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Heb_3:14. Warning justification of ἵνα μὴ σκληρυνθῇ ἐξ ὑμῶν τις κ . τ . λ ., Heb_3:13, inasmuch as the fulfilling of a condition is necessary to the attainment of salvation.
μέτοχοι τοῦ Χριστοῦ ] Participators in (Heb_3:1, Heb_6:4, Heb_12:8) Christ, i.e. in His treasures of blessing and in His glory. Schulz, Delitzsch, Ewald, Hofmann, and others explain: Associates of Christ (Heb_1:9), i.e. His brethren (Heb_2:11 ff.), or His συγκληρονόμοι (Rom_8:17), inasmuch as “the δόξα , into which Christ, the Anointed One existing in kingly glory, has entered as our ἀρχηγός , is, by virtue of the κλῆσις ἐπουράνιος , not only His, but also ours, although as to its revelation and consummation in hope” (Delitzsch); against which, however, the fact is decisive that ἐάνπερ κ . τ . λ . points to a relation not of equality, but of dependence, and μετόχους τοῦ Χριστοῦ εἶναι corresponds to the notion of εἰσέρχεσθαι εἰς τὴν κατάπαυσιν , Heb_3:11; Heb_3:18. Compare, moreover, against Delitzsch, Riehm, Lehrbegr. des Hebräerbr. p. 719, note.
γεγόναμεν ] we have become. The author does not write ἐσμέν , as Heb_3:6, in order to dismiss at once the thought of claim existing from the first, and, on the contrary, to represent the said prerogative as one only acquired (by faith, comp. ἐάνπερ κ . τ . λ .).
ἐάνπερ τὴν ἀρχὴν τῆς ὑποστάσεως κ . τ . λ .] if so be that (provided) we preserve the beginning of the confidence firm to the end, comp. Heb_3:6, fin. ὑπόστασις does not here denote fundamentum (Erasmus, Paraphr.; Seyffarth, p. 67: prima religionis fundamenta; Schulz: the first [anfänglichen] firm foundation; Stein and others), nor substantia, whether this be taken as reality [Wesen], as Luther (the reality begun), or as that of which a thing consists [Bestand], which constitutes it (Vatablus: illud, per quod primum subsistimus, i.e. fidem firmam; Estius: fidem, per quam in vita hac spirituali subsistimus; Bisping: the beginning of the subsistence [of Christ in us], i.e. faith; Ewald, al.). The expression stands, on the contrary, in the well-ascertained signification: confidence, which notion is here naturally defined by the connection as confidence of faith (not hope, as Whitby and Delitzsch think). Comp. Heb_11:1; 2Co_9:4; 2Co_11:17; LXX. Psa_39:8; Eze_19:5; Rth_1:12. Compare also Polybius, iv. 50. 10 : Οἱ δὲ Ῥόδιοι , θεωροῦντες τὴν τῶν Βυζαντίων ὑπόστασιν , πραγματικῶς διενοήθησαν πρὸς τὸ καθικέσθαι τῆς προθέσεως ; vi. 55. 2 : οὐχ οὕτω τὴν δύναμιν , ὡς τὴν ὑπόστασιν αὐτοῦ καὶ τόλμαν καταπεπληγμένων τῶν ἐναντίων ; Diodorus Siculus, Excerpta de Virt. et vit. (Opp. ed. Wesselingius, t. ii., Amstelod. 1745, fol.) p. 557: ἡ ἐν ταῖς βασάνοις ὑπόστασις τῆς ψυχῆς καὶ τὸ καρτερικὸν τῆς τῶν δεινῶν ὑπομονῆς περὶ μόνον ἐγενήθη τὸν Ἀριστογείτονα ; Josephus, Antiq. xviii. 1. 6 : τὸ ἀμετάλλακτον αὐτῶν τῆς ὑπὸ τοιούτοις ὑποστάσεως .
τὴν ἀρχὴν τῆς ἱποστάσεως ] the beginning of the confidence, i.e. not: the first confidence, which now begins to diminish ( τὴν ὑπόστασιν , ἣν ἤρξασθε ἔχειν vel ἣν εἴχετε ἐν ἀρχῇ , Cameron; τὴν ὑπόστασιν τὴν ἐξ ἀρχῆς , Grotius, Wolf, Bloomfield; τὴν πρώτην ὑπόστασιν as τὴν πρώτην πίστιν , 1Ti_5:12, and as τὴν ἀγάπην τὴν πρώτην , Rev_2:4; Abresch, Tholuck, Stuart, Delitzsch, Riehm, Lehrbegr. des Hebräerbr. p. 754; Maier, Kurtz, Hofmann), but the confidence with which we have made a beginning, in such wise that τὴν ἀρχήν corresponds to the following μέχρι τέλους βεβαίαν . Thus, rightly, Bleek, de Wette, Alford.