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Progress in sanctification:
v. 9. But, beloved, we are persuaded better things of you, and things that accompany salvation, though we thus speak.
v. 10. For God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labor of love, which ye have showed toward His name, in that ye have ministered to the saints, and do minister
v. 11. And we desire that every one of you do show the same diligence to the full assurance of hope unto the end;
v. 12. that ye be not slothful, but followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises.
Here the inspired author expressly states that he does not mean to imply that any of his readers are in the condition of self-hardening. He merely wishes to make his warning against denial of the faith very impressive, urging at the same time all progress in sanctification: But we are convinced concerning you, beloved, of things that are better and conducive to salvation, even if we speak thus. The very fact that he addresses his readers as "beloved" shows that he does not apply the picture which he has just drawn to them in their present condition. The inspired author is fully persuaded and convinced of the fact that a lot altogether unlike the one just described by him and immeasurably better will be theirs, one associated with, and tending toward, their soul's salvation, allied with the everlasting bliss of heaven.
The reason why any misgivings which the author may have had have entirely disappeared, he now states: For God is not unjust to forget your work and the love which you have shown to His name, in that you have ministered to the saints and are ministering. The writer cannot look into the hearts of his readers and thus state his convictions, but he can infer the presence of faith in the hearts from the existence of truly good works. They had not grieved the Holy Spirit of God to the extent of driving Him from their hearts; there was still abundant evidence of the new spiritual life as begun by faith. Good works were undeniably in evidence, good works of love whereby they served the saints, their brethren in the faith. This condition, as a matter of fact, was known to God. And of injustice there is nothing in God, it is not even to be thought of. He is faithful, He is just, He does not overlook or forget that the entire life of the Jewish Christians who are here addressed is one long chain of evidence proving the existence of faith in their hearts, of love for the proper hallowing of His name.
It is not enough, however, that this much may be said in praise of the readers, but they must make progress as well: But we expect every one of you to show the same zeal toward the fulfillment of the hope until the end, that you do not become sluggish, but imitators of those who, through faith and patience, are now inheritors of the promise. The sacred writer still had some misgivings with regard to the patient perseverance of his readers, for he emphasizes that he desires and earnestly expects every individual in their midst to bestir himself. Instead of the lukewarmness and half-heartedness which had been shown by them on the whole, he wanted everyone to exhibit an earnest diligence and zeal, in order that they might have the full certainty of their Christian hope, a perfectness which left nothing to be desired. They must have the full certainty of conviction that the consummation of their redemption in Christ would come to pass. If they should lack this certainty for any length of time, the danger was that they would become sluggish, sleepy in their Christian life and thus also in their faith, that they would be wanting in the energy and cheerful confidence which God expects from His Christians. Instead of yielding to such an influence, therefore, they should take such people as an example, become imitators of such as had by faith and endurance to the end obtained the promised inheritance. The success of those whose perseverance they had witnessed was to be a constant spur to their faith. It means, of course, a daily renewal of faith, a patient waiting for the final revelation of the glory of the Lord. What the believers of old have attained to, what the Christians since the coming of Christ in the flesh have enjoyed as the fruit and reward of their faith, that we also may and should expect with firm confidence; for the promises of God are sure, as the writer shows in the next paragraph.