Hebrews 13:9 –
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.
This last chapter is a “dump” which we could spend a week on. The writer wants to get a few final thoughts in and verse after verse has great insight. I suggest diving in and reading this whole chapter a few times. I was going to focus on verse 5 and the problems with money in this world, but figure that is a sore subject these days since most of us who “loved” money, don’t have much anymore. This verse attracts me because of the Law and how we should follow it.
First of all the Law became a set of rules and guidelines the Israelites needed to live by in order to be right with God. The problem with the law happened when the people took it “legalistically” and not as a list of “should’s” but rather a list of “shall’s”. The food laws are my favorite since they have been scientifically proven as the best food for our bodies. This verse touches on them I believe. I disagree a bit on the final assertion about not helping those who follow them, but that could be hours of parsing out the dietary Laws and comparing them to other substitutes.
The key to this verse is not being attracted by strange new ideas. Believe me you will see a ton throughout your lives; churches will try to separate themselves by taking a different angle on spiritual truths. One could argue singing rock in church is of the devil, no need for this new-fangled music, traditional hymns are the way to go. But most of those hymns we “new-fangled” music just 200 years ago. They key isn’t the beat, but the message! So if the glitz and glamour are of interest, make sure they hold true to the scriptures.
Remember your strength comes from God’s grace and not so much from other sources. Now in reading this over and over, I wonder if the rules about food stem from the Hebraic dietary Laws or another lifestyle that was popular in that time. Reason being is the dietary Laws will help keep your flesh strong and healthy, which will enable you to do more productive work for God. So I wonder if the writer was pointing to another popular belief of the time or making sure they understood that the dietary Laws were not the path to salvation, but the grace the Jesus gave us.