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Heb_6:17. Ἐν ᾧ ] Upon the basis of which fact, i.e. in accordance with this human custom, as one valid among men. ἐν ᾧ , namely, refers back to the whole contents of Heb_6:16 (not merely to ὁ ὅρκος ), and coheres not with βουλόμενος ἐπιδεῖξαι (Seb. Schmidt, Braun, Rambach, Hofmann, al.), nor yet with the whole clause following (Delitzsch, Alford), but with ἐμεσίτευσεν ὄρκῳ .
περισσότερον ] is to be taken along with ἐπιδεῖξαι . It does not, however, signify unto redundancy, since this was not at all required (Beza, Schlichting, Seb. Schmidt, Carpzov, Storr, Klee, and others), but: so much the more, or: more emphatically, than would have been done by the mere imparting of the promise.
τοῖς κληρονόμοις τῆς ἐπαγγελίας ] to the heirs of the promise. By the κληρονόμοι , Grotius, Owen, Bleek, Stein, de Wette, Bisping, Delitzsch, Maier, Moll, Kurtz, and others understand the patriarchs as well as all believers; Tholuck and others, only the Old Testament saints; Morus even (notwithstanding the plural), only Abraham; Calvin, the Jews. But, as is clearly apparent from the elucidatory ἵνα ἔχωμεν , Heb_6:18, only the Christians can be meant.
τὸ ἀμετάθετον τῆς βουλῆς αὐτοῦ ] the unalterableness of His decree, namely, to make all believers blessed through the seed of Abraham. Arbitrarily, because to the violent setting aside of the nearest circle of thought furnished by the context itself, Abresch (and similarly Michaelis, Storr, and Delitzsch): “crediderim, non juratam eam promissionem spectari, quam Abrahamo factam in superioribus dixerat, sed illud nominatim jusjurandum, quo Christus sit pontifex creatus ad Melchisedeci rationem” (Psa_110:4). Neither Heb_6:20, nor Heb_7:1 ff., nor Heb_7:20-21; Heb_7:28, nor Heb_5:10, contains a justification of this view.
The substantively employed adjective brings out the idea of the unchangeableness, about the accentuation of which the author was here principally concerned, more emphatically than if τὴν βουλὴν αὐτοῦ τὴν ἀμετάθετον had been written.
ἀμετάθετος in the N. T. only here and at Heb_6:18.
ἐμεσίτευσεν ὅρκῳ ] He came forward, as an intervening person, with an oath. As an intermediate person, sc. between Himself and Abraham. Men swear by God, because He is higher than they. Thus, in the case of an oath among men, God is the higher middle person [so μεσίτης , Josephus, Antiq. iv. 6. 7], or the higher surety, for the fulfilment of the promise. But when God takes an oath He can only swear by Himself, since there is no higher one above Him, and thus only Himself undertakes the part of the surety or middle person. μεσιτεύειν , in the N. T. only here, is employed transitively and intransitively; in the latter sense here. It is taken transitively by Oecumenius, who supplements τὴν ὑπόσχεσιν ; and Böhme, who supplements τὴν βουλήν .