Hebrews 13:8

Jesus Christ the same [ι η σ ο υ ς χ ρ ι σ τ ο ς ο α υ τ ο ς]. The A. V. is slipshod, leaving the sentence without connection, or in apparent apposition with the end of their conversation. In translation this is commonly corrected by inserting is : "Jesus Christ is the same," etc. But even thus the real point of the statement is missed. No doubt the old teachers believed in the unchangeableness of Jesus Christ; but that fact is not represented as the subject of their faith, which would be irrelevant and somewhat flat. The emphatic point of the statement is Christ. They lived and died in the faith that Jesus is THE CHRIST - the Messiah. The readers were tempted to surrender this faith and to return to Judaism which denied Jesus's messiahship (comp. ch. 10 29). Hence the writer says, "hold fast and imitate their faith in Jesus as the Christ. He is ever the same. He must be to you, today, what he was to them, yesterday, and will be forever to the heavenly hosts - CHRIST. Rend. therefore" Jesus is Christ. " Observe that our writer rarely uses the formula Jesus Christ. In ch. 10 10 it occurs in a passage in which the messianic mission of Jesus is emphasized (see vers. 5, 9), and in Hebrews 13:21, in a liturgical formula. The temptation to forsake Jesus as Messiah is treated in the next verse.