Church leaders and dedicated church goers continue to use Hebrews 10:25 to guilt many into never leaving the church.

It’s not for me to judge if all those who attend churches today are lost souls. However, it’s 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; but truly, churches have all become houses of Satan worship, including churches that still claim to be Bible preaching, Bible believing evangelical. It has become as the Apostle Paul wrote in the book of 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 Tim 4:3,4)

Therefore, 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)

If left in context with the entire Book of Hebrews, we can see how this passage pertains to the early church of Jewish believers, even before the influx of Gentiles into the church. This is the time when the Christian Jews were transitioning from the Old Covenant to the New Covenant of grace.

People try to explain Heb 10:25 by comparing it to 2 Thes 2:1 where it reads:

"Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and by our gathering together unto him." (KJV)

In both Hebrews 10:25 and 2 Thes 2:1, we see the phrase “gathering or “assembling” together from the Greek word, episunagogen (G1997). However, aside from episunagogen, there is no other correlation between the two passages. In fact, we find a different kind of “gathering together” for each: In Hebrews, the verse is referring to our gathering with others, while in 2 Thessalonians, it is specifically about our gathering with Jesus Christ. Also, it is important to note that in Hebrews the assembling is physical whereas in 2 Thessalonians, the assembling is spiritual (which only the true believers in Christ experience).

The added phrase, “as the manner of some” appears to hold the key to knowing what Heb 10:25 is about. If we fail to carefully examine this phrase in the original Greek, we may accept the notion that the writer of Hebrews was indicating that it had become simply a habit of neglect for some not to assemble. If so, this would take the verse out of context with the entire book of Hebrews. Throughout Hebrews, the writer is admonishing the Jews to no longer adhere to religious customs as they became fresh converts to Christianity.

Therefore, the word “manner” is the key we shouldn’t overlook in verse 25. In the KJV, “manner” is translated from ethos. It is also translated as “custom.” It’s understandable that even among early Jews becoming followers of Christ, not all became saved. Then, you can imagine how some zealots were struggling on what to do with transgressors in the early church. In the Old Covenant law, there was immediate punishment for all manner of transgressions. Sinners were to be put to death in some cases (Heb 10:28). However, under Roman influence, even though some customs remained, the Jews were no longer permitted to put someone to death (Jn 18:31).

For the New Testament church, it was never God’s plan for Christians to judge and bring punishment to others as in Old Testament times. The writer of Hebrews is admonishing the new converts to stop following any Jewish custom to forsake assembly because of transgressors; instead, they are to love, forgive, do good works, and exhort one another. This means that the phrase, “much the more, as ye see the day approaching” refers to the “exhortation.”

Love and forgiveness didn’t mean, however, that we could freely sin.
Let’s not forget 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”; and 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.” --(KJV)

So finally, we can see how there is a difference between the physical “assembling” in Hebrews 10:25 from the type of spiritual “assembling” in 2 Thes 2:1. The message of Hebrews 10:25 was specifically directed to the early church of Christian Jews and not to churches of our day and 2 Thes 2:1 emphasizes our “gathering” or “assembling” spiritually with our Lord Jesus Christ.

If churches were still sound and not overrun by false gospels in our day, true believers could still assemble in the churches. As believers, however, we have witnessed the “falling away” and “the man of sin revealed, the son of perdition” as also spoken about in 2 Thes 2:3.

In future posts, I would like to delve deeper into discussion of the “man of sin” and “son of perdition.” Suffice to say now, both terms are parabolic language to describe Satan, the one who controls the current churches and their destruction.