When we first went into lockdown, churches across the UK were required to stop physically meeting together, along with all other places where people would congregate. At the time, across the wider church community, there were those who challenged this. The challenge was on the basis of Hebrews 10:25 “not neglecting to meet together”.

The reasons for not meeting physically were simple: to have done so would have broken the law; would have put members of the congregation at serious risk of illness or even death; and would have set a very poor example to the community.

But what about Hebrews 10:25?

As ever, to understand what a verse (or in this case a phrase) is saying, it needs to be seen in context.

The broad message of Hebrews is to warn against reverting to the Mosaic law, on the basis that that would effectively negate Jesus’ work on the cross.

Hebrews 10 starts with Jesus’ one-time sacrifice being superior to, and removing the need for, the repeated sacrifices of animals. 

This is summarised in verse 14 which says, “For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.” and concluded in verse 18 “Where there is forgiveness of these (that is: sins and lawless deeds), there is no longer any offering for sin”.

Verse 19 begins with “Therefore”. In other words, what follows are consequences of what has just gone before.

And all of the consequences are written in the plural – ‘us’ and ‘we’. So, while each of us has to make in individual response, it is in the context of community.

The first thing is confidence to come into God’s presence, because of the blood (sacrifice) of Jesus, who is a great priest (a person who mediates between God and mankind) over the house of God.

And the point here is that we should appropriate these consequences. Jesus has opened a way for us to enter God’s presence, so we should do so!

The way we should do so should follows a familiar pattern (a ‘triad’) of faith, hope and love (see e.g. 1 Cor 13:13; Col 1:4-5; 1 Thess 1:3).

All three begin with “let us”:

Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith (v 22)

Let us hold fast the confession of our hope (v 23)

Let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works (v 24)

In other words, faith, hope and love should be the hallmarks of our community together (the ‘household’).

While faith and hope tend to be more personal or individual, love can only be expressed in community (even if there are only two!). Verse 25 expands on how this might be done. Firstly, by not neglecting to meet together, which for some had become a habit. Secondly, by encouragement. The structure of the sentence is “don’t do this but do that”. So, the opposite of not meeting together is not simply to turn up at church, rather it is to encourage one another.

Encouragement has to do with looking out for one another, especially in the context of our faith. We are to ‘consider’, think about, how to ‘stir up’ (the Greek word is where we get our word paroxysm (!), and means to provoke or incite) each other in our Christian lives – especially relating to love and good works. 

All of which is in the wider context of Jesus’ return. 

Do we need to be together physically to encourage one another in this way? Generally speaking – yes we do. But occasionally there are good reasons why we can’t. We might be ill, or have work responsibilities, or be suffering a pandemic with an unknown virus.

None of which absolves us of our responsibilities in faith, hope and love. We are truly blessed in our generation with multiple means of communication. We can ‘see’ each other on our screens, and very easily talk and write to one another. But none of these are a substitute for being together, they are always second best. Second best is of course better than none, and internet-based communication has been a life-line for many over the past couple of years.

The command in Heb 10:25 is to stir up one another and to encourage one another. The negative side is to do with neglect and getting into a bad habit. The wider context of Hebrews and particularly chapter 10 is aimed at those who are deliberately neglecting Jesus’ work of salvation by ignoring the provision we now have of coming into God’s presence without fear, in an attitude of faith, hope and love. 

In fact, the following verses, Heb 10:26-31, contain dire warnings for those who deliberately choose to go on sinning.  

But it would be hard to describe not meeting together in the pandemic as ‘sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth”, especially as it was done out of concern for others’ well-being, and out of respect for the law of the land.¹

However, we do need to be careful where we go from here. The pandemic has gone on much longer than anyone originally expected, and for many people, meeting together is still a matter of concern. But two years is plenty of time for new habits to be formed, so it is good to go back to basics now and then and examine ourselves. What habits do we have? Time in our ‘chair’ is a good one (might have mentioned that before!) – spending personal time with God. 

But our faith is expressed, even proved, in community. We cannot love, encourage or do good works all on our own. So maybe as well as a ‘chair’ we need a ‘pew’! Whatever it might look like, it can only be a good thing to develop some kind of habit that involves encouraging one another. “How’s things?”; “Can I pray for you”; “Let’s chat”; “Here’s what I read in the Bible today” and so on.

It might still be a while yet before everyone is willing and able to meet together again. And that’s fine. But I think the final phrase in verse 25 “and all the more as you see the Day drawing near” is a reminder that we live in the light of Jesus’ return. The previous chapter has a verse about believers ‘eagerly awaiting’ his return (Heb 9:28). So while we are ‘in the world’, the here and now and the place of rebellion, we are not ‘of the world’, we don’t belong here, it’s not our home (see John 17:14-16). 

Meeting together is a reminder of that as it’s a foretaste, a glimpse, of heaven (however imperfect our meetings are!). After all, there’s going to be a lot of people in heaven! But the world is a difficult place and we need that mutual encouragement to live in faith, hope and love.

Since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.

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1. There are occasions when Christians have to resort to civil disobedience, but these are rare and are usually a response to a direct attack on the church. In this case, the Government prohibited all meetings which included the church under ‘places of worship’ but did not single it out. It could not be construed as an attack on Christianity or the church. Concerns were raised however about the precedent this could set for the future, and it is interesting that after the first lockdown, churches (and other places of worship) were generally left to decide for themselves, though within the light of other prevailing legislation. [↩]