Christ Our Sin Offering
CHRIST OUR SIN OFFERING
HEBREWS 13:7-16
We must take our stand with Jesus Christ, because we don’t really belong on earth any longer. We are going to share heaven with him.
We are reminded that Christians have a duty to their leaders, a thought to which our author will return (13:17). The leaders’ way of life is to be imitated (13:7). Perhaps it is the consideration that even the way of life of the best leaders is subject to change which leads to the abrupt introduction of the thought that Jesus Christ does not change (13:8). Look back or forward: it makes no difference. He is always constant. “Diverse and strange teachings” (13:9) might lead astray. But Christ’s faithfulness is an encouragement to us to be faithful in our place.
The main part of this passage is taken up with a consideration of Christ’s work for us viewed from the aspect of the sin offering. The “altar” (13:10) should not be misinterpreted as though it referred to any material earthly object. It is a way of referring to Christ’s sacrifice for us, and if any material object is in view, it is the cross. The interesting thing about the reference to the sin offering is that the part singled out for mention is not the manipulation of blood or the burning on the altar or the like. It is the burning of the bodies of the victims “outside the camp” (13:11). These bodies were so identified with sin that they could not be offered on the altar. They were simply thrown outside the city and burned. This is a vivid way of saying that Christ in his death became one with sinners and bore their sin (see also 2 Corinthians 5:21).
This is made the basis of an appeal to the readers to be ready likewise to go “outside the camp,” not in any sense that they might be doing an atoning act, but in the sense that they are identifying themselves with Jesus, even at the cost of breaking valued earthly ties. All the more is this the case in that Christians have their citizenship not in any earthly place but in heaven (see also 11:16). They should in accordance with their calling offer up sacrifices, but sacrifices of a spiritual character (13:15f.). In the light of what Christ has done there are no others we can offer.