Don't Forsake the Assembly? (Part 1)
Some thoughts on Hebrews 10
My friend Corri over at Fearless and Joyful recently shared a little article with me on the passage I’ll be writing on today. This little article argues that church attendance is essential based on Hebrews 10:25. Give it a quick glance if you’d like:
What are your impressions of this article? Do you believe the author makes valid points? What do you think about the use of passages like Matthew 6:33 and Proverbs 14:12? Do they defend the point or are they taken out of context? And what is your reaction to the sentence “God’s way is for his people to assemble and worship him according to the pattern of the New Testament”? Do you find it interesting that this is one statement the author didn’t follow with a scripture? Why do you think that is?
A Trip Down Memory Lane
In 2013, I was preaching for a small country church in Central Alabama. At this church, all of the men would sit up in the area behind the pulpit in pews facing the audience. It was super awkward.
Well, one day a man came in who hadn’t been to church for awhile. One of my elders was leading the song before the sermon, and I saw him take out a pen and scribble something on some scratch paper in front of him. I couldn't read what he wrote, but I had my suspicion because I felt like we had the same idea: I need to preach on attendance so this man will know he was wrong for missing all of these worship services.
When I took my place behind the pulpit, I saw the note said, “Preach on attendance.”
Game on.
Just like this article, I started at Matthew 6:33 and made my way to Hebrews 10:25. I talked about how the elders have the authority to pick when the services are, and we are supposed to obey them that have the rule over us, which is another passage from Hebrews.
When I finished, I felt like I had done the job called me to do. But looking back on it now, I see that I cherry picked passages that seemed to support what I was saying. Plus, I shamed a man who probably knew the expectation of weekly attendance already, and he had probably already beat himself up about that enough already.
By the way, it didn’t work.
This article is about what I think Hebrews 10:25 is actually about. We’re going to approach it two different ways. First, we’ll look at the word used for assembly in Hebrews 10:25. Then, in another article, we’ll take a bird’s eye view of the passage to see what the Hebrews writer is getting at in this passage.
Close to the Surface
Flying close to the surface, let’s take a look at a few words in Hebrews 10:25. Here’s the passage in Scot McKnight’s new version and in the NRSV.
not abandoning the assembly of ourselves, as is custom for some, but encouraging, and all the more as you see the day coming close. Hebrews 10:25, McKnight
not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day approaching. Hebrews 10:25, NRSVue
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. Hebrews 10:25, KJV
We’ll look at abandoning/ neglecting/ forsaking, custom/ habit/ manner, encouraging/ exhorting, and we’ll consider what day/ Day is coming close/ approaching/ or drawing near (NASB95).
abandoning/ neglecting/ forsaking
Before we even get started, notice the differences between these three translations. The Second Testament translates enkataleipō in a way that suggests completely walking away from assembling with the saints forever. The word neglecting carries with it the idea of not assembling as much as one ought. While forsaking could be construed to mean missing a service for “illegitimate” reasons. And that’s just after a quick glance through three different translations.
But let’s dig deeper.
This Greek word is used ten times across ten passages in the New Testament.
In Matthew 27:46 and Mark 15:34, Jesus quotes Psalm 22 when he cries out, “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me.”1
In Acts 2:27, 31, Peter cites another psalm when he describes Jesus’s descent into Hades: “You will not abandon my soul to Hades.”
To cite one last passage, Paul describes some in 2 Timothy 4:10, 16 who had deserted him.
The BDAG lexicon says this word means “to separate connection with someone or something.”
While this information not tell us what this assembly is, it does show that this is not just missing a service here or there. It is talking about walking away from this assembly altogether. Just as God did not abandon Jesus when Jesus died on the cross and descended into Sheol for three days, someone doesn’t abandon the assembly by not having a perfect attendance to every VBS, gospel meeting, revival, and Wednesday night Bible study.
custom/ habit/ manner
The second word in our study is custom/ habit/ manner which is from the Greek word ethos. It is used twelve times within the New Testament. It is used to talk about the custom of the priestly office (Luke 1:9), the custom of attending the feasts in Jerusalem (Luke 2:42), and Jesus’s custom of spending time in solitude on the Mount of Olives (Luke 22:39).
This word is defined as “(1 )a usual or customary manner of behavior or (2) long-established usage or practice common to a group.”2
The question here, then, is to determine whether or not missing a service here or there constitutes making a habit of abandoning the assembly. Take the last passage cited as an example. It was Jesus’s custom to go to the Mount of Olives. Could one say that he established this custom after one or two visits, or is it more reasonable to say that he established this custom over his years of ministry?
It would be unreasonable to condemn someone for missing one worship service from Hebrews 10:25.
encouraging/ exhorting
The Greek word for encouraging/ exhorting is parakaleō. You may feel that you are familiar with this word because of its relationship to paraklētos, which is a word used to describe the Holy Spirit in John 14-16. In those passages, the word is translated Helper, Comforter, or Advocate.
You and I are called to be helpers, comforters, and advocates for each other. That is, we are called to encourage each other. But what role does this play in regards to the assembly.
It would be easy to say, “We can’t encourage you if you aren’t here!” Which is kind of true. They didn't have iMessage or FaceTime in A.D. 66.
But assuming this is about encouraging one another in the context of a mandated, weekly assembly bites off a little more than the argument can chew in my estimation.
Earlier in Hebrews, the writer said, “But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called ‘today,’ so that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. For we have become partners of Christ, if only we hold our first confidence firm to the end” (Hebrews 3:13–14, NRSV).
This passage is in the context of a lengthly discussion concerning one’s entrance into the Sabbath rest of God. In Joshua’s time, that was the Promised Land. In the time of the audience of Hebrews, they were chiefly concerned with entering the kingdom of God. When we consider the next line (“as you see the Day approaching”), I think it becomes more obvious that the assembling together in mind in Hebrews 10:25 is not a mandated weekly worship service but the great assembly of the saints to the Christ in the kingdom of God (Matthew 24:31).
day/ Day is coming close/ approaching/ or drawing near
What was the day that was drawing near in Hebrews 10:25? While I have heard some talk about those who would say that this is Sunday, I am not aware of knowing anyone firsthand who taught this position. Maybe you know someone, but I do not. All of the commentaries I have read seem to be in agreement that this “Day” is either the fall of Jerusalem (Barnes’ Notes) or the “second advent” (Craddock, New Interpreter’s Bible Commentary).
The idea here is that since this major event is approaching, it is necessary for you to be more diligent in your assembling together. When one considers the apostasy and persecution that preceded the fall of Jerusalem, such diligence to enjoin in Christian fellowship makes sense, but I think there is more to the story as we will see later.
Conclusion
From these words, I think it is quite obvious that the Hebrews writer does not have in mind a weekly, one-hour assembly on Sunday morning that one must attend weekly with limited exceptions (work, sickness, etc.). And it doesn’t appear that he has in mind perfect attendance to VBS or pulling one’s kids off the ballfields to attend a gospel meeting on a Tuesday evening.
Instead, the Hebrews writer has in mind someone who abandons the Way of Christ totally. This new custom of theirs stands in the way of their faithfulness to the gospel, and the Hebrews writer wants his audience to encourage each other in light of the impending catastrophe. In the next article, we’ll take a step back and consider what this catastrophe is and how we might understand the “assembly” in light of it.
Arndt, William et al. A Greek-English lexicon of the New Testament and other early Christian literature 2000: 273. Print.
Arndt, William et al. A Greek-English lexicon of the New Testament and other early Christian literature 2000: 277. Print.