Lange Commentary - Hebrews 4:11 - 4:13

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Lange Commentary - Hebrews 4:11 - 4:13


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IV

The peculiar and extraordinary nature of the word of God should deter us from resisting it

Heb_4:11-13

11Let us labor [strive zealously, óðïõäÜóùìåí ] therefore, to enter into that rest, lest any man [any one] fall after the same example of unbelief [disobedience, ἀðåéèåßáò ]. 12For the word of God is quick [living], and powerful [effective, energetic, ἐíåñãÞò ], and sharper than any two-edged sword [and], piercing [through] even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints [of both joints] and marrow, and is a discerner of [sits in judgment on, êñéôéêüò ] the thoughts [reflections] and intents 13 [thoughts] of the heart. Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and opened [laid bare] unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do.

[Heb_4:11.— ÓðïõäÜóùìåí , let us strive zealously, 2Pe_1:10, “give diligence.” Here Alf., earnestly strive; Bib. Un., endeavor, perhaps not quite strong enough. De Wette, streben; Moll, ernstlich trachten.— ἐí ôῷ áὐôῷ — ðåóåῖí . Eng. ver., fall after; Vulg., Luth., Del., Alf., Bib. Un., etc., fall into; Moll, fall in the like, etc.; De Wette, fall, as a like example. All but the second (Vulg. etc.) take ðåóåῖí , absolutely of perishing, against which Alf., after Lün., urges its unemphatic position, but to which we may reply, that this springs from a desire to give a special emphasis to ἀðåéèåßáò . Grammatically, ðåóåῖí ἐí , for ðåóåῖí åἰò , fall into, is doubtless admissible: but “fall in,” or “into an example,” is harsh, and “to fall into the same example,” harsher still. I prefer taking with Eng. ver. and Moll, ðåóåῖí , absolutely, of perishing, and I believe the expression to be a pregnant one, for “experience a like fall with that of those after whose disobedience you thus pattern;” the “pattern” not looking forward to the effect of their fall on others—which seems not at all in the author’s sphere of thought—but backward to the effect of the fall of their fathers upon them.— ôῆò ἀðåéèåßáò , disobedience, not unbelief, ἀðéóôßáò .

Heb_4:12.— Æῶí ãÜñ , for living, placed emphatically at the beginning.— ἐíåñãÞò , working, operative, effective.— ôïìþôåñïò ὐðÝñ , more cutting beyond, a double comparative.— äééêíïýìåíïò , coming through, piercing through.— ἁñìῶí ôå êáὶ ìõåëῶí , both joints and marrow; with the omission of the ôå after øõ÷ῆò , these words become naturally an explanatory apposition to øõ÷ῆò êáὶ ðíåýìáôïò .— êñéôéêὸò .: Eng. ver., Bib. Un., discerner; Alf., judger, or discerner; De Wette, Richter; Lün., zu beurtheilen oder zu richten befühigt; Moll, richterlich.— ἐíèõìÞóåùí êáὶ ἐííïéῶí , not, thoughts and intents, but reflections, or sentiments, emotions, affections, and ideas, thoughts, the former looking more to the moral and emotional, the latter to the intellectual nature.—K.].

EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL

Heb_4:11. Let us therefore strive earnestly to enter—example of disobedience.—The fact stated in Heb_4:1, and subsequently unfolded, that there not only is a true rest for the people of God, consisting in a participation of the rest of God Himself, but that we Christians are invited to it by a word of promise, and have in Jesus our true Leader, leads now, according to our understanding of Heb_4:1, either to the resumption of the exhortation which it contains, or to a new exhortation to earnest and zealous striving for an entrance into that rest ( ἐêåßíç , that, marking the specific rest just described). Whoever intermits this striving will fall on the way, and will furnish precisely such an example of disobedience, alike in his conduct and his destiny, as did the nation of Israel, in their march through the desert. Instead of ðáñÜäåéãìá , in familiar use with the earlier Attic writers, but wanting in the N. Test., we have here, as at 2Pe_2:6, ὑðüäåéãõá . Both words denote, sometimes copy, sometimes pattern. The ἐí is not=per (Wolf, Strig., etc.), or propter (Carpz.), but denotes state or condition, the being in (Bl., De W., Bisp., Del.). With this coincides substantially the view of Thol. that it corresponds with the Dat. modi, indicating the way and manner in which the fact as a whole presents itself (Bernhardy, Synt. 100), i.e., fall, and in his fall present the same example of disobedience as the Fathers. ÐÝóῃ is thus taken absolutely, a construction which, since Chrysostom has been given to it by most interpreters, though with an unwarranted reference to the use of the word, Heb_3:17, they restrict it to mere perishing (exclusive of the idea of sinning). Lönemann (followed by Alford) maintains that the position of ðÝóç forbids our taking it here thus absolutely. But his view is untenable, and all the more so as his own explanation of the idea accords substantially with that given by us. He is right, however, in remarking that the translation of Luther, after the Vulg.: “that no one fall into the same example of unbelief,” is not, as by and since Bleek, to be rejected on grammatical grounds. For ðßðôåéíἐí is as good Greek as ðßðôåéí åßò , only that it connects with the idea of falling into, that of subsequently remaining in. Del. adds still further examples from the Hellenistic, Psa_35:8; Psa_141:10; Eze_27:27.

Heb_4:12. For the word of God is living—two-edged sword.—Many distinguished Christian fathers, and, among recent expositors, Biesenthal even yet, regard the ëüãïò ôïῦ èåïῦ here as the hypostatical or personal word of God; but as our Epistle nowhere else speaks of the personal Logos,—although it must certainly be supposed to have aided in preparing the way for that designation,—it is generally understood of the word of God as spoken and as recorded in the Scriptures. Under this view some (Schlicht., Mich., Abresch, Böhm., etc.) restrict it to the threatening and heart-piercing word of the O. Test., while others (Camero, Grot., Ebr., etc.) apply it te the Gospel of the N. T. Ebrard so regards it, even with reference to the fact that the Old Testament word remained exterior, and, as it were, a thing foreign to man. There is no ground, however, for such limitations; nor is there, on the other hand, any more ground for that wide and vague generalizing of the term which, with Bez., Schultz, Bisp., etc., would include in it the whole range of the Divine threatenings and promises, and strip the passage entirely of its local coloring. It is clear from the context that the passage is designed to justify and enforce the preceding warning (Heb_4:1), terminating emphatically and designedly with its suggestive ἀðåéèåßáò . To do this, the writer brings out the characteristic nature of the word of God. That which God says (Lün.) is, as a product of the Divine activity, infinitely different from every human word. But it appears here in reference to no specific subject-matter whatever, but in reference merely to this single and peculiar feature, that it has proceeded from God, and has the form of the Logos. This is indicated by the properties which are immediately ascribed to it. As a word of God, it is living ( æῶí ), Act_7:38; 1Pe_1:23; having life in itself, while again the like appellation is given to God, from whom it comes, Heb_3:12; Heb_10:31. Ebrard interpolates into the thought a contrast with the dead law; while Schlichting and Abresch unwarrantably restrict its import to imperishable duration, and Carpz., equally unwarrantably, to its capacity to nourish the life of the soul. But the inner life of the word reveals itself in actual operation. Hence, it is called ἐíåñãÞò , proving itself operative and efficient; and since it lay within the scope of the author to unfold this feature of the word’s peculiar character, it is called, “sharper than any two-edged sword.” Such a sword, which, as äßóôïìïò , or double-mouthed, ‘devours’ on both sides, issues, according to Rev_19:15, from the mouth of the Logos. ὙðÝñ stands after a comparative, Luk_16:8; Jdg_11:25, as ðáñÜ , Heb_1:4. In similar terms, Philo repeatedly speaks of the Logos.

Heb_4:12. And piercing through—feelings and thoughts of the heart.—These expressions subserve the same purpose as the preceding, viz., to characterize the word of God as such. A union of the word of the Gospel, or even of the Hypostatical Logos, with the inner life of believers, is not indicated by a single feature of the picture. It simply presents to us the word of God in its proper and peculiar character, as penetrating through every outward and enveloping fold, into the inmost being of man, and thus competent to exercise judicial supervision ( êñéôéêüò not êñßôçò ) over those ἐíèõìÞóåéò and ἔííïéáé , which, as sources of human action, have their sphere of operation in the heart. The word exercises its judicial functions as well in the realm of thought, purpose and resolution, as in that of affection, inclination and passion; for it penetrates so deeply as to effect the work of separation ( ìåñéóìüò ) in the province of soul and spirit, and that in their natural (though not necessarily, as maintained by Del., sensuous and corporeal) life of emotion and sensibility. For ἁñìïß ôå êáὶ ìõåëïß form doubtless a figurative expression for the collective and deeper elements of man’s inner nature (as, in the same way, ìõåëüò is found at Eurip. Hippol., 255, and Themist. Orat., 32, p. 357), and were here naturally suggested by the comparison of the “word” with a sword. And we can scarcely apply the language to the separating of the soul from the spirit, or of both from the joints and marrow of the body (Böhme, Del.); or to the penetrating of the word clear to the most secret place where soul and spirit are separated (Schlicht., who, although ἄ÷ñé is not repeated, does not make ἁñìῶí ôå êáὶ ìýåëῶí , dependent on ìåñéóìïῦ , but coördinates them with it). The separation is rather described as taking place in these designated spheres themselves, the word, like a sword, cleaving soul, cleaving spirit. Hofm. (Schriftb., I., 259) assumes a very harsh and indefensible inversion, making øõ÷ῆò êáὶ ðíåýìáôïò depend on ἁñìῶí ôå êáὶ ìõåëῶí =alike the joints and marrow of the inner life. It is a more natural construction (with Lün., Alf., etc.), to take ἁñìῶí ôå êáὶ ìõåëῶí , connected as they are by ôå êáὶ into closely united parts of one whole, as subordinate to øõ÷ῆò êáὶ ðíåýìáôïò , thus=soul and spirit, alike Joints and marrow [i.e., joints and marrow of soul and of spirit]. To assume (with Calv., Bez., etc.) a coördination of the two sets of words, as corresponding and similarly divided pairs, is forbidden by the absence of the ôå in the first, pair; and the order of the words themselves ( øõ÷ῆò , preceding ðíåýìáôïò ) forbids our assuming, with Delitzsch, an advance from the ðíåῦìá , as the primary and proper seat of gracious influences, through the more outward øõ÷Þ to the strictly material and bodily portion of our nature.

Heb_4:13. And there is no creature that is not manifest, etc.—At the first glance, the language looks like a continuance of the description of the ëüãïò ôïῦ èåïῦ ; and hence many expositors who do not adopt the hypostatical view regarding the word, still refer the repeated áὐôïῦ , and the ὅí to ëüãïò . But although Joh_12:48 ascribes to the word a judicial function at the final judgment, and Pro_3:16 ascribe hands to wisdom, yet still here alike the mention of eyes, and the Hellenistic ἐíþðéïí corresponding to the Heb. ìִôְðֵé , indicate that the subject passes over from the word to God Himself. This transition is all the more natural, in that the attributes, previously ascribed to the word, point collectively to its origin from God, and to the power of God prevailing in it. But we are particularly forced to this construction from the final clause ðñὸò ï ͂ í ἡìῖí ὁ ëüãïò . This were an impotent, superfluous and purely objectless addition if it meant nothing but: “of whom we are speaking,”= ðåñὶ ïὗ ἡõῖí ὁ ëüãïò , Heb_5:11 (Luth., Grot., Schlicht., Strig., etc.), whether we refer the sentence to ‘God’ or to His ‘word.’ Nor does it mean properly: “to whom we have to give an account” (Pesh., Chrys., Primas., etc.); but more exactly: “with whom we stand in relation,” i.e, of accountability (Calv., Beng., Bl., and the later intpp.). No special emphasis rests on ἡìῖí , and, at all events, none strong enough to support the interpretation which Ebrard, on the strength of it, gives to the passage. The rendering proposed in Reuter’s Rep., 1857, p. Hebrews 27: “to whom [viz., God) the word is for us,” i.e., “to whom the word is to lead us,” is far-fetched and artificial. Before God, then, there is no creature, ἀöáíÞò , i.e., invisible and untransparent; rather ( äÝ for ἀëëÜ , as Heb_2:6) are all creatures, ãõìíÜ , stript of all natural and artificial covering; and ôåôñá÷çëéóìÝíá , with neck bent back, so as to give a full view of the face. The archæological explanations drawn from ancient usages, either in gladiatorial combats, or in the treatment of criminals, or in animal sacrifices, are either unnatural, or superfluous. The explanation of êôßóéò , as opus hominis quia id est velut creatura hominis (Grot., Carpz.), is decidedly to be rejected. [ ôåôñá÷çëéóìÝíá (Hesych., ðåöáíåñùìÝíá ) has been explained from the usage of athletes in grasping by the neck or throat their antagonist, and prostrating him on his back, so that he lies open and prostrate; or from the practice of bending back the necks of malefactors—who would naturally bow their heads—so that all may see their shame; or, from throwing back the necks of animals in sacrifices, in order to lay them bare to the knife of the slaughterer. The first seems objectionable, as giving to ôñá÷çëßæåéí , a meaning, i.e., of laying prostrate and bare, which is merely incidental to, and inferential from its proper force, “seize by the neck, throttle.” The second, from the fact that, though a Roman custom, there is no evidence that it was expressed by the Greek word ôñá÷çëé ̇ æåéí . The third, also, is liable to the objection, that, though the usage was familiar to the Greeks, there is no evidence that this word was employed to designate it. The latter view is adopted by Lün.; the second by Bleek, De Wette, etc. Alford insists on the frequency of the occurrence of the word in Philo (especially “in a passage cast so much in Philo’s mode of rhetorical expression”), (who uses it uniformly in the sense of laying prostrate, generally metaphorically), and would thence interpret it here “as signifying entire prostration and subjugation under the eye of God.” Words worth renders: “bare and laid open to the neck, throat and back-bone;” and adds: “The metaphor is from sacrificial victims first flayed naked, and then dissected and laid open by the anatomical knife of the sacrificing Priest, so that all the inner texture, the nerves and sinews, and arteries of the body were exposed to view.”—K].

DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL

1. “The word searches out in our hearts the eternity which hitherto lay buried under a multitude of fancies and imaginations of the heart, and was too feeble to come forth of itself. It creates a spiritual understanding, which consists in true and substantial ideas. It furnishes an answer to the objections which distrust, fear, impatience, unbelief, awaken in our bosoms. It teaches us that there are within us two hostile wills; one from truth, the other from imagination; one from God, the other from ourselves. It separates the desires springing from imperfect education, from misunderstanding of the letter of the law, and those that spring from an uncleansed conscience and habitual desire, and it so judges and uncovers all deception, that nothing is hidden from it. Thus this word is a genuine auxiliary to the attainment of rest.” (Hahn, priest in Echterdingen).

2. The word is the essential means of revealing the true and living God, inasmuch as He in His essence is Spirit (Joh_4:24); and since speaking appears in this connection as an essential living utterance of God, its product, the word, must contain in itself, and express, the peculiarity of the divine life. Precisely for this reason, the same qualities are applied to the Word of Revelation as to the hypostatical Logos, and interpreters could easily question whether our text spoke of the former or the latter. At all events this passage belongs, as already recognized by Olshausen (Opuscula, p. 125); Köstlin, (Joh. Lehrbegr., p. 376) Dorner, (Christology I. 100) to those Biblical declarations which explain and prepare the way for the origin of the mode of expression in the prologue of the Gospel of John. For if Christ is conceived, not merely as the mediator of the creation, the redemption, and perfection of the world, but also as mediator of the whole revelation of God; if again the word is the essential means of this revelation, and if, finally, the personal mediator muse, in such a relation, be conceived of as of like nature with God, as demanded by the expressions ἀðáὐãáóìá ôῆò äüîçò êáὶ ÷áñáêôὴñ ôῆò ὑðïóôÜóåùò áὐôïῦ , Heb_1:3, and åἰêὼí ôïῦ èåïῦ ôïῦ ἀïñáôïõ , ðñùôüôïêïò ðÜóçò êôßóåùò (Col_1:15), it becomes then entirely natural to characterize the Son of God, not merely as being the substance of the announced word, but as the eternal and personal Word, by the appellation of Logos.

3. Although expressions are found in Philo, regarding the cutting and penetrating sharpness of the “word,” which are similar to those used here, we are still not to go back to Philo for the explanation of our passage, but rather to conceptions and expressions of the Old Testament which Philo’s philosophical speculations not unfrequently obscure and misinterpret. The Word of God is specially compared (Isa_49:2) with a sharp sword, and Isa_11:4 speaks of the rod of His mouth, which will smite the earth, and of the breath of His lips which will slay the wicked. For this same reason similar figures are found at Eph_6:17; 2Th_2:8; Rev_1:16; Rev_2:12; Rev_19:15. The judicial power of the word, which is spirit and life (Joh_6:63; Act_7:38); is mentioned, also Joh_12:48;, as at Wis_16:12, its healing, and at Sir_43:26, its all-creating and sustaining power. We might also, perhaps, be reminded of the expressions at Wis_18:15; ὁ ðἀíôïäýíáìüò óïõ ëüãïò —= îßöïò ὀîὺ ôὴí ἀíõðüêñéôïí ἐðéôáãí óïÞõ öÝñùí .

4. Since ðíåῦìá (spirit) in our passage denotes a constituent element of human nature, and is distinguished from øõ÷Þ (soul) the trichotomical view of the nature of man is here expressed, which is found also 1Th_5:23; while Mat_6:25; Jam_2:26 point undeniably to that of a dichotomy. But this indicates no contradiction in the Holy Scriptures itself, but simply authorizes both forms of representation. Regarding the contrast of the Scriptural dichotomy with a false trichotomy and in like manner of the Scriptural trichotomy with a false dichotomy, see Del., System of Biblical Psychology, Leipz. 1855, p. 64 ff; Olshausen, Opusc. Theol. p. 152, and Lutz, Biblical Dogmatic, p. 76; Von Rudloff, The Doctrine of Man, Leipz. 1858; and G. Von Zezschwitz, Classic Greek, and the Spirit of the Biblical Language, Leipz. 1859; p. 34 ff. In the latter work it is well said p. 60 that the Scripture speaks dichotomically in respect of the parts, trichotomically, of the living reality, but maintaining everywhere the fundamental unity of the human essence. It is entirely false to refer with G. L. Hahn, (Theol. of the New Testament, 1 vol., Leipz. 1854, p. 415) the ðíåῦìá in our passage to the Spirit of God. According to the view of this scholar, it would be here said, that the Word of God is not despised with impunity, inasmuch as it is able to penetrate into the inmost recesses of human nature, where the soul, the central seat of life, receives from the spirit its contributions and nourishment. Granting, then, that the word is able to separate the soul from the spirit, this means, according to him, nothing else than that the Word of God has power to procure for man the eternal death of the soul. But the Spirit is here evidently a constituent element of human nature, which, in its origin, comes immediately from God, and belongs, in its nature, to the immaterial super-sensuous world. In it is involved the continued existence of man, and his entrance after death into the invisible world. The øõ÷Þ (soul) is in this connection the central, and as it were aggregating point of human life, which is touched immediately by bodily impressions, but which also receives into itself the influences proceeding from the ðíåῦìá . (Riehm, II. 672 ff.).

HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL

He who would attain to the desired goal must not merely give heed to the Word of God, but must strive earnestly to enter into the Rest of God.—What we hare in the Word of God, we best ascertain from its agency and its influence.—The character of the Word of God corresponds as well to its origin as to its object.—God judges in His word, 1, in order to save; 2, the whole world; 3, not merely the walk, but also the heart.—When is our striving a blessed one?—1, When it is directed to the attainment of the Rest of God;—2, when it is directed in accordance with the Word of God; 3, when it comes from a heart which has a living consciousness of its responsibility to God.—What is the nature of that God with whom we have to do?—Does the earnestness with which God desires our salvation find an answering earnestness in our striving after His approval?—To the magnitude of that which God has bestowed upon us, corresponds the weight of our responsibility, and the heaviness of His judgment.

Starke:—Without rest we were the most miserable of all creatures, and it were better for us that we had never been born, than that we remained in eternal unrest. Therefore, take courage, vigorously onward, be active in the struggle, joyful in the course, that we may lay hold of the jewel of rest (1Ti_6:12).—The Gospel is the means which God employs for our salvation. If then, it is to make living men out of dead ones, it must itself be living.—God’s Word has God’s power.—Observest thou not how it arouses thy conscience and rebukes thee?—God evinces His power in the works of faith and of salvation, no otherwise than through His word, and it also proves itself mighty in those who will not obey the truth, since it becomes to them a savor of death unto death, (1Co_1:24; 2Co_10:4-5; Rom_1:16; Psa_19:8.)—The law is a sharp sword, which pierces into the soul of a transgressor (Gal_3:10); but the Gospel is still sharper in its convicting power; it is able to soften the hardest heart, and to cut it asunder through the preaching of Christ, (Act_2:37; Act_16:14; Act_16:32; Act_26:27-28).—As the word is of divine authority, it is also a perfect, clear, and sure rule of faith.—The power of the word of God evinces itself in this, that without compulsion or external power, it draws hearts to itself, brings them out of the power of the devil, of sin, and of death, into obedience, and brings them to eternal, divine freedom, righteousness and life.—Our heart has frequently been smitten, we know not how or whence. Frequently we hear a whispering, without any sensible emotion. Then again it happens that we hear the same small voice, and taste in it a power, and receive from it a wisdom, that fills us with wonder, (Act_24:25).—Thoughts are not free from accountability; hearest thou not that they have their judge?—If thou goest about with evil trick and artifices, although they are choked down in the heart, and bear no fruit, they will still be revealed and judged to thine eternal shame, (1Co_4:5).

Berlenburger Bible:—He who will not hear the voice of God cannot possibly attain to the Rest of God, and although there may be found some who have said that they enjoy rest, they have still only a transitory and self-procured rest; but not a rest in God.—Many thousands have lost their rest because they did not put forth their utmost power in entering into it, (Luk_13:24).—Where unbelief puts itself in the way of the word, there the living word proves its power, so as to disclose the condition of the man.—The living Word of God cuts so deep into the soul that the false blood of selfishness, as it were, issues forth, and of necessity, betrays itself.—None is so upright toward thee—of that be assured—as this word.

Laurentius:—With the regenerate the spirit must have sway: the body must be subject to the soul, but the soul to the spirit.—From God nothing is hidden, neither the wickedness of the unconverted, nor the secret desire of believers. He knows and sees all better than we ourselves.

Rambach:—Those greatly err who hold the Word of God to be a dead letter; yet the law cannot make alive, for this is an honor which belongs alone to the Gospel.

Von Bogatzky:—None can have any excuse for remaining dead and inanimate, or sluggish and inactive; because the word is living and powerful.—With the sword of the Spirit must all our enemies be smitten, and not hinder us from entering into the heavenly Canaan.—We have not to do with mere men who formerly wrote the word, and who now preach it; no, we have to do with God Himself, the Judge of all flesh.—The more exalted is the person who speaks to us, the more reverently do we receive the word and obey it.

Rieger:—There arises in the heart, particularly if during many years it has not remained totally estranged from, and indifferent to, the proffers of God, an incredible blending of good and evil, of truth and falsehood, of earthly-mindedness, and occasional longing after something better, of inclination to the obedience of faith, and temptation to depart from the living God. If these remain always blended with each other, then the man always remains hidden from himself, now inclined to be influenced and yield to right persuasion, and now again timid, trembling before the temptation to cast away his confidence. With this he sinks at one time into fear, without exertion, and acts as if nothing more were to be accomplished; and at another plunges into self-confident endeavors in exertion without fear, without thought of the power of unbelief, from both of which only the call and drawing of God can set us free. From such a labyrinth there would be no escape without this judicial and serving power of the divine word, which must divide asunder for us faith and unbelief in their deepest roots, and their inmost and most vital tendencies.

Stier:—The unbeliever already has his judge in the heard but despised word, and his judgment in his heart and conscience.—He who in the deepest, indestructible original foundation of the fallen man, still attests by the voice of conscience His right and His truth, is the same one who now speaks by the word of His grace unto and into the conscience.

Von Gerlach:—All that is here said of the word, that is, of the revelation of God generally, holds in the highest degree of the independent, personal, eternal Word which was with the Father, and has appeared among us in the flesh; every individual word of God is an emanation from the eternal Word.—The greater the compassionate grace which God bestows upon us in Christ, the mightier the power of His all-healing and restoring love, so much the more fearful is the responsibility, if we nevertheless despise His word.

Heubner:—The Word penetrates even through the thickest bulwarks of prejudice, of illusion, and into the hardest and grossest hearts; it seizes upon the inmost being, the very vital principle of man.—How often has the declaration of the Bible assailed and completely penetrated the hardened and the transgressor, or a promise awakened the sluggish and the timid.—The power of the word comes from God who has created both the word and the human soul. Even the simplicity of the word strengthens its power.—God knows alike true and wavering faith.

Hahn:—We cannot believe and yet remain idle.—The word will at once render us cheerful, and will help us on if we deal with it honestly and do not weaken its power.—Many would gladly go into rest, but they do not lift up a foot in the right direction.

Fricke:—The goal toward which we tend is indeed rest, but the way is toil and labor.

Footnotes:

Heb_4:12.—The ôå after øõ÷ῆò is to be expunged according to Sin. A. B. C. H. L., 3, 73.

[The following passages from Philo (cited by Lün.), are among the striking evidences that our author, while totally free from the mystical and allegorizing fancies of Philo, could yet have hardly been unacquainted or unfamiliar with his writings: Qui rerum divinarum hæres, p. 499. Åἶô ’ ἐðéëÝãåé · Ëéåῖëåí áὐôὰ ìÝóá (Gen_15:10) ôὸ ôßò ïὐ ðñïóèåßò , ἵíá ôὸí ἀäßäáêôïí ἐííïῇò èåὸí ôÝìíïíôá ôÜò ôå ôῶí óùìÜôùí êáὶ ðñáãìÜôùí ἑîῆò ἁðÜóáò ἡñìüóèáé êáὶ ἡíῆóèáé äïêïýóáò öýóåéò ôῷ ôïìåῖ ôῶí óõìðÜíôùí áὐôïῦ ëὸãῳ · ὅò , åἰò ôὴí ὀîõôÜôçí ἀêïíçèåὶò ἀêìÞí , äéáéñῶí ïὐäÝðïôå ëÞãåé ôὰ áἰóèçôὰ ðÜíôá · ἐðåéäὰí äὲ ìÝ÷ñé ôῶí ἀôüìùí êáὶ ëåãïìÝíùí Üìåñῶí äéÝëèῇ , ðÜëéí ἀðὸ ôïýôùí ôὰ ëüãῳ èåùñçôὰ åἰò ἀìõèÞôïõò êáὶ Üðåñéãñὰöïõò ìïßñáò ἄñ÷åôáé äéáéñåῖí ïὖôïò ὁ ôïìåýò … Ἕêáóôïõ ïὖí ôῶí ôñéῶí äéåῖëå ìÝóïí , ôὴí ìὲí øõ÷ὴí åἰò ëïãéêὸí êáὶ ἄëïãïí , ôὸí äὲ ëüãïí åἰò áëçèÝò ôå êáὶ øåῦäïò , ôὴí äὲ áἴóèçóéí åἰò êáôáëçðôéêἠí öáíôáóßáí êáὶ ἀêáôáëÞðôïí . Again de Cherubim, p. 112 f. Philo finds in the öëïãßíç ῥïìöáßá , flaming sword, Gen_3:24, a symbol of the Logos, and then remarks in reference to Abraham: ïὐ÷ ὁñᾷò ὅôé êáὶ Ἀâáñáὰì ὁ óïöὸò , ἡíßêá ἤñîáôï êáôὰ èåὸí ìåôñåßò ðÜíôá êáὶ ìçäὲí ἀðïëåßðåéí ôῷ ãåííçôῷ , ëáìâÜíåé ôῆò öëïãßíçò ῥïìöáßáò ìßìçìá , ðῦñ êáὶ ìÜ÷áéñáí (Gen_22:6), äéåëåῖí êáὶ êáôáöëÝîáé ôὸ èíçôὸí ἀö ̓ ἑáõôïῦ ãëé÷üìåíïò , ἵíá ãõìíῆ ôῇ äéáíïßᾳ ìåôÜñóéïò ðñὸò ôὸí èåὸõ ἀíáðôῇ . In the first passage, Philo speaks of “God dividing (cutting) all the natures of bodies and of things in succession, which seem to have been fitted and united together, with His word, which is the divider (cutter) of all things, which being whetted to the keenest edge, never ceases dividing all things which are perceptible to sense,” etc. In the others he says that “Abraham, when he began to measure all things, according to God—takes a likeness of the flaming sword (i.e., of the Divine Logos), to wit, fire and a sword ( ìÜ÷áéñá ), seeking to sever and burn away the mortal part from himself, in order that with his naked intelligence he might soar and fly up to God.—K.].