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The threatening of the Old Testament, that unbelievers shall not enter into the rest of God, is all the more to be taken to heart by the New Testament people of God
Heb_3:7-19
[Heb_3:7.— ὡò , as, êáèþò , according as— ἐὰí ἀêïýóçôå , not, “if ye will hear,” but, “if ye hear,” or “shall have heard,” See Del., De W., Moll. Still the precise import of the Hebrew original of the Psalm is doubtful, and it is possible that the Septuagint may intend its ἐὰí ἀêïýóçôå as having an optative force—would that! Yet we do not seem authorized in our Epistle to depart from the natural rendering of the words.
Heb_3:9.— ïὗ , where, not when, as Eng. ver.— ἑí äïêéìáóßá , in proving, instead of ἐäïêßìáóáí .
Heb_3:10.— áýôïὶ äὲ ïὐê Ýãíùóáí áὐôïß , emphatic; “but they did not know,” etc., to be coördinated apparently not with ðëáíῶíôáé , but with åἶðïí and äÝ , adversative. So De W., Del., Moll.
Heb_3:11.— ὡò ὥìïóá , Eng. ver., so I swore as if ὡò = ïὕôùò . Moll, so that= ὥóôå ; so De Wette, Del. Bib. Union, literally, as.
Heb_3:14.— ãåãüíáìåí , we have become, not are made, ἐÜíðåñ , precisely if=provided that: stronger than ἐÜí , if.
Heb_3:16.— ôßíåò ãÜñ , for who? all modern scholars read ôßíåò , who? instead of the ancient ôéíÝò , some, indefinite, which is nearly unmeaning.
Heb_3:17.— ὧí ôὰ êῶëá — ἐñÞìῳ . Moll rightly follows Del. in making this not a question, but a statement descriptive of the effects of the wrath. So Bib. Un.
Heb_3:18.— Êáß , Eng. ver., so, without reason. It is not an inference, but the statement of an actual fact. De Wette, Del., Moll, Bib. Union rightly and.—K.].
Heb_3:8. To-day, if ye hear his voice, harden not your hearts.—As the Sept. often translates the Hebrew particle of desire by ἐÜí , it is possible that it has so taken the words here according to the common understanding of the Hebrew text, in which àִí stands first for the sake of emphasis: “Would that to-day ye might hearken to His voice!” It is possible, however, that àִí in Heb. here simply introduces a hypothetical condition [so Delitzsch]. The citation is from Psa_95:7; Psa_95:11, which, by the sudden introduction of the speech of Jehovah, belongs to the class of those that bear a prophetic character. The author is thus entirely warranted in not restricting the “to-day” to the actual ‘present’ of the Psalmist (left in Heb. unnamed—in the Sept. mentioned as David); and in regarding the address itself as that of the Holy Spirit, while, at the same time, the Holy Scripture is regarded in all its parts as èåüðíåõóôïò (2Ti_3:16). Del. communicates the following remarkable Messianic Haggada from bab. Sanhedrin, 98 a.: “R. Joshua Ben Levi once found Elijah (the Tishbite) standing at the entrance of the cave of R. Simeons Ben Jochei. He asked him: ‘Do I come into the future world?’ Elijah answered: If the Lord ( àãåê , name of the Shechina that was invisibly present with Elijah) wills it. R. Joshua stated that he saw indeed but two (himself and Elijah), but he heard the voices of three. He asked him further: When comes the Messiah? Elijah: Go and ask Him in person. Joshua: And where? Elijah: He is sitting at the gate of Rome. Joshua: And how may He be recognized? Elijah: He is sitting among poor persons laden with diseases; and while others unbind their wounds at the same time, and then bind them up, He unbinds and then again binds up one wound after another, for He thinks: Perchance I am about to be summoned (called to make my public appearance); and I do this that I may not then be detained! (as would be the case if He unbound all wounds at the same time). Then came Joshua to Him, and He cried: Peace unto thee, son of Levi! Joshua: When comest Thou, Lord? He: To-day. On returning to Elijah, Joshua was asked by him: What said He to thee? Joshua: Peace unto thee, son of Levi. Elijah: In this He has given to thee and to thy father a prospect of the future world. Joshua: But He has deceived me in that He said to me that He comes to-day. Elijah: His meaning in that was this—To-day, if ye hear His voice.”
Heb_3:8. As in the provocation in the wilderness.—The Heb. reads: As at Meribah (Numbers 20), as at the day of Massa, in the wilderness (Exodus 17). Our author takes these proper names etymologically, as appellatives, and the words êáôὰ ôὴí ἡìÝñáí ôïῦ ðåéñáóìïῦ as added to define the time of the ἐí ôῷ ðáñáðéêñáóìῷ . The êáôÜ is a particle of time, the same as at Heb_9:9, as in the Hellenistic, and is not to be turned into a term of comparison= ὡò . Otto considers that here also Numbers 14 is alone referred to.
Heb_3:9. Where your fathers—during forty years.—The last mentioned temptation took place in the first year of the Exodus; the first mentioned in the fortieth. But the hardness of the people always remained the same, to which Moses refers, Deu_33:8. The ïὗ is a particle of place corresponding to àֲùֶׁø , and not, by attraction to ðåéñáóìïῦ , Gen. for ῳ , with which (Erasm., Schmid, Beng., Peirce). The forty years in the wilderness are in the synagogue also regarded as typical. R. Elieser says: “The days of the Messiah are forty years, as it is said, Psalms 95.” (Sanh., fol. 99, 1). And to the question: How long continue the years of the Messiah? R. Akiba answered: “Forty years, corresponding to the sojourning of the Israelites in the desert” (Tanchuma, fol. 79, 4). The admonition of our Epistle must, therefore, have made a powerful impression, if this number of years since the ministry of Christ had, when this Epistle was composed, nearly elapsed. That the author has in mind this typical relation, is clear from the fact that the ‘forty years,’ which in the Heb. belong to the following clause—a construction which he himself recognizes at Heb_3:17—he here carries back to the preceding, and shows that he intends this construction by introducing between the dissevered parts the particle äéü (so Intpp. generally since Calov).
Heb_3:10. Wherefore I was angry with this generation.—The Hellenistic ðñïóï÷èßæåéí from ὀ÷èÞ , steep, high bank, or cliff, implies violent, tempestuous excitement, which one either occasions or experiences. Usually it has the latter sense, denoting the feeling of violent displeasure awakened by opposition. The ἀåß belongs not to åἶðïí (Erasm.), but to ðëáíῶíôáé . A secondary idea of contempt can hardly belong to ãåíåÜ (Heinr., Steng.), though very possibly to ôáýôῃ (Lün.); but it is impossible that, by the latter pronoun ( ôáýôῃ ), instead of ἐêåßíῃ , the author could have intended in this connection an incidental reference to his readers (Böhm., Bl., De W.). In this passage also the author follows the Alex. Cod. of the Sept. in reading áὐôïὶ äÝ , while the Vat. Cod. follows the Heb. in reading êáὶ áὐôïß .
Heb_3:11. As I sware in my wrath that they shall not enter into my rest.—Possibly ὡò should be taken as=as, but it may also, corresponding to the Heb. àַùֶׁø (Ewald, § 337, a.), denote result= ὥóôå , so that. It then, indeed, usually takes the Infin., or the Opt. with ἄí , though sometimes also the Indic. (Win., p. 410) [ Ὥóôå , so that, as easily takes the Ind. as the Opt.—K.]. The åἰ in the clause containing the substance of the oath, is in imitation of the Heb. àִí . The formula has sprung from the suppression of the apodosis, and negatives the thought, while àִí ìֹàֹ affirms it. The êáôÜðáõóéò refers originally to the rest of the Promised Land, Deu_12:9-10. But the idea of the “rest of God,” proceeding from this starting point, acquired a wider scope and a deeper significance.
Heb_3:12. Take heed that there be not—living God.— ÌÞ , after words of seeing, in the Fut. Indic., expresses not only a warning, but, with it, anxiety in regard to a failure to give heed Hart., Part. II., 140). The enclitic ðïôÝ means, not ever, at any time (Beza, Eng. Ver., etc.), but perchance, and the ἔí ôéíé ὑìῶí individualizes the admonition, so as to bring it home to each person in conscientious self-examination. The Gen. ἀðéóôßáò indicates the relation of quality; the evil heart, then, is not to be regarded as the cause or ground (Bl., etc.), nor as the consequence of unbelief (De W., etc.). Nor, again, is ἀðéóôßá either faithlessness or disobedience (Schultz). The latter is the consequence of unbelief, Heb_3:18; Heb_4:6; Heb_4:11, which appears here as exhibiting its internal essence in apostasy from God. We are not by èåüò to understand Christ (Gerh., Dorsch, Calov, Sebast. Schmidt, Schöttg., Carpz.), although the warning refers to the lapse from Christianity to Judaism. And God is here called æῶí , living, not in contrast with dead works of law, Heb_6:1; Heb_9:14 (Bl.), and not in contrast with dead idols, as Act_14:15; 2Co_6:16; 1Th_1:9 (Böhme), but as He who works with living efficiency, Heb_9:14; Heb_12:22; who executes His threats, Heb_10:31; but chiefly who has appointed Christ as He did Moses, and thus accomplished the fulfilment of His promises. This latter point is overlooked by most interpreters, but is involved directly both in the fundamental conception of our Epistle, and in the immediate connection of the passage.
Heb_3:13. But exhort one another daily—sins.—With the warning stands connected a summons to ðáñÜêëçóéò , i.e., to language at once of consolation and of admonition, with which the hearers are to render daily aid to one another, so long as this period of gracious waiting shall continue. In classical, as well as in New Testament use (Col_3:16) ἑáõôïýò , is frequently= ἀëëÞëïõò . Individual self-exhortation cannot be expressed by ðáñáêáëåῖôå ἑáõôïýò , which would rather demand ðáñáêáëåßôù ἕêáóôïò ἑáõôüí . Ôὸ óÞìåñïí (to-day with the def. art.) cannot denote the life-time of individuals (Theodoret, Theoph., Primas., Erasm., Este, Dorsch, etc.), but must be identical with the day of the Psalm, and thus with the interval of grace extending to the second coming of the Messiah. We might also, in this sense, translate êáëåῖôáé , is named, (Vulg., Est., Bl., Lün., etc.), but inasmuch as this is liable to the misconception: So long as we can yet speak of ‘to-day,’ the rendering is called=so long as the ‘to-day’ of the Psalm sounds in our ears (Calv., Thol., Böhm., Del., etc.), would seem to deserve the preference. The Aor. Pass. óêëçñõíèῇ is not to be softened down; it contains a reminder of the divine judicial hardening of those who abuse the means of grace through the deceitfulness of sin. For this reason ἐî ὑìῶí is designedly placed before ôὶò , not as contrasting them with their fathers in the wilderness (Böhme, Bl.), which would almost necessarily require a êáß , also, but to designate with emphasis the readers as those who are highly favored (Del.). Apostasy from Christianity is here designated as “sin,” absolutely; for the essence of sin is apostasy from God; but Christ is the Son of God, and has brought to its accomplishment the will of God on earth. The deceit, therefore, which now works upon the heart, is worse than the earlier, Gen_3:13.
Heb_3:14. For we have become joint partakers with Christ if we hold fast, etc.—As in the former chapter the author now again enforces the preceding exhortation by the greatness of the salvation which has been bestowed on us. The term ãåãüíáìåí , have become, reminds us that we do not possess this salvation by nature, and that consequently without the observance of the requisite condition, we are liable to have it withdrawn from us. This condition, again, introduced by the particle [not of mere condition åἰ with opt., but] of doubt, ἐÜí , if, ἐÜíðåñ , precisely if, provided that (with Subj.) is presented not simply and objectively, as a mere condition, but as of questionable fulfilment, and hence enforces the need of self-examination, of watchfulness, and of fidelity. And for this reason ìÝôï÷ïé ôïῦ ÷ñéóôïῦ cannot mean participants of Christ, i.e., having part in His person; but only participants along with Christ, associates of, or joint partakers with Christ in the possessions and blessings of the kingdom of God. Riehm, overlooking this requirement of the context, prefers, with more recent scholars, the rendering participes, sharers in, instead of associates, or sharers with, as the more comprehensive and significant. He is right, indeed, as to the matter of fact, where he says (II. 719): “Christ, the Mediator of the New Covenant, enters into such intimate personal fellowship with the believer, that it can be said of the latter that he possesses Christ; and along with Christ Himself all that Christ has obtained has also become his own; as one who has part in Christ, he has also part with Christ in the heavenly glory and blessedness.” But the context demands the limitation above given. The term must imply partners or associates of Christ, yet without its being referred back, as by Schultz, to the term “brethren” of Christ (Heb_2:11); and the term ìÝôï÷ïé being narrowed down to ἀäåëöïß . By ἀñ÷ὴí ôῆò ὑðóôÜóåùò Erasm., Schultz, Stein, etc., understand the settled elementary principles or foundations of the Christian religion. Luther renders it “the commenced or inaugurated essence”—angefangene Wesen (as translation of substantia). Vatablus, Este, Bisping make it a periphrasis for faith, in so far as faith produces our subsistence in the spiritual life, or originates the subsistence of Christ within us. Instead of either of these meanings, the context points us to a meaning of ὑðüóôáóéò familiar to the later Greek, viz., firm confidence, as the only one which meets its exigencies. For ὑðüóôáóéò stands here in the same connection as ἐëðßò , hope, Heb_3:6, and in fact denotes this hope in its relation as daughter of faith, and by virtue of its relationship remaining amidst all assaults steadfastly and confidently directed toward the goal. As such it needs perpetual fostering and culture, in order that that beginning of the Christian career, which is wont to be characterized by joyfulness, energy and strength (1Ti_5:12; Rev_2:4), and which, in the case of the readers, has been so characterized (Heb_6:10; Heb_10:32; Heb_13:7), may have a corresponding end. The ἀñ÷ὴ ôῆò ὑðïóôÜóåùò is, therefore, a beginning, not in the sense of imperfection and weakness, which led Ebrard to find in the readers a set of catechumens and neophytes, but the opening or inauguration of the Church life in its full vitality and power (Camero, Grot., Böhme, Thol., etc.).
Heb_3:15. In its being said to-day if ye hear—harden not, etc.—The author resumes the citation, yet not for the purpose of expressing an admonition, thus making the citation proper extend only to “to-day” (v. Gerl.), or to “hear His voice” (Capell., Carpz., etc.), and the author resume his exhortation at “harden not,” etc., in the applied words of the Psalm, as the answering clause to ἐí ôῷ ëÝã . For this formula of introduction makes it necessary to take the following words as an entire citation. Nor may we again (with Beng., Michael., etc.), enclose Heb_3:14 in parenthesis. and connect ἐí ôῷ ëÝã . immediately with the requisition ( ðáñáêáëåῖôå , etc.), Heb_3:13; for the verse thus forms not merely an unnecessary and halting appendage, but unnaturally and absurdly summons the readers to mutual admonition by the previous utterance of the words of the Psalm. Nor may we (with Chrys., Grot., etc.), take Heb_3:16-19 parenthetically, and connect ἐí ôῷ ëÝã ., with Heb_4:1; a construction forbidden alike by the subsequent course of thought, and the connecting particle ïὖí . Nor may we attach Heb_3:15 directly to Heb_3:14; thus either assigning the mode of procedure by which steadfastness of faith is to be maintained (Vulg., Luth., Calv.), or the reason and necessity of maintaining it in order that we may be partakers with Christ (Ebr.). For ἐí ôῷ ëÝã . is not= äéὸ ãÝãåé , or ïὕôùò ãὰñ åἴñçêåí . Better, therefore, to take the words in question as protasis, or conditioning clause to Heb_3:16, which latter verse is then to be taken as interrogative with an interposed ãÜñ =for, why, (according to genuine Greek usage) to which also the ἀëëÜ corresponds (Seml., and most recent interpreters). [This last construction is undoubtedly possible; and I believe it preferable to either of the others, except that which would connect it with Heb_4:1, as held by Chrys., Grotius and others. In this case, however, it is not a case of proper parenthesis, so that Heb_4:1 would stand in regular construction with Heb_3:15. Rather as the author was about to proceed to the train of thought, Heb_4:1, he was led, especially by the language of the quotation itself, to restate sharply and distinctly what had been previously but implied and hinted at, the actual crime and the actual punishment of the ancient Israelites, from which so weighty admonitions were drawn. He, therefore, abruptly breaks off in the middle of his sentence, to introduce in a series of sharp interrogations and, statements these ideas: which being accomplished, he returns,—with a natural change of construction, occasioned by the long interposed passage,—to the idea which at Heb_3:15, he had started to develope. This obviates entirely the objection drawn from the particle ïὖí , Heb_4:1, and the otherwise anacoluthic character of the construction, and is, in my judgment, the only solution of the problem of Heb_3:15, that is not attended by nearly insuperable difficulties. The construction, therefore, which I prefer, is decidedly that of Chrys., in a somewhat modified form.—K.]. Of course ôßíåò must then be taken interrogatively; and the author’s purpose is either to repel the idea, that perhaps there were only a portion who were guilty of the provocation, to wit, the people who were at the time at Meribah and Massa (Böhme, Ebr.); in which case the author would reply that all Israel failed to enter into the Promised Land, for the reason that the whole people were guilty of the sin of unbelief and apostasy; or he designs to emphasize the fact that it was precisely Israel, the highly favored people, that had been conducted forth from Egypt to become God’s special possession, in whom all this had taken place (Del.). I see no reason for separating the two ideas. For while ἀêïýóáíôåò points to the prerogative, which they enjoyed who heard the word of God, and the attendant obligation to obedience, the next and following interrogative sentence, ἀëë ’ ïὐ ðÜíôåò , brings into closest connection (in ðÜíôåò ) the universality of the sin, and in ἐîåëèüíôåò , the preceding gracious experience and privilege: [while äéὰ ÌïõóÝùò suggests here the same contrast between Moses, and his relation to the ancient Theocracy and Christ, as äé ’ ἀããÝëùí , Heb_1:2, between the angels and Christ.—K.].
Bisping remarks: “yet perchance not all?” but erroneously. For ïὐ in interrogations=nonne, has always an affirmative force (Kühner, II., 579; Hart., Part., II., 88). The exceptional cases of Joshua, Caleb and those of tender age, are not of a nature to detract from the truth thus broadly stated, and to require that ôßíåò be taken, as it generally was before Bengel, indefinitely ( ôéíÝò , some, instead of ôßíåò , who?) thus giving the rendering (Erasm., Luth., Eng. ver., etc.), “for some, when they heard committed provocation, but not all those who came out of Egypt by Moses.” How could the 600,000 whom Moses brought out of Egypt, be called ôéíÝò ? The rendering of Bengel, Schultz, Kuinoel; “Nay, only they who,” etc. “It was merely they who,” [as if denying an assertion that certain men indeed provoked God, but it was not those who came out of Egypt, etc., to which the author replies, “Nay, they were all those=they were none but those] would require the article ïἱ before ðÜíôåò , in order to give clearly a predicative character to ïἱ ἐîåëèüíôåò . [But this ïἱ would scarcely mend the matter, and Bengel’s construction would then be little less harsh than it is now].
Heb_3:17. With whom was he angry—wilderness.—Most recent interpreters put the second interrogative mark, or still a third one, at the close of the period, after “wilderness,” to avoid the heavy and dragging effect of the last clause—if without an interrogation. But this construction overlooks the parallelism with Heb_3:18-19, which, in like manner, distribute themselves into three members. For the last clause of these latter verses is not a mere continuation of the facts previously stated; but it points to the fulfilment of the Divine oath, lying before our eyes, in the exclusion of the people from Canaan through unbelief. So also in Heb_3:17 the last clause, “whose carcasses,” points to the manifestation of the Divine wrath, in the fact that those who had fallen away from God, dying, as it were, gradually, during their bodily life, became walking corpses (Del.). Grotius says rightly ex historia cognoscimus, while Seb. Schmidt, followed by Bl., with most later interpreters, maintains; âëÝðïìåí , non de lectione aut cognitione historiæ, sed de convictione animi e disputatione, seu doctrina præmissa. [That is, Seb. Schmidt, Bl., etc., followed by Alford, regard Heb_3:19, “And we see that they could not,”etc., as an inference, the result of a chain of reasoning, of which, however, it is very difficult to trace any previous links; while Del. and Moll, following Grotius, make it the result stated as well known and clearly seen in the pages of the historical record, and thus brought up as a historical fact to enforce the positions of the author, and so the clause, “whose carcasses fell in the wilderness,” stands related to what precedes. It is the author’s statement, in Scripture language, of the results of the wrath of God.—K.]. The history of Israel is typical, and to this and to the state of things which follows from it, the author is referring (as shown immediately by the commencement of the following chapter), not drawing conclusions from previous premises.— Êῶëá , members, particularly hands and feet, is the term by which the LXX. render the Heb. ôְּâָøִéí in the sense of bodies or corpses.
2. With the doctrine of predestination in all its forms, this section stands in decided antagonism; for the author speaks indeed of a hardening, which has for its result, the non-attainment of the promised rest; and in like manner of a Divine will and work which are herein accomplished. But this is by no means referred to any original wrath of God, or to His eternal counsel. Rather it is the deceitfulness of sin, by which the obduracy is produced, and against this is directed an earnest warning. The wrath of God appears as the holy fire of righteous indignation upon those who, in consequence of their evil heart of unbelief, have fallen away from the living God, and have provoked and tempted Him, before that He could prove Himself unfaithful, and fail of His own word. And it is unbelief that is emphatically declared to have been the cause of the hardening of the heart, and, as united with disobedience, to have been the ground of the destruction of those who fell in the wilderness. But that unbelief itself is not purposed or produced of God, and that the capacity to believe in the preached word is not refused by God to individual men, or taken from them previously to their own self-determination, is clear from the earnestness of the exhortation that each one should, during the gracious season of his pilgrimage, give heed to the preached word, and not allow himself to be hardened against it, but rather, by the influence of mutual admonitions within the Church, should incite himself to lay to heart the history of the Israelites, and to an unwavering maintenance of the confidence of faith. [That nothing is said here of the doctrine of predestination, proves nothing more against it than is proved by every passage of warning or exhortation in the New Testament. Few Calvinists believe that the doctrine of predestination is incompatible with the free agency and consequent accountability of man.—K.].
3. The hardening of the heart has its gradations of carnal security, which comforts itself with the outward possession of the means of grace, and from natural indifference and insensibility to the word, proceeds on through unbelieving disparagement, faithless neglect, and reckless transgression of the word, to rejection, contempt, and denial of it, and thence to a permanent embittering of the wicked heart; to a conscious stubbornness of the wicked will; to the bold tempting of the living God Himself, until, in complete obduracy, judicial retribution begins the fulfilment of its terrible work.
4. Unbelief is, in its inmost essence, faithlessness and apostasy, and hence always manifests itself as disobedience and corruption. In outward corruption the Divine judgment brings the inward depravity, the ðïíçñßá , to light, and, at the same time, to its due reward. For God, in contrast with the faithless and apostate, remains true to Himself and His word, and as the living God carries His judgment through all resistance of the world and the devil, to victory; bringing His threats, as well as His promises, to gradual, but sure and unchecked accomplishment.
5. It is God’s, will indeed that all men be saved, and this will is potent and mighty; yet as a gracious will, it exercises no compulsion, while, as the will of the living God, it renders possible the fulfilment of the indispensable conditions of salvation; and, as the will of the Holy God, works not magically, but by the ordinary means of grace. The decision of our destiny is thus entrusted to our own will, since God has in a reliable way made known to us our destination to salvation, and provided and proffered the sure means for its attainment.
6. The duty of self-examination, and of the conscientious use of the means of grace, we must never lose sight of; since we have not as yet entered into rest, but are merely on the way to the goal. If our gracious fellowship with Christ is completely to triumph over our natural fellowship with our fathers, it must be nurtured and promoted in the way that God has ordained. Otherwise the end will not correspond with the beginning. For previous obedience excuses not subsequent apostasy, and a faith that has been abandoned does not justify at the Divine tribunal.
7. Since the gracious will of God aims at the salvation of men; while with some His judgments only produce obduracy, as the punishment of unbelief, and in consequence of this, exclusion from salvation; and since to every individual a period of grace is allotted whose limit is unknown, we must suppose that grace has, up to this point, applied in sufficient measure all its means, ways, and resources, and that God, by virtue of His omniscience, has determined this point of time in which the work of grace ceases. But with obdurate hardness, sin passes over into a permanent condition.
Starke:—Let every one see to it that he rightly avail himself of to-day, i.e., of the present time; for this alone is ours, since the past is already gone, and the future is still uncertain. Besides, if the present is properly employed, it brings with it a blessing for the future (Gal_6:10; Isa_55:6).—The examples of the wicked stand in the Holy Scripture for our improvement (1Co_10:6). There is no better means to be employed against obduracy of heart, than that by frequent self-examination and befitting fidelity, we learn to obey the convictions that have been wrought within us; for thus conscience maintains its tender sensibility, and is preserved from all hardening, 2Co_13:5.—The more proofs and testimonies men have of the guidance and care of God, the heavier becomes the sin, if they will still neither believe nor hope, Mat_23:37-38.—God has come to the aid of human weakness, and uttered in His word many a declaration with the virtual confirmation of an oath, in that He swears by Himself and appeals to the inviolable truth of His being and life.—Divine threatenings are not an empty and dead sound, but have a mighty emphasis; they are fraught with God’s jealous zeal, and are finally put in force. Ah! that thou mightest be awakened by them to repentance! Jos_23:15; Zec_1:6.—Man departs from God, and becomes involved in spiritual death, when he begins to deny the truths which bring salvation (Act_13:46); or to live in conscious and deliberate sins, which are incompatible with union with God.—Oh! how necessary that the whole Christian body be aroused! but who thinks thereupon? We avoid speaking of spiritual things in our common intercourse; and this is a sure sign of a great backsliding.—Preachers cannot do every thing, and cannot be everywhere; therefore, the fathers of the household must be also bishops of the household; nay, one Christian must be bishop to another, and he has good authority and right to rebuke and correct in another what he sees worthy of reproof (1Th_5:11; Jam_5:19).—A man can easily be hardened if he does not take knowledge and care of himself, and take to heart the admonition of others.—Sin is a powerful and deceitful thing; powerful in evil desires, by which one is very easily swept away when he does not, with the grace of God, set himself against them; but deceitful when by the plausible assurance that a thing is right, allowable, and free from peril, it ensnares the man, seduces him into sin, and, unawares, gets the mastery of him. Ah! let every one be on his guard against it (Eph_4:22).—Christ, with all His attributes, offices, and possessions, belongs to us; for us was He born, for us He died, for us He arose, for us He lives, and for us He intercedes. Therefore, if we have Christ, we are wanting in no good whatsoever (Psa_34:11; Rom_8:32).—In Christianity two things are of preëminent importance—an upright character and a steadfast continuance in it. The one cannot and must not be without the other; for if we fail at the outset in uprightness of character, much more shall we fail in steadfastness. And if the latter is wanting, the beginning and the earlier progress will be in vain (Eze_33:12).—One day is like another; we may always fail and fall: therefore, to-day, to-morrow, and at all times there is need of watchfulness and caution (1Co_10:12).—God is inconceivably long-suffering, and waits long before He punishes; and meanwhile He is doing good to sinners, and always alluring them to repentance (Rom_2:4).—O! how many men fail to attain that natural limit of life which God has appointed! They cut it short to themselves by wilful sin, and it is shortened to them again by the Divine wrath (Pro_10:27).—Wilt thou charge unrighteousness upon God, that He lets good come to one and evil to another? Look, He is so righteous that He punishes none except him who is deserving of punishment (Job_34:11; Wis_12:15).—Unbelief is the source of all sin. From unbelief sprang murmuring and all disobedience, inasmuch as by this they denied the presence, omnipotence, wisdom, and grace of God.
Berlenburger Bible:—Since Christ is to rule in us as Lord in His house, we must accept the condition of hearing His voice and giving heed to it at every moment.—The people demand indeed, Christ, but when He comes without sufficient adornment and decoration, they reject Him, and are hardened.—All evil which befalls us springs from our giving no ear to the voice of God, just as our hearkening to it is followed by nothing but good.—The ways of God are entirely unknown and strange to the flesh; the heart of man always wanders about in other things; and thus, also, the dispensations of God are entirely contrary and repugnant to man’s self-will.—Tenderly as God loves a soul, He cannot treat with tenderness its corrupt disposition.—They are zealous for the Sabbath, and have no rest in their heart.—God commences His chastisement by depriving us of rest, in order that we may observe that we have lost something.—If we love others, we admonish them. Open your eyes and see!—Unbelief is a toilsome and an evil thing, which also allows no repose to others.—Now we still hear the call, “to-day;” but the gracious interval may soon close and end. Thus the boundary, with all its uncertainty, is to be kept before our eyes. But God creates this uncertainty, not in order to vex us, but in order to guard us against false security.—The present life is to be regarded merely as a day. Blessed is he who uses it for eternity!—God has appointed the period of life as the period of repentance; yet we may not say that the limit of grace reaches absolutely to the limit of nature.—Paul is obliged to give more space to warnings than to doctrines. Such admonitions are commonly disliked; one must, therefore, deal in them sparingly; yet they spring from an evangelical heart.—Whoever wilfully neglects salvation, who can help him?—In warning a person against the danger of being hardened, we do not deny his former possession of grace, but we remind him that he must not lose his previous grace.
Laurentius:—The ground of the admonition is twofold: 1, Christ’s superiority to Moses; 2, the appeal of the Holy Spirit.—The greater the grace of God, so much the greater frequently is the wickedness of men.—Believers also need to be admonished.—By the false pretexts of sin man is deceived, and by the deceitfulness of sin he is hardened.—By frequent admonition, much evil can be guarded against.—Faith can be again lost.—Not the beginning, but the end, receives the crown.—Unbelief is the capital sin, and is specially punished by God; the examples of punishments inflicted on others should serve as a warning to us.
Rambach:—The heart is hard even by nature, but God endeavors to soften it. If we oppose ourselves to Him, the hardness becomes obduracy.—Unbelief is the single and proper cause of damnation.—Sin has regard to the disposition. With the ungodly she uses force and not cunning, saying, Thou must do that. With believers whom she is unable to rule, she employs cunning and deception.
Steinhofer:—It is the office of the Holy Spirit to testify and to warn against the sin of unbelief, and this office He constantly exercises in the preached word.—What takes place in the case of souls that come into the state of grace, and what is required in order that we may remain in this condition.
Hahn:—What God has already done in us, gives us a new incentive to fidelity.—Though we ourselves find nothing in ourselves, we are still as yet not justified; but we must appeal to another that he should pronounce our justification.—We have before us a goal; therefore we should seek to preserve one another; one should kindle another’s zeal, not light the flame of his passion. Such are the obligations of Christian fellowship.
Rieger:—We meet, within the barriers of the race-course of faith, not only footsteps in which to follow, but also doubtful and dangerous deviations, and connected with these, warnings of the Holy Spirit.—Every one has his fixed barriers and ordained course of faith, from his first hearing of the voice of God even to the goal.—In regard to faith, and our participation in the heavenly calling, we must neither be timid and distrustful, nor again secure and heedless as if there were no danger.—The deceitfulness of sin need only to withdraw one to-day after another, from the attention of thy heart, in order to cheat thee unobserved of thy whole gracious season of many years.—In admonitions and appeals from the word of God, lies a drawing and a calling of God, which sin cannot so much destroy as our own purposes.
Von Gerlach:—As long as the Holy Spirit is still working on the heart, so long continues our respite of grace.
Heubner:—The continuous office of the Holy Spirit in the Church is, to lay Christ upon the heart, to urge us to faith, to rebuke unbelief.—Even in the Old Testament we perceive the voice of the Spirit.—The Spirit urges not irresistibly.—The guilt is man’s, the merit is God’s.—The foolishness of men is a perpetual provoking and tempting of God.—The “to-day” Isaiah 1. a word reminding us of the daily never-ceasing preaching of the Divine word; 2. a word that awakens to repentance; 3. a word of warning against delay; 4. a word of consolation, for where God still calls and still makes His voice heard, the period of grace has not as yet flown by.—Without rest, without repose, wanders round the disobedient son, who hears not the voice of his father.—The weary, wandering soul must strive after the rest of God.—Who trembles not at the words, “never to attain to the rest of God; forever to be banished from the realm of peace?”—If the ultimate issues of the wicked heart are so emphatically set before us in the case of others, this should make us all the more strict and rigorous towards ourselves.—To fall away from the living God, is to fall away from true life.—Had sin no deceitful form, she would not lead astray; let him who knows her, warn the in experienced; let all be indefatigable in exhorting and in hearing.—The grace obtained through Christ remains only to the steadfast believer; it becomes punishment to him who does not hold on to faith.
Stier:—Nothing is demanded of us previously to, or upon any other ground than, our having heard the word of God which brings us grace and salvation.—The successive stages of apostasy are always the same.
Ahlfeld:—To-day let the voice of God warn you against being hardened. We consider 1. the course by which obduracy proceeds onward to judgment; 2. the course by which grace breaks in pieces the hard heart.—Labor with earnestness against thine own hardening. The chief points of this labor are: 1. honest self-examination; 2. hearty, mutual, fraternal admonition; 3. diligence in looking back over the grace which we have received.
Von Bogatzky:—We must not only guard against rude blasphemers, and abominate them, but also take heed to our own heart, and see how this wanders, swerves, and becomes alienated from God.—Whoever holds a sin to be small and insignificant, is already deceived by sin, falls already into error, and, corrupted by his delight in error, is finally utterly hardened.—The commencement of upright and genuine faith brings us already to a complete union with Christ, and is a true foundation, receives Christ as a whole, and rests entirely in Christ as upon its reliable foundation.—Holding fast, we are to hold out unto the end.—Our heart is so unbelieving, that if we ten times experience the help of God, and find ourselves strengthened in faith, still when there comes a fresh emergency, trial and exercise of our faith, unbelief again immediately bestirs herself.—Our God is alone the living God; thus He will give us also life, and power, and full supplies, and will be Himself our life, our light and salvation, and the strength of our life. Thus we need not with our hearts turn with lustful desires to the needy creatures who assuredly without Him can give no life, no true joy and satisfaction, and thus also we need not fear, any creatures, not even the devil.—We have to pray for nothing but faith (although we have it already), in order that we may also maintain faith, and thus, believing unto the end, may save our souls.
Hedinger:—God’s wrath spares not the fathers, much less the children. Why? The latter should have made the conduct and fate of the former a mirror, in which they might behold and gaze upon their own.
[Owen:—The formal reason of all our obedience, consists in its relation to the voice, or authority of God.—We see many taking a great deal of pains in the performance of such duties as, being not appointed of God, are neither accepted with Him, nor will ever turn unto any good account unto their own souls.—Consideration and choice are a stable and permanent foundation of obedience.—Many previous sins make way for the great sin of finally rejecting the voice or word of God.—Old Testament examples are New Testament instructions.—Especial seasons of grace for obedience, are in an especial manner to be observed and improved.—It is a dangerous condition for children to boast of the privileges of their fathers, and to imitate their sins.—Take heed, gray hairs are sprinkled upon you, though you perceive it not. Death is at the door. Beware, lest your next provocation be your last.—When repentance upon convictions of provocations lessens or delays, it is a sad symptom of an approaching day, wherein iniquity will be completed.—Whithersoever sin can enter, punishment can follow.—Though vengeance seems to have a lame foot, yet it will hunt sin, until it overtake the sinner.—A careless profession will issue in apostasy, open or secret, or in great distress, Mat_13:5-6.—This privative unbelief is two-fold: 1. in refusing to believe, when it is required; 2. in rejecting the faith after it hath been received.—We have but a most uncertain season for the due performance of certain duties. How long it will be called today, we know not.—Union with Christ is the principle and measure of all spiritual enjoyments and expectations.—Therefore are the graces and works of believers excellent, because they are the graces and works of them that are united unto Christ.—Constancy and steadfastness in believing, is the great touch-stone, trial and evidence of union with Christ, or a participation of Him.—God sometimes will make men who have been wickedly exemplary in sin, righteously exemplary in their punishment.—No unbeliever shall ever enter into the rest of God].
Footnotes:
Heb_3:9.—For ἐðåéñáóáí ìå ïἱ ðáôÝñåò ὑìῶí , ἐäïêßìáóÜí ìå , recent critics read after Sin. A. B. C. D.* E. M. Uff., 73, 137, Ital. Copt., ἐðåßñáóáí ïἰ ðáôÝñåò ὐìῶí ἑí äïêéìáóßá . The lect. recept. is made up from the LXX. Cod. Alex. in which the first and the Vat. in which the second ìå is wanting.
Heb_3:10.—For ôῇ ãåíåᾷ Ýêåßíç , we are to read with Sin. A. B. D.