The Meaning of Hebrews 13:10 Explained

Hebrews 13:10

KJV: We have an altar, whereof they have no right to eat which serve the tabernacle.

YLT: we have an altar, of which to eat they have no authority who the tabernacle are serving,

Darby: We have an altar of which they have no right to eat who serve the tabernacle;

ASV: We have an altar, whereof they have no right to eat that serve the tabernacle.

KJV Reverse Interlinear

We have  an altar,  whereof  they have  no  right  to eat  which serve  the tabernacle. 

What does Hebrews 13:10 Mean?

Verse Meaning

Believers under the Old Covenant ate part of what they offered to God as a peace offering ( Leviticus 7:15-18). However believers under the New Covenant feed spiritually on Jesus Christ who is our peace offering. Those still under the Old Covenant had no right to partake of Him for spiritual sustenance and fellowship with God since their confidence was still in the Old Covenant.
"Christians had none of the visible apparatus which in those days was habitually associated with religion and worship-no sacred buildings, no altars, no sacrificing priests. Their pagan neighbors thought they had no God, and called them atheists; their Jewish neighbors too might criticize them for having no visible means of spiritual support." [1]
Roman Catholics have tended to see in this "altar" a reference to the mass, whereas Protestants have viewed it as a reference either to Christ Himself or His cross or a heavenly altar. I prefer Christ Himself since it is through Him that we are to offer a sacrifice of praise to God ( Hebrews 13:15; cf. 1 Peter 2:5).

Context Summary

Hebrews 13:1-13 - Sanctify Daily Life
We may not like all the brethren, but there is something in each of them that Christ loves. Let us try to discover it, or love them for His sake. We can love people with our mind and think for them, or with our strength and serve them, even though the heart is somewhat reluctant.
Strangers and captives must never be forgotten, either in our prayers or our ministry. The love within the marriage tie must be unsullied, and we must watch against the insidious lust of gold. Why should we always be thinking of money, when God has promised, with two negatives, never to fail us, Hebrews 13:5? Thrice we are asked to remember those who bear office and rule in the church, Hebrews 13:7; Hebrews 13:17; Hebrews 13:24.
We are called to a holy crusade. It is not for us to linger in circumstances of ease and self-indulgence when our Master suffered without the gate! Let us go forth unto Him, bearing His reproach! Has not the Church tarried in the city long enough, enervated by its fashions and flatteries? [source]

Chapter Summary: Hebrews 13

1  Various admonitions as to love;
4  to honest life;
5  to avoid covetousness;
7  to regard God's preachers;
9  to take heed of strange doctrines;
10  to confess Christ;
16  to give alms;
17  to obey governors;
18  to pray for the apostles
20  The conclusion

Greek Commentary for Hebrews 13:10

We have an altar [εχομεν τυσιαστηριον]
We Christians have a spiritual altar This metaphor is carried out. Whereof Our spiritual altar. The tabernacle Dative case with λατρευοντες — latreuontes (serve), σκηνη — skēnē being used for “the whole ceremonial economy” (Vincent) of Judaism. [source]
[]
d Those who persist in adhering to the Jewish economy can have no part in the blessing of the new covenant. The two are mutually exclusive. The statement is cast in the mould of the Jewish sacrificial ritual, and in the figure of eating a sacrificial meal. [source]
We have an altar [ἔχομεν θυσιαστήριον]
It is a mistake to try to find in the Christian economy some specific object answering to altar - either the cross, or the eucharistic table, or Christ himself. Rather the ideas of approach to God, - sacrifice, atonement, pardon and acceptance, salvation, - are gathered up and generally represented in the figure of an altar, even as the Jewish altar was the point at which all these ideas converged. The application in this broader and more general sense is illustrated by Ignatius: “If one be not within the altar ( ἐντὸς τοῦ θυσιαστηρίου the sacred precinct), he lacketh the bread of God … . Whosoever, therefore, cometh not to the congregation ( ἐπὶ τὸ αὐτὸ ), he doth thereby show his pride, and hath separated himself,” Eph. v. Ignatius here uses the word, not of a literal altar, but of the church. Comp. Trall. vii. Again: “Hasten to come together as to one temple, even God; to one altar, even to one Jesus Christ,” Magn. vii. [source]
Of which - to eat [εξ οὗ - φαγεῖν]
The foundation of the figure is the sacrifice of the peace or thank-offering, in which the worshippers partook of the sacrifice. See Leviticus 7:29-35; Deuteronomy 12:6; Deuteronomy 27:7. The peace-offerings were either public or private. The two lambs offered every year at Pentecost (Leviticus 23:19) were a public offering, and their flesh was eaten only by the officiating priests, and within the holy place. The other public peace-offerings, after the priests had received their share, were eaten by the offerers themselves. Jehovah thus condescended to be the guest of his worshippers. The large scale on which such festivals were sometimes celebrated is illustrated in 1 Kings 8:63. In private peace-offerings, the breast of the victim belonged to the Lord, who gave it to the priests (Leviticus 7:30), and the right shoulder was given directly to the priests by Israel (Leviticus 7:32). After the ritual of waving, the entrails were consumed, and the rest was eaten by the priest or the worshippers and their invited guests, among whom were specially included the poor and the Levites. [source]
Right [ἐξουσίαν]
See on John 1:12. [source]
Which serve the tabernacle [οἱ τῇ σκηνῇ λατρεύοντες]
This does not mean the priests only, but the worshippers also. Σκηνή tabernacleis used figuratively for the whole ceremonial economy. A reference to the priests alone is entirely foreign to the context, and to the whole drift of the discussion which contrasts the privileges of Christians at large (we ) with those of Israel at large. The writer is speaking in the present tense, of institutions in operation in his own time, to which tabernacle, in any other than a figurative sense, would be inappropriate. Moreover, λατρεύειν toserve is used throughout the N.T., with the single exception of Hebrews 8:5, of the service of the worshipper and not of the priest. [source]

Reverse Greek Commentary Search for Hebrews 13:10

2 Timothy 1:3 I serve [λατρεύω]
In Pastorals only here. Comp. Romans 1:9, Romans 1:25; Philemon 3:3. Frequent in Hebrews. Originally, to serve for hire. In N.T. both of ritual service, as Hebrews 8:5; Hebrews 9:9; Hebrews 10:2; Hebrews 13:10; and of worship or service generally, as Luke 1:74; Romans 1:9. Especially of the service rendered to God by the Israelites as his peculiar people, as Acts 26:7. Comp. λατρεία service Romans 9:4; Hebrews 9:1, Hebrews 9:6. In lxx always of the service of God or of heathen deities. [source]

What do the individual words in Hebrews 13:10 mean?

We have an altar from which to eat not have authority those in the tabernacle serving
Ἔχομεν θυσιαστήριον ἐξ οὗ φαγεῖν οὐκ ἔχουσιν ἐξουσίαν οἱ τῇ σκηνῇ λατρεύοντες

Ἔχομεν  We  have 
Parse: Verb, Present Indicative Active, 1st Person Plural
Root: ἔχω  
Sense: to have, i.e. to hold.
θυσιαστήριον  an  altar 
Parse: Noun, Accusative Neuter Singular
Root: θυσιαστήριον  
Sense: the altar for slaying and burning of victims used of.
φαγεῖν  to  eat 
Parse: Verb, Aorist Infinitive Active
Root: ἐσθίω  
Sense: to eat.
ἐξουσίαν  authority 
Parse: Noun, Accusative Feminine Singular
Root: ἐξουσία  
Sense: power of choice, liberty of doing as one pleases.
οἱ  those 
Parse: Article, Nominative Masculine Plural
Root:  
Sense: this, that, these, etc.
τῇ  in  the 
Parse: Article, Dative Feminine Singular
Root:  
Sense: this, that, these, etc.
σκηνῇ  tabernacle 
Parse: Noun, Dative Feminine Singular
Root: σκηνή  
Sense: tent, tabernacle, (made of green boughs, or skins or other materials).
λατρεύοντες  serving 
Parse: Verb, Present Participle Active, Nominative Masculine Plural
Root: λατρεύω  
Sense: to serve for hire.