any blessings because we were not hospitable.
Love also expresses itself in concern.
Hebrews 13:3 NIV Continue to remember those in prison as if you were together with them in prison, and those who are mistreated as if you yourselves were suffering.
When this letter was written it was not unusual for Christians to be arrested and imprisoned for their faith. To identify with these prisoners might be dangerous, yet Christ’s love demanded a ministry to them. Today there are prison ministries that exhibit that concern for those in jail and prison. To minister to a Christian prisoner or to share the gospel to those prisoners who are not Christian in the name of Christ is to minister to Christ Himself.
Matthew 25:36 NIV I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’
Prison ministry isn’t for everyone but as the scripture says one of the evidences of love is concern for those less fortunate and those in prison are less fortunate because they are not free.
In our free country we are not arrested for our religious beliefs, but in other parts of the world, believers suffer for their faith. We need to pray for them and share with them as the Lord enables us!
The home is really the first place where Christian love should be practiced. The writer in 13:4 talks about marriage here and most of us are not married however the point of loyalty and purity in this verse is important.
Hebrews 13:4 NIV Marriage should be honored by all, and the marriage bed kept pure, for God will judge the adulterer and all the sexually immoral.
And God will judge and or discipline immorality whatever it is. Sometimes in their own bodies.
Romans 1:24-27 NIV Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen. Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural ones. In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed shameful acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their error.
Or at final judgement
Revelation 21:8 NIV But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars—they will be consigned to the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death.”
Revelation 21:8 NIV But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars—they will be consigned to the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death.”
Ephesians 5:5 NIV For this you can be sure: No immoral, impure or greedy person—such a person is an idolater—has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.
2 Corinthians 5:10 NIV For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each of us may receive what is due us for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.
Believers who commit these sins certainly may be forgiven, but they will lose rewards in heaven.
David was forgiven, but he suffered the consequences of his adultery for years to come, and he suffered in the hardest way: through his own children.
Hebrews 13:5-6 NIV Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.” So we say with confidence, “The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can mere mortals do to me?”
If we love God and others as we should, then we will have a right relationship to material things. Contentment cannot come from material things, for they can never satisfy the heart. Only God can do that.
When we have God, we have all that we need. The material things of life can decay or be stolen,
Matthew 6:19-20 NIV “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal.
Because God will never leave us or forsake us. This promise was made to Joshua when he succeeded Moses.
Joshua 1:5, 9 NIV No one will be able to stand against you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you. Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.”
And it is fulfilled to us in Jesus Christ.
Matthew 28:18-20 NIV Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
Hebrews 13:6 NIV So we say with confidence, “The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can mere mortals do to me?”
This is an affirmation of faith that comes from a messianic psalm that was fulfilled in Jesus so we can claim this promise.
Psalms 118:5-7 NIV When hard pressed, I cried to the Lord ; he brought me into a spacious place. The Lord is with me; I will not be afraid. What can mere mortals do to me? The Lord is with me; he is my helper. I look in triumph on my enemies.
It was a source of great peace to the early Christians to know that they were safe from the fear of man, for no man could do anything to them apart from God’s will. Men might take their goods, but God would meet their needs.
The important thing is that we know Jesus Christ as our Lord and Helper, and that we not put our trust in material things. Contented Christians are people with priorities, and material things are not high on their priority lists.
Submitting to Spiritual Leadership
Remember them
Hebrews 13:7-9 NIV Remember your leaders, who spoke the word of God to you. Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. Do not be carried away by all kinds of strange teachings. It is good for our hearts to be strengthened by grace, not by eating ceremonial foods, which is of no benefit to those who do so.
The writer also urges submission to spiritual leadership in
Hebrews 13:17Have confidence in your leaders and submit to their authority, because they keep watch over you as those who must give an account. Do this so that their work will be a joy, not a burden, for that would be of no benefit to you.
We’ll get there later.
The writer encourages his readers and us today to remember and honor those leaders that have gone before us and for us to imitate their faith. Those leaders include the ones we read about in Hebrews 11 and people like Billy Graham and Fred Price and others that have gone to be with the Lord.
Hebrews 13:8 NIV Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.
Their lives pointed to Christ! Church leaders may come and go, but Jesus Christ remains the same, and it is Christ who is the center of our faith.
Hebrews 13:9-10 NIV Do not be carried away by all kinds of strange teachings. It is good for our hearts to be strengthened by grace, not by eating ceremonial foods, which is of no benefit to those who do so. We have an altar from which those who minister at the tabernacle have no right to eat.
Of course, there is always the danger of being deceived and carried away by strange and false teaching and doctrines. The purpose of spiritual ministry is to establish God’s people in grace, so they will not be blown around by dangerous doctrines.
Ephesians 4:11-14 NIV So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming.
Remember some recipients of the letter to the Hebrews were considering going back to Jewish laws that governed foods. The writer warned them that these dietary regulations would not profit them spiritually because they never profited the Jews spiritually! The dietary laws impressed people as being spiritual, but they were only shadows of the reality that we have in Christ.
Colossians 2:16-23 NIV Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day. These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ. Do not let anyone who delights in false humility and the worship of angels disqualify you. Such a person also goes into great detail about what they have seen; they are puffed up with idle notions by their unspiritual mind. They have lost connection with the head, from whom the whole body, supported and held together by its ligaments and sinews, grows as God causes it to grow. Since you died with Christ to the elemental spiritual forces of this world, why, as though you still belonged to the world, do you submit to its rules: “Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch!”? These rules, which have to do with things that are all destined to perish with use, are based on merely human commands and teachings. Such regulations indeed have an appearance of wisdom, with their self-imposed worship, their false humility and their harsh treatment of the body, but they lack any value in restraining sensual indulgence.
Hebrews 13:3 NIV Continue to remember those in prison as if you were together with them in prison, and those who are mistreated as if you yourselves were suffering.
When this letter was written it was not unusual for Christians to be arrested and imprisoned for their faith. To identify with these prisoners might be dangerous, yet Christ’s love demanded a ministry to them. Today there are prison ministries that exhibit that concern for those in jail and prison. To minister to a Christian prisoner or to share the gospel to those prisoners who are not Christian in the name of Christ is to minister to Christ Himself.
Matthew 25:36 NIV I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’
Prison ministry isn’t for everyone but as the scripture says one of the evidences of love is concern for those less fortunate and those in prison are less fortunate because they are not free.
In our free country we are not arrested for our religious beliefs, but in other parts of the world, believers suffer for their faith. We need to pray for them and share with them as the Lord enables us!
The home is really the first place where Christian love should be practiced. The writer in 13:4 talks about marriage here and most of us are not married however the point of loyalty and purity in this verse is important.
Hebrews 13:4 NIV Marriage should be honored by all, and the marriage bed kept pure, for God will judge the adulterer and all the sexually immoral.
And God will judge and or discipline immorality whatever it is. Sometimes in their own bodies.
Romans 1:24-27 NIV Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen. Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural ones. In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed shameful acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their error.
Or at final judgement
Revelation 21:8 NIV But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars—they will be consigned to the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death.”
Revelation 21:8 NIV But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars—they will be consigned to the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death.”
Ephesians 5:5 NIV For this you can be sure: No immoral, impure or greedy person—such a person is an idolater—has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.
2 Corinthians 5:10 NIV For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each of us may receive what is due us for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.
Believers who commit these sins certainly may be forgiven, but they will lose rewards in heaven.
David was forgiven, but he suffered the consequences of his adultery for years to come, and he suffered in the hardest way: through his own children.
Hebrews 13:5-6 NIV Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.” So we say with confidence, “The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can mere mortals do to me?”
If we love God and others as we should, then we will have a right relationship to material things. Contentment cannot come from material things, for they can never satisfy the heart. Only God can do that.
When we have God, we have all that we need. The material things of life can decay or be stolen,
Matthew 6:19-20 NIV “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal.
Because God will never leave us or forsake us. This promise was made to Joshua when he succeeded Moses.
Joshua 1:5, 9 NIV No one will be able to stand against you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you. Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.”
And it is fulfilled to us in Jesus Christ.
Matthew 28:18-20 NIV Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
Hebrews 13:6 NIV So we say with confidence, “The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can mere mortals do to me?”
This is an affirmation of faith that comes from a messianic psalm that was fulfilled in Jesus so we can claim this promise.
Psalms 118:5-7 NIV When hard pressed, I cried to the Lord ; he brought me into a spacious place. The Lord is with me; I will not be afraid. What can mere mortals do to me? The Lord is with me; he is my helper. I look in triumph on my enemies.
It was a source of great peace to the early Christians to know that they were safe from the fear of man, for no man could do anything to them apart from God’s will. Men might take their goods, but God would meet their needs.
The important thing is that we know Jesus Christ as our Lord and Helper, and that we not put our trust in material things. Contented Christians are people with priorities, and material things are not high on their priority lists.
Submitting to Spiritual Leadership
Remember them
Hebrews 13:7-9 NIV Remember your leaders, who spoke the word of God to you. Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. Do not be carried away by all kinds of strange teachings. It is good for our hearts to be strengthened by grace, not by eating ceremonial foods, which is of no benefit to those who do so.
The writer also urges submission to spiritual leadership in
Hebrews 13:17Have confidence in your leaders and submit to their authority, because they keep watch over you as those who must give an account. Do this so that their work will be a joy, not a burden, for that would be of no benefit to you.
We’ll get there later.
The writer encourages his readers and us today to remember and honor those leaders that have gone before us and for us to imitate their faith. Those leaders include the ones we read about in Hebrews 11 and people like Billy Graham and Fred Price and others that have gone to be with the Lord.
Hebrews 13:8 NIV Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.
Their lives pointed to Christ! Church leaders may come and go, but Jesus Christ remains the same, and it is Christ who is the center of our faith.
Hebrews 13:9-10 NIV Do not be carried away by all kinds of strange teachings. It is good for our hearts to be strengthened by grace, not by eating ceremonial foods, which is of no benefit to those who do so. We have an altar from which those who minister at the tabernacle have no right to eat.
Of course, there is always the danger of being deceived and carried away by strange and false teaching and doctrines. The purpose of spiritual ministry is to establish God’s people in grace, so they will not be blown around by dangerous doctrines.
Ephesians 4:11-14 NIV So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming.
Remember some recipients of the letter to the Hebrews were considering going back to Jewish laws that governed foods. The writer warned them that these dietary regulations would not profit them spiritually because they never profited the Jews spiritually! The dietary laws impressed people as being spiritual, but they were only shadows of the reality that we have in Christ.
Colossians 2:16-23 NIV Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day. These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ. Do not let anyone who delights in false humility and the worship of angels disqualify you. Such a person also goes into great detail about what they have seen; they are puffed up with idle notions by their unspiritual mind. They have lost connection with the head, from whom the whole body, supported and held together by its ligaments and sinews, grows as God causes it to grow. Since you died with Christ to the elemental spiritual forces of this world, why, as though you still belonged to the world, do you submit to its rules: “Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch!”? These rules, which have to do with things that are all destined to perish with use, are based on merely human commands and teachings. Such regulations indeed have an appearance of wisdom, with their self-imposed worship, their false humility and their harsh treatment of the body, but they lack any value in restraining sensual indulgence.
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