Hebrews 13:8
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Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.
Commentaries
Excerpts gathered from published commentaries to ground the reading.
This verse is not, as some read it, in apposition with "the end of their conversation" (Heb 13:7), but forms the transition. "Jesus Christ, yesterday and to-day (is) the same, and (shall be the same) unto the ages (that is, unto all ages)." The Jesus Christ (the full name being given, to mark with affectionate solemnity both His person and His office) who supported your spiritual rulers through life even unto their end "yesterday" (in times past), being at once "the Author and the Finisher of their faith" (Heb 12:2), remains still the same Jesus Christ "to-day," ready to help you also, if like them you walk by "faith" in Him. Compare "this same Jesus," Act 1:11. He who yesterday (proverbial for the past time) suffered and died, is to-day in glory (Rev 1:18). "As night comes between yesterday and to-day, and yet night itself is swallowed up by yesterday and to-day, so the "suffering" did not so interrupt the glory of Jesus Christ which was of yesterday, and that which is to-day, as not to continue to be the same. He is the same yesterday, before He came into the world, and to-day, in heaven. Yesterday in the time of our predecessors, and to-day in our age" [BENGEL]. So the doctrine is the same, not variable: this verse thus forms the transition between Heb 13:7 and Heb 13:9. He is always "the same" (Heb 1:12). The same in the Old and in the New Testament.
Open source ↗The apostle, having treated largely of Christ, and faith, and free grace, and gospel privileges, and warned the Hebrews against apostasy, now, in the close of all, recommends several excellent duties to them, as the proper fruits of faith (v. 1-17); he then bespeaks their prayers for him, and offers up his prayers to God for them, gives them some hope of seeing himself and Timothy, and ends with the general salutation and benediction (Heb 13:18 to the end).
Open source ↗13:8 Though the community was facing new challenges, Jesus Christ is the same, and his Good News does not change. • yesterday: Jesus was the Father’s agent in creation (1:2, 10). • today: Jesus currently sits at the Father’s right hand (1:13; 7:26-28; 10:12). He will rule the universe forever (1:8, 10-12).
Open source ↗Original language
The Hebrew and Greek words behind this passage, with Strong's numbers — from openscriptures (CC BY-SA).
Cross-references
Other passages the community most often connects to this one. Tap to read.
“Because I, the LORD, do not change, you descendants of Jacob have not been destroyed.
Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, with whom there is no change or shifting shadow.
“I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, who is and was and is to come—the Almighty.
Thus says the LORD, the King and Redeemer of Israel, the LORD of Hosts: “I am the first and I am the last, and there is no God but Me.
You will roll them up like a robe; like a garment they will be changed; but You remain the same, and Your years will never end.”
Before the mountains were born or You brought forth the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting You are God.
But from everlasting to everlasting the loving devotion of the LORD extends to those who fear Him, and His righteousness to their children’s children—
Who has performed this and carried it out, calling forth the generations from the beginning? I, the LORD—the first and the last— I am He.”
For in Your sight a thousand years are but a day that passes, or a watch of the night.
John, To the seven churches in the province of Asia: Grace and peace to you from Him who is and was and is to come, and from the seven Spirits before His throne,