Church leaders and dedicated churchgoers continue to use Hebrews 10:25 to guilt many into never leaving the church.
However, it is hard for me to imagine that a saved Christian believer would still belong to a church assembly of any kind today. Who can say exactly when the Spirit of God left the corporate church? Truly, churches have all become houses of Satan worship, including those that still claim to be Bible-preaching, Bible-believing, and evangelical.
Let us be clear: Hebrews 10:25 does not apply to church assemblies in our day. Starting at verse 24, we read: “And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works: Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching” (KJV).
When kept in context with the entire Book of Hebrews, we can see how this verse pertains to the early church of Jewish believers, even before the influx of Gentiles into the church. This was the time when Christian Jews were transitioning from the Old Covenant to the New Covenant of grace.
People try to explain Hebrews 10:25 by comparing it to 2 Thessalonians 2:1, which reads: “Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him”.
In both passages, we see the phrase “gathering together,” translated from the Greek word episynagoge. However, beyond this linguistic connection, there is no other correlation between the two. In fact, we find a different kind of “gathering together” in each: in Hebrews, the verse refers to our gathering with others, while 2 Thessalonians is about our gathering with Jesus Christ. Additionally, it is important to note that in Hebrews, the assembling is physical, whereas in 2 Thessalonians, the assembling is spiritual (which only true believers in Christ experience).
The phrase “as the manner of some” appears to be key to understanding Hebrews 10:25. If we fail to carefully examine this phrase from the original Greek, we may accept the notion that the writer of Hebrews was indicating a habit of neglect. If so, this would take the verse out of context with the rest of the book. The word “manner,” as translated in the KJV, comes from the Greek word ethos, which is elsewhere translated as “custom”. This is vital: throughout Hebrews, the writer is admonishing the Jews to no longer adhere to religious customs as converts to Christianity.
Among the early Jews who became followers of Christ, not all were saved. One can imagine how some zealots struggled with how to treat transgressors in the early church. Under the Old Covenant law, there was immediate punishment for transgressions, and in some cases, sinners were put to death (Hebrews 10:28). However, under Roman influence, and as some customs were maintained, the Jews were no longer permitted to put anyone to death (John 18:31).
It was never God’s plan for Christians to judge or punish others as was done in Old Testament times. Thus, the writer of Hebrews is warning against forsaking the assembly according to any custom used to disavow transgressors; instead, believers are to love, forgive, do good works, and exhort one another. We can see that “so much the more, as ye see the day approaching” refers to this exhortation.
This did not mean, however, that we have a license to sin freely. Let us not forget that there remain consequences for sin. Continuing in Hebrews 10:26, we read: “For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins”. Furthermore, in verses 30 and 31, we read: “For we know him that hath said, Vengeance belongeth unto me, I will recompense, saith the Lord. And again, The Lord shall judge his people. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God”.
It is not for me to judge that all who attend churches today are lost souls. However, there is no denying that modern churches are overrun with false gospels. It has become as the Apostle Paul wrote in 2 Timothy: “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables” (2 Timothy 4:3-4).
Summary
In conclusion, we should understand the difference between Hebrews 10:25 and 2 Thessalonians 2:1. The message in Hebrews does not apply to churches today, and true believers must avoid these gatherings. Thousands of churches continue to operate, boxed into traditions taught by church fathers. No matter how devout those men were, they did not have all the answers. God has brought His people out of the church, and now we are free to be taught by Him.
Our safe gathering is spiritual, together with our Lord Jesus Christ. If churches were still sound, we would not have witnessed the falling away and the revelation of “the man of sin… the son of perdition” (2 Thessalonians 2:3). In future posts, I would like to delve deeper into the “man of sin” and the “son of perdition”. For now, it is enough to say that both terms are parabolic language describing Satan—the one who controls the current churches and their destruction.
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