The point of the saying  in the book of Hebrews (13:8)”Jesus Christ the same yesterday, today and forever” is not to address God’s immutability.  The unchanging God is fully defined in the first chapter of the book of Hebrews, where the Word of God is the Creator.

(10). … “You, Lord, in the beginning laid the foundation of the earth, And the heavens are the works of Your hands; (11) They will perish, but You remain; And they all will become old like a garment, (12) And like a mantle You will roll them up; Like a garment they will also be changed. But You are the same, And Your years will not come to an end.” (Hebrews 1:10-12, NASB)

Philosophy and empty deception

See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ. (Colossians 2:8, NASB)

They will tell us that bodies are important and that spirit is all important, so when we say “Jesus Christ” we ought to be referring to the incarnate Word, who was not present at the creation of the world. Our confession impels us to say that God was seen by angels for the first time when Christ came into the world. So, the saying – the same yesterday today and forever – is affirming the God in whatever form as love, as abounding in goodness, and full of mercy and compassion.

Empty traditions do not cut it

The book of Hebrews is concerned with change, the change from humanity – the ancestors and the prophets – as the channels of God’s interaction with humanity to divinity as the initiator and guarantor of human security.

The book of Hebrews is concerned with change, the change from the shadows and moonlight of the levitical system and Mosaic instruction.  It is not destructive to discard the erotic system of priesthood and all the regulations and ordinances, because Moses himself indicated that he would pass into obscurity.  Jesus of Bethlehem is not the same as Jesus of Nazareth or Jesus of Capernaum or Jesus of the Cross or Jesus of the right hand of God in heaven.  Jesus is not interrupting funerals, and pronouncing woes on scribes and Pharisees.  So if we answer the question “Same what?’we realize that Hebrews in 13:8 is not talking about immutability, but eternity.

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. Heb 13:8

The Hebrew people and very many modern Christians are more interested in empty traditions including those traditions  of the Hebrew people. Tabernacles, observations of days, weeks, months and years, dietary scruples, prohibitions on who to marry, and their books that they have written are truly all hollow pillars.

I suppose that with all the modern talk about law, God’s true this and that,  and the (unlikely) priority of compliance with all that God has ever said, there is no tradition originating with God’s Anointed.  The law is not of faith.  An orange is not an apple. If you are going to be justified by the law you have spurned the grace of God and Christ is of no effect to you, and your life is a Hollywood production, cooked up in the dark caves of Jewish and American rebellion against the truth of the gospel.

Ignoring of truth and elevating tradition

21. Jesus answered them, “I did one deed, and you all marvel. 22. “For this reason Moses has given you circumcision (not because it is from Moses, but from the fathers), and on the Sabbath you circumcise a man. 23. “If a man receives circumcision on the Sabbath so that the Law of Moses will not be broken, are you angry with Me because I made an entire man well on the Sabbath? (John 7:21-23, NASB)

Gotta have a controversy?

If you think you can be radical and extreme I can too: easily and without controversy. You take your law with its shadows, your moon, your ancient traditions, your elementary principles ylour slave economoy offerings, and pretend they are food, and I will have one thing, Christ crucified.