Our Man In Heaven
by
Edward Fudge
An Exposition of the Epistle to the Hebrews
Foreword by F.F. Bruce
Copyright 1973
by
Edward Fudge
Originally printed in the United States of America
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DEDICATED
TO
THE MEMORY OF
BENJAMIN LEE FUDGE
father in the flesh
brother in the faith
esteemed teacher
dear friend
"These all died in faith, not having received the Promises, but
having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced
them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the
earth.... Wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God: for
he hath prepared for them a city."
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FOREWORD
"OUR MAN IN HEAVEN" sums up very aptly the central emphasis of
the Letter to the Hebrews. The human family has in the presence of
God an acceptable Representative -- acceptable because He is most
authentically one with ourselves, partaker of our flesh and blood,
and acceptable too because He is persona gratissima with
God, being the Son through whom God has spoken His final and
perfect word to mankind.
Our Lord's present ministry on His people's behalf "in matters
for which they are responsible to God" guarantees for them an
inexhaustible supply of grace and power to cope with all the
troubles and temptations that are inseparable from present Iife on
earth. Provision to match the need of the moment comes the more
opportunely from One who, when on earth, was spared none of these
troubles and temptations, but endured them all and triumphed over
them.
Next, our Lord's presence before God on our behalf guarantees
for us also free access before God. Since God welcomes Him as our
Representative, He welcomes by the same token those whom our Lord
represents. Both now and hereafter the way into the heavenly
sanctuary stands open through Him for those who are united with Him
by faith. He who is the source of our present help is also the
ground of our eternal hope.
Again, our Lord now ministers as our Representative in the
presence of God because He has blazed a trail thither along which
He now calls us to follow Him.
The first readers of this Letter were reluctant to leave the
familiar securities of their ancestral pattern of religious life
for the hazardous adventure of following One who set such little
store by His own personal security. But if men and women in the
first century A. D. had not been willing to do this very thing - to
obey the injunction "Let us go forth" -- there would have been no
future for the Christian cause on earth. It is equally necessary
for us 1900 years later to be ready to leave our familiar
securities and follow Him who is still calling His people along the
unpredictable trail of faith. To know this by experience is also
involved in understanding what is meant by having "our Man in
heaven."
It is a pleasure to commend Mr. Fudge's exposition of the Letter
to the Hebrews. A superficial perusal of the Letter may suggest
that it has little relevance to readers today. A more careful study
reveals that its message is astonishingly up-to-date, speaking
directly to the conditions of Christian existence in this uncertain
world. I hope that, with the help of Mr. Fudge's study, many
readers will grasp the message of the Letter and learn to live by
it.
F.F. BRUCE
Manchester, England
November 1972
INTRODUCTION
Authorship
At the end of the second century, opinion was divided regarding
the authorship of the Epistle to the Hebrews. Clement of Alexandria
believed that Paul wrote the epistle in Hebrew and that Luke
translated it into Greek. Origen thought that someone familiar with
Paul's teachings wrote Hebrews, but he added his now-famous remark
that "who really wrote the letter is known to God alone." At
Carthage, Tertullian suggested the name of Barnabas. Christians in
Rome and in the West generally confessed that they did not know who
wrote Hebrews. Archer points out that "none of the ancient
authorities... entertained any doubt as to the canonicity
(i.e. the divine inspiration) of the Epistle," however, and that
"in any event the primary author... is God Himself, no matter which
human instrument He used." In the days of the Reformation, Luther
favored Apollos as the author and Calvin looked to Clement of Rome
or possibly Luke.
Date of writing
The date of this epistle is also uncertain. References to the
Jewish order and the priestly functions seem clearly to involve the
Levitical service of the Old Testament, not the distorted
institutions of the first century after Christ. Nor can it be
ascertained whether the calamity of A.D. 70 had befallen Jerusalem
and Herod's Temple when our author wrote. Internal evidence is
claimed for both positions. We must set a latest possible date
before A.D. 96, for Clement of Rome wrote then and he quotes from
the epistle quite freely. We can not have too early a date, for a
few remarks in the epistle indicate that its first recipients were
second-generation Christians (2:3-4; 13:7) and apparently not new
converts themselves (5:12; 10:32-35).
Recipients
Beyond what has been stated we can know little of the recipients
or their precise historical situation. So far as a general
statement of affairs, most scholars would probably agree with
Bernard that the epistle
... evidently belongs to the last hour of
translation and decision, when a large number of men, who were at
once Jews and Christians, stood perplexed, agitated, and almost
distracted, as they seemed to feel the ground parting beneath their
feet, and hardly knew whether to throw themselves back on that
which was receding, or forward on that to which they were called to
cling. ]In an intense sympathy with this perplexity, and even
anguish, prevailing m the Hebrew-Christian mind, and in an intense
anxiety as to its issue, the Epistle was written; a living voice of
power in a time of change and fear, yet a comprehensive exposition
of the advancing course of revelation, and of the relation between
its two great stages (pages 161-162).
Just what was involved in this crisis-time is not so clear, and
regarding that there is a wide divergence of views.In an article in
The Expository Times, Bruce sums up recent views regarding
the epistle's recipients. Candidates include the Christians of the
Lycus Valley (Colossae, Laodicea), Jewish Christians in Ephesus,
Hebrew converts in Rome who hesitated to declare themselves a part
of the "illicit religion" of Christ rather than the "licit
religion" (in the eyes of official Rome) of the Jews, Jewish
Christians of Corinth, Jewish convert hotheads who had fled to
Alexandria after the fall of Jerusalem, Hebrew Christians on
Cyprus, and Palestinian Jewish Christians either before or after
the destruction of A.D. 70. The Dead Sea Scrolls evidence certain
parallel interests between their authors and the recipients of
Hebrews. Both are concerned with the position and role of angels,
with Old Testament passages, with the priesthood and even with
Melchizedek. This has led some scholars to posit a connection
between the readers of our epistle and the Qumran community of the
Scrolls, or, at least, between this epistle and converted Jewish
priests.
In the midst of all this uncertainty, and with no real prospects
of additional light on the subject, Filson believes "it is
unfortunate that so much attention has been paid to questions of
authorship, destination, place of writing and date, " and that "the
frustratingly inconclusive study of Hebrews should make it clear
that we cannot find certain answers to the questions: Who? To whom?
From where? When?" (page 12). But we are not left with nothing.
For, as Filson also points out, the author of Hebrews is to us what
he has written. And that is a great deal to know and to have. It
can spur modern Christians to renewed and increased awareness of
what their faith can mean to them and what their faithfulness can
mean to others (page 84).StructureNumerous outlines of the epistle
have been set forward. One fascinating suggestion is made by
Kistemaker who regards the epistle as a kind of sermon. He mm a
four-point outline in the text itself at 2:17, and he suggests that
the author develops each point on the basis of a quotation from the
Psalms. His four points and their "texts" are:
- Christ's humanity and unity with His brethren (Psalm 8:4-6;
quoted in 2:6-8).
- Christ's faith and faithfulness (Psalm 95:7-11; quoted in
3:7-11).
- Christ's priesthood (Psalm 110:4; quoted first for discussion
at 5:6).
- Christ's offering of Himself (Psalm 40:6-8; quoted in
10:5-7).
Whether or not one should follow Kistemaker all the way, it is
apparent -that the Epistle to the Hebrews is thoroughly grounded in
the Old Testament Scriptures in general and in the Psalms in
particular.
Acknowledgements
A special acknowledgement of debt is due Dr. F. F. Bruce, the
late Dr. Franz Delitzsch and the late Professor Robert Milligan,
from whose commentaries I have drawn heavily and on which I have
leaned with great profit. (All quotations from Bruce in the
comments which follow are from his commentary unless otherwise
stated.) Other commentaries and books have been used to advantage,
but these have been my favorites. Delitzsch represents conservative
scholarship of the past century; Bruce is unsurpassed in that role
today. Milligan was of my own Restoration Movement background and,
in my opinion, is not given the esteem as a scholar today which he
certainly is due.
A note of thanks is also due Professor Homer Hailey, whose
college lectures on the Scriptures led me in due course through the
Epistle to the Hebrews, and whose biblical insight I will always
remember with appreciation and respect. I should also like to thank
Drs. Paul Southern, J. W. Roberts and Thomas H. Olbricht, who gave
me valuable experience in the exegetical method of study.
To these all and many others my sincere appreciation for
insights into this marvelous epistle. Any mistakes and
misunderstandings in this commentary are my own. They only are
original
EDWARD FUDGE
CHAPTER ONE
In chapter one our author seems to have two points in mind. First,
by showing Christ's superior position to angels, he sets forth also the
superiority of the new covenant which Christ mediates and certifies
over the old covenant which was mediated by angels. Second, he prepares
the way for chapter two, in which he explains how and why the Son
became lower than the angels for a brief period of time. A third
consideration not specified by the writer of Hebrews but in accord with
his epistle and perhaps also in his mind is that any revelation which
claims angelic origin or authority must be measured in terms of that
revelation which God has given through the Son - the Son who is better
and higher than all angels.
1:1. The basic sentence in this verse and the next is "God hath
spoken."
At sundry times is from a single adverb in the original which
meant "in many portions." Because God revealed His will in segments,
revelation came from time to time as needed. It was the nature of the
prophet that he spoke what God gave him to speak, and that was always
"in part."
In divers manners is also from a single adverb meaning "in many
varied ways."
The adverbs modify the verb. God
spoke (by prophets) to the fathers in many portions and in
various ways. Amos gave God's message by oracles and direct statements
from God; Hosea by "typical" experiences in his own life; Habakkuk by
arguments and discussion. Malachi spoke God's word by questions and
answers; Ezekiel by strange and symbolic acts; Haggai by sermons and
Zechariah by mystical signs.
God addressed His people in parables and in illustrations; by
warnings and exhortations; by encouragements and promises. By every
possible method He spoke through the prophets to the fathers. Yet the
word was always fragmentary and usually soon forgotten. When the Old
Testament closed, revelation was still incomplete. God was to speak
again, more fully and more effectively than He ever had spoken in the
prophets.
In time past is literally "of old," and refers to previous ages
of the world.
The fathers were the Jewish forefathers of the Hebrew
Christians. The prophets included both the writing prophets (such as
those whose work Scripture preserves) and the non-writing prophets
(such as Nathan, Elijah, Elisha and others). The prophets were "mouths"
for God (Exodus 4:16; 7:1). They spoke His word, though at times even
they did not understand it (I Peter 1:10-12; see Daniel 7:28;
12:8-10).
1:2. The phrase
these last days refers to the Messianic era, the age of
fulfillment, and is literally "the last of these days." The Jews
divided time into the Present Age, of anticipation, and the Coming Age,
of the Messiah. They expected the Messiah to come at the end of their
Present Age. When Christ came, however, the Coming Age crashed into
history and the Messianic era of fulfillment became a reality (
Hebrews 9:26-28). Peter's
sermon on Pentecost formally announced the beginning of these "last
days" (Acts 2:14-36).
Here was one of the more puzzling elements of the apostolic
preaching for the Jews (and for people in general, then and now). The
Messianic era of fulfillment has now begun with the resurrection of
Christ and His ascension into heaven, yet the temporal world continues
even as it decays. Men might expect the Present Age and the Coming Age
to meet at a given point, but certainly they do not expect them to
overlap! Yet this is exactly what the New Testament declares, and it is
this overlapping of Ages which creates the spiritual war for the
Christian.
But while the "last days" have begun - one Man is already in heaven!
- the consummation remains in the future and the old order continues to
exist (II Peter 3:3-10). it is God's plan that the church use this
interim to announce to the world that history has been given
significance in Jesus of Nazareth, and that man can now ask God for
reconciliation and have the assurance that He will give it through
Christ. (On this age of the world in God's plan see also the
Introduction to chapters 9-11 in my
Helps on Romans.)
God has
spoken unto us, that is, to those living in this age, "to whom
has come the very anticipated goal of the ages" (I Corinthians 10:11,
my translation; see Mark 1:15; Luke 1:68-79; Luke 4:19/II Corinthians
6:2; Acts 3:24).
By His son is literally "in a son" or "in one who is a son."
Here is no mere prophet, but one who is Himself a Son and by nature the
same as the Father.
Christ's very life and person expressed God (John 1:18). God has now
revealed Himself fully, not partially. He has spoken grace and truth, a
revelation superior to any given before (John 1:17). In Christ, God has
spoken salvation, not only spoken it but accomplished it - in the
unique life and sacrifice of the Son. The rest of chapter one exalts
the Son of God, Jesus Christ our Lord, by showing His many-faceted
ministry and position or "name."
God the Father has
appointed or set or ordained Christ as
heir of all things.
Heir speaks of an inheritance and brings to mind the words of
Psalm two, where the Son is given the nations for an inheritance. The
same imagery occurs In Psalm 110, and our author will discuss that
psalm several times, though usually with emphasis on Christ's priestly
ministry.
By Christ God
made the worlds. Christ is both originator and heir of all
things. He is the Alpha and the Omega, the author and finisher of
creation as well as of faith.
The worlds might mean the created universe (as in
11:3; see also John 1:3;
Colossians 1:16-17) or literally "the ages" of time in which God's
saving purpose is worked out. Both interpretations state what Scripture
elsewhere affirms.
1:3. Christ is the
brightness of the Father's
glory. Literally "effulgence," this word means either that which
radiates out from a light or the reflection which comes back. The
former meaning is probably intended here. If we speak of God's glory,
Christ is its very emanation and radiance. He is to the Father what
rays are to a light, or flames to a fire, or beams to the sun. Without
this Son, man is in the dark concerning God and salvation. God's
magnificence as deity is fully seen in Jesus Christ who was God in
human flesh (see John 14:9).
Christ is the
express image of the Father's
person. The word here translated
image originally meant a stamp or seal, then the impression left
by it. In the early centuries, the church engaged in great debates over
the precise philosophical meanings of some of these terms. It is enough
for us to know that Christ is an exact and complete representation of
God because He is the Son, and that in that capacity He is perfectly
sufficient to reveal God and to save man.
Christ is
upholding all things; by Him all things consist or hold together
(Colossians 1:17).
All things may be translated "the universe." Christ's
protectorate is all-inclusive.
The word of His power is specifically a "spoken word," and the
phrase might be translated "by His powerful spoken word." This is an
active and powerful word which upholds the universe.
Christ accomplished man's redemption
by Himself, through His own work of obedience. Our author
elaborates on this statement in chapters eight through ten (see also
Romans 5:12, 15-21). That
Jesus purged our sins means that He "made a cleansing" or
"accomplished a purification." The form of the verb indicates the words
by Himself, and suggests a one-time action (see Hebrews
9:12-14,
26-28).
Because His work of redemption had been completed (
2:9;
6:20;
7:26-27;
9:24-28;
10:12-14;
12:2), Christ
sat down. Unlike the Levitical priests who stood daily in an
imperfect and temporary service, Christ made atonement for all men and
then took His seat forever (
10:11-12).
The right hand signifies authority; see
notes on verse 13.
The Majesty refers to God the Father. Our author follows a
Jewish custom of referring to Jehovah by a euphemism, out of respect
for the sacred name.
1:4. Christ has been
made so much better than the angels, which ft will be our
writer's business to explain in the remainder of chapter one. This
verse contains two Greek words which express comparison (see also
7:20-22;
8:6 and
10:25). Christ is as much
better than angels as His name is more excellent than theirs. The
author will show how much
more excellent name Christ possesses
than they, and to that same extent he will show Christ to be
higher in rank than the angels themselves.
The writer has introduced his first point: Christ is a spokesman
superior to prophets or angels - because He is the Son. He was active
in creation. He is God's very substance and image. He has accomplished
a perfect work of complete redemption, and He has now taken His
inherited seat as universal heir and Lord at God's right hand in
heaven. He is Prophet (verse two), Priest (verse three) and King (verse
three).
Christ's name is far higher than those of the heavenly emissaries,
but why would our author need to make this point? It has already been
mentioned that many in the ancient world thought of angels as lords
over the present world system. Others worshipped angels. Still others
regarded Christ as simply one in an ascending order of angels. The
former overrated angels by giving them what belongs to the Son; the
latter underrated the Son by considering Him an angel (an error
propagated today by the so-called Jehovah's Witness cult). The
following verses put angels and the Son in proper perspective.
1:5a. To no angel did God ever say,
Thou are my son, this day have I begotten thee; but He said it
to the Son in Psalm 2:7. This Messianic psalm describes man's rejection
of Christ and God (verses 1-3; see Acts 4:25-28). It also foretells
God's triumph through His Christ ("Anointed," verses 4-9; see
Revelation 12:5; 19:15). And it gives a double pronouncement in view of
the Messianic judgment to come (verses 10-12). The same psalm is quoted
also at Acts 13:33 of the resurrection of Christ, and at
Hebrews 5:5 of Christ's
divine installment as high priest. It seems to underlie the heavenly
voice at Christ's baptism (along with Isaiah 42:1) and at His
transfiguration (with Isaiah 42:1 and possibly Deuteronomy 18:15ff
).
Emphasis here is on
Son, stressing Christ's nature and position, and on the first
person pronoun "I," emphasizing the divine origin of His appointment.
Christ is God's own Son in essence by eternal nature. He was God in the
flesh through a miraculous conception. He is ranking Son and Man in
glory through His resurrection and a divine decree.
Of course the psalmist did not understand all of this, and his words
may have been partially appreciated through a lesser fulfillment in his
own day. But their full meaning is seen only in the light of the
resurrection and ascension of Christ. The same Holy Spirit which guided
the prophets (H Peter 1:21) also led the apostles into the meaning of
their writings (I Peter 1:10-12), as well as the significance of the
gospel events involving Jesus the Christ (John 14:26; 15:26; 16:12-14;
see also John 2:19-22; 12:12-16; 13:6-7; Luke 24:31-32, 44-45).
1:5b.
I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son. These
words are quoted from H Samuel 7:14, an oracle of Nathan concerning
David's royal son. The promise referred partially to Solomon (I Kings
2:23-24; I Chronicles 28:5-7) but, as many other Old Testament
statements, found perfect fulfillment only in Christ. Both "I" and "He"
are emphatic, stressing the personal relationship between the speaker
and the one of whom He speaks.
To him and
to me reflect Hebrew style; the statement means simply "I shall
be his father; he shall be my son." The Son of God was the prophetic
son of David (Matthew's gospel emphasizes this: see 1:1, 20; 9:27;
12:23; 15:22; 20:30-31; 21:9; 21:15; also 12:3; 22:41ff). The
statements quoted in verse five describe a Son, not mere angels.
1:6.
Again could be placed at the beginning this verse, as In the
King James and Revised Standard versions, introducing another Old
Testament citation; or with the verb, as in the American Standard and
New American Standard versions. The phrase has been regarded as
referring to the incarnation, the resurrection and the second advent.
Angels are associated with all three events in Scripture. The point is
that they worship Him
. All the angels of God, of every rank and order, are commanded
to
worship him, a fact which points to His superiority over them.
The quotation might be from a Greek version of Deuteronomy 32:43 or of
Psalm 97:7. No doubt the first readers of the epistle recognized
it.
1:7. In this verse and the next, two words are used which together
mean "on the one hand" and "on the other hand." A contrast is intended
here between angels, who are
ministers or servants, and the Son who is so much more. The
quotation is from Psalm 104:4.
1:8. Psalm 45:6-7 is applied to Christ, identifying Him as eternal
God whose
throne is
for ever and ever, and as
righteous King. His kingdom is one of
righteousness (
Hebrews 7:2-3; Isaiah
9:7; 11:4-5).
1:9. In the flesh, Christ
loved righteousness and hated iniquity (see
10:5-10; Isaiah 53:11-12). Because of His perfect obedience, Jesus was anointed
("Christ-ed") by God and exalted above every creature (see Philippians
2:8-11). The
oil of gladness probably represents an occasion of festivity as
well as that of coronation. Psalm 45 seems to have originally
celebrated the marriage of the king, though again its deepest meaning
is understood only in the light of the Son. Along this line, compare
Hebrews 12:22-24 (see
notes on "general assembly") with Revelation 19:1-10. The chief point
of the verse ought not to be overlooked in the midst of details.
1:10-12. These three verses are quoted from Psalm 102:25-27. In the
passage the psalmist calls on Jehovah to come to his rescue, and
appeals to God's eternal nature in pleading for the deliverance of his
own life. This is only one of many passages addressed to or regarding
Jehovah in the Old Testament which are applied to Christ in the New
Testament.
Because Christ is creator, He is also eternal - though all His
creation will change with age and finally pass away. He
laid the foundation of the earth and His
hands arranged
the heavens, but when these things
perish (see
12:26-28) His
years will
not fail (
7:24-25). When they are
all
changed He will remain
the same (
13:8).
Again the contrast is between the Son and the angels (verse seven),
who have no such traits or legitimate claims. They are rather part of
that creation which He has made and have life only through His
will.
1:13. This is a quotation of Psalm 110:1, the Old Testament passage
most quoted or referred to in the New Testament Scriptures. It is
quoted in Acts 2:34-35; Mark 12:36; Hebrews 1:13, and seems to be in
mind in Mark 14:62; Acts 7:55; Romans 8:34; Ephesians 1:20; Colossians
3:1; Hebrews 1:3;
8:1;
10:12;
12:2 and I Peter 3:22. As
noted already at verse five, many psalms which had partial fulfillment
or significance in their original historical settings are fully
understood in the New Testament writings through the life, death,
resurrection and coronation of Christ.
The figure of the
right hand is common in the Psalms, sometimes referring to a
place of honor as here (see Psalm 16:11; 45:9; 80:17). Most of the time
the term refers to strength or security from God given to the one of
whom it is used. The resurrected Jesus, now made Christ, was given a
position equaled only by that of God Himself (I Corinthians 15:27). He
is God's Right-Hand Man.
In the Old Testament we see the custom of the conquered king
prostrating himself to kiss the conqueror's feet (Psalm 2:12), or the
victor putting his feet on his captive's neck (Joshua 10:24) so that
the captive is made his
footstool. One day every knee will bow before Christ and every
tongue will confess His lordship (Philippians 2:10-11; I Corinthians
15:24-25). The angels will be in that number; the Son is made so much
better than them all (
verse four).
1:14. This question is worded in the Greek to indicate that the
author expects an affirinative answer. Angels
all, regardless of rank, are
ministering spirits. But Christ is so much more. They are
sent forth by a higher authority, perhaps even by the Son at
God's right hand. Their work is to serve,
to minister for Christians,
who shall be heirs of salvation. Our writer says literally that
they are "sent for service on behalf of those who are about to receive
salvation as an inheritance." If angels serve the saints, how much more
do they serve the Son! And how greatly superior is His position and
name to theirs.
Christ is Prophet of prophets - God has spoken in Him for these last
days. He is Priest of priests - by Himself He made atonement for sins.
He is King of kings - seated at God's right hand, reigning over a
kingdom of righteousness. Old Testament Scripture shows Him to be God's
divine Son, David's prophetic descendant, and worthy of worship.
Whereas angels are messengers, Christ is eternally Lord and divine
King. As everlasting Creator of all things, He is also now victorious
Vicegerent at God's right hand. The voice from heaven at Christ's
transfiguration aptly sums up our author's argument in this first
chapter: "Hear ye Him!"
CHAPTER TWO
Having demonstrated in chapter one the superiority of Christ the Son
over the serving angels, our writer concludes in
2:1-4 (which would have
been placed more appropriately as the ending of the first chapter) with
an exhortation and a warning.
His arguments is of a type commonly employed by the Jewish teachers
of the time, and was called by them an argument
qal wahomer - "from the light to the weighty." A statement is
made concerning a "lighter" matter, which then is inferred to be even
more certainly true of a matter of greater or "heavier" importance.
Jesus' statements concerning the Father's benevolence follow this
kind of reasoning (Matthew 6:25-31; 7:9-11), as do His remarks about
working on the Sabbath (Matthew 12:10-12). Paul uses the same type of
reasoning to show the security of the true believer (Romans 5:8-10) and
the abundant provisions of divine grace (Romans 5:15-21). The author of
Hebrews later reasons the same way regarding Christ's unique priesthood
(chapter seven) and all-sufficient sacrifice for sin (
9:13-14), Christian
discipline (
12:9-10), and the
reverence which should accompany those who are heirs of the unshakeable
kingdom (
12:25-29).
In these verses he speaks of two agents by whom God's word has come,
and of the consequences of failing to heed that word -- especially as
spoken by the Son. If Christ's position is far greater than that given
the angels (as has been shown in chapter one), punishment for ignoring
or rejecting His message must be far greater than that given for
irreverence of the angelic word.
2:1.
Therefore is literally "on account of this"; that is, because of
the greatness of the Son and in view of the point to follow.
Ought is not the simple word for an obligation but the stronger
word which means "it is imperative" or "it is necessary."
To give the more, earnest heed translates a verb meaning "to pay
careful attention" and an adverb (based on an adjective in the
comparative degree) meaning "even more extremely." The result is an
exceptionally strong exhortation. "Because of these things," he is
saying, "it is absolutely necessary for us to be extremely careful to
pay attention."
His readers are to hold to
the things which they
have heard from the Son by means of His apostles.
Lest we let them slip is better translated "lest we drift away
(from them)," as in the later versions. The word translated
slip was used by Greek writers of an arrow slipping out of the
quiver, of snow sliding, of foul language slipping into a conversation
or, in medical contexts, of food slipping down the windpipe instead of
the esophagus. The writer urges extreme care lest his readers
slip from steadfast obedience and trust in the Son.
Their danger, and that of many other New Testament readers then and
now, was that of slipping from trust in the Son's finished work of
salvation by His own perfect-life obedience and sacrifice to a reliance
on their own performance based on a meritorious view of salvation. The
same caution applies equally well to slipping from active obedience to
careless disobedience or disregard.
2:2.
For indicates the basis of the warning.
The word spoken by angels would include every divine message
delivered by angels, but has special reference to the Law of Moses
which was delivered by means of angels and was highly esteemed by the
Jews for that reason (Psalm 68:17; Deuteronomy 33:2; Acts 7:53;
Galatians 3:19).
Steadfast here means reliable, dependable or strong. God's word
by angels was always a sure word which came to pass.
Transgression refers to a violation of an express command and
disobedience refers to a refusal or neglect to obey. The former
stresses the act of disobedience; the latter stresses the careless or
rebellious attitude which prompts it. punishment was certain in either
case under the Law.
God's punishment of sin was always the
just or fair
reward of sin. It was never arbitrary, but always in keeping
with divine justice and holiness.
Recompense indicates a payment of wages earned. The wages of sin
is death -- that is the fair payment earned by sin. The man who gets
"what he has coming to him" will never be saved.
2:3.
We are those to whom the Son has spoken in these last days, and
the pronoun is here emphasized. To neglect salvation is to fail to show
concern and care for it. Neglect is a positive wrong consisting of a
lack of action. By doing nothing one does wrong. The tense of the verb
here views life as a whole -- this is more an attitude governing all of
life than it is a single or specific act (see
6:7-12;
10:28-29). Generalities,
of course, are always manifested in specifics. A single act of neglect
suggests an attitude of the same and should be cause for repentance and
diligence.
We have a
salvation which is
so great for a number of reasons. It comes from a great
spokesman (chapter one). It involves a great work of redemption (
1:3;
2:9,
14). This great work
brought great results (2:10, 15, 17). So great a salvation carries a
judgment equally great for those who reject it (see
6:4-8;
10:28-31; also Mark
16:16; Romans 1:17-18; II Corinthians 2:15-16). This salvation was
spoken first
by the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. It was repeated and
confirmed to the recipients of this epistle by chosen apostles
who had
heard him speak. The verb translated "confirm" is a form of the
same word "steadfast" in verse two. Christ's word is a sure word.
2:4. Freely translated,
our author says that
God added
witness upon witness, piling testimony together. He did this by
signs (stressing the spiritual meaning of the acts)
and wonders (stressing the effect on those who saw), various
kinds of
miracles (stressing the might involved in accomplishing these
signs and wonders; literally the word is "powers"), and spiritual
gifts of the Holy Spirit which He gives to the church (see
I Corinthians 12; Romans 12).
All this was
according to God's
own will. He confirmed the supernatural message of a resurrected
and ascended Savior by supernatural demonstrations of power -- because
He willed to do so. The absence of such signs in certain places today
speaks not of God's power but of His will. He can if He wishes. God's
working is in God's sovereign hands. He gives spiritual gifts and works
miracles and signs as it pleases Him.
The answer to the original question must be that there is no escape.
If the lesser word of angels was sure and violations of it were
strictly punished, there is absolutely no escape for one who carelessly
regards the great salvation spoken by the superior Son. Let each true
believer hold fast to the Son of God in constant diligence, trusting
His work of salvation for total deliverance from sin and yielding to
His voice in all things.
2:5. At the beginning of
the remarks on chapter one the comment was made that those verses
prepared the way for chapter two, in which the author would tell how
the Son became lower than angels for a brief period of time, and
explain why. By the end of the first chapter the original Jewish
readers might very well have asked, "If the Son is so much greater than
the angels, why did He become a man and die?"
Beginning with verse five the author answers this question. In the
process he shows the intended creation glory and dignity of man, a
position never realized fully after the Fall by any man except Jesus
Christ. He demonstrates how Jesus now occupies this place of
prominence, and how, by virtue of His accomplishments, all men may
enjoy their intended state of glory.
There are Biblical indications that
the angels have a hand in God's administration of the present
world-order (Daniel 10:20-21; 12:1; Ephesians 6:12). We know that
various Jewish sects before and after Christ assigned such a role to
angels, and the epistle to the Colossians indicates that certain
gentile teachers did the same. Be that as it may, God did not plan the
glorified
world to come for the benefit of the angels, but for man. The
intended glory of man is expressed in terms of all things being
put in subjection to him (see Romans 8:19-25; 11 Peter 3:7, 10,
13-14; Revelation 21:lff).
2:6. David is quoted from
Psalm 8:5-7 to establish this point. God is interested in and
mindful of man. He
visits him in blessing and judgment.
The son of man in this psalm is simply a poetic expression for
man.
2:7. Man was made but
a little lower than the angels. He was
crowned by the Creator
with glory and honor. He was
set over the works of God's
hands (see Genesis 1:26-28). This was man's intended exalted
position as first created by God for paradise glory.
2:8. God
put all things in subjection under man's
feet, according to the psalmist. Our writer reasons as follows.
If God really put
all things in subjection under him,
nothing is excluded from man's dominion and oversight. Yet if we
look about us
we do not see
all things under man's control --
yet. Man is not master of his environment and world, though he
is frequently its corrupter and polluter. Man does not enjoy paradise
glory and dominion. To say this is to state the obvious. But does this
mean that God's purpose has been thwarted? Is there anywhere a man who
is over
all things -- in complete control?
2:9. We do not see
ourselves in that position -- at least not at the present time.
But we do see
Jesus, and He is
crowned with glory and honor! Is the mighty Son of chapter one
-- that Son so much better than the angels -- a
man? Yes! For He was
made a little lower than the angels, even to the
suffering of death, that
by the grace of God He could die
for every man -- then give all who would follow Him their
intended glory and dominion.
Jesus became a representative man. In Him, God found a man who gave
what He had always wanted from man but which no man had ever given -- a
human life fully and always dedicated to pleasing God. In Christ, man's
glorified potential was fully realized. This glory was not even planned
for angels. It was not intended for other heavenly beings, earthly
creatures or occupants of the subterranean depths. It was the Creator's
original intention for
man. And now one
man is in that position. One
man has a foothold in glory! And because He is a representative
man, acting on behalf of all mankind, His people will one day enjoy the
same position of glory.
The expression
a little
lower than the angels is used in two senses in this passage.
When it is said that man was put a little lower than the angels, the
expression indicated his exalted position - it is but a little lower
than the angels (and the original psalm had the general word for "God"
instead of "angels"). But when it is said of Jesus that He became a
little lower than the angels, the direction is
reversed. For Jesus is the Son, far greater than the angels. To
say that He became lower than angels is to say that He was humiliated,
that He emptied Himself, that He condescended (Philippians 2:5ff). It
is also to say that He became a
man -- like ourselves and for our benefit.
2:10. It was becoming,
fitting and proper for
him for whom are all things and by whom are all things
(Revelation 4:11; Romans 11:36; I Corinthians 8:6; II Corinthians 5:18)
to bring
many sons
to glory by making Jesus their
perfect forerunner or
captain, even
through suffering.
In becoming a representative man, Jesus willingly became of the same
stuff as mankind in general. He became a brother to man, of the seed of
David according to the flesh. In becoming a man, Jesus also took on
suffering and death, both inevitable characteristics of mankind. Yet
because of His sinless life, His death was able to count as our death.
And by suffering death, Christ was able to bring many sons to glory -
going ahead of them Himself as Captain, experiencing first the
suffering of death but then the glory of resurrection and installment
at God's right hand the same kind of glory they, too, will one day
enjoy because of Him.
2:11.
He that sanctifieth is Christ and
they who sanctified are saints or Christians. Both they and
Christ are
all of one Father -- God. For this reason Christ
is not ashamed or embarrassed to
call them brethren. Christ did not call us His brethren because
He approved of our live or agreed with all our ideas. Brotherhood is
not dependent on such things, though endorsement involves them. Christ
did not endorse the thoughts and behavior of all his brethren; He
simply called them brothers. The basis of brotherhood is a common
fatherhood. Those who have the same father should not be embarrassed to
call one another brethren.
2:12. The words of Psalm
22:22 are quoted in the mouth of Jesus. The psalmist calls on God for
deliverance from enemies. He hopefully affirms that he will yet
declare God's
name among his
brethren in the congregation of God's people. The word usually
translated
church refers numerous times in the Greek Old Testament to the
Jews in solemn assembly. Psalm 22 is quite descriptive of Jesus, and
the entire psalm was generally understood by Christ and His apostles as
predictive of the suffering of the Messiah and the glory which would
follow. Jesus suffered personally, was delivered by God, and now lives
to declare God's salvation among His brethren.
2:13. Words similar to
I will put my trust in him are found in the Greek Old Testament
at II Samuel 22:3; Psalm 18:2 and Isaiah 8:17. The point of the
quotation here is that Jesus, like His human brothers, had to depend on
God and trust in Him (see Mark 14:32-36). Luke only of the Evangelists
records the dying words of Christ: "Father, into thy hands I commend my
spirit" (23:46) -- and Luke's Gospel highlights the humanity of Jesus
and His identification with mankind throughout. The particular verb
form given in Jesus' statement in the verse just mentioned stresses the
extreme personal trust Jesus felt in committing His life to the
Father's care (see also I Peter 2:23; 4:19).The next quotation is
certainly from Isaiah 8:18 (which argues for Isaiah 8:17 in the
previous citation). The meaning here is that Jesus is one with His
human brethren in obedience to God as Father. The words of this
quotation should not be pressed too far. Jesus is brother to the
saints, not their father.
2:14. Since God's other
children are necessarily
partakers of flesh and blood, with all that is implied in that
statement, Christ
also took part of the same. He died, as they do, but
through His
death he destroyed or nullified the strength of the
devil who
had the power of death over man because of sin. Since Jesus had
no sin of His own, the devil had no power over Him. When Christ entered
the grave, therefore, He was not bound. Rather He walked in
free-handed, picked up the keys and came out again in triumph! (See
Revelation 1:17-18.)
2:15. Because Jesus rose
from the dead, death can no longer hold its former terror for the man
who trusts in Jesus. By His resurrection, Christ was able to
deliver mankind from the
bondage in which he is bound
all his
lifetime; that is, the bondage of the
fear of death. Because one man has conquered death, Satan is
immobilized and all men are potentially free of death's rule.
The same power which brought Jesus out of Hades will also bring out
His saints (see Romans 8:11; II Corinthians 4:14; I Thessalonians
4:14). It is interesting that the ancient Greeks called their
burial-ground a "necropolis" city of the dead, but that since Christ we
call it a "cemetery" -- sleeping place. One man has been to the city of
the dead and returned! Because He did, we will.
2:16. The word translated
took on may mean either "to take hold of for oneself" -- the
idea represented in the King James Version, or "to take hold of someone
to help him" -- as probably is the case here. From this second meaning
the word may mean simply "to have an interest in, show concern for, or
help" someone. It is true that Jesus took on Himself the nature of man
and not angel, and verses 5-15 have been given to that theme. This
verse seems to speak, however, of Jesus taking hold of man to help him.
Angels did not need redemption and apparently fallen angels can not be
redeemed -- but man both needed it and would receive it. Jesus became a
man to accomplish man's needed redemption (
1:3;
2:9;
notes on 10:1-14).
Jesus was born to save His Jewish people from their sins (Matthew
1:21) and to fulfill the promises made to the fathers (Acts 13:32-33;
Romans 15:8). To that end He became one of
the seed of Abraham. But by the grace of God He also tasted
death for every man (
Hebrews 2:9), so that
gentiles as well as Jews may praise God for His mercy (Romans
15:9).
2:17.
Wherefore, because Jesus took on the responsibility of saving
man,
in all things it was necessary for Him to
be made like unto
his brethren. God's design for man's salvation consisted of
sending a representative man who could do for man what man had been
unable to do for himself -- live an acceptable life before God. Because
Jesus was this chosen and well-beloved Servant of the Father, and in
order to carry out this divine mission, He became in every respect like
His human brethren, though without sin.
He was divine, God in the flesh, and we must never forget that. But
we should not forget either that He was fully human. Jesus was a man,
with every human temptation, desire and sorrow. If His deity had
precluded any of these He could not have been a truly representative
man and could have become neither Savior not even a fair
example.Because He did fully identify with His human brethren, yet
remained faithful to God in all His life, He became a perfect
high priest, both
merciful to man and
faithful or reliable in His relationship to God. As high priest
He first made
reconciliation for the sins of all His
people, then became Mediator on their behalf before God.
2:18. Because
he himself hath suffered, being tempted through every possible
allurement and enticement of Satan including an undeserved death,
he has the power and
is able to succor or render aid and comfort to His people when
they
are tempted. He became a son of man that we might become sons of
God. He took our place, died our death -- that we might enjoy His life
and the blessings it made possible.
But He not only
died for us -- He first
lived for us. While this point is frequently overlooked, it is
this which made the first possible and meaningful. It is only by His
perfect life -- lived on our behalf and in our stead, then offered to
the Father and accepted by Him -- that we can be made accepted, for our
own imperfect lives are never perfectly acceptable to the Father.
Salvation is by the grace of God from beginning to end, and it was by
the grace of God that Jesus tasted death for every man.
Moses could give a law but only Jesus could live that law. Unless we
see Him in this light He will mean little more to us than Moses did to
the Jew. And great as Moses was, he was not in the same category with
the Son who became man. This point our author develops in the next
chapter.
CHAPTER THREE
The writer has shown Jesus to be superior to the prophets as a
spokesman for God. As the Son, Christ's name or position is far greater
than that of any angel. Yet He became one of us, to bring us to our
intended glory. Through His own suffering and temptations He was
qualified to serve perfectly as priest and comforter to His suffering
and tempted brethren on earth.
Now the author turns to other matters (led, of course, by the Spirit
of God). Moses was the chief character of the Old Covenant, and was
respected by the Hebrews as the foremost leader of their religion and
life. Jesus is prophet and priest of the New Covenant, and Christians
are to be faithful to Him in all things. The Hebrew Christians were
being tempted to leave Christ and return to Moses. To prevent this,
chapter three shows Christ's superiority over Moses. It shows the
possibility of apostasy and destruction, based on the former example of
God's Old Testament people under )loses. The chapter then urges extreme
caution in maintaining a faithful heart lest the Christian, too, fall
by disbelief.
3:1.
Wherefore, or because of what has gone before specifically
because of the divine appointment of Christ as perfect prophet and
because of His absolute perfection as sympathetic and faithful priest
-- the admonition follows. The
holy brethren are Christians. The phrase literally means
"brothers who are set apart (from the world and sin) and
are dedicated (to the service of God through Christ)."
Christians are saints or holy ones, not because of their own
achievements in attaining purity of life (see I Corinthians 1:2; 6:11),
though that is a necessity, but because God has called them holy, in
Jesus Christ. Christ is made unto us "sanctification" or holiness (I
Corinthians 1:30). We are holy in Him.
Yet we are commanded to become holy, just as God is holy (I Peter
1:15-16). We are to perfect holiness in the fear of God (II Corinthians
7:1). Without holiness no man can see God (
Hebrews 12:14). In the
economy of the New Testament, however, God first pronounces men to be
what He desires (on the basis of the finished work of Christ and their
union with Him) and then causes them to become what He has already
called them.
The term "saints" is one of the most frequently used descriptions of
God's people in the New Testament. The word is always in the plural;
one does not read of "Saint So-and-so." All God's people are saints, as
described above. It is possible that the tendency of modern Christians
to neglect this term in their common vocabulary has contributed to the
lack of sanctification in the church today. We will do no harm, and
perhaps a great deal of good, to revive the usage of Scriptural terms
and phrases.
The saints are
partakers or partners in
the heavenly calling. Their heavenly invitation to be God's
people leads them, in response to the gospel, to become partners and
sharers in a heavenly way of life. Now the writer urges them to
consider Christ Jesus. The word translated
consider means to look at something or someone with great care.
It involves not only looking at, but thinking about. One must spend
time to fulfill this word. The object of such contemplation is here
Christ Jesus.
Many times in Scripture the writer makes a point of emphasis by the
order of words. Frequently the term
Christ Jesus points to Jesus, not in His earthly ministry, but
as the Christ at God's right hand -- the resurrected and glorified
Jesus of Nazareth. On the other hand, the expression
Jesus Christ sometimes (but not always) stresses the work, or
ministry, or person of Jesus as a man and as one of us. Here we are to
consider our heavenly Lord: in all His offices, His splendor, His rank
and His glory.
We are specifically to consider Christ as
the Apostle and High
Priest of our profession. The term
apostle means one sent or a messenger. Jesus was sent by the
Father to be Savior of the world (I John 4:14 and other passages).
Moses also was sent by God to accomplish a typical "salvation" of God's
people from bondage (Exodus 3:10), though Moses is never called an
apostle.
Jesus is also our
High Priest, and the writer has spoken briefly of this office in
the previous chapter. Later he will develop the thought in detail. Here
he entreats us to reflect on Christ Jesus: as Apostle -- sent by God's
authority to man; as High Priest -- going before God on man's behalf;
in all things -- superior to every previous agent of God.
Our profession or confession is first our oral acknowledgement
of faith in Jesus as Christ and Lord (see Matthew 16:16; Romans
10:9-10; II Corinthians 9:13; I Timothy 6: 12-13; Hebrews
4:14;
10:23). Then it is our
state of life based on that confession, a profession or declaration of
the faith which has been confessed.
3:2. Christ
was faithful or reliable or trustworthy with reference to God
the Father, who
appointed him apostle and
priest. Moses also was faithful to God
in all his house. The writer does not minimize the faithfulness
or the function of Moses. He praises and commends Moses for faithful
service. But he then shows, on the basis of the heavenly realities,
that Christ is far superior to Moses by virtue of His greater person
and function.
3:3. Christ is
counted worthy of more glory than Moses, not because Moses was
unfaithful, for he was not, but be. cause of the inherent function of
both men in God's plan. The man who builds a house
hath more honor than the house. We admire a beautiful building,
but we regard more highly the architect who designed it and the
superintendent who saw it rise.
3:4. So far as the work of salvation is concerned, the one who
builds
all things is God. He is the grand architect and superintendent
of the entire scheme of redemption. He
is its originator and its goal. The Word which became flesh was
one with God the Father. Therefore Christ, who was that Word, is the
builder of the house, while Moses -- though faithful -- was a part in
the divine house.
3:5. Christ is superior to Moses in other points as well. Moses
verily was faithful, but
in God's household,
as a servant and as a member of the household. His faithfulness
to God served as
a testimony to the reliability and trustworthiness of the
message which he spoke from God. The point here is based on Numbers
12:6-8, which is quoted in part. There God testified to the
faithfulness of Moses and rewarded that faithfulness by speaking
directly with Moses in revealing His will. Moses' personal faithfulness
as a worker in God's house served as a witness to the word which he
revealed from God.
3:6.
But Christ is
a son (not a servant)
over (not in and part of)
his own house (not that of someone else). Now we learn what is
meant by the
house so far as Christ is concerned.
We, the church, God's people under Christ
are the
house of God (I Timothy 3:15). Christ promised to "build" it
(Matthew 16:18), and He began that work on Pentecost. The church is
composed of "living stones" (I Peter 2:5; Ephesians 2:20) -- those
individuals who by faith and baptism have come into union with Christ,
have become members of His spiritual body and, collectively, are His
church. Moses was a faithful servant in the Old Testament "house" of
God (and of Christ), but Christ is the faithful Son over His own house.
He is far superior to Moses, though Moses was a great and faithful man
of God.
But there is a divine
if, so far as we are concerned. We are His house,
if we hold fast the confidence, the boldness based on inner
assurance,
and the rejoicing or boasting
of the hope firm unto the end. This is the message of the tire
Bible and is particularly the theme of the book of Hebrews. The reward
is of grace, but it depends on faith And a saving faith is one which
trusts and obeys until the very end. It is not enough to begin, only to
fall along the way. Saving faith, true grounds of rejoicing, a genuine
hope -- all these depend on steadfastness and continue trust throughout
life. The Hebrew Christians urgently needed that lesson. We are no less
in need of it today.
3:7-8. As an incentive to
steadfastness, our author points to the example of God's people under
Moses (see also I Corinthians 10:1-13). If they fell from God's favor
through disbelief, the same fate could befall God's people today.
Wherefore (as the Holy Ghost saith in Psalm 95:7-11),
To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts.
Psalm 95 is a call to worship God. The psalmist bases his call on
God's deity (verse three), His might as creator and sustainer (verses
four through six) and His election of and covenant relationship with
Israel (verse seven). He then warns against a hard or disobedient
heart, which he says will lead only to destruction. This happened to
the fathers in the wilderness, the psalmist points out, and it can
happen to God's people in his day. Now the psalmist's point is made
(using his own words) by the writer to the Hebrews, who applies it to
the believers of his day. God's people have fallen before through
unbelief and an evil heart. They can do the same again.
Today those who
hear his voice are not to
harden their
hearts. This happened with the
Jews in the provocation (Hebrew: Massah)
in the day of temptation (Hebrew: Meribah)
in the wilderness. The event mentioned here is recorded in
Exodus 17:1-7. The unbelief of the Jews then was essentially a lack of
trust. They doubted that God, who had called them from Egypt, would
provide for them in the wilderness and see them safely to the promised
land. This lack of faith led to murmuring. That murmuring was a
provocation of God and was sin. Christians are exhorted not to distrust
God, murmur and sin, but to have full confidence in Him. In that
confident trust they are to do His will as fully and exactly as
possible.
The Hebrew Christians were in danger of leaving Christ for Moses.
The analogy here suggests that back of their threatened apostasy was a
basic lack of trust in the work of Christ as perfect sacrifice, priest
and Savior. They were not confident of their standing before God.
Because their basis of salvation was the finished redemptive work of
the Son, such lack of confidence reflected a fundamental lack
of faith in Christ. This unbelief was sinful -- and ft was the
same kind of sin which led to the Jews' destruction centuries before in
the wilderness.
3:9-11. Our author is
still quoting from Psalm 95. The
fathers in the wilderness
tempted God,
proved Him in the evil sense of putting Him to the test and
saw His
works for
forty years so that they should have no excuse. They
grieved God by distrusting Him. Because of this unbelief God
swore
in His
wrath that
they would
not enter into His
rest. Chapter four will discuss the meaning of God's
rest. Here the reference is made without elaboration.
3:12. Rather than
take heed, we would say (almost literally) "look out!"
An evil heart of unbelief is a heart, or disposition, or spirit,
which does not so trust God that it accepts what He says with
confidence and then walks with trust in Him and in His word.
Departing is from a word closely related to that which gives
"apostasy." The child of God can become so corrupted by a distrustful
and unfaithful heart that he finally forsakes God completely.
Such distrust of Christ can lead to apostasy in two directions. Some
who begin to doubt their acceptance on the basis of Christ's perfect
life and blood will despair of all hope and go back into sin and the
world. Others will seek to help or add to their spiritual stature by
their own strict observance of rules and regulations -- which they
themselves will choose as important or receive as such from someone
else. When motivated by a lack of trust in the standing Christ makes
possible, this too is sinful.
It was this error in part which led to the writing of Galatians
(against Judaizing tendencies), Colossians (against an apparently
gentile heresy which had adopted rituals and philosophies from many
sources), I John (against a budding philosophical heresy later known as
gnosticism) and even Hebrews. Christ is sufficient as Savior, and the
man who truly has Him has enough. Steadfast faithfulness to Christ is
an evidence of this inward faith, and is a necessity if one is to be
saved in the end. That is the point of this chapter.
3:13. So that Christians will not fall through unbelief, they are
admonished to
exhort or encourage or comfort
one another. This is to be done
daily, while it is called today. Such refreshing of the spirit,
such rededication to God and to Christ, will prevent one's being
hardened or calloused
through the deceitfulness or error
of sin.
This exhorting is the duty of every Christian. Barnes asks:
How often do church-members see a fellow-member go astray without
any exhortation or admonition. ...Belonging to the same family; having
the same interests in religion; and all suffering when one suffers, why
should they not be allowed tenderly and kindly to exhort one another to
a holy life?
In a special sense, this exhorting is to be done by the elders or
shepherds of the flock, whose chief duty before God is to watch for
souls (
Hebrews 13:17; see
Ezekiel 33: 7-9). Milligan's comments are still appropriate:
Do not procrastinate, or put off till tomorrow what should be done
today.... If the members of every congregation of disciples would all
watch over one another, not as censors, but as members of the body of
Christ, how many errors might be corrected in their incipiency. But...
how many delinquent Christians are allowed to become hardened in sin,
before even the Elders of the Church call on them and admonish them!
How very unlike these Elders are to the Good Shepherd that careth for
the sheep.
While such exhorting is to be done daily, it is one purpose of the
lard's Day assembly as well. Those who are absent from the gatherings
of the saints fail both to receive needful exhortation and to
contribute their encouragement to others (
Hebrews 10:24-25).
The neglect of Christian exhortation is surely among the greatest
failings of God's people today. The mad rush for the world's goods, the
excessive drive for material prosperity, the disproportionate love of
pleasure, the self-centered living of a modern age -- these all have
practically extinguished the selfless and obedient concern of saints in
too many places for one another, and the careful exhortation which
should grow out of that concern has died before it was born. Any
congregation that ignores this divine obligation has no right to parade
itself as a faithful church of Christ Jesus, regardless of its other
qualities or so-called distinctive marks.
3:14.
We are made partakers or partners
of Christ only
if we hold fast
the beginning of our confidence or grounds of hope
steadfast unto the end or conclusion or goal. Our author
addresses his readers in verse one as partakers of the heavenly
calling. But while the call has been issued and the journey begun, the
trip is not completed until its destination is reached. As the
Israelites under Moses fell after they had begun, so Christians will be
Christ's partners in glory only if they are faithful until the
conclusion of life and the attaining of the goal.
3:15. He repeats the admonition from the psalm, this time with
emphasis on the word
provocation.
3:16.
Some, after
they had heard, did provoke God. This is probably best
translated as a question. Who did provoke? The answer is:
all that came out of Egypt by Moses.
3:17.
With whom was he grieved forty years? A few reprobates? No, it
was
with them that had sinned, whose carcasses fell in the
wilderness, and that number included the entire company of adults
who left Egypt, with the exceptions of Joshua and Caleb. The danger of
leaving faith in Christ is grave because the possibility is both real
and widespread.
3:18.
To whom did God swear
that they should not enter into his rest? It was
to them that believed not. In this case they had stopped
believing although they had begun their journey in faith.
3:19.
So we see, he concludes,
that they could not enter in because of disbelief. Their death
in the wilderness was not due to Moses' unfaithfulness -- he was
faithful in all God's house. It was not because God was unable to save
them -- He showed His works forty years in the wilderness. The reason
they fell was simple and single: they stopped believing and trusting
God. The next verse of exhortation should be included in chapter three:
Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering
into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it. It
happened once before. It can happen again.
CHAPTER FOUR
The author continues his line of reasoning begun in chapter three.
There is no break of thought at this chapter division.
4:1.
Let God's people today
fear and not fall. This is a real possibility now and was then
for the Hebrew Christians or there would be no warning. In the midst of
the various and passing issues of each generation, God's people would
do well to remember that the fundamental and eternal issue has always
been belief versus unbelief and that God (and God alone) will test each
individual (as an individual) on that issue. This point should never be
forgotten.
The exhortations in Hebrews are rich in edification, and the "let
us" admonitions are translated from a verb form called the "hortatory
subjunctive" (see
4:11,
14,
16; 6:1;
10:22-24;
12:1,
28;
13:13,
15).
A
promise has been
left for us, although the Old Testament saints and apostates
have died. That promise concerns
entering into God's
rest. The same offer was made the Jews, as our writer explains,
but because of disbelief they did not receive the promised blessing.
The same offer is now given to believers in Christ. Christians are to
fear, however, lest any of them
should seem to come short of it.
To
come short might mean to fall short of attaining the promised
rest, and that point is well taken in this context. But it may
also mean to come short of being offered the promise of God in the
first place, and the next verses, as well as the verb
should seem, appear to support this interpretation.
Some of the Hebrew saints appear to have been disappointed in their
immediate expectations as Christians. They had given up their ancient
religion, they had suffered persecution for their faith, they had
endured afflictions for Christ's sake. It seemed to some that all their
sacrifices had been in vain. They had not entered into rest but into
distress. It seemed to some that the promise of a rest surely did not
apply in their case, for they had not found it. The writer shows that
the promise not only does apply to the Christian, but that since it was
not fulfilled in the past it must apply to God's people in Christ.
4:2. God
preached a gospel (good news) to the Jews concerning a promised
land.
Unto us Christians is given good news of present deliverance in
Christ and a part in the world to come. The believer is therefore to
fear, for the mere fact that he has heard good news does not mean that
he will enter into the promise. The Jews also heard good news, yet they
died in the wilderness.
The word preached by Moses
did not profit them, because it was
not mixed with faith in them that heard it. The figure here is
taken from the physical body and the digestive system. The Greek word
translated
mixed was used both of the digestion of food in the stomach and
the assimilation of nutrients throughout the body. Regardless of the
beauty, taste or value of food, it is of no use to the body unless it
is properly digested and assimilated.
The same is true spiritually. Israel heard the word of God but
failed to "digest" it through faith and assimilate it to their profit.
Food improperly digested will actually do harm. So also the word of
God, which is given to save, will be a testimony and assurance of
destruction unless it is mixed with faith (II Corinthians 2:15-16). It
is not enough to hear God's word. It must be received in faith and held
to in patience.
4:3.
We who
have believed are the ones who
enter into rest. Faith is a necessity, as demonstrated by the
experience both of those who fell and those who attained. The
rest into which believers enter (in promise now and in actuality
if they persevere) is the same rest of which God spoke in Psalm 95:11,
as mentioned already in
Hebrews 3:11.
Because God swore
in His
wrath that Israel would not enter into His rest, it is evident
that (1) He had a rest Himself, and (2) He had planned from the
beginning for man to share in it. The quotation is translated correctly
in
3:11, and should be so
worded here. God's
works were finished from the foundation of the world. Since then
He has been in His own rest, and has sought faithful men who would
enjoy it with Him.
4:4-5. This is proved by
two quotations from Scripture.
God did rest the seventh day from all his works, according to
Genesis 2:2. And then He swore in Psalm 95:11 concerning His rest,
saying if they shall enter (correctly translated, "they shall
surely not enter")
into my (the pronoun is emphatic)
rest.
4:6-7. Since it has
always been God's intention that
some must enter into His rest, and since the
Jews to whom it was first preached did not enter
because of unbelief, God offered the rest again to those living
in the time of David. They were admonished like the Jews in the
wilderness to
hear his voice and
harden not their
hearts (Psalm 95:7-8). God's saving time is
today, whenever that may be. Any day is a day of salvation in
which God's word comes to man and is received in faith.
4:8. The fact that the rest was offered to men in the time of David
proves that the rest involved was not that found in the land of Canaan.
If Joshua (Jesus is the Greek form of the Hebrew name Joshua)
had given them rest in the land, God
would not afterward have spoken of another day. Yet He did as we
have just seen.
4:9. The conclusion must be that
a rest remains, even today, for
the people of God who will trust in Christ.
4:10. He has not been speaking concerning an ordinary human rest,
which is brief and is followed by more labor. The man who
is entered into God's
rest has
ceased from his works forever, just
as
God did from his at the end of creation week. This is a rest of
accomplished purpose, of fulfilled action, of completed labor. It is
another way of describing the salvation of
1:14 and
2:3, or the world to come
of
2:5. Because this is the
nature of the promised rest, it is also apparent that the Sabbath rest
of the Jews is not meant, for that was followed by six days of more
labor and had to be repeated every week. In addition, the Sabbath rest
was commanded but this rest of God was always promised (see also
Matthew 11:28-30; Revelation 14:13).
4:11. This being the case, all effort is in order to
enter into that rest. Diligence is necessary, because Christians
can
fall after the same example of unbelief seen in the Jews under
Moses.
4:12. Diligence is necessary also because of the nature
of the word of God. It is living or
quick and energetic or
powerful. It is
sharper than any two-edged sword. The figure continues in saying
that the word's fine edge can cut between
soul and spirit, or to the dividing of
joints and marrow. The author is not intending to give a
scientific or spiritual analysis of the nature and composition of man.
He is stressing the power and piercing energy of the word of God. God's
word is a
discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. Therefore
all unbelief will be apparent to God. It is of the utmost importance
that His word be received in faith -- it is an instrument too dangerous
for trifling (see verse two).
4:13. He who knows the heart will not be misled by duplicity or
hypocrisy. Nor will He overlook the good and honest heart, though
sometimes men do (see John 2:24-25).
All things are naked and opened before God's eyes. These words
may come from either of two sources.
The priest would inspect a sacrifice with care, lest it be
blemished; God's scrutiny of the heart is no less meticulous. It is
said also that criminals of the first century would sometimes have
their head pulled backward on public display, exposing the face to the
contempt of general gaze. Nothing in man's heart or life can escape the
certain gaze of God -- a gaze of disapproval and severity if what He
sees is not holy and faithful. But for some there is also a gaze of
sympathy and tenderness, as the next verse will show.
4:14. The writer changes his tone from severe warning to gentle
appeal. Our high priest carefully searches the heart in total justice,
but He is sympathetic to the human condition of His faithful ones when
they stumble.
We have a great high priest, not on earth, but
passed into the heavens. He is
Jesus the Son of God -- that same Son exalted in chapter one.
Because He is our high priest, we are to
hold fast our profession (see
notes at 3:1).
4:15. Christ can
be touched or, literally, can sympathize,
with our weaknesses or
the feeling of our infirmities. He ho been
tempted or put to the test,
in all points like as we are yet without sin. Because He was
without sin, Christ both saves and judges man. He judges man in
presenting Mg perfect life when man's is so sinful. At the same time He
saves man by that perfect life, because He gave R for man's Am,
presenting ft to the Father in the place of man's. Christ appeared once
before God and presented His perfect life as atonement for our sins and
as justification for our forgiveness. He will appear a second time to
men, without sin, bringing salvation to those who look for Him (
9:26, 28;
10:4-18).
4:16. Because we have a sympathetic high priest, one who measures
His feelings on the basis of Ms own experiences as a man, we are
exhorted and tenderly encouraged to
come boldly unto His
throne of grace. There
we may obtain mercy, and there we may
find grace to help in the
time of our
need.
Mercy in this verse stands for a Greek word which in the Greek
Old Testament represented the Hebrew word for Jehovah's "covenant
mercy" or "lovingkindness." Throughout the Old Testament, God
demonstrated this lovingkindness in acts of deliverance and grace. The
same word described the mercy the people of the covenant were to show
each other as joint recipients of Jehovah's covenant-mercy.
Psalm 136 is a psalm of praise for God's covenant-mercy, and it
illustrates the many forms it might take. A complete concordance or
book of word studies will give many wonderful insights into this
concept from the Old Testament. Christians receive the same kind of
covenant kindness, mercy, and steadfast love through their union with
Jesus Christ.
CHAPTER FIVE
The author has spoken several times already in this epistle
concerning Christ as a priest. Christ is our priest because He has
purged our sins -- that is part of His more excellent name (
1:3). In this He was the
sin-offering as well as the administrating officer (
2:9). His identification
with His people is seen not only in His tasting death for all men but
also in His being made like them in all respects. Because Christ has
suffered and been tempted, He is a merciful and faithful high priest,
able to help those who are tempted (
2:17-18).
As high priest, Christ is faithful to God as well as sympathetic to
man. In this He is like Moses, though by position He is far superior to
that man of God (
3:1-6). His sacrificial
death has been accomplished and Christ is now in heaven. As our great
high priest, He sympathizes with our plight and supplies mercy and
grace to meet our needs (
4:14-16). Chapter five
presents Christ once more as priest, this time in terms of His divine
appointment, and with a word of introduction to the particular kind of
priesthood into which He has entered.
5:1.
For indicates that what follows is based on the final remarks of
chapter four.
Every high priest in the Jewish order is
taken from among men and is a man himself. The high priest's
ministry involves both God and man. He is
ordained or appointed or divinely named
for the sake of
men. That is, he works on their behalf and, we might even say,
in their stead. He also serves
in things pertaining to God. The high priest's central function
is making offerings to God
for sins.
Gifts and sacrifices stand for the total offerings of the high
priest to God on behalf of the people (see also
8:3;
9:9). Some have explained
gifts as non-blood offerings and
sacrifices as blood offerings. This is not consistent, however,
with other passages (Genesis 4:3-4 in the Greek Old Testament, for
example) where these words appear with the meanings exactly reversed. A
better distinction is made in terms of purpose.
Gifts are thank-offerings (eucharistic);
sacrifices are sin-offerings (expiatory). If this is in the
author's mind,
for sins modifies only
sacrifices in the sentence and not both terms.
5:2. The high priest must be able
to have compassion. Literally he "measures his feelings" with
the people. He is not excessively swayed by harsh justice, nor moved
overmuch by indulgent pity. He must measure his feelings in view of the
people's responsibilities on the one hand, but in view of their
circumstances and weaknesses on the other. Himself a man, he is aware
of human weakness. Appointed by God for divine service, he is aware of
God's just and holy demands. The Levitical high priest served in a very
exalted and holy position. His was a representative role: representing
God among the people, and representing the people before God (Exodus
28:29-30, 36-43; see Leviticus 16).
Priestly offerings were for the benefit of
the ignorant, that is, those whose sin was unknown to them at
the time they committed it, and for those who were
out of the way, which is the literal meaning of erring. The
original construction of this verse suggests that both terms refer to
the same people, those who err through ignorance. The point is that
priestly service and offerings were for sins of weakness or ignorance.
There was no sacrifice for presumptuous sins (Numbers 15:30-31; see
verses 22ff in the same chapter). The Hebrews author later gives a
similar warning to those under the new covenant (
10:26-29).
It was necessary for the priest to be compassionate,
for he also was
compassed or surrounded
with infirmity or weakness. A play on the word may be intended
here, for the same word which means "surrounded" at other times means
"clothed." The priest was separated from his fellow Jews and was
distinguished from them by the holy robes of his office. Yet he was one
of them in weakness and sin. Here was an imperfection of the Old
Testament priesthood -the priest, like every other man, was clothed in
weakness. The fact that he also wore priestly robes did not change
that! It remained for Christ to serve as perfect priest through His own
sinlessness and to offer a perfect sacrifice which could remove sins
forever.
5:3. The Levitical priest was obligated
to offer a sacrifice
for himself as well as one
for the people. Though he was called by God and was appointed to
a sacred office, he was still a sinner himself.
5:4.
No man among the Jews took the priesthood to
himself. The priests were appointed of God, as signified in the
divine appointment of
Aaron their head (Exodus 28:1).
5:5. Nor did
Christ glorify
himself by taking the office of
high priest presumptuously, but He was so honored or glorified
by God the Father. Two Messianic psalms are quoted here and applied to
Jesus Christ as Son and priest. The first is Psalm 2:7, which was used
to prove Christ's Sonship in 1:5 (see the
notes there on this quotation).
5:6. The second quotation is from Psalm 110:4, and will figure
prominently in the discussion of the next two chapters of Hebrews. As
Psalm two joined the position of Son to that of King, so Psalm 110
related the functions of King and Priest. By using both these passages,
the writer shows Christ to be Son (which in chapter one had the
significance of Prophet), Priest (which he is about to discuss) and
King. Our author used the first verse of Psalm 110 in 1:13 and in the
verses now following he will discuss verse four of that psalm.
God said to Christ in His resurrection, "Thou art my Son, this day
have I begotten thee" (Acts 13:33). At the same time, according to the
present passage, He constituted Hhn high priest. Here the emphasis will
be on the eternal nature of Christ's priesthood ("thou art a priest
forever"); Acts 13 also stresses Christ's unending life (verses 34-37).
Here the eternal priesthood of Christ means continual salvation for His
people (
7:23-25); the "therefore"
of Acts 13:38 shows the same consequential blessing.
Aaron was not only called of God (Exodus 28:1), he was also
confirmed as God's chosen one by a miracle of new life. When Korah,
Dathan and Abiram questioned Aaron's authority and office (Numbers
16:1-3), the ground opened beneath them and their families, swallowing
them alive, and a fire from God consumed their followers (verses
31-35). God then confirmed Aaron's appointment by making his rod (a
piece of dead wood) come to life again, bear buds, bloom blossoms and
yield almonds (Numbers 17).
Christ was called by God to be high priest. He, too, was confirmed
by a miracle of new life. His dead body, wrapped in burial clothes and
entombed for three days, was given life by the power of God. He now
lives to make priestly intercession for His people, through the merits
of His own sacrificial blood.
Woe to any person who questions Christ's divine appointment or loses
confidence in His sacred work of redemption! The "gainsaying of Korah"
is still a present danger (Jude 11). The first readers of Hebrews were
urged to put their confidence in Christ as God's appointed high priest
divinely-appointed, all-sufficient and everlasting. That exhortation is
no less needful today among those claiming to follow Him.
5:7.
Who refers to Christ, not Melchizedek.
In the days of his flesh refers to the earthly life of Christ in
a human body. It is the time of His flesh and blood (2:14) when He
partook of the seed of Abraham (2:16). This was the time in which He
was in all points tempted (
4:15).
Chapter ten will detail the significance of
Christ's fleshly body. Here the intent is to demonstrate what was
stated in
verse five: Christ did
not take the office of high priest to Himself but was given the
position by God. It was not attained by arrogant assumption but by
obedient suffering. Suffering and obedience are joined in the verses
which follow and together are related to salvation, first in the life
of Christ and then in the lives of those He saves.
Four terms express the intensity of Christ's suffering in the face
of death.
Prayers signify pleadings or beggings, with reference to a need.
Supplications stress the act of imploring or asking.
Strong
crying shows the depth of these calls for help.
Tears are not mentioned in the Gospel accounts of Gethsemane,
but were certainly visible on that occasion as an external indication
of the utter agony of soul within the Lord (Matthew 26:36-44; Mark
14:3241; Luke 22:39-45).
These prayers were offered to
him that was able to save him from death, that is, the Father
(see
notes at 2:12-13). Some commentators see
two prayers here: that God would save Christ from death on the cross,
or that He would save Him from death by resurrection if the first
prayer was not answered. Lenski correctly notes that Jesus is nowhere
pictured as praying for the resurrection. On that basis he argues
strongly for the first sense only. God was able to save the Son from
the cross - by twelve legions of angels, if necessary (Matthew 26:53).
But it was not the Father's win to do that, nor was it in accord with
the Scriptures, as Jesus Himself had pointed out to His disciples
(Matthew 26:54).
The statement that Christ
was heard in these prayers is confusing to some, but need not be
when thought is given to the actual prayer of the Lord. Christ did not
pray simply that the cup of suffering might pass Him by, though that
was included in His request (see references above). His primary prayer
-- and this is the writer's chief point in this verse -- was for the
will of God to be done! That prayer was answered -- by the death, yes,
and by the resurrection of the Son who willingly submitted to the
Father's sovereign will! See the references given above, also John
12:23-33. Again there may be an allusion to Psalm 22, where the speaker
cries to God (verse two) and is heard (verse 24). See the
comments at 2:12 on that psalm.
Christ was heard
in that he feared. Literally the text says, "because of (His)
reverent fear" or "fearful reverence." "If it be possible, let this cup
pass from me," prayed the Savior, with strong crying and tears. But
with the same intensity He respectfully and fearfully climaxed that
prayer, "nevertheless, not my will, but thine be done!"
We are dealing here with the perfect obedience of the Son of God.
This is an obedience unto death, an obedience perfected only in
suffering. In. the face of such absolute dedication to God's will --
and that at the cost of all personal claims and human ambitions or even
life -- in the face of this divine obedience angels weep, demons
shudder and sinful man must cry out in abject remorse, "God, be
merciful to me, a sinner!"
How inadequate all our obedience is in this light! How meager our
dedication to the Father's will! How far short of God's glory and the
Savior's example we see our own self-willed lives! Our Lord did not
presume anything of His own accord. He did not hold back anything in
His obedience and submission to the Father's perfect will. With every
ounce of His deepest feeling He threw Himself in His Father's arms,
there to depend on the Father's strength as He exclaimed simply, "Thy
will be done!"
5:8. Yet being the
Son -- that more excellent Son of chapter one -- Christ
learned obedience. The Greek here says "the" obedience, as if to
underscore the thought. Christ
learned obedience in experiencing absolute submission to God's
will. This does not mean that His life ever contained any element of
rebellion or disobedience, for it did not. He came for the purpose of
doing God's will (
Hebrews 10:7) and He
finished what He came to do (John 17:4).
Learned here translates rather a word kin to that from which we
have "disciple" and "discipline." Christ was the disciple, par
excellence. He experienced the full discipline of obedience -- even in
suffering. By His suffering He learned experientially what full
obedience means. In this He learned and qualified to sanctify those who
should put their trust in Him. He is now perfectly able to help them
when they are tempted (see
2:17-18).
5:9. Christ was
made perfect, not in a moral sense, but for the business of
saving.
He then
became the author or source
of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him. By the
obedience learned only in suffering, Christ was made complete as
Captain of salvation (2:10). By the same suffering and obedience He was
perfected as Source of eternal salvation. "Captain" signifies
"pioneer," and Christ has already gone ahead to enter the eternal glory
which will be shared one day by the "many sons" (
2:10; see
6:20).
Author here means "source," as it is only from Christ, and
through Him, and by His work of obedience that those "sons" will share
in the glory He now has as Son.
Author may also be translated "cause," suggesting that Christ's
perfect obedience is the cause of our salvation, not our own imperfect
obedience, though this very verse affirms the fact of obedience on our
part if we are recipients of the salvation He has made a reality. The
English connection between "author" and "authority" is not in our word
here, though Christ certainly has all authority as Son and Lord
(Matthew 28:18; Philippians 2:9-11).
Christ is author or cause or source of salvation
to them that obey him. It is always the case that blessing
follows obedience, though sometimes the obedience of one man secures
blessing for another. Abraham's obedience was the basis on which God
blessed his descendants (Genesis 22:15-18; Deuteronomy 4:37; 9:4-6).
How much more does Christ's obedience -- a perfect obedience -- result
in the perfect salvation of all who share sonship with Him (see Romans
5:19). Yet those who share Christ's sonship and His righteousness
(Isaiah 61:9-11; Jeremiah 23:5-6; 33:15-16; I Corinthians 1:30; II
Corinthians 5:21; Philippians 3:9) must and will share also with Him in
faithful obedience to God an obedience in which He led the way, set the
example and obtained salvation for those who follow.
5:10. Because Christ did not glorify Himself to be made a high
priest (verse five), choosing instead the submissiveness of suffering,
He was
called or greeted by God
as high priest after the order of Melchizedek. Melchizedek held
the double office of priest-king, a privilege denied the priestly
offspring of Levi or the royal heirs of Judah that is, until Christ
came. Now He, the prophet-Son, serves also as high priest and as
king.
5:11. Having introduced Melchizedek, our author immediately leaves
him for the moment. He attributes this digression in thought to the
dullness of his hearers. After a warning and exhortation in chapter
six, he will return to a detailed analysis of Melchizedek's priesthood
in chapter seven. There he will show Melchizedek's office to be unlike
that of Aaron's sons, but of the same sort as the Son's which ft
prefigures.
We have many things to say is literally "the discourse or
conversation is much or long."
Hard to be uttered does not mean that the writer had difficulty
expressing himself, but that his discourse concerning Melchizedek would
be interpreted or explained only with elaboration, for which his
readers were not prepared. The transmitter was working well but the
receivers needed repairs!
Dull of hearing is literally "sluggish or numb in ears
(hearing)." Lenski remarks: "Unbelief closes the ears; incipient
unbelief dulls them." These readers had not fallen into apostate
unbelief but were apparently drifting in that direction. Our author
pauses long enough to point this out to them and to sharpen their dull
ears.
5:12.
For indicates the cause of his statement. With reference to
the time which has passed since they became Christians, his
readers should have become
teachers. The word here indicates clock-time, not merely
"occasion" (as in Romans 13:11 and other places).
Rather than this, however, they still had
need for someone to
teach them
again. It is not in difficult matters alone that they are
ignorant. They need instruction in
first principles, the rudimentary matters, the spiritual
ABC's.
How well this indictment fits so many in the church today. How many
there are now who should have been teaching others long ago yet who
continually need teaching in elementary principles. Some people are
simply dull of hearing; others are "ever learning and never able to
come to the knowledge of the truth" (II Timothy 3:7). The first need to
be sharpened; the second are to be rejected (II Timothy 3:5). The
recipients of Hebrews were at the first point but not yet to the
second.
They were in need of
milk, not
strong meat or solid food. Milk is a predigested food, suited
for one who lacks ability to receive and digest his own nourishment.
The spiritual milk-baby is not able to learn and digest his own
spiritual food. He depends on someone else to do most of his learning
and thinking for him. This is a beginning point, to be sure, but it
should not characterize those who
for the time ought to be able to teach others.
A certain measure of the blame for this condition must be put on
some among the teachers and preachers who have not led the babes to
stronger food. When the bottle is administered at every feeding time,
and often the same formula warmed over, the hungry souls can not be
expected to develop into maturity. Let each teacher and preacher learn
from this context as well, to follow our author's example as he himself
leaves the
first principles to carry his readers on to maturity and
perfection.
5:13. The spiritual infant who still partakes mil is
unskillful or inexperienced
in the word of righteousness. As an infant is without experience
in eating strong food so long as he remains with milk alone, so the
believer who never has experience in teaching others will remain in
need of simple nourishment himself. This is not condoned but
condemned
5:14.
Strong meat is for the one who is of
full age, the perfect or mature person. The mature Christian
by reason of use or exercise has his
senses exercised to discern both good and evil.
Senses translates a word which give us our "aesthetics," though
here it has a figurative meaning.
Exercised is from a word family which gives "gymnasium," and
suggest perhaps that maturity in spiritual discernment comes only
through regular workouts.
To discern good and evil represents the ability and/or the
authority to make independent moral choices (see Genesis 3:5, 22;
Deuteronomy 1:39; II Samuel 14:17; 19:35; I Kings 3:9; Isaiah 7:16).
The Christian is to mature to the point of making his own moral
judgements; he is to learn to discern the Lord's will in each
circumstance of his own life (see Romans 12:2; Ephesians 5:10, 17; I
Thessalonians 4:1-4).
CHAPTER SIX
6:1.
The principles of the doctrine of Christ are the elementary
matters which had been previously taught to the Hebrew Christians. They
are encouraged to be
leaving these things -- not in the sense of rejecting their
truthfulness, or attempting to unlearn them, but as a child leaves the
first reader in school for one more advanced, or as he leaves milk for
solid nourishment. And they are called
to go on to perfection or maturity or completion. The idea of
perfection will reappear in the coming chapters.
It is necessary to lay a
foundation in the construction of a firm building, but once the
foundation has been laid, it is not put down again and again. This
point is the basis for verses four through six. Those who fall away,
having once been instructed in the fundamentals, will not be reclaimed
by beginning from the first as if they had never heard the gospel. if
they experienced these initial responses and understood these
fundamentals -- but then fell away -- they have rejected what they know
and have no room in their hearts for a conversion as at the first.
Again is an important word in understanding these verses.
Six matters are listed as elementary principles, and they have been
variously interpreted. Some take these as elements of Old Testament
teaching in contrast to the more perfect lessons of the gospel. It is
true that the terms which follow are all used at times of elements of
preChristian truth. On the other hand, it seems more nearly correct to
think of these fundamentals as basics in Christian instruction, both in
view of the larger context and the specific terms as well.
The six points are given in three pairs of two each. We might speak
of these pairs under the headings of preparation, initiation and
motivation or direction. First mentioned is
repentance from dead works and
faith toward God. Repentance and faith are joined also in Mark
1:15 and Acts 20:21. In repentance, one feels the guilt of his own sin
and rebellion against God, is sorry for it, and purposes to change his
direction of life. He abandons
dead works (see
9:14), "works of
righteousness" or "works of law," which are
dead because they lead to death, can not bring spiritual life
and are futile so far as pleasing God. Someone has pictured works
springing from obligation as dead in the sense that they do not spring
from life. They are as sheep’s wool draped over a wolf’s
back; there is no vital connection between the animal and the wool.
In
faith toward God one not only accepts intellectually that God
is, but places his confidence in God for salvation. He does this by
trusting the reconciliation God has already brought about through the
life and death of Jesus Christ, and by throwing himself on the mercy
and grace of God by identification with that sinless Son through living
faith.
By repentance, man denies himself; by faith, he takes up his cross
to follow Jesus. By repentance, he is crucified to the old way of life
and all human merit or personal boasting; by faith, he takes hold of
life in Christ and gratefully claims the merit and reward of
Christ’s perfect life.
Repentance and
faith here stand for the initial hearing of the gospel and the
response of the heart to it.
6:2. The next pair consists of
the doctrine or teaching
of baptisms and
of the laying on of hands. The word here translated baptisms is
that commonly applied to the various washings of the Old Testament (see
9:10; Mark 7:4). The
doctrine of baptisms would therefore seem to involve explanations
regarding the difference between Jewish washings on the one hand and
gospel baptism in the name of Jesus the Messiah on the other. This
would certainly involve some teaching on the significance of
Christ’s blood and sacrifice, a point to be developed in detail
later in the epistle.
Laying on of hands was done in healing, blessing, or simply
giving approval and endorsement. Many scholars feel that the laying on
of hands also accompanied believer’s baptism and signified the
giving of the Holy Spirit, if so, these two teachings go together in a
special way and have to do with Christian initiation, or entering upon
the Christian life.
Resurrection of the dead and
eternal judgment form the third pair of fundamental principles,
and have to do with Christian motivation or direction. These are not
the only proper motives, to be sure, but in the elementary teaching of
the gospel one is taught to look to the resurrection and judgment as
the completion of what God has already begun, and therefore as motives
for faithfulness.
6:3. The writer acknowledges his dependance on the will of God.
If God is willing, he will lead the reader to more advanced
teaching and so to personal maturity.
6:4.
Those who were once enlightened are Christians who have been
instructed in the first principles of verses one and two (see also
10:32). The following
terms refer to these same individuals. In the post-apostolic writings,
"enlightenment" came to be a technical term for baptism. In the New
Testament the knowledge of God through Christ in the gospel is put in
terms of light (John 1:9; Acts 26:18; Colossians 1:12-13).
Once is an important word, and means once for all time. This
enlightenment can take place only once; it can not be repeated.
Taste signifies experience (see
2:9).
The heavenly gift may mean the Holy Spirit, the remission of
sins, or (probably) the entire new life as a child of God. As
partaker of the Holy Ghost, Christians are partners of the
Spirit. He is God’s gift, the seal and earnest of future blessing
and the originator of fruit well-pleasing to God (Acts 2:38; 5:32; II
Corinthians 1:22; Ephesians 1:1314; Galatians 5:22-25).
6:5. Those who have
tasted the good word of God are those who have experienced
fulfillment of the precious promises God offers by claiming and
receiving them in faith. The expression used here occurs also in the
Greek Old Testament at Zechariah 1:13 and Joshua 21:45
. The powers of the world to come probably refer to the
miraculous manifestations given the infant church (see
notes at 2:3-4), but to a Jewish Christian
this phrase would speak of the present reality of the Messianic era in
which such things would take place.
The world to come is literally the Coming Age, which is how the
Jews spoke of the era of fulfillment and blessing under Messiah in the
Kingdom of God (see
notes at 1:2; see also 1:14;
2:5;
13:14).
6:6.
If is not in the original Greek, and the verb
fall
away is of the same tense as those preceding it in verses four
and five. It is impossible
to renew again unto repentance those who experienced the
benefits of verses four and five, then
fell away (our almost-literal English idiom would be "dropped
out"). Not that all hope is gone, for God may once again give them
repentance in acknowledging the truth (II Timothy 2:25). But it is
impossible for those individuals to experience again the renewal
through enlightenment which was theirs in the first hearing of the
gospel (see Acts 11:18). They can not
again go through the fundamental process of repentance and
faith, or of initiation into the body of Christ, as they did before
(read this verse in the context of those preceding it). They have done
that once, but have now rejected all that God offers. For such a person
the gospel holds no appeal.
These individuals (considered hypothetically as among the readers)
crucify
for themselves the Son of God. By their apostasy they judge
Christ to be an imposter and guilty of death. In such a person
repentance cannot take place, for it is based on godly sorrow and a
conviction of sin growing out of faith in Christ as the Son of God.
Such apostates
put Christ
to an open shame (see
10:29). This same verb is
used in the Greek Old Testament at Numbers 25:4 ("hang them up," KJV),
where its point is clearly seen in a context of apostasy from God.
Christians who fall away do just this to the Son of God. They hang Him
on the cross again, whether they forsake Christ for the world, for
antichrist religion, or simply for carelessness and indifference.
6:7-8.
The earth or ground
which drinketh
in the rain and then bears produce
meet or fitting and appropriate for those who have worked,
receiveth blessing from God. On the other hand ground which
produces
thorns and briers or thistles proves itself unworthy of blessing
and is rejected (the same word translated "reprobate" in II Corinthians
13:57) for cultivation. Instead it is burned over, perhaps to prevent
the further spread of briers to the adjoining land. A double meaning is
certainly intended here, for such unproductive and evil men will meet
their
end in the
burning of hell (see a similar thought in Matthew 3:10,12;
13:30; John 15:6).
6:9. What is true in the physical realm is true also in the
spiritual, and the author’s intention is to prevent this fate
among his readers. Having given such a stern warning, he now quickly
softens his tone to encouragement. He is
persuaded or convinced that
better things than this will come from his readers. He looks for
the fruitful lives and works which
accompany salvation, things closely aligned with it and holding
fast to it (see Ephesians 2:10; other passages in
notes on 13:21). His words are meant as a
warning, not as a present judgment. His readers have shown fruits
worthy of God in the past, and he urges them to remain steadfast in
such a life in the future.
6:10.
God is not unrighteous and will not
forget any
work or
labor growing out of
love and done because of
his name or because of the relationship sustained to Him. The
Hebrew Christians had
ministered to or served
the saints, their brethren -- both in the past and in the
writer’s present (see
10:32-34).
6:11. He wants every
one of them to demonstrate the
same diligence, not only now
but to the full assurance of hope unto the end. Their danger was
in stopping short of completion, of falling back before the goal had
been attained. Against this he warns repeatedly (
3:6,
14;
10:23).
6:12. They are not to be
slothful (the same word translated "dull" in
5:11; see
notes there), but rather are to be
(literally "become")
followers or imitators of those godly men of old who did
inherit the blessings contained in God’s
promises. Success always comes
through faith (which in the Bible means trust, reliance and
commitment as well as intellectual acceptance)
and patience or longsuffering perseverance.
6:13.
For example,
when God promised
Abraham in Genesis 22:16-18 concerning his numerous descendants
and other blessings, God
could swear by no greater person than Himself, and
so he sware by His own name or personal character.
6:14. In the Hebrew text of this passage, an idiom is used which
simply means "I will surely bless you and multiply you." The Greek Old
Testament translated the phrase word for word and gave the rather
awkward reading which our author quotes here and which is carried over
into the English.
6:15.
So, thus, in this manner and under these circumstances, Abraham
first
patiently endured; only then
he obtained the fulfillment of the
promise. He saw the beginning of the fulfillment in the spared
life of Isaac. The rest he saw only by faith according to
11:13,
39. As Abraham had to
wait, so do we. This is the writer’s exhortation, and this is why
he mentions Abraham.
6:16. It is the case with
men to
swear by the greater than themselves. Among men,
an oath serves two purposes. Negatively, it is
an end of all strife. When a man takes an oath there is no more
point in disputing his word or questioning him. Positively, it is
for confirmation. It gives all the assurance that is possible by
the spoken word.
6:17. Because of this, God condescended to man’s own level of
understanding and
confirmed His promise to Abraham
by an oath. This was to
show or demonstrate to
the heirs of promise (see
1:14;
9:15) the
unchangeableness or
immutability of God’s
counsel or purpose and design.
6:18. God’s promise was made twice sure
by two immutable things: His word (it is
impossible for God to lie), and His oath (taken in His own
name). As man views the situation, he may have full confidence in the
promise of God.
Strong is emphatic here and is read by weak men who need the
encouragement.
Consolation would be better translated "encouragement."
Christians are those who
have fled for refuge (the Greek Old Testament uses the same word
of fleeing to the cities of refuge).
The hope set before us is to be laid hold of or seized.
God’s twice-sure word of promise is a strong encouragement for
all Christians, by patient waiting, to do just that.
6:19. This hope is
an anchor of the soul. The anchor was a symbol of hope in the
ancient world as well as now. Our anchor is
both sure or unfailing
and steadfast or firmly fixed. We can have strong confidence in
our hope.
Within the veil indicates the most holy place of the tabernacle,
into which only the high priest entered one day each year. The phrase
here symbolizes the presence of God, and refers to the fact that Jesus
has passed into heaven as the next verse will state.
6:20. Into the very presence of God in heaven our
forerunner has already
entered (see
2:9-10;
4:14).
Forerunner in secular Greek was used of a scout, one who went
before and led the way (see
notes on "author" at 5:9). Jesus has not
only entered into God’s presence for us (though as high priest He
did that); He has also entered into heaven in front of us -- leading
the way and guaranteeing by His own entrance that the path is clear for
us to follow.
The Christian’s hope is certain and confident. It is grounded
in the person of Jesus Christ and is based on His sinless life and His
atoning death. If our hope were in our own obedience or knowledge or
power, we could have no strong confidence at all. But it rests in the
Son of God, and for that reason it is sinful not to have strong
confidence.
The Christian’s sin is no cause for loss of hope, but rather
for genuine repentance and prayer -- for throwing himself on the
mercies of God through his mediator Jesus Christ. Because of the life
Jesus lived and the death He died -- and because the Christian is one
with Him -- God’s people ought to cherish a living hope. They
have fled for refuge to the merciful and all-powerful Son of God. Nor
do they wait for the death of a high priest, for Jesus is their high
priest, and He lives
forever -- after the order of Melchizedek.
CHAPTER SEVEN
Having introduced Melchizedek in 5:10-11, our author temporarily put
him aside to give in chapter six an exhortation to diligence and
steadfastness and a warning regarding the end of slothfulness. He then
returned in 6:20 to Melchizedek. Now he discusses him at length in
chapter seven, which follows.
7:1.
This Melchizedek was the subject of much speculation in Jewish
circles, including the Essene community of the Qumran Dead Sea Scrolls.
He is mentioned in Scripture, however, only in Hebrews, Psalm 110 and
Genesis 14. Melchizedek was a king-priest, contemporary of Abraham, and
a servant of God.
Salem is probably an ancient name for Jerusalem (see Psalm
76:2). Adoni-zedek, another Old Testament king of Jerusalem (Joshua
10:1), had the same element in his name as Melchizedek, which also
indicates an identification of Salem with Jerusalem. Some have
suggested that Salem here is the Salim of John 3:23; a few take the
term figuratively as a title (see verse two) devoid of any geographical
intent. It is in line with known facts to suppose that Melchizedek was
an actual priest-king of the city-state captured by David from the
Jebusites and known to us as Jerusalem (see
comments at 12:22).
Melchizedek is
priest of the most high God, and this point interests our
author. Although the Hebrew term parallels the name of a Canaanite god,
there is no reason to think that Melchizedek served any deity other
than Jehovah. The Most High God is identified in Genesis as the God of
Abraham; the Greek Old Testament lies behind the phrase in our present
passage; Old and New Testament writers alike present Melchizedek as a
servant of Jehovah.
Genesis 14:17-20 reports that Melchizedek
met Abraham as he was
returning from the slaughter of the kings of the East who had
taken Lot captive in the course of a plundering campaign. That text
also says that Melchizedek
blessed Abraham, a point our author will consider later.
7:2.
Abraham gave a tenth part or tithe
of all that he had to Melchizedek. Melchizedek's name is now
analyzed in its separate Hebrew components. This practice, though
strange by Western logic, was not an uncommon method of reasoning when
Hebrews was written -- and here it has the approval of the Holy Spirit.
The name Melchizedek is composed of two Hebrew words;
melek means "king" and
tsedek means "righteousness." Together they mean
king of righteousness, which,
by interpretation, Melchizedek was. He is also called
King of Salem, and since Salem stands for the Hebrew
shalom or "peace," Melchizedek is here called
king of peace.
Righteousness and peace appear together frequently in the Old
Testament Scriptures (see for example Psalm 72:7; Isaiah 9:6-7;
Zechariah 9:9-10). To the Hebrew, "righteousness" meant the faithful
performing of all duties proper to a relationship. In a spiritual sense
that meant faithfulness to God first of all, because of His covenant
mercies to Israel, then faithfulness to fellow-Jews who were recipients
of the same covenant blessings.
In Isaiah 5:7, God looks among His people for righteousness but
finds instead a cry. The cry speaks of perverted justice, cruelty and a
general absence of the life described by righteousness. There is also a
play on words in the Hebrew text of this verse, but that does not
concern us here.
When the people maintained righteousness, "peace" was the result.
Again the term has first a spiritual significance of peace with God,
and then of peace with one's fellows under God's covenant care and
rule. There could be no peace apart from righteousness, and
righteousness was expected to result in peace (Isaiah 32:17).
Melchizedek of Salem incorporated both these concepts in his name and
office, and even in this foreshadowed the Lord who is our Righteousness
and our Peace (I Corinthians 1:30; Ephesians 2:14).
7:3. Melchizedek had no ancestor in the priesthood. Unlike the
Jewish priests who had to establish their genealogy to qualify for
service (Nehemiah 7:63-64; Leviticus 21:17; Ezekiel 44:22), this man
neither received his office by hereditary right nor passed it on to a
physical descendant. So far as we are told in Scripture, he was
without father or
mother; not that he was other than human, but that he did not
belong to any line of priests
Without descent is better translated "without genealogy." See the
point just above.
Neither beginning of days nor end of life means that
Melchizedek's priesthood is not recorded as to origin or end. He is a
lone figure who suddenly appears on the stage of history for a brief
moment, then as suddenly and mysteriously removes from the scene. No
one can say of this strange man, "here is the beginning of his priestly
service" or "here is the end of his priesthood."
Because God opened the curtain in the middle of Melchizedek's
priestly service and closed it in the same place, Melchizedek is
made like unto the Son of God, who is also alone in a unique
priesthood.
Continually is not the phrase usually translated "forever," but
may be translated "for the duration," "perpetually," or "without
interruption " This term will appear later in the chapter.
7:4. In the following verses we will
consider how great Melchizedek was. In the first place,
Abraham -- not another by the same name, but
the patriarch himself -- paid tithes to Melchizedek. Nor was
this a poor tithe, but
of the spoils, literally "off the top of the heap" -- the
choicest tenth.
7:5. The
sons of Levi or the Levitical priests, who
receive the office they hold,
take tithes because of a
commandment and a
law. They also take tithes from
their own
brethren, who are descendants of Abraham.
7:6. Melchizedek is one
whose descent is not from them, who had no commandments or law
requiring Abraham to pay him tithes, and who had not received his
priesthood by virtue of a lineage. Yet he
received tithes, and that not from just any passing stranger,
but from
Abraham! To this add the fact that Melchizedek then
blessed Abraham -- the Abraham who
had the promises from God.
7:7. It is indisputable that
the less is blessed in this sense by
the better. If Abraham was blessed by Melchizedek, it follows
that Melchizedek was a "better" man in terms of rank and office than
the patriarch. Both men acknowledged this relative position: Abraham,
by paying tithes to Melchizedek; Melchizedek, by blessing Abraham.
7:8. By comparison, note also that
here in the Levitical priesthood
men that die receive tithes (see I Chronicles 6:49-53), but
there in Melchizedek's case one received them who had no
successor.
7:9. To cap it all, and to be perfectly truthful about it,
Levi also, who receiveth tithes under the law from his Jewish
brethren, there
paid tithes instead,
in Abraham.
7:10. If one objects that Levi was not present in Genesis 14, the
writer notes that
he was yet in the loins of his father Abraham
when Melchizedek met him. Just as he can say that Levi received
tithes (in the person of his descendants), so he can say as well that
Levi paid tithes (in the person of his ancestor).
Levi was forefather of the priestly tribe; therefore
Melchizedek's priesthood was greater than Aaron's.
Our author has dealt with Melchizedek's characteristics as a person
(
verses one through three)
and in relation to the Levitical priests (
verses four through ten).
Now he turns to his primary point, an exaltation of the priesthood of
Christ in comparison with the Old Testament Jewish priesthood.
Verses 11-14 show that
the priesthood was the basis of the law, and that because Christ's
priesthood after the order of Melchizedek is permanent, so is the law
which rests upon it. This is in contrast with the priesthood of Aaron,
for it changed, necessitating a change in the law related to it.
7:11. If
perfection (a key word in Hebrews, consult a concordance)
were by the Levitical priesthood, there would have been no
further need for
another priest after another order -- that
of Melchizedek and
not of Aaron. An institution is perfect when it accomplishes the
purpose for which it was instituted. The Aaronic priesthood did not do
that.
The purpose of a priesthood is to bring men to God, to atone for
their sins. The author will show clearly in the following chapters that
the Levitical sacrifices and priesthood could not do this -- either
perfectly or permanently. In the present passage, then, he refers to
this imperfection in the Old Testament priestly order. He also shows
that it had to be replaced by a perfect order which could fulfill these
purposes.
We are accustomed to thinking of the priesthood as dependent on the
law. Our author says the opposite. The law depended on the priesthood.
This suggests that in God's ordering of affairs the priesthood was
first in importance, then the law. Law pointed men to the reality of
sin and to the fact that they were sinners. This recognition called for
the priesthood as the divine ordinance and institution for the removal
of sins. But the imperfection of the Old Testament priesthood pointed
them even further to the future when the Son of God would come as great
high priest and Lamb of God, completely removing all sins forever by
one offering of Himself. The priesthood, then, was the basis and
grounds of the law.
7:12. When
the
priesthood was
changed, there was
of necessity a
change also of the law. When the foundation is removed the
building collapses. There can be no legal code unless there is
provision for those who break it. In the case of Israel, the priesthood
is changed (to one which is perfect), then a new law is given based on
that perfect priesthood and relating to it. There is room for thought
along this line, that the new law (perfectly suited to its priesthood)
is as far superior in nature as well as content to the old, as the new
priesthood of Christ is superior to the priesthood of Aaron's sons. The
purpose of each law is suited to its particular priesthood.
7:13.
He of whom these things are spoken is the Lord Jesus Christ, as
the next verse will state, and He belongs
to another or a different
tribe from Levi. He is of a tribe from which
no man ever served
at the priestly
altar.
7:14. It is
evident on the basis of His genealogies in Matthew chapter one
and Luke chapter three that
our Lord descended from
Judah, a tribe from which the Law of Moses said absolutely
nothing so far as
priesthood is concerned. The priesthood has therefore been
changed, and the next verse will adduce still another proof of
this.
7:15. The priesthood has been changed, not only in tribe, but in the
quality and sort of its priest. This point makes
far more evident than the former point the change A priest has
arisen now who is
another in quality and kind. He is a different type of priest,
not resembling the Levitical priests at all, but after the likeness of
Melchizedek.
7:16. Christ has become a priest twice-different in nature from the
sons of Aaron. His priesthood rests not on
the law of a carnal commandment but on
the power of an endless life. Old Testament priests were priests
by virtue of a
law, outside and apart from themselves or their personal
fitness. That law did not attempt to select on the basis of moral or
spiritual qualities, but simply according to physical ancestors. It was
thus a
carnal commandment, having to do only with physical restrictions
and requirements.
Christ has been made priest, not on this basis, but because He
possesses an inherent
power that fits Him for the position He is to occupy. The term
power here does not signify authority, but might, and speaks of
a characteristic of Christ Himself, inherent in His righteous person.
This was the
power or might of an
endless life.
Because He was not a sinner, though He was fully tempted, the Son of
God could not be held by Satan in death (see
comments at 2:14). He possessed the
strength or dynamic of a life that, literally, "could not break down."
A perfect life has no weak spot; sin is the weakness which brings down
all other men, including the Old Testament priests. Christ's priesthood
and service are firmly grounded in the inherent power of a life that
will never end. The writer will return to this wonderful thought in
verse 25.
7:17. To this agrees the Scripture introduced much earlier (Psalm
110:4) which says, "Thou art a priest
for ever after the order of Melchizedek."
7:18. The familiar Greek construction "on the one hand/on the other
hand" is used in verses 18 and 19. On the one hand there is a
disannulling or placing aside or removing of the previous or
former
commandment regulating priests (verses
5,
15). This setting aside
was necessary because of the inherent
weakness and
unprofitableness of that system which could not bring perfection
(
verse 11), which was
based on a carnal requirement (
verse 16) and which was
manned by imperfect priests (
verses 27-28).
7:19.
The law made nothing perfect (see Romans 8:3; Galatians 2:21;
3:21), for it rested on a priesthood which could not perfect (
verse 11). "The law made
beginnings, taught rudiments, gave initial impulses, hinted,
foreshadowed, but brought nothing to perfection, did not in itself
provide for man's perfect entrance into God's fellowship"
(Expositor's Greek Testament).
Perfection did come, however, in Christ's work and in the
better hope which He introduced and confirmed.
Better is a key word in Hebrews, and the serious student will
profit from a study of its many occurrences in this epistle. The
hope spoken of here has already been discussed to some extent
(see
notes on 6:18-20).
The blessed feature of this hope, and the ultimate basis of
comparison between all that belonged to the inadequate Old system and
all that pertains to the perfect New, is that
by it
we draw nigh unto God. The verb translated
draw nigh is the same one used in the Greek Old Testament at
Exodus 19:21, when, at the giving of the Law, God specifically
commanded the people
not to draw near to God. They could not draw near to God under
that system because their lives were unholy and their sins were
ever-present. Under the covenant of the Son, men in themselves are no
better, but they can draw near to God by virtue of Christ's life which
is holy and His blood which atones for their sins. Such a blessed
thought this is for meditation and such a holy basis for living!
7:20-22. The three verses
go together, joined in the Greek and English by the connecting phrases
translated
inasmuch as (verse 20) and
by so much (verse 22), and including verse 21 which is
parenthetical. The author presents a ratio.
Inasmuch as, or to the extent, that Christ supercedes the Old
Testament priests by an oath-appointment versus a simple appointment,
by so much or to that same extent,
Jesus is
surety of a
better testament than theirs.
It was
not without an oath that Christ became priest; rather it was
with an oath. This is proved by a chief passage on the subject, Psalm
110:4. Jehovah
sware to Jesus,
"Thou art a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek."
Earlier the Hebrews author dealt with the
forever in this psalm; here he is concerned with the
sware.
To say that God
will not repent does not speak of repentance of sin, for by
nature God can not sin.
Repent here is not the word normally translated that way (which
itself has the basic meaning "to change the mind," see 12:17), but
stands for a word which emphasizes the thought of concern or care. God
will not change His mind because of afterthought or later concern, as
He did -- for example -- with the house of Eli (see I Samuel 2:27-36).
Christ is a priest
forever.
Because God will never change His mind about Christ, Jesus has
become
surety of a better testament. The word translated
surety is a noun form of the verb translated "draw nigh" in
verse 19 (see
comments there). The same life of Jesus which
enables us to draw nigh to God remains forever, because Jesus has the
"power of an endless life" (
verse 16). Nor will God
change His mind about that life presented as an offering, for He has so
given His oath (
verse 21). Jesus is
therefore
surety of His covenant. He is a guarantor to man from God that
God has accepted a perfect sacrifice on man's behalf. And Jesus ever
lives to make intercession for them that come to God by Him (
verse 25).
Testament appears here for the first time in Hebrews, and will
be discussed in the following chapters. The same word is sometimes
translated "covenant" though in the Old and New Testament Scriptures it
frequently has the force of a one-sided disposition or will involving
two parties, rather than a two-sided agreement or bargain between
equals. God's
testament or covenant is given to man by God, man accepts or
rejects it, but he may not change it. More on this later.
7:23.
They who served under the Old covenant
were many priests, one taking the place of the other
because no single one could
continue in the priesthood forever
by reason of his own
death. Josephus says that 83 high priests officiated from Aaron
to the destruction of the Temple in A.D. 70. Our writer gives no
specific number but notes simply that they all died!
7:24. In contrast to this, Jesus has
an unchangeable priesthood because He
continueth forever. He will never die. He will never need a
successor. His priesthood is authenticated by God's oath. In short, His
is an unerring and immovable priesthood and priestly service. it is
perfect in every sense of the word.
7:25.
Wherefore, because of all these considerations, Christ
is able to save to the uttermost. This may be taken either with
regard to time (He saves forever), or extent (He saves completely), or
both. Neither should be excluded. Both are true. Christ's complete and
eternal salvation is for
them that come to God by him. They are those who come to Him as
priest, who lay their sins on Him as God's Lamb, who trust His offering
of a perfect life as sufficient in God's sight for blessing, and who by
faithful perseverance rely on His intercession for all these things. It
is for no one else, though "whosoever will" may take advantage of it,
and it is offered by God to all men.
Christ is priest because He has the power of an endless life.
Because
he ever liveth, He needs no successor. He now sits beside the
Father
to make intercession for His people.
Christ made but one sacrifice, but He ever lives to make
intercession on the basis of that sacrifice. In teens of His death, He
was the sin-offering. In terms of His resurrection and present work, He
is high priest. The priest of the Old Testament did not merely kill the
sacrifice; he then presented its blood, standing for its life, as an
appeal to God for forgiveness and blessing (Leviticus 17:11-12). In
both particulars he had an imperfect priesthood. The sacrifice was
amoral and could not take away sin (see
10:1-4); the priest was
mortal and had to be replaced (as the present chapter has shown).
Christ, however, offered a perfect sacrifice (His own sinless life),
was then raised (as a sign of God's acceptance of that life given in
death) and will never die again. Unlike the Old Testament priests and
their sacrifices, Christ died
once, but
forever makes intercession for His people (see I John 1:7b, 9;
2:1-2).
The one who is in Christ rests his salvation, forgiveness and hope
of blessing on the vicarious death and perfect obedience of Jesus his
high priest. Because Jesus died. though sinless, He was able to be
sin-bearer, "taking away the sins of the world." Because He offered God
a sinless life, the Father is pleased with one Man (though with no
other on his own merit) and is justly able to dispense full blessings.
Yet because the Christian is one with Christ, His death counts for him
and His life does as well. God can, therefore, forgive the one "in
Christ" on the basis of Christ's blood and can also give him every
blessing and favor on the basis of Christ's life so long as he clings
to Him in faith (see Isaiah 53:4-6, 10-12 Romans 4 25; 5:8-11; II
Corinthians 5 21; I Peter 2 24; Revelation 1:5; 7:9-17).
7:26.
Such an high priest as Christ is just what man needs. He
became us, that is, He was fitted to our needs. Man needs a
priest who is
holy, for he himself is not. The word translated
holy here also includes the idea of compassion and tender mercy.
Man's priest must be
undefiled and
separate from sinners, but every Aaronic priest was weak and
sinful. Our priest needs to be
higher than the heavens, living forever to intercede on our
behalf.
7:27. Christ does not need
daily to make a sacrifice
for his own sins and
then for the people's. He had no sin Himself, and so He offered
himself as a perfect sacrifice for the people. Because He had a
perfect sacrifice He did not need to offer it but
once.
7:28.
The law of the Old Testament priesthood made men high priests
who had
infirmity or weakness. In contrast to this the
word of the oath (see
verse 21), which was
since the law in origin but replaced it, made the
Son a priest -- and He is
consecrated for evermore.
The beautiful point of these last verses found wonderful expression
in the following hymn, written in 1742 by Charles Wesley.
Arise, my soul, arise, shake off thy guilty fears:
The bleeding Sacrifice in my behalf appears.
Before the Throne my Surety stands;
My name is written on His hands.
He ever lives above, for me to intercede
His all-redeeming love, His precious blood to plead;
His blood atoned for every race,
And sprinkles now the throne of grace.
Five bleeding wounds He bears, received on Calvary.
They pour effectual prayers; they strongly plead for me.
"Forgive him, O forgive," they cry,
"Nor let that ransomed sinner die!"
My God is reconciled; His pard'ning voice I hear;
He owns me for His child; I can no longer fear.
With confidence I now draw nigh,
And "Father, Abba, Father!" cry.
CHAPTER EIGHT
8:1.
Of the things spoken in this treatise,
this which the author is about to say is the
sum or, as better translated in the later versions, the chief
point. And what is this chief point? That we believers have Jesus as
high priest, and that He ifs performing priestly service for us
at
the right hand of God
in the heavens.
This figure of Christ at God's right hand comes from Psalm 110 (see
notes at 1:13) and is frequently joined in
the New Testament to that of the authoritative "Son of Man" of Daniel,
chapter seven. The psalm also combines Christ's priestly and His royal
offices. While most other New Testament references to the psalm point
to its royal imagery (but see Romans 8:34), the epistle to the Hebrews
pays special attention to the priestly.
8:2. Jesus is a
minister or, literally, "public servant" of
the sanctuary or holy things But His service involves
the true or substantial
tabernacle which the Lord pitched, not any structure erected by
man. His sanctuary is heaven itself, the "most holy place" where
God dwells.
While it is true that the physical body of Jesus is referred to as a
temple (John 2:19-22), that is not meant here, for verse five says that
Moses used this sanctuary for a pattern. Nor does the text speak of the
spiritual body of Christ, the church, for the church has the benefit of
service performed in this sanctuary; it is not itself the sanctuary. In
addition, the "church in the wilderness" corresponds in the present
analogy to the New Testament "church" (if we extend the analogy to
include either), and each "church"
has, not
is, its own sanctuary and priestly service.
8:3. Because
every high priest holds office for the express purpose of
offering
gifts and sacrifices (see
note at 5:1), Jesus
of necessity must also
have something
to offer, for He is our high priest. What is true in general is
true in particular. Here the emphasis is on the fact of His service;
what He offers is told in 7:27.
8:4. This very fact indicates that His ministry is in heaven, not
on earth, for His sacrifice would not fit the earthly system.
Besides, there are no vacancies in the Jewish priesthood for a priest
such as He (see also
7:13-14). Christ is our
high priest -- that has already been established. Yet if His service
were earthly, He could not even be a regular priest, much less a high
priest (see Numbers 18:1-7). In the Greek, this verse contains the
first part of a phrase which is completed in verse six and means "on
the one hand . . . on the other hand."
8:5. The earthly priests of the Jewish system do not
serve the substantial, true (verse two)
heavenly things, but rather the
example or copy or outline and
shadow of those things. A shadow is not itself the solid
reality, but gives assurance that the substantial object exists of
which it is an outline or copy.
That this Old Testament tabernacle was but a copy of the heavenly
reality and not the original prototype is seen in the command
concerning its erection.
Moses was admonished by
God in Exodus 25:40 to
make all things according to the pattern which he was shown in
the mountain. It is said by some of the rabbis that Gabriel descended
in a workman's apron from heaven with models of the tabernacle
furniture which he showed Moses how to build. The Bible does not give
such details, but simply states that Moses was shown a pattern
(literally something struck from a die or stamp) and told to build with
it as a reference in all things.
What Moses built, though by God's instruction and according to a
divine pattern, was not the original and substantial sanctuary but a
copy of it. No man or group of men can build the true sanctuary, for it
is pitched by the Lord, not by man (verse two, 3:4).
The point here was not altogether new to the Jews, though the
application was. An unispired Jewish writer of the period just before
Christ had said of Solomon's temple: "Thou gavest command to build a
sanctuary in thy holy mountain, and an altar in the city of thy
habitation; a copy of the holy tabernacle which thou preparedst
aforehand from the beginning." (Wisdom 9:8). That writer had surmised
that the earthly sanctuaries were copies; it remained for our author to
tell the real original and for our high priest to enter and serve in
it!
To have the benefits of a prefect sacrifice administered by a
perfect high priest serving in the true sanctuary built by God and not
man is a grace given for the first time to God's covenant people in
Christ. We have no mere copy of shadow, but the original holy things of
heaven themselves -- now fully revealed and fully served by the Son who
is Priest-King.
8:6. This verse gives "the other hand" in contrast to the truth
stated in verse four. Christ has
now in this age of fulfillment and reality
obtained a more excellent ministry or service than that from
which He is barred by tribe and nature on earth. To the same extent, He
is
mediator or middle-man of a
better covenant than that served by the Jewish priests, for His
is
established or legalized on the basis of
better promises than theirs. The writer enumerates these
promises in the rest of the chapter.
The first covenant was also given through a mediator (Galatians
3:19) and the people approached God through him (Exodus 20:19). But
while Moses was mediator and Aaron high priest, Jesus is both! In the
century before Christ, certain Pharisees looked for a Messiah who would
save both Jews and gentiles, and they spoke of a mediator who would
intercede before God for the righteous. (Testament of Dan 5-6). Yet
even these lofty dreams failed to anticipate the plans of God, for we
have one who is high priest, mediator and universal Savior combined --
and not even from Levi's tribe.
The same may be said with reference to the Qumran Jews described in
the Dead Sea Scrolls. They seemed to have looked for two or perhaps
three Messiahs; apparently they could not envision one man doing all
that needed to be done. But God's Son -- higher than any angel -- did
all that God saw required, and far surpassed the very thoughts and
desires of His own people! "How much better," the Hebrews author
affirms over and over!
8:7.
If the first covenant (this word is added by the translators
anal is therefore in italics)
had been faultless, no place would have been sought by God or
needed by man
for a
second arrangement. Yet God did propose a new covenant, even in
the former period of time, and spoke of it then to His people.
Therefore, the writer argues, that first was not faultless (see
7:18-19).
8:8. The
fault lay with the people to whom the first covenant was given,
because they did not keep their part of the arrangement. Yet the first
covenant was of such nature that all blessings depended on the ability
of the people to do just that. This made the covenant itself faulty in
effect, or from the point of view of the people. Because of the fault
that lay
with them, God promised a new covenant in Jeremiah 31:31-34, and
the author of Hebrews quotes that passage in verses 8-12.
Jeremiah began to prophesy just five years before the great reform
of Josiah described in II Kings 23. After centuries of neglect of the
Law, the nation affirmed again its commitment to God in a great
covenant-renewal ceremony led by the king himself (verses one through
three). Only a few years passed, however, until the zeal was dampened
and the promises forgotten. Many had never been sincere in their pledge
to God's covenant (Jeremiah 3:10) and most of the rest were victims of
time and circumstance. The covenant was not in their hearts, and even a
royal service could not put it there to stay. Because of this inherent
weakness of the people and derived weakness of the covenant, God
promised Jeremiah that He would make a new arrangement with His people
in the future.
The days come is literally "days are coming." See
comments on the "last days" at 1:2. The
new covenant was promised through Jeremiah 600 years before
Christ, but Jesus used the expression in instituting the Lord's Supper
(Luke 22:20) and Paul repeated it in the same connection (I Corinthians
11:25). Paul also used the phrase in a ministry context (II Corinthians
3:6). Outside this chapter of Hebrews, the term appears only at 9:15
except for these passages.
New here signifies "fresh," not simply new in teens of time.
Hebrews 12:24 uses a
different word to call this covenant "new" in time as well. The point
of the present word is that our covenant is fresh and of a different
sort from the old arrangement between God and His people.
The Greek Old Testament, which our writer quotes, said "covenant a
new covenant." He changes that to "perfect a new covenant," with the
same concern for the perfection or completion of the Christian system
as stressed already in 2:10;
5:9; 6:1;
7:11,
28 and other places
This fresh new kind of covenant would be made with the
house or people or family
of Israel and that
of Judah. In Jeremiah's time the people had been long scattered
from Israel by Assyria, and Judah was even then being carried captive
by Babylon Yet God would bring back a remnant from both (Jeremiah
31:7-9) and would establish a new order.
Jesus was God's fulfillment and fulfiller of all spiritual promises
to the Jews, according to Romans 15:8. Yet the next ten verses of that
chapter show from the Old Testament that gentiles are also to be
beneficiaries of gospel grace. The book of Hebrews is addressed to
Christian Jews, and our author does not concern himself at this point
with the gentile mission.
8:9. This new kind of covenant will not be like that one made with
the Jews at Sinai, though that one came from a God whose gracious and
powerful acts of deliverance had brought His people together to receive
it. Jeremiah speaks of God's merciful deliverance in the Exodus in
saying that He
took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt. The
figure is that of a tender father gently lea
ding a small and still-wobbly son before he has learned to care
for himself. Such imagery is not uncommon in the Old Testament (Hosea
11:1-3; Deuteronomy 1:31). Similar imagery is employed of Christ and
His new-covenant people at 2:16 (see the
comment there).
In spite of God's tender care for Israel,
they continued not in the covenant to fulfill their part of it,
and God
regarded them not, as a lord whose subjects had failed to keep
what was required of them. Our text of Jeremiah has "although I was a
husband to them," which some translate "and I was as a lord to them,"
with the sense stated above. It has also been suggested that a certain
Hebrew word for "disregard" is only one letter different: from the
Hebrew word for "husband" or "lord," and that this might explain the
difference in readings. In either case the point is the same and the
matter is of Little importance for understanding.
8:10. The first of the better promises is given. God's laws are
given in a special people -- God relationship under both the old and
new covenants (Exodus 6:7), but here is a difference Under the former
covenant the laws were written on stone tablets, external to the
people. Under the new covenant the laws are
put into their mind and written
in their hearts. Paul makes a similar point in a covenant
context at II Corinthians 3:3-18 (see also Romans 8:4; 12:2; Ephesians
3:16-20; 4 23 24; Philippians 2:12-13; Colossians 3:9-10; I
Thessalonians 2:13; II Thessalonians 1:11-12;
Hebrews 4:2; James
1:21).
When true regeneration takes place, the Christian finds God's laws
to be in accord with the spirit within him. Apart from the fleshly
nature against which he must continually battle, he will delight in the
laws of God and find them perfectly suited to his own spiritual
inclinations. They are not external and foreign to his nature; he has
become partaker of the divine nature and to that new nature they are
exactly fitted.
8:11. A second promise is that all who are God's people under the
new covenant will
know Him personally.
From the least to the greatest no individual covered by the new
arrangement is excluded. The covenant at Sinai was entered by a nation
including many who did not know God personally until after they were
involved in the covenant. All who were later born into the relationship
as Jews had to be taught of God and learn His former acts of
deliverance and provision.
The new covenant is entered by individuals, one by one, and only on
the knowledge of God and His saving acts in Christ (see John 6:44-45).
Those entering the new covenant already know what God has done for them
in the Son. They will to commit themselves to Him in the confidence
that His work is sufficient for their pardon and blessing. They signify
both their knowledge and their intention by the obedience of faith in
baptism.
When one has entered this relationship with God as one among His
covenant people, he already knows God as his own saving Clod. There is
no need for those who are in the covenant to be teaching each other a
knowledge of God in this sense. Each
brother and each
neighbor or fellow-citizen in the new commonwealth already has
that knowledge.
8:12. A third promise is given, concerning forgiveness of sins by a
merciful God. The people of the first covenant were given laws
externally inscribed and foreign to their nature. When they broke those
laws, as they always did, no sacrifice could remove the memory of that
sin. The people of the fresh and new covenant have God's laws in their
hearts and minds (this does not detract from but increases a hunger and
thirst for the written Word of God). These laws are compatible with
their new nature. When they do break them, as they sometimes will,
forgiveness is already available on the basis of the sacrifice of Jesus
(see
10:1ff).
8:13. This verse is the author's inspired comment regarding the
words spoken by Jeremiah so many centuries before.
In that Jeremiah
saith "A new covenant," he (Jeremiah)
hath made the first old by contrast -- and that was six
millennia before Christ! Our writer is saying concerning Jeremiah's
statement "By saying 'new,' Jeremiah has long since antiquated the
old."
If it was old in Jeremiah's day (and Jeremiah by implication says
that it was), how much older it is when Hebrews is written! It is, in
fact,
ready to vanish away, to pass from view, to completely
disappear. Lenski speaks picturesquely of the old covenant here as
"tottering with senility" and "like an old, old man who is sinking into
his grave."
CHAPTER NINE
Our author has spoken already of the legitimacy of Christ's
priesthood (chapter five), which he carefully explained as after the
order of Melchizedek (chapter seven). Because this kind of priest can
not serve under the old covenant, Christ has also mediated a new
covenant suitable to His work (chapter eight). Chapter nine contrasts
the sanctuaries and the rituals of the two covenants, and then, by a
play on words, demonstrates another blessing Christ's death gives His
people.
9:1.
The first covenant involved
ordinances and arrangements for
divine service, but the
sanctuary in which these were carried out was
worldly. It was, as verse nine will show, a figure of something
more substantial in the eternal order.
9:2. The Mosaic Tabernacle consisted of two tent-compartments.
In the first or outer one was the
candlestick (better, lampstand; Exodus 25:31-40; Leviticus
24:1-4),
and the table (Exodus 25:23-30; Leviticus 24:6) on which the
priests placed the
shewbread (literally "loaves of presentation" or "bread of the
presence"; see Exodus 25:30; Leviticus 24:5-9). This first tent was
called the
sanctuary or holy place.
9:3. A
veil or curtain (Exodus 26:31-33) separated the holy place from
the
holiest of all or the most holy place (literally, "holy of
holies"). It is called
the second veil in contrast to the linen curtain separating the
holy place from the outside court (Exodus 26:36-37).
9:4. The second compartment
had or involved the use of
the golden censer or altar of incense (Exodus 30:1-9). Although
this altar was in the outer holy place (Exodus 30:6), the smoke from it
filled the most holy place on the Day of Atonement so that the high
priest never came
into God's clear presence (Exodus 30:10; Leviticus
16:12-13).
The
ark of the covenant was also in the inner tent (Exodus
25:10-15). When first built, this gold-plated wooden chest contained
three articles which reminded Israel of God's covenant-mercies
The
golden pot that had manna (Exodus 16:32-34) reminded Israel of
God's miraculous provision of food in the wilderness. The English Bible
follows the Hebrew in not mentioning the vessel being gold, but our
author is quoting from the Greek version which included that
detail.
Aaron's rod that budded (Numbers 17:1-11) was a perpetual sign
of the exclusive right of Aaron and his descendants to the priesthood.
This rod was involved in the miraculous incident which occurred after
the rebellion led by Korah (Numbers 16). See also
notes on 5:4-6.
The
tables or plaques
of the covenant were the
two tablets of stone cut by Moses after he had angrily shattered
the first tablets because of Israel's idolatry (Exodus 32:19; 34:1-4,
28-29). On these were engraved the ten commandments.
Archaeology has suggested an interesting possibility regarding the
dual tablets of stone. In the absence of carbon paper or photocopy
machines, covenant-treaties in the ancient world between protective
lord and a vessel people were often written twice -- one copy for his
records and one for theirs. These tablets would be kept in the
respective temples as solemn reminders of the covenant. Because
Israel's sanctuary was at the same time God's only visible "dwelling,"
both copies of the "covenant" were kept in the most holy place. Whether
the two tablets reflected this practice or not, they gave the ark
containing them its name.
When Solomon built the Temple, nothing was in the ark but the two
tables of stone (I Kings 8:9; II Chronicles 5:10). The other articles
may have been removed during the seven months the Philistines possessed
the ark (I Samuel 4: 11; 6:1).
Scripture does not tell the final destiny of the tabernacle or its
furniture. An ancient Jewish tradition had Jeremiah taking the
tabernacle, the ark and the altar of incense to a cave atop Mount
Pisgah, where he hid them "until God shall gather the people again
together, and mercy come . . . and the glory of the Lord shall be seen,
even the Cloud" (II Maccabees 2:1-8).
9:5.
Over the ark was a lid of solid gold called the
mercy-seat (Exodus 25:17). The Greek word here is the same
translated "propitiation" in Romans 3:25, where Christ is our
mercy-seat. These are the only two times this word appears in the New
Testament Scriptures.
Connected to the ends of the mercy-seat were the
cherubims of glory, two golden angels facing each other with
upspread wings that covered the mercy-seat (Exodus 25:18-20). From here
God would give His commandments (Exodus 25:22) and here He would "meet"
the high priest on the Day of Atonement (Leviticus 16:2, 13-15).
Our author speaks only generally of these items which were in the
tabernacle. That he
cannot now speak particularly means simply that he will not at
this point; enter on a detailed discussion of the individual pieces.
Since he makes only a general typological point regarding these items,
we will here do the same.
9:6-7. Having spoken of
the equipment of the Aaronic priests, he turns now to their ritual
These two verses emphasize one theme in three ways: the inaccessibility
of the most holy place under the former covenant.
The priests ministered in the holy place;
the high priest alone could enter the most holy place.
Service was. performed always or daily in the first tent; it was
performed in the second tent only one day
every year. The outer tabernacle was entered for many purposes;
the inner tent could
not be entered
without blood. This blood the high priest offered that single
day each year, first for himself and then for the
errors of the people (see
5:3;
7:27; Leviticus 16:6, 11,
15).
When these things were thus ordained refers to the time of
Moses. The phrase has no bearing on the date of this epistle.
9:8. In the very limited access to the most holy place, the
Holy Ghost or Spirit was
signifying that the way to God
was not yet made manifest to sinful man. So long
as the first tabernacle was standing, so long as there were two
tents, just that long man could not approach God directly or with a
clear conscience. The next chapter will show that the work of Jesus has
opened the road to God for the people of the new covenant (
10:19-20; see Matthew
27:51; John 10:9; 14:6; Romans 5:2; Ephesians 2:18).
9:9. All this was a
figure or parable for the period of
time in which the Aaronic priesthood was ministering. It should
have indicated to them that their
gifts and sacrifices (see
5:1,
8:3) were not for the
perfecting of
the conscience.
9:10. Such offerings involved ceremonial cleansing from
meats or foods
and drinks through various
washings and
carnal ordinances. The ceremonial laws and the rituals per
taining to them were all temporary, and were
imposed only
until the time or period of sacred history in which God would
effect
reformation.
Reformation translates a word which means a straighten ing, and
was used in Greek literature of setting a fracture, repairing roads or
houses, or even paying debts. The general meaning is "putting right" or
"bringing to a satisfactory state." In this verse, the present period
of the priestly work of Messiah Jesus is the time when God is putting
right sinful man and bringing to a satisfactory state the ordinances
foreshadowed by the incomplete shadows and symbols of the old covenant
system.
9:11.
Christ having arrived (that is literally what he says), so has
the
time of reformation just mentioned. He is
high priest of all the
good things which belong to the order
to come, that is, the Messianic order of fulfillment. The phrase
"to come" is used several times in Hebrews of the still unrealized
future (2:5;
13:14), but the entire
epistle agrees that this perfect order has now begun in part, and that
its power may already be enjoyed (
6:5).
Christ's service involves a
greater and
more perfect tabernacle or sanctuary. It is
not made with hands (see
8:2,
5); in fact, it is
not a part of
this physical creation or
building.
9:12. Nor is His service dependent on the
blood of goats for Himself or of
calves for the people. Through the merits of the sinless life
represented
in his own blood He has
entered into the most
holy place once for all time, and there He has found or
obtained a
redemption that is
eternal.
Unlike the temporary elements of the first covenant, all that
pertains to the new covenant belongs to the
eternal order. This eternal covenant (13:20) brings an eternal
redemption (
9:12), inheritance (
9:15) and salvation (
5:9), because it rests on
the offering of Christ by His eternal Spirit (
9:14).
This is not a Platonic distinction between the world of true being
and that of forms or appearance. It is not simply a lower and an upper
world. Rather the writer of Hebrews speaks of the eternal things and
the carnal ordinances with both horizontal and vertical
significance.
On the one hand, there is an eternal realm which exists at the same
time as but transcendent to the first-covenant types and shadows based
on it. On the other hand, this eternal realm was manifested in the
course of human time and history, displacing the former types and
shadows.
In combining these concepts the writer is in complete accord with
the rest of the New Testament Scriptures that the Christian order
involves both what already has come into human history and what has not
yet appeared. It is unfair to our author to say that he is voicing
Greek philosophy, or even that he is speaking in Platonic terms. He is
rather speaking in language that is common to Jewish expression (the
"vertical" typology) on the one hand, and to Christian teaching (the
"horizontal" element) on the other.
9:13. Here is another of those "how much more" contrasts with which
we have become familiar in Hebrews. This time it clinches the point
made so far in chapter nine: Christ as a priest ministers a service
which excels that of the Aaronic priests, and, in keeping with that, He
gives far better benefits.
The blood of bulls and of goats was used in sin-offerings on the
Day of Atonement or at other times, and the
ashes of an unblemished red
heifer were used in rites of purification (Numbers 19:1-22).
These things could
sanctify so far as
purifying the flesh from ceremonial uncleanness, or even staying
God's wrath against sin momentarily.
9:14. Yet
how much more, we are asked, will
the blood of Christ cleanse the
conscience, not from uncleanness incurred through touching a
dead body (Numbers 19:11-16), but from "practices and attitudes which
belong to the way of death, which pollute the soul and erect a barrier
between it and God" (Bruce) -- that is, from
dead works?
Freed from such practices by the blood of Christ, His people are
free
to serve the living God. Note the contrast between dead works
and a living God. For a similar point see Romans 6:6, 13; 7:4-6; II
Corinthians 2:16; 3:6.
The basis of this superior benefit of Christ's offering is that He
through the eternal spirit offered himself without spot to God.
Christ's sinless life has already been attested to, and will appear
again in chapter ten. His life was "offered" to God, not to Satan as
some Medieval theorists surmised. This was a sacrifice of love, but
also of "bearing sins." A sinless life could justly meet all God's
requirements for man and at the same time pay the ransom for sin. One
ought not press these figures beyond scriptural bounds, but simply
glory in what God has done and be content to understand that by such
terms as EIe has chosen to use in revealing it.
Through the eternal spirit. In the face of arguments for
"spirit" and "Spirit" here, it does no violence to the passage or the
larger context to allow both meanings. It was through the offering of
His own spirit, first in complete obedience and then in death, that
Christ's blood possessed merit. His spirit is eternal because by nature
He is the Son who belongs to the eternal order; EIe was raised to be
priest because He possesses an indestructible life (
7:16).
On the other hand, it was by anointing Jesus with the Holy Spirit
(Isaiah 42:1) that God announced Him to be the Servant on whom He would
also lay "the iniquity of us all" (Isaiah 53:6). It was by the Spirit
that Christ was raised from the dead (I Peter 3:18) and declared to be
the Son (Romans 1:4), fulfilling the promise that He would "prolong His
days," "see the travail of His soul and be satisfied" and "justify
many" (Isaiah 53:10-11).
9:15. Because of Christ's meritorious blood, by which He became
mediator of the new testament, one may say that
by means of death those
who are called of either covenant
receive the promise of eternal inheritance. His death was
for the redemption of the transgressions under the first
testament, as well as for sins of those who should live afterward
(see also Romans 3:25). Because Christ's blood can cleanse from dead
works (verse 14), the
inheritance contained in God's
promise is assured to His people.
Having spoken of the
inheritance, the author's thoughts seem to move for a brief
moment to a double meaning possessed by the word which he has been
using for "covenant." For the word translated "testament" here is the
same one translated "covenant" in the preceding chapter.
Because the English language needs two words to express what the
Greek language could say in this one, the English reader is at a
disadvantage in understanding the present argument until he learns of
this double sense.
Ordinarily in Scripture this word means "covenant." It is a great
theological word of the Old Testament, where it stands for the Hebrew
term signifying the divine disposition or arrangement imposed by God on
Israel, through which He brought Israel into a special relationship
with Himself. That covenant was one-sided in that God planned and
expressed it and Israel could not bargain the terms. But it was
two-sided in that Israel accepted certain stated conditions involving
both blessing and punishment.
In New Testament times, however, this same Greek word was used
commonly for a last will and testament. Not only so, the word for the
man who offered a covenant to another was the same word for the man who
made a will. There are similarities and differences between these two
concepts.
A covenant and a will have in common that both (at least in a
divine-human covenant) involve a death. They are distinct inasmuch as
such a covenant provides for both benefits and punishments, but a will
provides only for benefits -- which are assured by the death of the man
who makes the will.
In verses 15-20, the word is used both ways. Verses 15, 18-20 use
this word in the usual biblical sense of a covenant. But verses 16-17
use the same word (as the Greeks commonly used it) of a will. By this
subtle shift in emphasis from one to the other and back again, the
author points out a special benefit of the new covenant which the old
could not give.
9:16.
Where a testament or will
is, there must be publicly established and proved
the death of the man who made the will. This is a general
statement concerning normal human affairs.
9:17. Such a will is
of force only after the man who made it is
dead. It has no legal power while he is living. The point here
is not particularly that Jesus was free during His life time to
dispense blessings in a manner other than that provided for in His
"will," though it is true that "the Son of man hath power on earth to
forgive sins." Rather the author's concern is that a death must take
place in the establishment of either a divine covenant or a human will,
and that, in the case of a last will and testament, once the death has
occurred the benefits provided by the will are guaranteed to the
beneficiaries.
Because the death of Jesus can purge the conscience from dead works,
His beneficiaries will receive the eternal inheritance. His new
testament is of the nature of a will, as well as that of a covenant
(which was discussed in chapter eight), but as a will it provides only
benefits!
This does not diminish the force of numerous stern warnings against
apostasy. For the beneficiaries of Christ's will are seen to be the
people of the new covenant, not in dividuals in isolation. The benefits
are for the "house" which "we" are (
3:6). The true rest is
for the "people" of God (
4:9). Both "house" and
"people" figure in the discussion of the new covenant (
8:8, 10).
For this reason, individuals are to exhort "one another" lest "any
of you" be hardened (
3:13). They know that the
Lord will judge His "people" (
10:30). Some who have
entered the covenant may certainly be lost, though only through failure
to remain in the covenant by faith (fulness). All who remain among the
covenant people will obtain the blessings which Christ's offering
secured for them, for His death was that of a testator as well as that
of a covenant-mediator. "He is testator and executor in one, surety and
mediator alike" (Bruce).
9:18. Leaving now the idea of a last will and testament, and
returning to the ordinary meaning of covenant, the writer notes that
the first covenant or
testament was also
dedicated with
blood.
9:19.
When Moses had spoken the terms of the covenant
to all the people, he sealed with blood their acceptance of it
and God's acceptance of them on that basis. The account of this
covenant-sealing ceremony is given in Exodus 24:1-8. Several details in
Hebrews are not mentioned in the Old Testament. Exodus makes no mention
of goats in the ceremony. It does not mention the use of water, scarlet
wool or hyssop in the sprinkling. It makes no mention of the Book being
sprinkled, but does say the altar was, which Hebrews omits.
Delitzsch believes the expression "calves and goats" in Hebrews is a
general term for sacrifices of all kinds. It is also quite possible
that our author had information not given in Exodus.
The mixing of water with blood for sprinkling and sprinkling by
means of wool wrapped around hyssop may be inferred from the case of
the Passover lamb (Exodus 12:22), the purification ceremony for one
cleansed of leprosy (Leviticus 14:4-l, 49-53), or the cleansing of one
who had touched a dead body (Numbers 19:17-18). The author of Hebrews
either assumes the sprinkling of the Book because the altar and people
were sprinkled, or he has information not extant today.
9:20. Be that as it may, the point he makes is that blood was
directly involved in the dedication of the first covenant, and he
quotes Moses to that effect. He does change the wording slightly,
giving "
this is the blood of the testament" for "behold the blood . . ."
in Exodus. This may reflect a simple paraphrase, or he may be aligning
those words to the words of institution at the Lord's Supper (Matthew
26:28).
9:21. When the tabernacle was erected,
Moses sprinkled with blood the
tabernacle itself and
all the vessels of the ministry. Again the Old Testament does
not give all these details, though it does say the tabernacle and its
furnishings were sprinkled with oil (Exodus 40:9-11; Leviticus 8:10-11;
Numbers 7:1) and the altar with blood as well (Leviticus 8:15).
Josephus, however, says that the entire tabernacle and furnishings
were purified "both with oil first incensed, as I said, and with the
blood of bulls and of rams" (Antiquities 3:8:6). Again we may suppose
that our author had information beyond that in the books of Moses.
9:22.
Almost all things, according to the Old Testament
law, were
purged with blood. This statement leaves room f or exceptions,
as in the case of a poor Israelite (Leviticus 5:11-13; see Numbers
16:46-48; 31:21-24; 31:50-54). The next statement, however, has no
exceptions.
Without shedding of blood there is no remission or
forgiveness.
The three words
shedding of blood stand here for a single Greek word, which is
found only here in all biblical literature. This word emphasizes the
actual taking of blood, and calls attention to the fact that blood
offerings represented the presentation of a life (Leviticus 17:11).
Shedding of broad is also linked to the remission of sins in the Lord's
words at the Last Supper (Matthew 26:28).
9:23. Because of the general practice of cleansing with blood, and
because forgiveness of sins may be obtained only through
blood-shedding,
it was necessary that the
patterns of
things in the heavens (see 8:1,
5)
be purified with the blood ceremonies already described. But the
same principles require that
the heavenly things themselves be purified
with better sacrifices than these. The heavenly realities are
purified with the blood of Christ, and this purification is necessary
because of the general curse of sin on creation and because Christ has
opened the way for redeemed sinners to enter the most holy place not
made with hands.
9:24.
Christ has
entered into a holy place
not made with hands (see
8:1, 2,
5;
9:11-12), not the mere
figures of the true,
but into heaven itself. He has gone to
appear in the presence of God, to be examined as a sacrificial
offering, as a Lamb without spot or blemish, to be carefully
scrutinized by God Himself -- and that with no cloud of incense to
obscure the view! Not only so, He has presented Himself in this manner
for us, and it is for His people alone, not for Himself, that
Christ became the Lamb of God or that He made this appearance.
Philip the Evangelist preached Jesus as a lamb, based on a prophetic
passage full of the Gospel (Acts 8:32). Peter wrote of the Christian's
redemption by the blood of Christ "as of a lamb without blemish" (I
Peter 1:19). John the Baptist introduced Jesus as the "Lamb of God that
taketh away the sins of the world" (John 1:29, 36). Paul speaks of
Christ as our "Passover" (Lamb) who has been slain (I Corinthians
5:7).
The figure of Jesus as a sacrificial lamb appears only in Revelation
otherwise, though there frequently. He is the Lamb whose sacrifice has
been received; He is a Lamb worthy of praise; the Lamb who has redeemed
His people; the Lamb at God's right hand; the Lamb who will come in
Judgment; and the Lamb who will be forever a light for His people
(Revelation 5:6, 8, 12, 13; 6:16; 7:9-17; 12:11; 13:8; 14:1, 4, 10;
15:3; 17:14; 19:7, 9; 21:9, 14, 22, 23, 27; 22:1, 3).
9:25. Because of the quality of His offering, Christ made but one
for all time, though as eternal priest He perpetually mediates on the
basis of that single sacrifice. Here the con trast is with the Aaronic
priesthood. The regular priests under that covenant entered the holy
place often, the high priest entered the most holy place one day each
year. But Christ, the priest of the new covenant, entered the heavenly
holy place only one time forever.
He does not need to
offer himself often, not even
every year, for He did not carry
the blood of others but His own.
9:26. If Christ's single sacrifice were not sufficient for all time,
He
must have suffered a bloody death
since the foundation of the world, for just that long men have
been sinners and in need of a sacrifice. But instead we see Him now in
the end of the world, at the consummation of the ages, when the eternal
order is breaking in on man's history, at the time of perfection --
appearing
once on the scene of history to make His single offering and
put away or disannul the power (same word at 7:18) of sin for
all time.
Note the contrasts in this verse. Christ has not suffered death
often, but once; not from the foundation of the world, but only now in
the end of the ages, not (as the high priests of verse 25) with the
blood of others, but by the sacrifice of Himself.
The exact expression here translated
the end of the world (literally, "the consummation of the ages")
appears only here in the New Testament Scriptures. It is parallel,
however, to the expression found at Matthew 13:39, 40, 49; 24:3 and
28:20, and closely related in meaning to similar phrases in I
Corinthians 10:11 and I Peter 1:20. As Bruce points out, "it is not
that Christ happened to come at the time of fulfillment, but that His
coming made that time the time of fulfillment." See
notes on 9:10-12 and especially
on 1:2.
The singularity of Christ's offering is expressed here in three
ways. It is once for all; it is in the consummation of the ages; it is
to abolish sin. If sin is abolished, there is no need for another
sacrifice If the consummation of the ages has come, there is no time
£or another. If Christ's offering is once for all, there can be no
other. Chapter ten will show how this once-for-all character of His
offering brings both marvelous blessings and a dreadful warning to the
people of the new covenant.
9:27. The general rule is stated that it
is appointed by God
for men to die once and only once, inasmuch as they live once in
a mortal body, and
after this comes
the judgment. The author does not deal with the time lapse
between death and judgment; that is not his concern. He simply calls
attention to the fact that men live one time, die one time and
(sometime thereafter) are judged by God for the life they lived before
they died.
9:28. In keeping with this general rule,
Christ (who became one with His human brethren by taking on
flesh and blood,
2:14) also lived one time
in the flesh, died one time in the flesh and appeared before God one
time to be judged on the basis of the single life lived before He
died.
Christ, however, lived a representative life on behalf of others (as
chapter ten will explain); He died
to bear the sins of many, so
was offered; and has been judged for others as well (verse 24).
Yet the point remains the same as with all men: He can only live once,
die once, and be judged once for that life. But Christ has already
lived, died. and been judged -- therefore He can not repeat His fleshly
life, or death, or (this is the point in relation to verses 25-26)
offering.
Not only was Christ's life unique (both because it was sinless and
because it was lived for others), and His death one of a kind (because
it was offered as a sacrifice, for others, and by Himself), but His
"judgment" was the first among men, signifying the beginning of the end
of the world and guaranteeing the outcome of the judgment of all His
people
The second point in this verse uses imagery of the Day of Atonement.
Christ our high priest has entered the presence of God bearing the
offering. His people, meanwhile, are waiting outside the sanctuary for
Him to return and certify that the sacrifice has been received and that
they are forgiven The Day of Atonement, according to an ancient Jewish
source, came to a happy end with the high priest going to his own
house. "All the people accompany him . . . and he holds a festival to
celebrate his having come successfully out of the sanctuary." See
Appendix V.
The writer seems to be saying that our high priest of the new
covenant has entered the presence of God with a suitable sin offering,
and that He will certainly
appear the second time to His people
that look for him. Unlike those priests who foreshadowed and
symbolized Him, Christ does not repeat the performance. Having
once been offered
to bear sins, He will reappear only to bring
salvation to those for whom He once suffered. One should not
stretch the analogy beyond measure, but we might observe in the light
of the rest of the New Testament Scriptures that the Holy Spirit's
descent, which authorized the beginning of the preaching of the Gospel,
was a case of the high priest sending a messenger out in advance of
Himself to tell the waiting people that His sacrifice had been received
and that remission of sins was effected.
CHAPTER TEN
10:1.
The law, standing here for the entire Old Testament economy,
offered only a
shadow of the
good things which were
to come in the Messianic era of fulfillment, an era which, with
Christ, has already begun (see
note at 9:11). It did not minister
the very image of heavenly realities but mere types and shadows
The thought here is the same as at
8:2,
5; 9:1, although the
words used are different.
Since perfection belongs to the new order and not to the former, it
is not surprising that worshippers under the old were not made
perfect. That they were not is evident in the offering of
the same sacrifices one
year after another,
continually.
10:2. If the
worshippers had been
purged or cleansed by those offerings, they would have had no
longer a bad
conscience regarding
sins. By contrast see John 13:10; Acts 15:9; I Corinthians 6:11;
Hebrews 9:14; I Peter
3:21.
10:3. The opposite was true, however. The offering of jealousy, for
example, was "an offering of memorial, bringing iniquity to
remembrance" (Numbers 5:15). Even the sacrifices of the Day of
Atonement were reminders of past sins (Leviticus 16:21); furthermore,
yearly repetition testified to their inability to cover future
sins.
A contrast may be noted here between the sacrifices of the old
covenant and the Lord's Supper of the new. The former memorialized the
sinfulness of the worshippers and constantly reminded them of their
shortcomings. The latter memorializes the single sacrifice of Christ,
by which worshippers now are constantly cleansed of sin.
Remembrance here is the same word found in I Corinthians
11:24-25 and may be translated "memorial."
10:4. All that has been said in the first three verses leads to one
conclusion: the
blood of animals can not
take away the memory of or bad conscience resulting from
sins.
10:5. Foreseeing that animal blood could not take away sin, God had
from eternity planned another offering to which burnt sacrifices always
pointed. What follows must be seen in the light of this
wherefore, as the writer begins to explain the significance of
sacrificial
blood and the forgiveness Christ makes possible.
The purpose of Christ's advent into the world as a man may be
expressed in words taken from Psalm 40:6-8, which our author here puts
in His mouth.
"Sacrifice and
offering of animals or produce is not what You really desire,"
Jesus says to the Father. "You have
prepared a human
body for
me instead."
Our author is quoting the Greek Old Testament which says "a body you
have prepared." The Hebrew text says, "you have dug out my ears." The
final meaning is the same, however, and may be explained along either
of two lines. Ears may stand here for the entire body, the part for the
whole. If God formed ears for the man, He prepared also the rest of his
body.
Approaching the text another way, one may interpret Christ (or
David, originally) to be saying "You have made ears that I may hear
Your will and do it" (see Isaiah 50: 4-5). Either way the point is the
same God does not desire a mere multiplication of Old Testament
sacrifices and offerings. What He does want from man is indicated by
the gift of a human body. He wants a human life dived according to His
will.
10:6. God has never desired sacrifices above human obedience. If man
had obeyed, in fact, he would not have needed sacrifices at all This
was true from the beginning of Israel's history (Jeremiah 7:21-23; I
Samuel 15:22; Psalm 51:16-17) to the time of the great writing prophets
of the eighth century (Isaiah 1:11-17; Amos 5:22-24; Micah 6:6-8).
Each type of offering under the old covenant served a particular
purpose, and all are included under the present principles.
Sacrifice was the regular term for the peace. offering, a
conciliation for the restoring of fellowship.
Offering was the generic term for the meal or cereal offering, a
donation representing the consecration of the giver.
Burnt offering indicates the oblation expressing worship. The
sin-offering was made for expiation or atonement.
Whatever the purpose and whatever the offering, none was God's first
choice from man. It is better to maintain fellowship than to restore
it, to show consecration by a life than by an offering, to worship by
giving oneself than a burnt animal, to obey than to atone for
disobedience. God simply wanted human conformity to His will,
manifested in sincere and loving obedience. Christ came to give this --
and the Father gave Him a body for that purpose.
10:7. The psalm quotation continues. "
I come," Jesus says, "
to do thy will, O God." The parenthetical phrase,
"in the volume of the book it is written of me," is also from
the psalm. Again, two meanings are possible. Christ may be saying,
"what is written in the Law I apply to myself to keep." Or He may mean,
"what David said in the psalm regarding obedience was a prophetic
statement of Myself and My work." Both are true and both should be
included in our understanding.
Psalm 40:8 adds a phrase not quoted here: "Thy law is within my
heart." David of old applied what the Law said to his own life, so that
God's precepts were not written in the book alone but also inscribed in
his heart. How fitting for the Christ to be foretold in such a context!
For the new covenant He mediated is characterized by laws inscribed in
men's hearts (see
8:10).
10:8-9. Our author
comments on the sense of the psalm. Christ first mentioned sacrifices
and offerings, he notes,
then He spoke of His own coming
to do God's
will. Christ took away the
first -- the offering of all those sacrifices, to make the
second stand -- human obedience to all God's expressed will for
man.
10:10. Because Jesus gave God human obedience in a human body, then
offered that body in death, we who are His people
are sanctified or made holy on the basis of God's
will which Jesus perfectly demonstrated in His body.
Will here is the same as in verses seven and nine; it is not the
same word used for a testament-will.
Sanctified here is in a participle form meaning something now
the case because of what happened previously. We are those who have
been sanctified and still are -- because of the past offering of the
body (symbolizing the well-pleasing life) of Jesus.
Once for all is emphatic in the original here because of its
location in the sentence We have seen this word already at
7:27 and
9:12. A slightly less
intensive form appears at
6:4;
9:7,
26-28;
10:2 and
12:26-27.
10:11. The old testament
priest performed imperfect service, and stood day after day to
repeat often and regularly the same sacrifices; sacrifices which,
ironically but logically, could never fully remove sins.
10:12. Jesus, on the
other hand, presented
one sacrifice for sins, His body (or, in other places, His
blood), standing for His perfect human life. This was sufficient
for ever. His offering completed, Jesus has now
sat down. Delitzsch expresses the contrast of these verses well.
"The priest of the Old Testament stands timid and uneasy in the holy
place, anxiously performing his awful service there, and hastening to
depart when the service is done, as from a place where he has no free
access, and can never feel at home; whereas Christ sits down in
everlasting rest and blessedness at the right hand of Majesty in the
holy of holies, His work accomplished, and He awaiting its reward."
The figure of Christ at God's
right hand is taken from Psalm 110, which our author has used
many times. Here he has come almost full cycle from 1:3, and is about
to tie up his argument.
10:13-14. Christ as
priest has made His offering. Christ as king is waiting for the total
subjection of all His subjects. God has made Him king already; Christ
now possesses all authority (Matthew 28:18; Ephesians 1:21-22; I Peter
3:22). But not all men have yet acknowledged His authority, though some
day they must (I Corinthians 15:24-25; Philippians 2:8-11).
Psalm 110 forms a backdrop before which the risen Christ is seen
throughout the New Testament Scriptures. As noted already, most
references to the psalm outside Hebrews emphasize Christ's kingship.
Hebrews usually stresses His priesthood. Here the two are combined. As
priest, Christ has made His offering and His people are waiting for His
return. As king, He is at God's right hand, waiting for full
recognition by men. As throughout the New Testament writings, the end
has already begun but it is not yet completed. We live in the
interim.
10:15-17. Those trusting
in the sacrifice of Jesus are perpetually and completely sanctified.
This has been argued already, and to this the Holy Spirit agrees as
witnessed in the Old Testament Scriptures. Our author refers again to
Jeremiah 31, which he discussed at length in
chapter eight.
The Spirit there stated first, "This is
the covenant I will make," speaking of Christ's covenant in
which
laws would be placed in men's
hearts and minds. But the Spirit added (our author points out),
"
and their sins and iniquities will I remember no more."
10:18.
Remission of sins means that God does not remember them any
longer. Where there is such remission,
no more offering is needed
for sin. With this, the argument of Hebrews ends. The rest of
the epistle consists of exhortations or warnings based on the points
already established.
We have a high priest who has offered a perfect offering because it
represented a human life perfectly in accord with God's will for man.
By that sacrifice, we are perfected. God has promised not to remember
our sins any more. There will be no further offering; there is no need
for another.
Christ now is mediating the blessed benefits of His once-for-all
sacrifice for all His covenant people. He waits for His kingship to be
fully recognized. His people wait for His return with the inheritance
already secured. The writer of Hebrews urges his readers to be among
the faithful who will receive the blessing.
10:19.
Boldness here represents a word which has the root idea of
freedom of speech, therefore, freedom from fear or inhibition. The
phrase,
to enter the holiest, may also be translated "boldness for an
entrance into the holiest." Both the personal act and the general fact
depend on the
blood of Jesus.
10:20. Our entrance (see Ephesians 3:12) is by means of
a way or road that is
new, a particular Greek word which originally meant
"freshly-slain." It is also
living, therefore effectual to attain its desired and intended
goal.
Some commentators and translators think
his flesh explains
the veil, others that it refers to
the way. If the former is intended, the human body of Jesus is a
veil separating His perfect life from God in heaven. His spirit
passed through that flesh on its way to glory. If the latter is meant,
the human body of Jesus is itself the
way which He consecrated through the figurative veil separating
man from God. His people travel down the road of His human Life into
God's presence. In fact, Jesus did pass through the flesh to His
present position of glory and man must pass through His human life
(that is, the merits it secured) to find salvation.
In either case, Christ has
consecrated or dedicated or officially opened a new highway from
man to God by His blood. We have confidence to venture upon it because
Jesus has travelled it ahead of us and is now safely in heaven at God's
right hand (see
comments at 6:19-20).
10:21. The Christian has also a
high priest over the
house of God (see
notes at 3:1-6). Having both
boldness and such a
high priest, saints are exhorted regarding relationships with
God, their own faith and one another.
10:22. Let Christ's people
draw near (the same word in
4:16;
7:25 and
11:6) to the Father with
a
true heart, a heart that is sincere and without guile (see the
same point in John 4:23-24). Such an approach is to be
in full assurance of faith, that is, in the complete confidence
and total persuasion which faith can give.
We have been separated from dead works by the figurative sprinkling
of the blood of Jesus (see
9:13-14); we have been
set apart for service to God as well. The priests were to wash in water
before entering the tabernacle to serve (Leviticus 16:4) -- this may be
in the mind of the author here.
I believe that the
hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience represents the
spiritual cleansing of the conscience by the Holy Spirit, through the
merit of the life of Jesus as represented spiritually by His blood --
in other words, the inner part of regeneration. The
bodies washed with pure water represents the physical act of
baptism in water, the divinely-ordained manner by which faith reaches
out to take hold of sovereign grace. It is the
outer element in regeneration.
It is not uncommon for New Testament writers to speak of the
physical and spiritual together in this way. Jesus talked of a birth of
water and the Spirit (John 3:3, 5). Peter told his Pentecost audience
to be baptized for remission of sins and the reception of the Holy
Spirit (Acts 2:38). Saul of Tarsus was told to be baptized and wash
away his sins, calling on the name of the Lord (Acts 22:16); neither he
nor Ananias had any doubt that his sins were washed away by a spiritual
cleansing based on the blood of Christ.
We read of the Corinthians being baptized by
the Spirit into one body (I Corinthians 12:13); of the washing
of water by the word (Ephesians 5:26); of merciful salvation by the
washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit (Titus 3:5).
Peter makes it clear that baptism is related to salvation because it is
the appeal to God for a good conscience (I Peter 3:21). His careful
explanation that baptism is not merely the removal of bodily defilement
shows that the inner and outer go together and that they might be
misunderstood. The same verse emphasizes that baptism saves "by the
resurrection of Jesus Christ."
The
full assurance of faith is possible just because our Standing is
grounded in the finished work and the single offering of Jesus Christ.
John Bunyan speaks of od addressing the sinner in these words: "Sinner,
thou thinkest that because of thy sins and infirmities I cannot save
thy soul, but behold my Son is by me, and upon Him I look, and not on
thee, and will deal with thee according as I am pleased with Him." We
are accepted in the Beloved -- first, last and always (Ephesians 1:6,
KJV); but, praise God, in the Beloved we are accepted"
10:23. Again the exhortation to
hold fast our own
profession or commitment
of faith. The better manuscripts here have "hope,"' in keeping
with previous exhortations (see
3:6,
14; 4:14;
6:11).
God is the one
that promised, and God
is faithful reliable and trustworthy. No one who commits himself
to God in hope will ever be disappointed or betrayed (see also
6:11-12,
18).
10:24. Christ's people must also
consider or pay attention to
one another, with an intention
to provoke or stir up
to love and good works. The word here translated
provoke gives the English word "paroxysm," and appears in the
New Testament Scriptures only here and at Acts 15:39. The mutual
consideration enjoined is the duty of every Christian and is a clear,
though frequently neglected obligation.
10:25. Such holy provocation can not occur with the
forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, although
some had done just that. It happens rather by
exhorting each other in assemblies called far that purpose, as
well in the normal course of daily life.
It has been suggested that these readers were still meeting in
Jewish synagogue assemblies, but remaining for Christian devotions on
the Lord's Day. Some were neglecting this additional assemblying, for
which they are chided. Others have suggested that
some were absenting themselves from the regular assemblies of
the saints through pride or party-spirit and were holding private
meetings instead.
It is best to take the passage in its context and simply say that
those who have access to God's presence and who have a high priest in
heaven are to draw near to God, hold fast their own hope, and encourage
Christian loving and living in one another. They will not do this by
calling an end to Christian assemblies (through fear of persecution or
simple indifference), but rather by meeting together for
exhortation.
Such encouragement is to intensify
as the day is seen
approaching. Throughout the Old Testament literature "the day"
means an occasion when God visits a people to punish sin and deliver
the righteous. The New Testament writers also speak of such a final day
of punishment and salvation. Before the destruction of Jerusalem, many
early Christians did not know to separate the end of the Jewish state
and religion from the close of the present age and end of the world
(see Matthew 24:3; Acts 1:6-8). Jesus had taught, however, that the two
would not come together (Matthew 24:33, 36; Mark 13:29, 32).
The author to the Hebrews may write before or after the climactic
days of the closing sixties. Whatever the date, he speaks of the final
day of the Lord -- the denouement of all human history at the
consummation of the age His readers had not learned to separate that
"day" into the separate events of resurrection, judgment and so forth,
but thought of the entire event in terms of the phrase from the Old
Testament.
As Delitzsch puts it, this is "the day of days, the final, the
decisive day of time, the commencing day of eternity, breaking through
and breaking up for the church of the redeemed the night of the
present." It is a poor argument that believers could not
see this
day approaching. James could urge patience in affliction "for
the coming of the Lord draweth nigh" (5:6-8). Paul could speak of
saints "knowing the time" that "the day is at hand" (Romans 13:11-12).
Peter could write of impending judgment and "the end of all things" as
"at hand" (I Peter 4:5, 7). The word in all three passages is the word
translated
approaching here. Furthermore, all three contexts contain
ethical instruction regarding proper conduct and mutual concern among
Christian believers in view of the impending end.
10:26. Warning follows exhortation. To
sin willfully is not to commit a single sinful act of weakness
or ignorance, but, as the Greek verb form indicates, to continue in a
constant practice of sin. Nor is
sin here just any kind of sin, but specifically the sin of
disbelief which shows itself in forsaking Christ altogether. While such
apostasy may occur gradually (see the warnings of
2:1-3;
6:11-12), it ultimately
comes about through an act of the will which rejects Christ and His
offering for sin. One might observe that even the Old Testament
sacrifices made provision only for sins committed in ignorance or
weakness -- not for presumptuous or willful sins (Numbers
15:22-31).
What is envisioned here is a rejection of the new cove nant, after
it has been received with faith and joy. Here is a will to sin in spite
of a full
knowledge of the truth, knowledge being a thorough knowledge
both in mind and by personal relationship.
Apostasy from Christ is dreadfully severe because there is
no more sacrifice for sins. His offering, once for all, is man's
last chance and only hope. The person who rejects that -- especially
the man who has known it personally and then rejected it -- is
hopelessly lost, for he has set his will against the only basis of
forgiveness and the only sacrifice God will accept. Regular assemblying
of saints for mutual exhortation is so important because it helps
prevent the damnation that comes through loss of faith.
10:27. The deserter may look forward only to
judgment and
fiery indignation (see Deuteronomy 9:3; Psalm 79:5, Isaiah
26:11; 30:27; 64:2; Zephaniah 1:18), which is all the more
fearful because it is
certain. This judgment is designed for God's
adversaries or enemies or opponents. One places himself in that
category when he forsakes Christ and rejects His sacrifice.
10:28. Under the
law of
Moses the man who forsook God's covenant and worshipped idols
was stoned to death
without mercy upon conviction through the testimony of
two or three witnesses (see Deuteronomy 17:2-7).
10:29. If apostasy under the inferior covenant was hastily and
rigidly punished,
how much sorer punishment must be proper for the man who rejects
the new covenant instituted by the blood of the Son of God? The
question is left open for consideration by each reader --
suppose ye?
Rejection of Christ and His offering involves a turning from the
most holy elements of divine religion, and that in the cruelest manner.
It is to renounce and tread
under foot (see the same word at Matthew 5:13; 7:6; Luke 8:5)
the Son of God. It is to regard
the blood of the covenant (see
comments at 9:18-20) which makes man holy
(wherewith he was sanctified) as itself common and
unholy. It is to despise the very Spirit of grace.
Do despite translates a word which comes into our language in
the noun "hubris." This word was used by the ancient Greeks for the
most presumptuous arrogance and haughtiness, and was regarded as the
worst possible sin. The idea is seen in various forms of the word
translated "entreat spitefully" (Luke 18:32; Matthew 22:6), "use
despitefully" (Acts 14:5), "reproach" (II Corinthians 12:10) or
"shamefully entreat" (I Thessalonians 2:2). Just as it is cruelly
ironic for the covenant blood which makes holy to be regarded as itself
unholy, so it is for the
Spirit whose ministry brings divine
grace to be rejected with arrogance and insolence!
10:30. We can appreciate the severity of punishment awaiting such a
one, for
we know God who has claimed
vengeance as His own prerogative and has promised to
recompense. These words are probably taken from the Song of
Moses (Deuteronomy 32:35), and they are quoted by Paul in urging
Christians not to avenge themselves (Romans 12:19).
Another quotation from the Song of Moses shows the severity of
divine judgment:
The Lord will judge his people (Deuteronomy 32:36). This phrase
may be interpreted two ways. In the Old Testament passage (see also
Psalm 135:14) God judges His people by rescuing them and punishing
their enemies. The author of Hebrews may be saying that God will
vindicate those who are faithful to Christ in spite of adversity and
temptation by punishing those who once knew Him but turned away. Or he
may use the term in a general sense to mean that God will condemn the
apostates and so "judge" them.
10:31. In either event, the point is the same:
It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God!
It is
fearful because He is God, and all-powerful; it is more fearful
because He is the
living God and eternal in wrath.
It is well that we should realize that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is
not soft, shallow, or flabby. It
is a matter of blood and fire, a solemn, and, at times, almost a
fierce thing (Robinson).
10:32. Fear of punishment is a powerful incentive; so is the
precious memory of early faithfulness.
Call those
former days to your mind, he urges. After becoming Christians,
or being
illuminated (see
comment at 6:4 where the same word is
used), they had endured much for their faith.
Great fight here translates a word for an athletic contest --
the figure will reappear in
12:1-2.
Afflictions are literally "pressures" on the Christian. This
pressure results from tension, created by the opposing pulls of old
nature and new, God and Satan, of the Present Age and the Coming
Age.
10:33. On the one hand, our author's first readers had been
personally
made a gazingstock. This word means to be brought shamefully
before public view, as in a theater, and reminds us of the later
martyrdom of Christians by wild animals in public displays. These
saints had not faced lions or leopards but the spiritual beasts of
reproaches (see
11:26;
13:13) and
afflictions from their associates.
On the other hand, they had become
companions or partners or sharers with other Christians so
mistreated for Christ's sake.
Used here signifies a way of life characterized by affliction.
This is not a one-time occurrence. Under such perpetual and constant
attack, the man of faith shows the genuineness of his commitment. This
will be the subject of a strong exhortation in the next chapter.
10:34. The Hebrew Christians had shown
compassion or sympathy toward those who were imprisoned for
their faith. The better manuscripts and later versions have "those in
bonds" instead of "me in my bonds." They had experienced the
spoiling or snatching away of their own
goods or substance, and that with
joy. They knew that they had
better possessions in heaven, possessions that were
enduring, and for those they could endure the plunder of earthly
goods.
10:35. They had been faithful before, they can now remain true to
Christ. Do not
cast away your confidence (see
comment at 10:19; see
3:6;
4:16 "boldly"), he urges.
It has great wages or
recompense of reward (2:2; 11:26).
10:36.
Patience means endurance, and is a key note in the author's song
of encouragement. What God has promised He will surely give (
9:15;
11:13,
39-40), but only after
faithful endurance according to the
will of God.
10:37.
Yet a little while, he urges, taking words from Isaiah 26:20.
The Greek here literally says, "a little -- how very, very little!" By
comparison with the ages of eternity, how very' very well this
describes the short Christian conflict on earth! For the same point
from the perspective of saints already martyred, see Revelation
6:9-11.
He that cometh here refers to Christ the high priest. The author
takes the phrase from Habakkuk 2:3 (Greek version>. Christ was "He
that Cometh" when He came into the world as Messiah (see Matthew 11:3;
Luke 7:19; John 6:14). He is "He that Cometh" now to the Christian who
awaits His return (see
9:28). Assurance is given
that He
will come and
will not tarry.
10:38. Two categories of men are named.
The just or righteous will
live through their
faith -- again words from Habakkuk (2:4; see also Romans 1:17;
Galatians 3:11).
Faith here stresses the element of endurance -- with almost the
sense of "hope" in other New Testament epistles. The second category
consists of those who
draw back in disbelief' and in them God finds
no pleasure.
10:39. The exhortation closes with a word of optimism We includes
the author and his first readers.
We are not of that class who
draw back, and end in perdition or
destruction, but of those who
believe and keep on believing
to the resultant
saving of the soul. The next chapter will demonstrate the
character and behavior of saving faith through examples of saints long
dead. Here the readers are urged to be among the faithful.
Some will be rejected, cursed and burned (
6:8), but "we are
persuaded better things of you" (
6:9)! Let each believer
be fully informed regarding the destiny of deserters and apostates. Let
him tremble before the Wrath of a righteous God. But let him then be
encouraged and consoled and strengthened, lest he become discouraged
and fall to another of Satan's devices. This is the true style of
exhortation, and Hebrews is above all a "word of exhortation" (
13:22).
CHAPTER ELEVEN
11:1. In this chapter our author will illustrate that faith which
saves the soul by pointing to men and women from Jewish history who
possessed it. He begins, however, with a statement concerning this
saving faith, which some have called its definition.
Faith is, on the one hand,
the substance or confidence or courageous assurance (see the
same word at
3:14)
of things hoped for. This term expresses the sense well of the
Hebrew word for faith used throughout the Old Testament. It is that
confident and assured trust in God which enables one to endure with
patience while moving toward the object of his hope.
Faith is, on the other hand,
the evidence or proof, the absolute conviction,
of things not seen with the physical eyes. This terminology
expresses the sense of the Greek word for faith used in the New
Testament. Saving faith, however, in every age and among all men,
involves both these elements. It
is its own proof of the existence and active energy of
unseen facts and realities, and able by its own immediate intuitions to
dispense with the evidence of the senses and laborious proofs of
reason. It carries the imperious conviction of the truth it holds
within itself (Delitzsch).
Putting it more simply, such faith "is convinced of future good
because it knows that the good for which it hopes already exists
invisibly in God" (Barrett). In that conviction, faith rises to meet
great occasions, accomplishes mighty works through God's power, and
endures every kind of suffering for the sake of Him whose voice it has
heard and whose reward it has seen.
11:2.
By it the elders or honorable men of the past
obtained a good report or were well-attested by God. This
general term will include heroes of faith from Abel the son of Adam
through the Maccabean martyrs of the second century before Christ.
It was common practice among Greek orators, as among speakers now,
to illustrate particular traits by calling attention to individuals in
whom they have been particularly apparent. When Mattathias, the
priestly father of the Maccabean brothers, encouraged his sons on his
deathbed he said,
Now my children, be zealous for the Law, and give your
lives for the covenant of your fathers. And call to mind the deeds of
the fathers which they did in their generations, that ye may receive
great glory and an everlasting name (I Maccabees 2:50-51).
He then reminded them of the faith and deeds of Abraham, Joseph,
Phinehas, Joshua, Caleb, David, Elijah, Daniel and his three
friends.
Another Jewish writing began with the following words a
seven-chapter description of the merits of good men from Enoch to a
Maccabean priest named Simeon:
Let me now hymn the praises of men of piety, of our
fathers in their generations. No little glory did the Most High allot
them, and they were great from the days of old (Sirach 44:1-2).
Our author is not unique in naming famous men. He is alone in
calling attention to the clear quality of saving faith which has
exemplified all who truly pleased God. This verse may give a capsule
illustration of the first part of faith's description in verse one.
These elders were men who maintained a confidence and courage and
assurance toward God in the face of whatever circumstance they
encountered.
11:3.
Through this same kind of
faith we understand the origin of the universe although we have
no physical evidence to support our understanding Paul uses
understand in a similar statement in Romans 1:20. Here is just
one example of the second part of the definition found in verse
one.
The worlds (see
1:2) here refer to the
space-time universe which is known by sensory perception, although the
particular word literally means "ages." All that is now
seen was
framed or came into being by the spoken word of God. Nothing
came originally from what philosophers would call the phenomenal, but
from God's own invisible word and will.
The
word of God here is not the same as in John 1:1ff. John uses a
word which includes both rationality or thought and the speech by which
that is expressed. Our author uses a term which emphasizes the act of
speaking. The farmer may be included in his remark that what we see did
not come from what is apparent, and in the implication that it came
from the mind and thoughts of God -- which are invisible -- by means of
the spoken word of God.
If Moses saw a pattern of the true tabernacle in heaven before he
built the one on earth (
8:5;
9:1), it is not
surprising that the visible creation should have come from the thoughts
of God and in the absence of any visible "stuff."
On creation through God's spoken word see also Genesis 1, 2; Psalm
33:6, 9 The important point is that
through faith we
understand this, and that we may have the same proof or
evidence through faith that one might seek through physical
senses.
11:4. The first example of
faith is
Abel, who
by it
offered a sacrifice which
God regarded as
more excellent than that offered by his brother
Cain. The story is told in Genesis 4:3-7. A number of
suggestions have been made as to why Abel's offering pleased God when
Cain's did not.
Cain brought his fruit but Abel brought his firstfruits. Abel's
blood-offering may have signified a realization of his need for
forgiveness, while Cain's offering of produce showed no such insight or
humility. Others have concluded that God prescribed the specific
offering desired and that we have a simple contrast between obedience
and disobedience. Our author says only that Abel's acceptance was due
to his faith There seems to be a simpler explanation of these words
than any yet mentioned
Faith which successfully approaches God by nature involves the
heart. Our writer urges that the heart not be hardened (
3:8), or evil and
unbelieving (3:12) when judged by God's word (4:12). It is rather to be
inscribed with God's laws (
8:10;
10:16), sincere, with
full assurance of faith (
10:22) and strengthened
by grace (13:9). The text here says that Abel's offering was accepted
because he presented it out of faith, and the Old Testament indicates a
distinction between the hearts of Abel and his brother Cain (Genesis
4:7).
Calvin pointed to this factor in his comment that Abel's sacrifice
was accepted "because he himself was graciously accepted," and Proverbs
15:8 affirms the same principle. As all righteous men of all time, Abel
pleased God through faith. This faith which guided all his life caused
him to be accepted, and the occasion of his offering gave God
opportunity to acknowledge the acceptance of his faith. This was in
contrast to Cain's rejection, because of disbelief.
It is even here the case that faith comes by hearing the word of
God, but Abel's faith responded to God's word in general and regularly,
not simply on this occasion. The key to his accepted offering is not
the offering itself but his heart. God was pleased to accept the
offering because of the faith which prompted the man who brought
it.
By the same
faith Abel
obtained witness from
God that
he was righteous. If one construes the which here as referring
to the sacrifice instead of the faith, the point remains unchanged.
For, if by the sacrifice Abel obtained witness from God, it was only in
God's testimony that he was known to be righteous -- but he was
righteous because of his faith.
That Abel was
righteous is stated by our Lord Himself (Matthew 23:35) as well
as by the apostle John (1 John 3:12). Josephus also states that Cain
and Abel
were pleased with different courses of life; for Abel,
the younger, was a lover of righteousness, and, believing that God was
present at all his actions, he excelled in virtue. . . . But Cain was
not only very wicked in other respects, but was wholly intent upon
getting.
God testified that Abel was
righteous by receiving
his gifts. Whether He indicated this reception by a divine word
or by sending fire upon the altar (see Leviticus 9:23-24; Judges
6:21ff; 13:19-23; I Kings 18:30-39; II Chronicles 7:1) we are not
told.
Though Abel had been long
dead even when Hebrews was written,
by his
faith he
yet speaketh. His message is not only a cry to God for vengeance
(Genesis 4:10;
Hebrews 12:24), but is
particularly a word to all God's people that they may find divine favor
through faith.
11:5. If Abel died as a result of his faith, the next witness found
life through his.
By faith Enoch was
translated when God took him (Genesis 5:24; see II Kings 2:3, 5,
10), which our author interprets as meaning that
he did not
see death. When Enoch's associates searched for him
he was not found (see II Kings 2:15-17). But
before his translation Enoch
had received
this testimony or witness
that he pleased God.
The Greek Old Testament says that Enoch "was well-pleasing to God,"
where the Hebrew text says he "walked with God." These terms are
applied by the Old Testament to Noah as well as to Enoch, but to no
other man (Genesis 6:9). Jude indicates that Enoch's contemporaries
were anything but pleasing to God (verses 14-15), and one piece of
uninspired Jewish literature had him "caught away lest wickedness
should change his understanding or guile deceive his soul" (Wisdom
4:11). Again, what is important is that Enoch pleased God through his
faith.
11:6. Although the Old Testament does not state that Enoch was a man
of faith, our writer argues that he must have been. For
without faith it is impossible to please God, yet Scripture says
that Enoch did. What is true of Enoch is true in general. Any person
who
comes to God (the same Greek word used in Hebrews 4:16; 7:25 and
10:1,
22 of approaching God)
must believe or have a two-fold faith. First,
that God
is or exists; second,
that he becomes a
rewarder to those who
diligently seek him by faith.
Both these are in keeping with the nature of faith as described in
verse one. Faith believes that God is, although He is not seen, and
that He will give those seeking Him the reward for which they hope.
Only with such faith is God pleased, He has no pleasure in those who
draw back in disbelief (10:38). Those who received this epistle needed
just such a faith if they were to receive their reward (
10:35). Those who read it
today need the same.
11:7.
Noah was also a man of
faith. Like Abel, he was righteous; like Enoch, he walked with
God or pleased Him (Genesis 6:9). When
warned of God Noah
prepared an ark, for his faith provided evidence of
things not seen as yet. He
moved with godly
fear or piety (see the same word at
5:7;
12:28), itself a
companion of faith, which resulted in the
saving of his house.
By faith, Noah
condemned the world which did not have faith. He
became an
heir of the only righteousness God recognizes, that which is
according to
faith. Noah was saved by faith. His faith showed itself by
acting in assurance of the unseen, through confidence in the God who
had promised.
11:8. The next five verses speak of Abraham's faith, noted by Old
Testament writers (Genesis 15:6; Nehemiah 9:8) as well as New (Romans
4, Galatians 3:6-9). Our writer has already discussed Abraham twice (he
is mentioned in
2:16); once in connection
with God's faithfulness (
6:13-15) and once in
giving historical background to Melchizedek (
7:1-10). Here Abraham's
faith is in the spotlight.
By faith Abraham obeyed the call of God
to go out, not knowing where he would go. He knew only that God
had commanded. "Faith and obedience are inseparable in man's relation
to God." Abraham "would not have obeyed the divine call had he not
taken God at his word; his obedience was the outward evidence of his
inward faith" (Bruce).
Abraham was to
receive a promise of the land as
an inheritance, but that promise was not given until
after he had initially obeyed (Genesis 12:1-7). The promise
concerning an inheritance was itself a reward for his initial faith,
not the original motive for his obedience. That rested on his faith
alone.
11:9.
By faith Abraham
sojourned or lived as a stranger who was passing through
a strange country, although in fact he was
in the land which according to God's promise would some day
belong to his descendants. He lived
with Isaac, who was born when Abraham was 100 years old (Genesis
21:5), and Jacob, born when he was 160 (Genesis 25:26), for fifteen
years (Genesis 25:7)
in tabernacles or tents.
As semi-nomads (Genesis 26:12; 33:17) the patriarchs did not settle
for the luxuries of any city around them. The metropolitan areas of
Sodom and Gomorrah were by no means alone in Palestine and Syria of
Abraham's day. Jericho had been a fortified city already for more than
5,000 years. Yet the patriarchs remained intentional strangers, looking
for a special kind of city which only God could prepare.
11:10. Abraham, and
apparently Isaac and Jacob as well (see
verses 13-16),
looked for the
city which hath the
foundations. Both definite articles are present in the original,
adding emphasis to the uniqueness of the city for which they searched.
The following verses tell us that they were trusting God for a home in
the heavenly city. This verse calls it the city with the foundations,
whose builder or craftsman or architect
and maker or constructor
is God.
In addition to other references in Hebrews (
12:22;
13:14), the new or
heavenly Jerusalem is mentioned in Galatians (4:25-26) and Revelation
(3:12; chapters 21, 22) At times it is a present reality, distinguished
from earthly Jerusalem as the spiritual is distinguished from the
physical, and is discernable by faith. At the same time, it is to be
distinguished in a temporal sense as the inheritance not-yet-given
which awaits the people of God. In Hebrews, notes Bruce, "it is the
heavenly Jerusalem, the commonwealth of God in the spiritual and
eternal order, now effectively made accessible by the completion of
Christ's high-priestly work, to which all the men and women of faith
come to be enrolled as free citizens" (see also Philippians 3:20).
11:11. The text used by the King James translators notes that
by faith Abraham's wife
Sarah was enabled to bear a son although
past the normal
age. A problem arises here, however, because the Greek word
translated
conceive seed is not the word for the mother's part in
conception at all, but the father's. In addition, Sarah is pictured in
the Old Testament, not as believing God's promise, but laughing at it
in scorn and disbelief (Genesis 18:12-15). Finally, the statement that
Sarah
was delivered of a child is not in the better Greek manuscripts
or the later English versions.
A solution may not be far away. The original words here represented
as
Sarah herself received strength to conceive seed, may, by
remarking the vowels, be translated "He also, with Sarah, received
strength to begat a child, when he was past age." This reading is
suggested in the margin of the Westcott and Hort Greek text and is
noted with approval in the lexicons translated by Thayer and by Arndt
and Gingrich. It does not do violence to the original text, either, for
vowels in it were not marked. This reading not only accounts for the
particular Greek word used, it fits the facts of the Old Testament and
makes the present passage far more readable
By faith Abraham went out (verse eight), sojourned (verse nine),
with Sarah had a son (
verse 11), and offered
Isaac (
verse 17).
The fulfillment of this promise, impossible by human calculations,
became possible
by the
faith of Abraham. He exemplified that highest quality of faith
which judges God to be
faithful in all that He has
promised, and acts accordingly.
11:12. Not only Isaac, but eventually a
multitude as numerous as the
stars in the sky (Genesis 15:5; 22:17) or the grains of
sand by the shore (Genesis 22:17) came from the
one man Abraham (Isaiah 51:1-2; Ezekiel 33:24). To this add that
he was
as good as dead so far as producing offspring when Isaac was
promised The text literally says that he had long been dead in this
sense. Paul uses the same form of this word in Romans 4:19. There he
insists that saving faith is faith in a God who is able to raise the
dead, and he develops that point with reference to Christian faith in
the gospel concerning Christ (see also verse 19 in this chapter).
11:13.
These sojourning worthies -- Abraham (and Sarah), Isaac and
Jacob --
all died just as they had lived, in the sphere where faith is
the motivating principle. Although they did not during their lifetime
receive the object of the
promises given them, by faith they had
seen them as if from a distance. Their faith saw what was
invisible and the conviction it produced caused them to react with
certain assurance. They embraced what they saw (literally "greeted" or
"saluted"), and happily
confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims -- not only in
that land but
on the earth itself (see verse ten).
Abraham confessed that he was a stranger and pilgrim (Genesis 23:4),
as did Jacob (Genesis 47:9). David, a later man of faith, made the same
confession in his day (Psalm 39:12; 119:19; I Chronicles 29:15). Peter
urges Christians to have the same attitude (I Peter 1:17; 2:11), as
does our writer in making the present point
11:14.
They that say that they are strangers and pilgrims on this earth
declare plainly that they are looking for
a country or fatherland of their own The patriarchs did say
such things and we may know that was their quest.
11:15. The country they sought was not one from which
they came out, whether Haran or Chaldea. When on one occasion a
servant suggested that Isaac return to Haran to acquire a wife, Abraham
was urgent in insisting against it (Genesis 24:5-8). God had called him
away from that country; his mind was not set on it and he did not
return even when he
had opportunity. These men were pilgrims, not leaving a former
home only, but travelling toward a future one. They were immigrants to
the heavenly city, as well as emigrants from one on earth.
11:16. They wanted a
heavenly country
better than any earth could provide. They were not perfect
mortals by any standard, but they were men who trusted God and took Him
at His word. For this reason he
is not ashamed to be called their God (Genesis 28:13; Exodus
3:6; see Mark 12:26-27). For the same reason He
has prepared that heavenly
city for which they looked during their lives.
Just as the true sabbath rest is fulfilled only in the eternal realm
of realities entered after death by the faithful (
4:1-11; Revelation
14:13), so the faith-pilgrim finds his city only in the dimension of
perfected existence.
An unknown writer from perhaps the third century after Christ had
the same thought in mind when he described Christians in these
words.
They live in their own homelands, but as foreigners. They
share in everything as citizens, hut endure everything as aliens. Every
foreign country is their homeland, but every homeland is a strange
country to them They spend their time on the earth, but their
citizenship is really in heaven (Epistle to Diognetus, my
translation).
11:17. It was also
by faith that
Abraham was offering Isaac, having already offered him in his
own heart and mind, when an angel of God stopped him short of the
actual deed. The story is given in Genesis 22:1-14. Jewish traditions
had Isaac 23, 25 or even 37 years old at the time, and credited him
with the same faith as his father, but the Genesis account leaves the
impression that Isaac was much younger.
The tense of the first verb
offered up indicates an action completed in the past with
results carrying into the present. Abraham's faith was so real that he
regarded Isaac as already having been offered. Apparently, God did as
well. But Abraham's faith was not limited to his mind, for he was in
the process of carrying out this act (as the tense of the second
offered up suggests) when stopped by God. Faith is what
justifies, not the act it prompts; yet justifying faith will always be
acting in obedience to God.
Scripture refers to this incident as a test by which Abraham's faith
was
tried (Genesis 22:1, 12). An ancient Jewish work called The Book
of Jubilees told of a confrontation behind the scenes between God and a
demon, details borrowed, no doubt, from the Biblical story of Job.
11:18. There could be no doubt as to the crisis: it was to be in or
through
Isaac that the race which would be
called the
seed of Abraham would have its origin (Genesis 21:12). The test
of Abraham's faith lay in the realization that God's
promises to him depended on this very
only begotten son whom God now commanded to be offered as a
sacrifice. What does one do when God's promises seem to contradict His
clear commands? Abraham's example would say that faith suspends human
reasoning and obeys, trusting that God is both able and faithful to
carry out His promises.
11:19. If God could
raise one up
from the dead by a miraculous birth to aged parents (
verse 12; Romans
4:17-22), He
was certainly
able to raise Isaac from the death Abraham was now commanded to
inflict. This much Abraham knew, and he seems to have believed that God
would d0 this very thing (Genesis 22:5).
Because Isaac was already dead in Abraham's faithful mind (see
verse 17), our author
says that is what did happen; not literally, but
in a figure. Abraham's faith was approved. He
received his son alive as a reward.
Because
figure here is literally "parable," some have taken the phrase
to mean that what happened to Isaac was a figure or parable of Jesus
who was to come. Whether or not that was in our author's mind, a number
of parallels are apparent. Isaac was Abraham's only begotten son (
verse 17; see John 3:16).
He was a child of promise through whom God would bless the world. He
was born of a miraculous conception.
Isaac carried the wood for his own death, as Jesus carried His own
cross. Isaac was received back as from the dead, as our Lord was in
fact. In Isaac's place, God provided a ram for the sacrifice, caught in
a thicket by his horns. Jesus Himself was the Lamb of God, but died
with a crown of thorns on His head. Both events involve a test of
faith. Man is now asked to place all hope of salvation in the crucified
and risen Jesus, a proposition as troubling to human reason as the
dilemma faced by Abraham.
11:20.
By faith this same
Isaac, when he was old and blind,
blessed his sons
Jacob (Genesis 27:26-29; 28:1-4)
and Esau (Genesis 27:39-40)
concerning things which were to come in the distant future.
These blessings involved the fortunes of two nations, Israel and Edom,
and they came to pass as foretold. That Isaac spoke by faith implies
more in the blessings than a fatherly prediction. What he said must
have been based on a word from God.
The measure of faith required from Isaac is seen in the very
circumstance of the blessing. Jacob had reversed the ordinary prophecy
through common deceit, and the blessings were given unwillfully by
Isaac. Yet Isaac was confident that God would carry out His
purposes
God is all-knowing and all-powerful, and faith trusts Him to
accomplish His will in spite of all human obstacles. No circumstance
may arise through human sin which God can not use for His own glory.
This is the confident conviction of every one who believes that God is
and that He becomes a rewarder to those who seek Him.
11:21. Many years later,
Jacob acted
by faith when he
blessed Ephraim and Manasseh, the two
sons of Joseph (Genesis 48:1-22). See the comments regarding the
patriarchal blessing above.
The same faith was evident in Jacob when he made Joseph swear to
have him buried some day in the land of promise, then leaned in
reverence
upon the top of his pilgrim's
staff and
worshipped the God of his fathers (Genesis 47:29-31).
God's promise to Abraham had included affliction in a strange
country, but also a great deliverance after four generations (Genesis
15:13-16). In that promise alone Jacob placed all his confidence now.
In spite of "the exhaustion of approaching death, he summoned all his
bodily powers, and placed his aged limbs as well as he could in the
position of profoundest adoration" (Delitzsch).
It may be noticed that Genesis has "bed" where our author has
"staff." The same consonants in Hebrew may be either; our author is
using a Greek translation which had "staff." The faith of Jacob remains
the same in either ease, and that is the point.
The writer of Hebrews may reverse the chronological order of the two
events in this verse for smoother transition from Isaac's blessing (
verse 20) to Jacob's
blessing (verse 21), and from Jacob's death-bed (
verse 21) to Joseph's (
verse 22).
11:22. Dying Joseph acted
by faith when he spoke of
the divinely promised
departing of the children of Israel (see notes on verse 21),
and gave a
commandment concerning the future burial of
his bones (Genesis 50:24-25). His faith in God's promise was
vindicated many years later when his bones were carried up out of Egypt
(Exodus 13:19) and laid to rest at Shechem (Joshua 24:32).
11:23.
By faith, Moses, who has been commended already for faithfulness
in God's house (3:2,
5),
was hid three months (Exodus 2:2) by
his parents Amram and Jochebed (Exodus 6:20). Their act was in
violation of
the king's commandment that Hebrew male infants should be
destroyed (Exodus 1:22). To say that Moses was
a proper child is to say he was urbane, stately or well-favored
(see Acts 7:20). Jewish tradition said that Moses' parents were
informed of God's plans for Moses, through either a dream of Amram or a
prophetic utterance by Moses' sister Miriam. Scripture states simply
that they acted from faith.
11:24.
When Moses
was mature or
come to years, he acted
by faith and
refused to be called the son of Pharoah's daughter, by whom he
had been adopted as an infant (Exodus 2:9-10). The refusal may have
taken the form of a dramatic confrontation or it may have been by
identification with the enslaved Hebrews through incidents such as that
re corded in Exodus 2:11-12 (see also Acts 7:23-25).
The identity of
Pharoah's daughter must remain a present mystery. The
designation "Pharoah" is of no help, since it was not a personal name
but the ancient royal title meaning "The one who lives in the great
house." Josephus says the Pharoah's daughter was named Thermuthis, and
the Jewish Book of Jubilees called her Tharmuth. Both are names of a
daughter of Rameses II, who lived during the thirteenth century before
Christ. Another daughter of Rameses II, Meri, has also been suggested
as the princess of Exodus.
Conservative scholarship has generally preferred an earlier date for
Moses, and some writers have suggested that this princess was
Hatshepsut, a powerful daughter of Thutmose I. Hatshepsut later became
"king" herself, and even wore the ceremonial beard of the pharoah. She
ruled during the fifteenth century before Christ.
Our historical curiosity must wait for further evidence from
archaeology, but our appreciation of the faith of Moses remains
unaffected. Whenever he lived, his worldly position warred against his
faith. To his eternal credit Moses trusted God instead of appearances,
and of his alternatives our author now speaks.
11:25. Moses could have known a powerful position in Egypt, perhaps
even becoming Pharoah. Instead he cast his lot with a race of slaves.
His faith looked behind the scenes and calculated it better
to suffer affliction with the people of the eternally existent
and rewarding
God than to enjoy all
the conceivable
pleasures of sin which were temporary (see this same word at II
Corinthians 4:18). By faith, Moses "looked through the deceptive
appearances of worldly good things, to their inward and essential
nothingness, and to their fearful end" (Delitzsch).
11:26.
The treasures of Egypt were fantastic, as demonstrated by a few
small caches uncovered in certain royal tombs. The treasures of King
"Tut" (Tutankhaton, fourteenth century before Christ) are well known;
that much or more might have belonged to Moses. But
faith appraised the alternatives and pronounced
reproaches with God's people to he the
greater riches!
Moses chose the
reproaches (see
10:33) of
Christ. Suffering accepted for God's sake binds together saints
of troth testaments and identifies them all with Christ (Philippians
1:29; Colossians 1:24; II Timothy 2:10). David so spoke in Psalm
69:7-9, in words later seen to refer also to Christ (John 2:17; Romans
15:3). In another psalm, Ethan spoke of his sufferings as for the sake
of God's anointed one (the literal meaning of "Christ," 89:50-51).
Moses endured
reproaches, as Christ was to do, he was a type of Christ
(Deuteronomy 18:18; Acts 3:20-23). His suffering was one link in the
great chain of events by which God directed history to its focal point
in Christ.
11:27.
By faith Moses
forsook Egypt for Midian (Exodus 2:15). Lest the Exodus account
be misunderstood, our author adds that this flight was not prompted
by the wrath of the king. Like his parents before him (
verse 23), Moses was well
aware of Pharoah's wrath, but also like them he acted through positive
faith in God and not through fear. Fear might have led a slave
rebellion -- which would have been crushed at once. Faith quietly
retreated to the desert to be molded forty years for God's great
deliverance.
In this particular crisis and thereafter, Moses
endured the
consequences of his faith by looking toward God
who is invisible. Again we are reminded that faith believes that
God is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him. The faith of
Moses stood against the unbelief of Pharoah, who Philo says "did not
acknowledge any deity apart from those that could be seen." The plagues
on Egypt were judgments against its many visible gods (Exodus
12:12).
Some relate this verse to the Exodus rather than to Moses' earlier
flight to Midian, but at least four objections may be raised to that
view. First, the order here is reversed. The Passover preceded the
Exodus but is mentioned in the verse following this one. Second our
writer does not mention the faith of Israel here, as he does regarding
the Red Sea (
verse 29) and as one
might expect if this refers to the Exodus. Third, Pharoah of the Exodus
was not the king from whom Moses fled, yet our author has to deny that
fear prompted the flight under consideration (Exodus 2:23). Fourth,
Israel did not leave Egypt under fear, but at the urging of Pharoah and
the Egyptians (Exodus 12:31-33).
11:28. By
faith (the word here is exactly that translated "try faith"
elsewhere in the chapter),
Moses kept the passover for the first time and left it as a
perpetual celebration (Exodus 12:1-20). Faith prompted the
sprinkling of the lamb's blood; it was rewarded in Israel's
deliverance when
the firstborn of Egypt's men and animals were
destroyed by God (Exodus 12:21-30).
Jesus instituted the Lord's Supper at a passover meal. His selection
of bread and fruit of the vine as the elements of His covenant meal
also demonstrates the continuity between old and new testaments
John's Gospel presents Jesus' death against a background of the
slaying of passover lambs in the temple (John 19:31, 36). Paul makes
the unleavened bread of passover week a type representing moral purity
among Christians, whose Lamb is Christ (I Corinthians 5:6-8). Our
author does not use passover typology He stresses the Day of Atonement
and its perfect fulfillment in the self-offering of Christ. For
additional references on Christ as God's Lamb, see notes on 9:24.
11:29. The Israelites were represented by Moses in the previous
verse. Here they are mentioned as a company. It is striking that
examples of faith are drawn from individuals, usually persons who were
faithful when all around them were not. The nation is used to
illustrate disbelief (
3:9-11;
3:16-4:11; I Corinthians
10:1-12). This great moment of Israel's faith immediately precedes
forty years of unbelief in the wilderness.
By faith Israel
passed through the midst of the divided
Red Sea (Exodus 14:21-22), though God divided the sea with a
strong east wind which came at a signal from Moses (Exodus 14:21). The
Egyptians lacked faith, (literally) "made a trial of" the sea, and
were drowned.
The Hebrew Old Testament calls this the Sea of Reeds. English
versions generally agree with the Greek Old Testament in calling it the
Red Sea. Exodus 14:2 indicates that the crossing took place at a
northern extension of what is now the Gulf of Suez. This mighty act of
divine deliverance was immediately celebrated in a song of praise
(Exodus 15:1-21); still later it was used to represent God's great
power to accomplish His covenant purposes (Isaiah 11:15-16; 51:10-11).
Paul used this crossing as a type of Christian baptism, and argued from
it that those once in fellowship with God may forfeit their blessing
through loss of faith (I Corinthians 10:1ff).
11:30. The capture of Jericho (Joshua six) involved what we call
psychological warfare; the inhabitants must have been terrified after
six days of encirclement by a silent army who marched behind blowing
trumpets. But
the walls fell down on the seventh day -- and that
by the
faith which prompted the past week's strange behavior. On
Israel's part the six days of marching demonstrated the perseverance of
true faith -- an element close to our writer's mind as he pens this
chapter (
10:35-39;
12:1,
3).
An archaeologist named Garstang thought he had uncovered the very
walls which fell before Joshua, but dating based on later work of
Kathleen Kenyon made that identification very unlikely. Such matters
are of interest, but the truthfulness of the biblical story does not
depend on the excavator's spade. The same God whom Israel's faith
touched that day thousands of years ago stands now behind our written
account of that event, and the same kind of faith which trusted His
direct word then places confidence now in His word that is written.
11:31. When the walls of Jericho fell and Israel stormed the city,
Rahab and her family were the only survivors (Joshua 6:22-25).
Her salvation was the result of her faith, which had been demonstrated
earlier in hiding
the two Israelite
spies (Joshua 2). Her act was of faith because she had heard of
God's past deeds for Israel and she behaved from a reverent recognition
of His power and purposes (Joshua 2:10-11).
Rahab is contrasted here with
them that believed not. The word translated "believe" here
implies obedience that comes from a persuasion of faith (the same word
is used at
3:18). James uses Rahab
as an illustration of that saying faith which does not merely profess
but obeys (
2:25). Clement of Rome,
an early Christian author whose work was not inspired, used Rahab as an
example of hospitality and faith (I Clement 12:1).
Some pious Jews of antiquity tried to make Rahab an innkeeper or a
seller of food, instead of a
harlot, but the word used in both Old and New Testaments demands
that she be just that. Nor is this the word for a cultic or pagan
temple prostitute, but an ordinary harlot. In spite of her former way
of life, Rahab was transformed through the power of faith. She later
was to marry a Hebrew named Boaz to become a chosen vessel in the
ancestry of our Lord (Matthew 1:5).
11:32. Using a Greek phrase common to orators, our author notes that
his
time would fail if he detailed every example of faith, and draws
his list to a close.
The first four names are selected from the period of the Judges, and
carry the Old Testament story from the time of Joshua to the time of
the kings.
Gideon delivered Israel from marauding Midianites who used the
speed of camels to make their plundering attacks (Judges 6-8). Gideon
is also called Jerubbaal (Judges 6:32).
As Deborah's war-captain,
Barak shared in the deliverance of the northwestern tribes from
a confederacy of Canaanite kings who used chariots long before they
were a common vehicle of war. The story in Judges 4-5 does not indicate
Barak's faith, unless it is to be seen in his agreement to assist
Deborah with prospects of no personal glory (4: 8-9). Chronologically
Barak comes before Gideon, but in importance the order is here
reversed.
The exploits of
Samson against Philistine occupation-troops are familiar to the
Bible student (Judges 13-16). Samson's faith was not always strong or
active, but it came to the fore on the occasion of his death.
Jephthah was instrumental in delivering the eastern tribes from
Ammon (Judges 11-12). Though he is now remembered chiefly for a rash
vow, his general behavior was grounded in a knowledge of God's past
acts on behalf of Israel and a confidence that He would act once more
for His own people (11:14-27). Jephthah also illustrates the fact that
God may use ignoble individuals to accomplish great things (Judges
11:1-3).
It is possible that these four individuals were grouped together
soon after their own times. First Samuel 12:11 speaks of Jerubbaal
(Gideon) and Bedan (the Greek and Syriac versions have Barak) and
Jephthah and Samuel (the Syriac version has Samson, but that seems to
be a change that is unwarranted).
Time would fail, indeed, to give details of the faith of
David (I Samuel 16-31; II Samuel; I Chronicles 11-29). The man
after God's own heart (Acts 13:22) who served God's purpose in his own
generation (Acts 13:36) must have been characterized by exceptional
faith, for without faith it is impossible to please God at all.
Samuel was the last of the judges and the first of a chain of
prophets who would instruct Israel through the rest of the Old
Testament period (I Samuel 19:20). Although be preceded David, he is
here placed more naturally with
the prophets who followed him. Samuel's own birth was in answer
to a prayer of faith (l Samuel 1:10-20, and his personal ministry early
included a total trust in the word God revealed to him (I Samuel
3).
The prophets include Elijah, Elisha, Micaiah and other
non-writing prophets, as well as the sixteen whose books bear their
names. One does not have to look far to be impressed by their faith. He
needs only to consider the mighty works of Elijah and Elisha, the
patient and trying service of Hosea or Jeremiah. the holy boldness of
Micaiah or Amos or Daniel, the unquestioning obedience of Ezekiel, or
the confident reliance which Habakkuk expresses so beautifully in his
poetic third chapter These men all, along with a host of God's holy
ones whose faith will be celebrated only in the resurrection,
eloquently illustrate the many-faceted qualities of that faith which is
unto the saving of the soul.
11:33.
Through faith men have
subdued kingdoms. Joshua, the judges and David come to mind at
once. Others have
wrought righteousness by the public administration of divine
justice. This is noted of Samuel (I Samuel 12:4) and David (II Samuel
8:15; Psalm 101).
Faith has
obtained the fulfillment as well as the word of
promises: of the Exodus, of Canaan's possession, of great
territories, of God's care and protection of Jerusalem, of a captivity
that ended as predicted and a return home
Faith has
stopped the mouths of lions, by death (Judges 14:5-6; I Samuel
17: 34-36), but especially when Daniel had been delivered to hungry
lions by his enemies and God de livered him from their jaws (Daniel
6).
11:34. Faith has
sometimes quenched the violence of fire, most notably in the
case of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego (Daniel 3). Peter's mention of
"fiery trials" may suggest that such persecution was a possibility in
the case of those who first read this epistle (I Peter 4:12).
Elijah (I Kings 19), Elisha (II Kings 6) and Jeremiah (Jeremiah 36)
all
escaped the edge of the sword by faith, but others by faith met
the steel (
Hebrews 11:37).
Out of weakness men and women of faith
were made strong. Gideon was the most insignificant member of
his family, but God used him mightily. Neither Saul nor David claimed
personal merit when God called for service. Both responded to that call
in faith, and in personal weakness found God's strength. Others already
discussed in this chapter were enabled by faith to accomplish what
would otherwise have been impossible.
God has never depended on numbers, nor has He valued man's
appraisals of strength and weakness (see Deuteronomy 32:30; Leviticus
26:8; Joshua 23:10; II Corinthians 1:9-10; 12:9-10). To consider the
examples in this chapter is more frequently than not to see God working
in spite of the very instruments He chooses to use, overcoming men's
own weaknesses and mistakes to bring about His eventual glory. This
lesson is always needed in the church, for men constantly face the
temptation to view life through human values rather than with the clear
and certain lens of faith.
By faith other
waxed valiant in fight and
turned the armies of the aliens to flight. Old Testament
characters could be adduced here, but these terms also fit the heroic
men of faith who lived between the testaments. The book of I Maccabees
is not inspired, but it tells of numerous victories which faith brought
the sons of Mattathias in their godly struggle against the pagan Syrian
ruler Antiochus Epiphanes.
11:35.
Women who had lost loved ones
received them
to life again through the power of faith. We think of the widow
of Zarephath (I Kings 17:17ff) and the Shunemite woman (II Kings
4:17ff); perhaps there were others.
Tortured here translates a word which describes quite literally
an extremely cruel persecution in which an individual was stretched on
a rack then beaten to death. Second Maccabees is not quite so reliable
as the first book, but it tells of a godly scribe named Eleazar who
died in this very manner for his faith in Jehovah 16:18-31).
When Eleazar was captured, he was offered
deliverance if he would eat swine's flesh This he refused, in
hope of
a better resurrection. Whether our author has him in mind or
not, Eleazar's dying words are characteristic of those who are intended
here. "The Lord, who hath holy knowledge, understandeth that although I
might have been freed from death, I endure cruel pains in my body from
scourging and suffer this gladly in my soul, because I fear Him."
One Jewish mother of the period was forced to watch the torture and
murder of her seven sons, but tenderly encouraged each in his turn to
be faithful to God. Their dying words eloquently illustrate this verse.
One said, "Thou dost dispatch us from this life, but the King of the
world shall raise us up, who have died for His laws, and revive us to
life everlasting " Another extended his limbs for torture with the
words, "These I had from heaven; for His name's sake I count them
naught; from Him I hope to get them back again." When all the others
had died, the youngest son was offered riches and a position of state
if he would deny God. He answered,
These brothers, after enduring a brief pain, have now
drunk of everflowing life, in terms of God's covenant; but thou shalt
receive by God's judgment the just penalty of thine arrogance. I, like
my brothers, give up body and soul for our fathers' laws, calling on
God [these deaths are related in II Maccabees 7).
11:36.
Others faced the test
of mockings by many cruel and sportive tortures. They endured
scourgings or whippings; they suffered
bonds and imprisonment. The recipients of our epistle had
endured some trials of faith early in their Christian lives and had
shared with others who were imprisoned for Christ (
10:32-34). Jeremiah had
know imprisonment for the word of God (Jeremiah 20:2; 37:15; 38: 6), as
had Joseph for his faithfulness to God (Genesis 39).
Others includes individuals not yet mentioned, and perhaps
unknown to us, but known to the original readers. The tortures endured
by the seven faithful brothers already mentioned compare in severity
and depravity with any atrocities of times nearer ourselves. The
tormentors tore out the tongue of the oldest brother, scalped and
mutilated him in the presence of his younger brothers and his mother,
then fried his body, maimed but still alive, in a huge cauldron (II
Maccabees 7:15). The others suffered similar agonies, but we will
follow the advice of the final verse in that chapter and "let this
suffice" for "the excesses of barbarity."
11:37. Long before Stephen, men of God had been
stoned to death for their faithfulness. When Joach was king of
Judah and the nation turned from God, a prophet named Zechariah came to
testify against the people. "And they conspired against him and stoned
him with stones at the commandment of the king in the court of the
house of the Lord'' (II Chronicles 24:17-21).
Tradition has Jeremiah stoned to death by the Jews who took him into
Egypt after the captivity of Judah (see Jeremiah 42-44). Nor was he the
only man of God to meet this fate from those who were called God's
people (Matthew 23:37; II Corinthians 11:25).
Others for their faith
were sawn asunder. Very ancient Jewish traditions say that
Isaiah was killed with a wooden saw under the reign of Manasseh.
Scripture does not confirm this story, but one can well imagine such an
act from a king who offered his own children in pagan sacrifice (II
Chronicles 33:6) and who made the people of Judah "do worse than the
heathen" (verse nine).
Faithful saints
were tempted in many ways, but held fast their confidence in the
God they could not see. It has been suggested that the word here
translated
tempted might, by the change of one letter, he translated "met
death by fire." This was the fate of some faithful ones during the time
of the Maccabees (II Maccabees 6:11), but textual evidence does not
appear to warrant such a change here.
Some were
slain with the sword for their faith, although others by faith
escaped this death (
verse 34) Elijah was
Spared when others died (I Kings 19:10). Jeremiah escaped the sword
when Urijah was slain (Jeremiah 26:23-24). Herod killed James with the
sword but Peter was spared (Acts 12:2ff). Only God knows why some died
and others did not, but the faith of each will have its reward.
Because they walked by faith, God's people have sometimes lost their
homes and have been forced to
wander about in sheepskins and goatskins. While it is true that
Elijah (II Kings 1:8), John the Baptist (Mark 1:6) and perhaps others
(Zechariah 13:4) wore hairy garments, our author speaks of a condition
brought on by force, not choice, and apparently intends some others
than these.
11:38. Godless crowds have cried that faithful saints were unfit for
this world (Acts 22:22). With this our author agrees, though with an
opposite meaning! Of such
the world was not worthy, so they lived in
deserts, mountains, caves or
dens while they waited for their heavenly city and eternal
homeland
We see Elijah hiding at Horeb, Elisha at Carmel, or 100 prophets in
caves. During the period between the testaments, many of the faithful
were forced to forsake their homes to seek safety in remote areas. E.M.
Zerr believes the prophecies of Daniel 11:31-36 were fulfilled in the
persecutions of that period; Keil includes the Maccabeean heroes but
only in a larger picture.
11:39. What was said earlier of the patriarchs (verse 13) is said
now of
all these faithful men and women. They
obtained a good report or were subjects of good testimony
regarding their
faith -- whether directly from God (verse four) or by later men
of faith (verse two). Yet they
received not the particular
promise which faith always grasps -- that final and complete
inheritance from the invisible God who is trusted to be a rewarder.
We must not take this to mean that these ancient saints were outside
the provisions of divine grace or that they will not be among the
glorified faithful with Christ eternity (see
notes on 12:23). Indeed they were
justified by faith -- they had this testimony -- and the offering of
Christ declares that God was righteous in accepting them because of
their faith (
9:15; Romans
3:25-26).
11:40. The fact that their faith was unrewarded in life is not a
sign that faith is ineffective or that God is unfaithful. It is rather
a pointer to the unity of all men of faith in every dispensation or
age.
They who lived by faith before Christ were
not perfect or complete
without those of
us who know God through Christ in the new covenant. "Christ
himself is the essential bond of union which binds together the saints
of all ages" (Milligan).
At the same time,
God has
provided something
for us that is
better than anything they were given. This is the knowledge of a
high priest who has offered a perfect sacrifice for sins once far all,
who now sits at God's right hand making intercession for His people,
who has opened the way into heaven by His own life and death, and who
has promised to return to His people to, share the glory with them He
has already acquired as their representative
Better is a key word in Hebrews and is characteristic of the new
covenant with all it offers particularly in contrast to the former
covenant and institutions. It is used of Christ's name or position (
1:4), His dedicatory
sacrifices of the heavenly sanctuary (
9:23), the new testament
(
7:22) or covenant (
8:6), the Christian hope
(
7:19), resurrection (
11:35), country (
11:16), substance (
10:34) and message of
Christ's blood (
12:24). It is also used
of the behavior these blessings should elicit from Christ's people
(6:9).
The verb
make perfect is also a frequent one in this epistle. It is used
both of Christ (
2:10;
5:9;
7:28) and of those
covered by His sacrifice (
7:19;
9:9;
10:14;
12:23). Such perfection
is given through faith: faith that accomplishes great feats but also
faith that suffers and endures. Perhaps most of all it is the faith
that endures. That is our author's chief point now as he urges the
lesson on his readers.
CHAPTER TWELVE
12:1.
Wherefore here translates a compound Greek word composed of
three lesser particles, each meaning "therefore" or "wherefore." This
very strong combination word occurs only one other time in the New
Testament (I Thessalonians 4:8). Here the emphasis is in view of the
great cloud of witnesses to whom our author has called attention
in the last chapter and whose presence he now puts forward as strong
inducement for the faithfulness of his readers.
Cloud frequently stood for a great host in both secular Greek
literature and in the Old Testament (Ezekiel 38:9, 16). The Greek word
translated
witnesses gives the English word "martyrs." It first meant one
who saw or experienced something, then, one who gave a testimony or
bore witness of his experience. Because one's testimony often led to
his persecution or even death, the term gradually came to designate one
whose witness cost him his life. So derives our word "martyr." The word
carried this idea in several biblical passages although it only later
gained this exclusive significance (Nehemiah 9:26; Acts 22:20;
Revelation 2:13).
Some of the witnesses of chapter eleven were martyrs in the narrower
sense, but they all were witnesses. They had seen Him who is invisible,
and they had seen the realities of the world of faith. They had given
their testimony to these realities, usually in a hostile environment
and to an unbelieving audience They had been the subject of other
testimony, as God gave them a witness that He was pleased with their
faith.
The term
compassed about or surrounded, as well as the clear athletic
imagery which follows, suggests that these individuals are now
witnesses in still another sense. "Each of them has, in his own age and
in his own way, run his section of the great 'relay race,' and, having
handed on the torch to his successor, has joined the multitude of
interested spectators and skilled judges" (Robinson). Delitzsch speaks
of "our life here" as "a contest, its theatre the universe, the seats
of the spectators ranged through heaven!" That these witnesses are
spectators of our race must be inferred from the context; the word
itself does not carry that idea.
Because of these faithful saints who encourage us by their record,
and perhaps by their own watching, we are admonished negatively to
lay aside every hindrance or distraction, and positively to
run with patience or endurance the course which has been laid
out for us.
Weight is used in the literature of the time of any excess
poundage, frequently of obesity or stoutness, which the athlete must
shed before he runs The Christian must put off all that does not
measure up to his calling and is not becoming to his intentions. The
term also suggests the weights worn by an athlete in training which are
then laid aside for the actual contest.
Sin surrounds the believer to distract him from the goal. Like
the flowing garment worn in the first century, it also clings to him
and impedes his progress. Sin itself, of every sort and all kinds, must
be renounced by the man running the race of faith This present context
suggests the particular sin of disbelief which results in apostasy.
It is not enough to begin the race only to fall during its course.
This was the point of Israel's example in chapters
three and
four, and the thought
which triggered the present discussion in
10:36. The Christian must
run with patience the race set before him. The object is not
speed but endurance. The prize is not for the first runner through but
for every runner who finishes.
Paul uses the imagery of the runner in several epistles (see I
Corinthians 9:24-27; Galatians 2:2; Philippians 216; II Timothy 4:7).
The terms "fight," "strive," and "conflict" often represent a single
Greek word also taken from the vocabulary of the athlete or
soldier.
Similar language is used in the so-called Fourth Book Of Maccabees,
a Jewish writing of uncertain date and authorship, which credits the
victories of Jewish heroes to the use of proper reason. I quote the
following passage because many readers will not have opportunity to see
it elsewhere. Speaking of his intertestamental heroes the writer
says:
For truly it was a holy war which was fought by them. For
an that day virtue, proving them through endurance, set before them the
prize of victory in incorruption in everlasting life. . . . The tyrant
was their adversary and the world and the life of man were the
spectators. And righteousness won the victory, and gave the crown to
her athletes. Who but wondered at the athletes of the true Law?
(17:11-17).
12:2. Patience for the course may be found by
looking intently and constantly
unto Jesus, who is not only a witness
of faith but is its
author or pioneer (the same word used at
2:10) and its
finisher or perfecter. Barnes applies these two expressions to
the race official who enrolls entrants and awards the final prizes, but
he gives no support for this interpretation. More likely the thought is
that Jesus (our author here uses His human name, perhaps to stress His
unity with His people) is
author of faith because He was the first to run faith's course
all the way to its goal in heaven. He is finisher or perfecter because
He leads all who follow Him to the same finish or end or goal (see I
Peter 1:9).
Jesus has experienced faith's trials and its reward.
The joy set before him may refer to His delight in doing the
will of God (Psalm 40:8;
Hebrews 10:5-10), but it
has special reference to the promised position of Savior and Lord which
He would be given on behalf of His people (see
2:9;
5:4-10; Isaiah 53:10-12).
Jesus received God's promise in faith. He placed Himself within the
Father's purpose in simple and wholehearted trust. He then
endured all that came in the course of the Father's will with
forward-looking faith and joy and hope.
The cross was a symbol of great
shame in the first century world. It represented a death
reserved for political in surrectionists or the basest of criminals.
Roman citizens were not only guaranteed immunity from crucifixion
(Peter was crucified but Paul was beheaded, according to reliable
tradition) but Cicero urged Romans not to talk about, look at or think
on this death. Yet Christ
despised or considered as insignificant this ignoble suffering
when measured against the joy to be had through patient submission to
the will of God.
Nor was His faith in vain, for when this epistle was written Christ
was already
set dawn at the right hand of the throne of God. The verb tense
here indicates not only that He had taken this seat but that He still
occupies it! For a discussion of the use of Psalm 110 in the New
Testament see comments at 1:13;
8:1 and 10:12. Christ led the way in the
procession of faith. He has now arrived at faith's goal. He now
guarantees the safe passage of all who follow Him in trusting
endurance.
12:3.
Consider this Jesus, our author urges. Do not merely glance at
Him, but literally "draw an analogy" between His situation and your
own. He
endured verbal and active
contradition or opposition from
sinners. Compare your own sufferings to His so that you do not
become
wearied and faint or fall out
in your minds. The words point again to the race track and the
runner who tires to the point of exhaustion.
12:4. In contrast to Jesus, the readers have
not yet resisted unto blood. Some think this expression alludes
to the barehanded boxers of the day who fought until their hands were
bleeding and bruised. Your
striving or fight
against sin has not reached this point of total dedication, our
author would be saying. It is possible, however, to regard the words in
the most natural sense and say the original readers of Hebrews had not
yet faced the threat of martyrdom, though some of their predecessors
might have (13:7). Jesus followed the way of
faith to the cross. His followers must also be willing to die
for their
faith, if necessary.
12:5-6. In verses five
through eleven our writer presents another figure with different
imagery.
You have forgotten the exhortation of Proverbs 3:11-12, he says,
in which the believer views his circumstances as discipline from a
father who loves his children. Much of the wisdom contained in Proverbs
(particularly chapters 1-7) is addressed by the king to his son. The
words which follow are taken from that setting and are applied to God's
children of the new covenant
Chastening in this entire context translates a more general word
meaning discipline in all its forms. It involves the training of a son
by the father. It is the
discipline or training which makes
disciples. Such discipline is a sure proof of the father's love
(see Revelation 3:19). For this reason its recipients ought not to
despise or belittle its value and purpose. God first
disciplines, then
receives, His child who has been so molded.
12:7.
If is only one letter different in the original language from a
preposition meaning "for" or "unto," and the better manuscripts and
later versions here have the latter. It is for the very kind of
discipline or
chastening described just now that
ye presently
endure, the author points out.
God is simply treating you
as sons, and sons are disciplined by their fathers. Your
suffering is neither without God's knowledge or His purpose. The verb
may also be translated as an imperative ("endure for the purpose of
discipline"), but it is probably a simple indicative stating what is
the case.
12:8.
If you were
without any
chastisement or discipline there would be cause for alarm,
for it
is the illegitimate son who is unrestrained, untrained,
unpunished and sometimes unknown by his father. The son who will bear
the father's name with pride in the next generation must bear up under
the father's rod now if he is to be fitted for the task. Again our
author joins warning to reassurance. "But you
are all partakers of this discipline and may therefore know you
are beloved children" (see
6:9;
10:39).
12:9. Ordinary human experience demonstrates these truths.
We have all
had human, fleshly
fathers. They
corrected us. We later understood and appreciated that
discipline -- and even then
we gave them reverence or respect. How
much rather should
we be in subjection to our spiritual
father, whose discipline is part of His grand design to lead us
to abiding and true life in communion with Him!
"Fathers of our flesh" is a Hebraic manner of saying "our fleshly
fathers." "Father of spirits" is in simple contrast to the other
expression, and ought not to be strained to fit either side of the
metaphysical argument concerning the origin of individual spirits.
Milligan sees a special contrast.
Our earthly fathers are like ourselves, carnal , frail,
sinful mortals . . . liable to err in their discipline. . . . God . . .
has none of the weaknesses and infirmities of the flesh . . . [and] can
not like our earthly fathers err in His chastisements.
That contrast is clearly made in the next verse.
12:10. During the
few days of our childhood, our earthly fathers
chastened or trained us
after their own pleasure. Sometimes they might have acted
hastily or in anger; they always acted under human limitations of
knowledge and design. Our heavenly Father, on the other hand, knows
exactly what is needful for our
profit as He prepares us
to be partakers or sharers
of his holiness. This holiness involves not only the judicial
pronouncement of a new state because of union with Christ (10:10,
14,
29), but also a daily
life of godly thinking and behavior (see
verse 14).
12:11. One writer remarked of this verse that "the only proper
commentary is our own personal experience." All discipline, however
instructive, is painful at the time it is administered, but later its
benefits are seen in those who appropriate the intended training.
The peaceable fruit of such training is
righteousness. Peace and righteousness are related in both the
Old (Isaiah 32:17) and the New Testaments (James 3:18). Here the fruit
is
peaceable in contrast to the discipline which produced it.
12:12. In this verse and the next our author quotes from Isaiah 35:3
and the Greek version of Proverbs 4:26. He changes imagery to that of a
group of wayfarers on a journey, and builds on this figure through
verse 17.
Lift up the weary travellers'
hands which hang down slack and loose from exhaustion; lend
strength to
the feeble knees which have lost their power to hold up and have
become as paralyzed. These were appropriate exhortations as addressed
to Jews who would return to their homeland from faraway Persia. (The
journey theme is also seen in Isaiah 40:3-4, 29-31; 43:2, 5-7, 19-21;
48:20-21; 49:8-13; 52:10-11; 58:11-12). The same exhortations are
appropriately given to faith-pilgrims of the new covenant who have
become weary in well doing and are about to faint with fatigue. It
should also be noticed that this encouragement is given to believers as
a company, and that their pilgrimage involves mutual concern and
careful attention to one another (see
comments at 3:12-13;
9:17; 10:24).
12:13. As believers travel together toward the heavenly city, they
are to
make straight paths so that the
feet of those who are
lame will not
be turned out of the way. The latter phrase has been translated
two ways The reading of the King James Version agrees with the thought
of the Greek text of Proverbs 4:26-27, which urges making straight
paths, then says not to turn to the right hand or to the left. Many
other versions translate our author equally well with a slightly
different thought as "lest the lame limb be dislocated altogether," or
words to that effect. This translation more obviously contrasts with
the next statement of this verse,
but let it rather be healed.
Either phrasing is possible from the Greek and both thoughts are
appropriate. Let the Christian pilgrim remove from the path anything
that would impede the progress of his weak brethren or cause them to
stumble. Let nothing be left before them which would cause one to miss
the trail or would trip a lame traveller and put his limbs completely
out of joint. Rather let each sojourner hear with his fellows, lend
them strength when needed, help with the burdens of the weak, encourage
the faint-hearted and clear the path for those who are tired and
weak.
The verb form of the word here translated
lame is used in I Kings 18:21 (Greek translation) of those
Israelites who were "halting between two opinions" and could not decide
whether to serve Jehovah or Baal. This passage suggests at least one
form of lameness which afflicted the weak Hebrew saints who first
received this epistle. They were weak in the faith. They were wobbling
between allegiance to Jesus Christ and to their former Jewish religion
The term should not be limited to this application though it seems to
include it.
12:14. In their journey together it is essential that the travellers
follow or actively seek
peace with all their companions. The phrase is from Psalm 34:14.
Peter quotes it also in his letter which, interesting enough, is
addressed "to those who reside as aliens" (I Peter 3:11; 1:1, New
American Standard Bible).
Such scriptural injunctions to peace or love need not be followed by
immediate explanations which practically annul the biblical point. It
is a pitiable generation in which the church is so strife-infested that
peace and love are held as unholy words in some quarters. Many church
quarrels have been blamed on error or attributed to truth which
actually resulted from carnal and fleshly minds. The fault has often
been with some who refused to put others ahead of self, to bear
patiently with the weak, to seek peace at the expense of personal pride
or opinions. In short, through the sinful attitudes and conduct of some
who refused to obey the clear teaching of the Word of God. It is one
thing to stand for clear truth against clear error. It is quite another
to call all one's own thoughts and inferences "truth," then immediately
draw the circle of peace closely about those personal conclusions.
Those following Jesus in the highway of faith must seek
holiness as well as peace, for
without holiness
no man shall see the Lord. Only the pure in heart will see God
(Matthew 5:8). Holiness has always been required of God's people, and
the command has always been grounded in the character of God who gave
it (Leviticus 11:45; I Peter 1:15-16). If peace makes association
possible with [brethren, holiness makes it possible with God.
12:15.
Looking diligently translates a Greek word from which comes our
"overseer" or "bishop." It is "as if they were travelling together on
some long journey, in a large company, and he says, 'Take heed that no
man be left behind' I do not seek this only, that ye may arrive
yourselves, but also that ye should look diligently after the others"
(Chrysostom). It is the duty of the experienced (elder) Christian
shepherds (pastors) to look carefully to the spiritual needs of their
flock as overseers (bishops), and this responsibility is laid directly
upon them by the Holy Spirit. As the same time, every pilgrim of faith
has a similar duty to his fellow-wayfarers, and that is the point of
this verse.
A congregation of saints will never enjoy the blessings of
brotherhood and Christian love that God provides and intends so long as
it conceives of itself primarily in institutional or external terms.
The Christian religion is a religion of togetherness: saints together
constitute the family of God in each place. They are to love as
brethren. It is so difficult for men today to pass beyond the carnal
view of the church, as a sort of religious club or organization' to its
true nature as revealed in the Bible. This view must be seen if saints
are ever to comprehend the real beauty of their actual state together
in Christ.
Look diligently so that no one
fail or come short of (see also 4:1)
the grace of God that is given freely in Christ and enjoyed by
faith. The figure here is that of the traveller who lags behind and
never reaches the end of the journey. It is a sin of too many churches
that saints may wander in one day and out the next with very little
notice given either to their presence or absence. God's words
concerning His Old Testament church often describe His New Testament
people as well: "My sheep wandered through all the mountains, and upon
every high hill; yea, my flock was scattered upon all the face of the
earth, and none did search or seek after them" (Ezekiel 34:6).
Still using the pilgrimage motif, our author warns against
any root of bitterness, or poisonous root, which might be cut as
for food and result in widespread contamination of the people. The term
comes from Deuteronomy 29:18, where Moses uses it figuratively to warn
Israel against turning from God to idols. Our author has already spoken
against an evil heart of unbelief which leads one from the living God
(3:12). Here he repeats the warning in figurative terms.
12:16. Watch diligently for
any fornicator, not in the limited usage of the word alone, but
as signifying any moral uncleanness. Some interpret this warning as
against spiritual adultery, and equate it with turning from God. Our
writer warns against sexual impurity, however, in
13:4, and it is
preferable to take the warning literally here.
The
profane person is one who has no regard for what is holy. He is
unable -- or worse, unwilling -- to distinguish between what is common
and what is holy. Such an attitude frequently leads to immorality as
well as other sins.
Esau is given as an example of a profane man. Jewish tradition
made him a fornicator as well.
For one morsel of meat or food he
sold his birthright (Genesis 25:29-34). "The rights of
primogeniture were among the most noble, honorable, and spiritual in
the ancient world" (Barnes). Esau not only "despised," his double
portion of the inheritance, he scoffed at his role in the patriarchal
line through which God's covenant promises and election purposes were
to be fulfilled. Behind many particular sins lies a basic inability to
distinguish between what hat is valuable and what is of little
importance. Christians who fail to appreciate their position in the
Lord Jesus Christ are often prone to grievous sins. The best
preventative against sin is a constant awareness of who and what one is
called and called to be in the Son of God, and a regular meditation on
one's position as he stands identified with the blameless Son before
the Father.
12:17. The consequences of profanity involve not only the present
loss of blessing but also the future impossibility of renewal. The
disregard for what is holy, which leads to sin in the first place, also
prevents true repentance -- even when the profane man sees his final
end and is overcome with remorse. Esau also illustrates this fact (see
comments at 10:26-29).
Ye know from the Old Testament story
how that afterward when Esau desired to inherit
the blessing he was rejected (Genesis 27:30-40). Three phrases
in this verse are subject to more than one interpretation. Was Esau
rejected by Isaac, by God, or by both? Did Esau find
no place of repentance in himself or in his father or in both?
Did he seek
carefully with tears the blessing, or a place for
repentance?
Esau's rejection may safely be said to have been by both God and
lsaac, since the patriarchal blessing was ultimately given by God
through the father (see
comment at 11:20) When Isaac affirmed the
certainty of Jacob's blessing, he was pointing out its divine origin
(Genesis 27:33).
Esau
found no place for repentance because there was no change of his
father's mind regarding the blessing already given. Delitzsch sees Esau
as "a type of the hopelessly apostate" and argues that he did not
experience true repentance himself at all, but simply changed his mind
about the inheritance and blessing when he realized the point to which
his careless attitude had led.
Repentance here has its most basic meaning of a change of mind,
but it involves a change of mind that seeks to change the effects of
the previous disposition. Esau could not find such a change of mind in
his father Isaac, nor was he able to change the effects of his own
former attitude (whether or not he had the same attitude still).
Esau
sought the blessing
with tears (Genesis 27:38), but this involved tears for his
father's change of mind. Both alternatives ought here to be
included.
12:18. Again the imagery changes, this time to terms based on the
giving of the Law at Sinai.
Ye who follow Jesus, the enthroned Son at the Father's right
hand,
are not come to a mountain such as Sinai. There ancient Israel
had gathered as God's elect nation, to receive the details and
requiremeets of the covenant which graciously bound them to Him.
According to the accounts of Exodus (19:16, 18) and Deuteronomy (4:11;
5:23; 9:15), the top of Sinai
burned with fire. The lower parts of the mountain were hidden by
the
blackness and darkness of the storm clouds which covered them.
Out of the clouds came loud noises and bursts of fierce storm and
tempest.
12:19. When the people heard a sound as
of a trumpet (Exodus 19:16-19)
and the voice of words from God (Deuteronomy 5:22), they
entreated that the word should not be spoken to them any more
directly, but rather through the mediation of Moses (Exodus 20:18-19;
Deuteronomy 5:23-27).
12:20. The assembly of Israel was awed and terror-stricken by the
thought of God's command (Exodus 19: 12-13) that
if so much as a beast touch the mountain, it shall be stoned.
The phrase
thrust through with a dart is not in the better manuscripts or
in most later versions. The Old Testament command has the animal stoned
(apparently if it wanders off the mountain within distance of the
people) or shot (with an arrow, if it remains on the mountain out of
the people's reach).
12:21. Even
Moses was so overcome by the
terrible or terror-inspiring
sight as to remark,
I exceedingly fear and quake. This statement is not reported in
the Old Testament, though it is in keeping with what is stated there.
Exodus 19:19 says that when the trumpet sound became louder and louder
"Moses spake, and God answered him by a voice." What Moses said is not
told. The Greek text of Exodus 19:18 says that all the people were
driven out of their senses for fear, and Moses would certainly be
included in that statement. Whether our author depends on that text or
some other source for his information we do not know. What he writes,
however, is Scripture, and as such has the absolute approval and
endorsement of the Holy Spirit.
12:22. As fearful and
terrifying as that scene was, the new-covenant saint has approached
Clod under circumstances and in company far more demanding of a
faithful response.
The word translated
ye are come (here and at verse 18) in its noun form gives the
English word "proselyte," suggestive perhaps of the move of the Hebrews
from Judaism to Christ. All Christians, however, have come at
conversion, and remain throughout life, in the presence of the figures
and elements which follow.
Mount Zion is literally Zion-mountain, in contrast to
Sinai-mountain. Zion was first a Jebusite stronghold in the Old
Testament, but David captured it with his private army and made it his
capital of united Israel (II Samuel 5:6-9). Since it had not formerly
been a part of Judah or Israel, Zion was politically independent, much
as Washington, D.C. in the United States. David brought the Ark of the
Covenant to Zion in the next chapter. God's approval is seen in the
dynastic and messianic promises given to David through the prophet
Nathan (II Samuel 7; see I Kings 14:21; Psalm 78:68).
Solomon's Temple was actually on Mount Moriah, but the term
Zion came to include that as well. In the Psalms, Zion is
frequently celebrated as the holy city of God's choosing and the
meeting place of His people Israel (see 120-134, especially
132-134).
The reference here is not to physical Zion, but to its heavenly
prototype, which is part of
the city of the living God. Our author has spoken already of
this city (
11:10,
14-16). He mentions it
again in
13:14. We have not come
to an earthly city, but to
the heavenly Jerusalem where God dwells in glory.
A glorified Jerusalem was the subject of much Jewish speculation
(between the testaments, including material from the Dead Sea Scrolls)
and of some revelation (the very difficult chapters 40-48 of Ezekiel).
The author of Hebrews adds to inspired knowledge on the topic, as do
Paul and John (see
references and comments at
11:10). That is not to say that all these biblical passages apply to the
same things in every detail; each must be studied in its awn context for
the specific meaning. This verse clearly refers to the place where God
dwells, to which Christ has opened the way by passing through the veil
in His flesh, and to which Christians have come in their new-covenant
faith in Him.
Included in this same awe-inspiring scene are an innumerable
company, literally tens of thousands or myriads, of angels
(see Psalm 68:17; Daniel 7:10; Revelation 5:11). These angels are sent
forth by God for the service of His saints on earth (1:14), but in all their activities they exist for the
praise of God.
12:23.
The general assembly translates a word which gives the English
"panegyric." This Greek term is used in Greek literature of a public
festival or celebration attended by all the people. Such celebrations
usually included the praise of great men. There is some controversy as
to whether the festive assembly here includes only the angels or also
those mentioned next.
Church should be interpreted in its literal sense here of an
assembly. It is composed of the firstborn ones (plural in the original)
who
are written or enrolled as citizens in the city of God
in heaven. The phrase has been taken as of the angels or of
first-generation Christians, but it seems best to think of
the church of the firstborn ones as being the church of Christ
of all times and all places on earth. As firstborn ones, Christians
must heed the warning against profaneness already given concerning
Esau, another firstborn (verses
16-17).
God, the Judge of all, is present, and He will acquit or condemn
each man. Here is a word of comfort for a suffering church, for God's
judgments will involve a vindication of its cause (see
comments at 10:30-31). That the presence
of God speaks of comfort and not fear for His people is seen in the
phrase that follows.
The spirits of just men made perfect refers to those saints who
lived and died before Christ but who walked according to faith during
their lives. They are declared
just because the Judge has viewed their faith and pronounced
them so on the basis of Christ's atonement (9:15). They are now
made perfect or complete because they have arrived at the state
of blessed rest with the Lord which was publicly announced with the
beginning of the gospel proclamation. And the gospel speaks essentially
of the life, death and resurrection of the eternal Son who partook of
flesh and blood, but now sits as eternal Priest-King at the right hand
of God. Just as the ancient saints could not be made perfect without
their new-covenant counterparts (11:40), so we must live in view of
them (see comments at 12:1).
12:24.
Jesus, the mediator of the new covenant is present (see
8:6). Jesus is His saving
name and associates Him with His earthly brethren (Matthew 1:21;
Hebrews 2:9-18).
New here means "recent," and refers to the nearness in time
between these first readers and the covenant Jesus had inaugurated
shortly before. The presence of Jesus speaks assurance, for He is
surety of the new covenant promises (see
comments at 7:22,
25; also
Appendix IV on Christ's Sacrifice and the
Christian).
The blood of sprinkling is the blood of Christ. Our writer has
already spoken of sprinkled blood in terms of purification (
9:13-14;
10:22), of
covenant-ratification (
9:19), and of Passover (
11:28). Each figure
bespeaks blessings for those bound to the Son who has now shed His
blood on their behalf.
Christ's blood
speaks better or more powerfully than the blood associated with
Abel, whether one thinks of Abel's own blood shed by Cain or the
sacrificial blood he shed by faith. Christ's blood also speaks of
better things than either blood, for Abel's sacrifice spoke of
atonement hoped-for, and his own blood called for vengeance. Christ's
blood, however, assures all martyrs of faith that their blood was not
shed in vain, and it speaks of an atonement which Christ has already
accomplished and the Father has already accepted.
The two covenants are contrasted in this manner. The first began at
fearful Mount Sinai, a mountain characterized by warnings and threats.
The second began with glorious Mount Zion, populated by servant angels
and saved men praising a holy God and His priestly Son. The first
description closed with a voice of words which sent the people
scurrying and left even Moses trembling. The second description closed
with a Mediator's blood which speaks with eloquence and power of an
accomplished atonement and the reward of faithfulness.
The exhortation to steadfastness in the midst of affliction is now
coming to an end. Our author has demonstrated himself in this chapter
to be a user as well as an author of Scripture. His exhortation here is
built around four figures. First is the spiritual athlete, striving for
the prize. He is encouraged by the former contestants who now watch but
especially by Jesus who is both author and finisher of faith. Second is
the child, who meekly learns from the purposeful discipline of his
loving father. Third is the company of pilgrims, who watch for one
another as they move toward their destination. Fourth is the contrast
between the Old Testament and New Testament churches, as gathered
respectively before their covenant God.
The first illustration called on chapter eleven, which itself drew
from the entire Old Testament and intertestamental periods. The second
illustration came from Proverbs representing the Writings portion of
the Hebrew Old Testament. The third was based on Isaiah, though it drew
from other parts of Scripture as well. It stood for the Prophets. The
fourth came from Exodus and Deuteronomy, standing for the books of
Moses, the Torah.
In the final five verses of the chapter, our author looks again to
the prophetic portion of his Scriptures, there finding words for his
closing appeal.
12:25.
See or take heed
that you do
not refuse God who is speaking. The thought is directly related
to the epistle's opening affirmation that God has spoken (
1:1-2). How He has spoken
and what He has said have been our author's themes throughout. Now He
urges care lest the readers fail to respond to the final message in the
Son.
They who refused him that spake on earth refers to Israel. They
heard God's voice from the smoking mountain (
verses 18-21) but failed
to heed it and were destroyed (
3:8-4:11).
If here expresses certainty, not indefiniteness; "since" would
be a proper translation. Since their judgment was so sure, though
pertaining to an earth-given revelation, punishment is
much more certain for those who
turn away from God now that He has spoken
from heaven. See the opening comments on chapter two for a
discussion of this type of argument and other references where it is
used.
12:26. When God spoke from Sinai, His
voice shook the earth (Exodus 19:18; Psalm 18:7; 68:8; 114:4).
But we
now have His promise that
yet once more He will
shake not the earth only, but also heaven. The promise is found
in Haggai 2:6, and was given by Haggai the prophet to Zerubbabel the
governor and Joshua the high priest at the dedication of the rebuilt
Temple in 516 B.C. Our author applies the words to the final Day of the
Lord (see
comments at 10:25).
12:27. The words
yet once more, our author explains, denote the
removing of those things that are shaken. For if God will shake
the earth once more, and apparently only
once more, that shaking must come at the final shaking of the
earth which will also be its
removing. This is to be expected, he adds, for these are
things that are made, and they are by nature temporary (see
1:10-12).
Further, it is necessary that those things be shaken and
removed, so that those things of the invisible and eternal order
which cannot be shaken may remain. It might not be straining the
point to say that the trembling of Sinai was an indication that the
order it represented would one day pass away, just as the passing glory
of Moses' face on that occasion is said to indicate the same thing (II
Corinthians 3:7-14).
12:28. Our covenant is based on a word from heaven, however, and is
an administration of the eternal and heavenly realities (
8:1, 2,
5; 9:1,
11,
24).
We have, in fact, received
a kingdom which cannot he moved or shaken or ever destroyed. It
is the everlasting kingdom of prophecy (Daniel 7:27). We ought,
therefore, to
have grace (a regular Greek expression for giving thanks),
through which we
may serve God acceptably with reverence or pious respect
and godly fear.
12:29. Such reverence and respectful fear is absolutely required in
view of the fact that
our God is a consuming fire. The phrase comes from Deuteronomy
4:24 (see that context), but the thought is found in numerous passages
(see a partial listing in
comments on 10:27.
It is an aspect of the character of God as revealed in the Bible
that plays little part in much present-day thinking about Him; but if
we are to be completely "honest to God," we dare not ignore it.
Reverence and awe before His holiness are not incompatible
with grateful trust and love in response to His mercy
(Bruce).
A study of the Bible reveals that those men in each age who were
closest to God and enjoyed the most intimate fellowship with Him have
been also the most awed by His holiness. One thinks immediately of
Abraham, Moses, Isaiah, Paul or the Apostle John. The greatest example
is our Lord, who on occasion used the intimate term "Abba," but who
more frequently is recorded as addressing God as "Holy Father" or
"Righteous Father." Boldness is not audacity. "God is love" must always
be joined to "our God is a consuming fire," for holy love demands a
fire of judgment, and that fire is holy which consumes the adversaries
of God and His people.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Our author has developed his case in twelve chapters. He has broken
into his discussion periodically with urgent exhortations or earnest
warnings. Now he has come to the end of his literary task, and he
closes with specific words of practical import. Throughout the epistle
he has spoken of God's new-covenant people who have come into a
relationship with Him based on the saving work of the Son. The
admonitions of chapter thirteen are addressed to Christians as
faith-pilgrims. Because they share the benefits of Christ's work, they
must encourage and tolerate and forgive each other.
Some critics have argued that this chapter was not an original part
of Hebrews. They say it has no relation to the rest of the epistle, and
that it was added by a later scribe or editor. Filson has clearly
demonstrated the unity between this chapter and the previous twelve
(see his book listed in the bibliography). In fact, he affirms that it
is this final chapter which provides a key to the rest of the book. One
does not have to agree with all Filson's conclusions to appreciate his
basic point. It is enough here to say that the unity of Hebrews has
been demonstrated convincingly, even from the standpoint of modern
critical scholarship.
13:1.
Brotherly love properly exists between those sharing a common
father (see
2:11). It is more than
sentiment or affection; it involves es the practical demonstration of
what is in the heart and mind. The Hebrew Christians had manifested
brotherly love soon after their conversion (
10:32-34) and throughout
their Christian lives (
6:10). Our author does
not tell them to begin its practice, therefore, but to
let it
continue.
13:2. Nor are they to
forget hospitality. The Greek word translated
hospitality literally means a love of strangers or travellers,
and the King James Version tries to give this sense in its
entertain strangers. Inns were available to travelers of the
first century, but they were notoriously ill-kept, usually expensive,
frequently bawdy and sometimes dangerous.
For these reasons, Jews and Christians normally cared for their own
brethren who might be traveling or visiting in a strange city. Paul
mentions this practice several times in his epistles John speaks of the
custom and corrects two abuses: that of giving fraternal hospitality
and blessing to antichrists who denied the Christian gospel (II John
6-11), and that of failing to extend care to worthy brethren who needed
it (III John 5-10). Peter also urges hospitality (I Peter 4:9), which
for Christians was grounded in the words of Christ Himself (Matthew
25:35-36). In a book known as the Didache, an unknown Christian who
lived shortly after the time of the apostles gave detailed instructions
concerning the reception and treatment of traveling preachers and
teachers. Later a Roman writer named Lucian called Christians gullible,
saying that any tramp could find food and housing if he could convince
them of his religion.
Our author notes that some in the past
have entertained angels without knowing it, referring no doubt
to Abraham (Genesis 18) and Lot (Genesis 19), and perhaps others.
Because of what our author has already stated in 1:14 we must agree
with Delitzsch that "any man whom we entertain without knowing any
details as to him. may be even for us a very angel of God." Not that
this is the general rule, but hospitality does frequently return
unexpected blessings, and by it Christ is served.
13:3. The original readers knew what it meant to
remember them in bonds (
10:34),
as bound with them, and
them which suffer adversity or literally "have it bad,"
as being also in the body. It is inviting to take the phrases as
bound with them and
as being in the body in the sense of the bond of love
(Colossians 3:14) and the body of Christ (I Corinthians 12). Unless one
assumes that Paul wrote Hebrews, however, he may not be sure that
meaning is intended here. Even so, the point of the exhortation is
about the same. Christians are to be so captivated by brotherly love
that when one is bound the others sympathize as being themselves bound.
When some are in bad circumstances the rest are concerned to help,
being subject also to the ailments of mortality.
13:4. The original text has no verb here and the statement may be
translated either as an indicative (as in the King James Version) or,
perhaps better in this context, as an imperative. Let
marriage be respected and regarded as
honorable. Let it be free from the sanctions and regulations of
asceticism on the one hand, and the profligate and licentious behavior
of libertinism on the other.
In all may be interpreted as among all people or in all things.
The Greek expression frequently means simply "altogether'' or
"completely."
Let
the marriage
bed and the relationship it stands for be
undefiled, for
God (this word is emphatic in the original)
will judge the impure (uncleanness, fornication and prostitute
are all of the same word-family with this in the Greek) and
adulterers. When Scripture makes a distinction between
fornication and adultery the former refers to sexual impurity in
general and in terms of moral uncleanness, while the latter refers to
extramarital sexual relations by a husband or wife and in terms of the
marriage covenant and relationship. A proper respect for the
institution and relationship of marriage is the best prevention against
God's judgment for fornication or adultery.
13:5. Again the verb must be supplied to urge that the
conversation or turn of mind and life
be without covetousness. Again there is a verbal link with what
has gone before.
Covetousness is literally a love of silver. Our author has urged
love of brethren and love of strangers, but now he cautions against the
love of money. Since this sin comes from the mind the solution must
begin there as well.
Be content with such things as ye have. Milligan accurately
states the teaching of Scripture in saying: "Be diligent in business;
do all that you can lawfully and consistently to improve your own
condition and to promote the happiness of others; and then with
calmness and resignation leave all the consequences to God."
The basis of such trustful contentment is the word of God in such
passages as Genesis 28:15; Deuteronomy 31:6, 8 Joshua 1:5; I Chronicles
28:20; Isaiah 41:17; Matthew 6:25-30 and many others, that
I will never leave thee nor forsake thee. This promise is made
very emphatic in the original Greek by the succession of three
negatives.
13:6. Because God has given His word (and the phrase quoted here
seems to have been common in Jewish speech, to judge from its use by
the non-biblical writer Philo), the believer is to respond with a word
of his own.
We may boldly say in the words of Psalm 118:6, which were also
regularly quoted during the great feasts of the Jews,
the Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto
me. Both the Hebrew and the Greek may also be translated: "The Lord
is my helper and I will not fear. What shall man do unto me?" In either
case, the thought is the same. Because God speaks in promise the
possessor of faith should speak in trust and confidence.
13:7. As examples of
faith, the readers should remember their former leaders who used
to speak
the word of God unto them. Their
conversation or way of life (not the same word used in verse
five) led them to a praiseworthy
end, which the readers are to be
considering by thorough and continuing contemplation. Whether
this refers to death by martyrdom or simply a life ending in faith we
can not tell. The point is that the faith of these leaders was not in
vain. Both the author and his readers had heard the gospel from the
apostles (
2:3-4). Since we do not
know the author, the readers, or even their location, we can not know
the specific identity of these who had
the rule or leadership in earlier days.
13:8. The first leaders had died, but their faithfulness had been
consistent The object of their faith also remains the same.
Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and today, and for ever. Our
author spoke of the eternal "sameness" of Christ in 1:12, quoting from
Psalm 102:27. Christ is the greatest example of faithfulness and
steadfastness: the same yesterday and today and for ever. He is the
same subject of preaching yesterday, today and for ever. He is the same
object of faith: yesterday, today and for ever.
Yesterday seems to refer to our author's immediate past. That
was the time when Jesus became lower than the angels, became partaker
of flesh and blood, received a body in which to do the will of God,
offered Himself as a sinless sacrifice and was subsequently raised from
the dead and taken up into glory.
Today would refer to our author's present.
For ever would refer to his future.
The atoning work of Christ took place in time and in human history,
but that work has now reached its goal. God's salvation-purpose
unfolded gradually. With the events involving Christ, which culminated
in His position at God's right hand, the earthly work of atonement has
reached perfection. No opportunity remains for possible failure, so far
as Christ is concerned. He was tempted in all points during His "once
for all" ministry, but that took place in the beginning of these last
days and will never be repeated. The constant believer in any age may
know that his salvation is secured in the person of the Son -- the Son
at God's right hand in heaven -- Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, and
today and for ever.
13:9. If the readers will hold fast to the non-changing Christ
(verse eight), imitating the faith of their leaders who also trusted in
Him (verse seven), they will not
be carried about as in a flood
with various
doctrines or teachings. These teachings are not part of the old
familiar gospel or the teachings which had come from the apostles and
prophets. Instead they are
strange, alien and foreign. Specifically, the author warns
against teachings about
meats or foods,
which have not profited those
occupied with them, and which draw attention from
grace by which
the heart is
established and strengthened.
At least five explanations have been offered of these teachings
about meats. (1) Some think of a Jewish dispute over kosher food, over
clean and unclean meats, as apparently is the case in
9:10. (2) Others think of
meats offered to pagan gentile idols, as in I Corinthians 8. (3) Some
suppose he refers to ascetic regulations of a gentile philosophy, as in
Colossians. (4) Still others think of sacrificial meats of the Old
Testament system, of which some were eaten by the priests and/or the
people (5) And some have suggested a kind of Jewish fellowship meal, as
described, for instance, by Josephus.
The entire context of Hebrews seems to narrow the choice to a Jewish
answer. The fellowship meal is not attested in Scripture and might not
have been a widespread custom at all. Disputes over clean and unclean
foods would fit the general context but not these specific verses. The
verses following seem to indicate sacrificial meats which were eaten by
worshippers and/or the priest who offered them. If such sacrificial
meats are intended, the point is that the Christian's sacrifice results
in the distribution of grace which strengthens his heart, not in meat
which strengthens his body.
13:10. The pagans frequently called Christians atheists because they
had no visible gods. It is likely that the Jews pointed to the absence
of visible sacrifices and cultic priests in their attacks on
Christians. Our author has already affirmed that Christians have a high
priest, though He is in heaven (8:1). Here he says
we have an altar as well, and of its benefits those Jewish
priests who used to
serve the Mosaic tabernacle do not
have a
right to partake or
eat. An Old Testament reason is given for this in the next
verse.
Some Catholic writers apply this reference to the Mass, but against
such a view stands the once-for-all nature of Christ's sacrifice in
Hebrews, as well as the specific point of the next vers. Various other
authors have explained the
altar as being the cross, or a heavenly altar, or the death of
Christ. It may be best not to seek a specific application, leaving our
author's single point to stand alone. Christians do have an altar and,
by metonymy, a sacrifice for their sins On that, also see Appendices II
and III.
13:11. Under the Old Testament system, when
blood of sacrificial animals was
brought into the most holy place
by the high priest as an offering
for sin, the
bodies of those beasts were
burned outside
the camp. This was true in general (Leviticus 6:30), and of the
Day of Atonement sin-offerings in particular (Leviticus 16:27). Because
the offering of Christ fulfills the sin-offering of the Day of
Atonement, and because it is the only sin-offering God now accepts, our
altar is one of which no Old Testament priest could partake even
according to his own Law,
13:12. In keeping with this figure,
Jesus also suffered outside
the gate of Jerusalem and therefore outside the camp of Israel,
so
that he might sanctify the people with his own blood. He not
only was treated shamefully (12:2), but He was in the literal sense an
outcast.
13:13. The believer in Christ is to be willing
therefore to
go forth unto him outside
the camp and fellowship of Israel. If this means
bearing a
reproach, the reproach is
his (see
11:26). To be with Jesus
the believer must leave the camp and go outside the gate, for that is
where He went. The reproach is overshadowed, however, by the fact that
Jesus' death not only was that of a sin-offering, but was the only sin
offering God will ever again accept.
13:14. The loss of fellowship in the city of the Jews is further
softened by the fact that Christ's people are faith-pilgrims who
seek another city which is yet
to come, though they have already come to it by faith (see
comments at 12:22-24). On the other hand,
the
city which is
here on earth (Jerusalem) is
no continuing city at all, and either had been or shortly would
be destroyed when our author wrote this epistle.
13:15.
By Christ, the high priest and mediator, Christians are urged to
offer their
sacrifice to God continually (see
7:25). This is not a
sin-offering. Only Christ offers that, and He offered one sacrifice one
time for all men of all time. The believer offers a
sacrifice of praise, the same term used in the Greek Old
Testament for the peace-offering of thanksgiving (Leviticus 7:12-25).
The fruit of lips giving thanks to his name did not originate
with the new covenant (Psalm 50:12-15, 23; 141:2; Hosea 14:2). Such
praise does belong to it, however, and fulfills the types of
thank-offerings under the old covenant.
13:16.
God is also
well pleased with the spiritual
sacrifices offered by His people when they do
not forget to do good,
and to communicate or to share with those in need (Amos 5 21-24;
Micah 6:6-12).
Communicate translates the verb of the "fellowship" family.
13:17. The practical instructions continue, this time with regard to
Christian leaders or
them that have the rule. The community of faith is to
obey them because of persuasion and to
submit to their guidance. The leaders, on the other hand, have a
charge to
watch for the
souls of those in the community, for whom they
must give account. If Christians do submit and obey as the
rulers watch and lead, the report
may be
with joy and not with grief, which would be
unprofitable for those of whom a bad account was given.
Dods relates
that which is
unprofitable to the
watch for your souls rather than the
give account, and suggests that believers are to obey and submit
so that the watching by the leaders will be a joyful task. A failure to
cooperate will not only cause grief to those watching, but will make
their work unprofitable for those for whose sake it is done.
The figure of a watchman comes from the Old Testament, particularly
from Ezekiel (3:17-21; 33:1-9). Here it is joined to the pastoral task
of the spiritual shepherd. While the leaders in this chapter are given
no technical or descriptive name, several parallels with I Peter 5:1-5
suggest those there called Elders. Even there, though, the term is
apparently used in both a general (verse five) and a specific (verse
one) way.
13:18.
Pray for us, the author urges,
for we trust (or perhaps, are persuaded) that
we have a good conscience and are
willing or wishing
to live honestly in all things. Some think that the author had
been criticized or suspected of evil doing by certain of his readers.
Whether that is the case or not we can not tell. He simply states a
request and makes a statement of good conscience. Nor do we know whom
the author includes in his
we.
13:19. The
rather is better translated "abundantly" or "exceedingly,'' and
may modify either
beseech or
to do or both. He strongly requests their earnest prayers,
that he
may be restored or reunited
to them
the sooner. It is an assumption to say that the author was in
prison at this time; he could have been on a preaching tour or some
other mission. All the text proves is that he was not presently with
his readers but hoped to be shortly, and that he asked for their
prayers to that end.
13:20. This verse and the next give the author's benediction for his
readers and touch on the major points of his teaching throughout the
epistle. He calls on
the God of peace, a designation comforting for worshippers who
faced persecution or even instructive discipline. As is usual in
Scripture, God is described in terms of His mighty acts. He
brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus. This is the only
explicit reference in Hebrews to the resurrection of Christ, though
that has been presupposed throughout the discussion, and was necessary
if the sacrificial victim were to become a living high priest.
Christ is described as
that great Shepherd of the sheep. Not only do the church leaders
watch for souls under His charge (on the analogy of I Peter five) but,
as the great
Shepherd, Christ has laid down His life for the sheep (see John
ten).
The blood of the everlasting covenant is related to the
resurrection, as the evident sign and seal of its merits, and to
the great Shepherd who proved His right to the title by shedding
His blood.
Of Moses and Israel it was said that God "brought them up out of the
sea with the shepherd of His flock" (Isaiah 63:11, see Psalm 77:20). As
Christ is counted worthy of more glory than Moses (
Hebrews 3:1-6), God has
brought Him up from the dead and will bring up His flock as well.
13:21. The prayer is that God, who has already raised Christ, will
now
make the readers
perfect or equipped
in very good thing for doing his will, and that he will be
working or doing
in them what
is well pleasing to Him. All this is to be done
through Jesus Christ, in whose name the prayer is offered.
To whom be glory for ever and ever may apply either to God the
Father or to the Lord Jesus, and scripturally it applies to both.
Milligan says that "doctrinally it may refer either to God or to
Christ, but grammatically, it refers properly to God" in this passage.
Lenski applies it to Christ here and sees it as complementary to the
description of Christ's exalted position in chapter one.
13:22. Our author appeals to his readers to bear with his
word of exhortation, meaning the entire book. He refers to it as
a letter, although it is not in regular epistolary form. He
apparently had much more he would have been pleased to write (see
5:11;
11:32), but he stops with
these
few words which may be read in about an hour.
13:23.
Brother Timothy had been
set at liberty, a phrase which might refer either to release
from prison or to the completion of a mission.
With him our author
will see his readers
if Timothy comes
shortly. This verse is used as an argument for the Pauline
authorship of Hebrews because of the close relationship between Paul
and Timothy. We may wish such matters were clearly revealed, but in
fact they are not, and no specific relationship is given here between
the author and Timothy. It is generally assumed, however, that this is
the Timothy of Paul's epistles and Acts, which gives an outward time
limit for the date of the book. Again, however, we are unable to learn
much from the fact, for we have no information at all about an
imprisonment of Timothy--if that is the meaning intended by the phrase
here.
13:24. The writer sends greetings to
all the leaders and
all the saints, indicating that the epistle would be read in a
gathered assembly of the Christians to whom it was sent (see Colossians
4:16; I Thessalonians 5:27).
They of Italy are simply "the Italians." The Greek words do not
tell whether they and our author were in Italy or away from Italy at
the time. All we can know from this verse is that he was in company
with some Italians, wherever he was. Those who argue for a Roman
destination of the epistle use this verse as evidence, as do those who
argue for a Roman origin.
13:25. The epistle closes with the familiar Christian greeting.
Grace be with you all. Amen. A suggestive discussion entitled
The Grace of God
is available online by the author of this commentary.
The subscript in some Bibles concerning the author, origin and
destination of the Epistle to the Hebrews is a later addition, not part
of the original text.
Indexes
Index of Scripture References
Index of Scripture Commentary