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1:1 In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, 2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he made the universe. 3 The Son is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.
The epistle to the Hebrews begins as dramatically as a rocket shot to
the moon. In one paragraph, the writer breathtakingly transports his readers
from the familiar ground of Old Testament prophetic writings, through the
incarnation of the Son (who is at once creator, heir and sustainer of all
things and the fullest possible manifestation of deity), past the purifying
sacrifice of the cross to the exaltation of Jesus on the ultimate seat of
power in the universe. It is a paragraph daring in its claims and clearly
designed to arrest the reader's attention and compel a further hearing.
These introductory verses present a sharp departure from the usual first-century
epistolary practice, as seen so regularly in Paul's epistles. There are
no opening greetings, no indication of the writer's name and no expression
of good wishes. For this reason some have viewed Hebrews as a formal address,
perhaps even a sermon. This idea finds some support in 13:22, "my word
of exhortation." But the treatise clearly ends like a letter, with
the writer asking his readers to pray for him as he looks forward to seeing
them. He also gives them news of Timothy and brings greetings from others.
The Author's Purpose. The author intends to present a series
of arguments for the superiority of Jesus over all rival claims to allegiance
which his readers were feeling and hearing. Their attention was easily diverted
off in other directions, just as our attention is easily distracted today.
They, like us, were being tempted, frightened or pressured into following
other voices and serving other masters. In chapters 1-7, he examines these
rival authorities and reveals their inadequacies. None was, in itself, a
false or fraudulent voice. Each was ordained by God and proper in its intended
place. Each had served the people of God well in the past, and no teaching
or expectation was wrong at the time it was given. But now the final word,
the ultimate revelation from God toward which all the other voices had pointed,
had come. To this supreme voice the author directs his readers' attention,
and ours, by contrasting this final word with the past utterances.
First, there were the prophets, God's ancient spokesmen (1:1-3); then the
angels, Israel's guardians (1:4-2:18); then Israel's great leader, Moses
(3:1-4:7); Israel's godly general, Joshua (4:8-13); and finally the founder
of Israel's priesthood, Aaron (4:14-7:28). Each was a voice from Israel's
past that needed to be heard but that was woefully inadequate if followed
alone. It was clearly a case of the good being the enemy of the best. Eclipsing
all these, as the rising sun eclipses the light of the stars, is the figure
of Jesus, God's Son, creator and heir of all things. The abrupt beginning
here marks the intensity with which the author writes. It parallels, in
that respect, Paul's letter to the Galatians. The writer sees clearly that
any slippage in the view of Jesus as supreme is fraught with the gravest
danger and must be dealt with forthrightly and thoroughly. Since the same
danger is present today, Christians must take special care that no obscuring
mists of doubt or unbelief should diminish the stature of Jesus in their
eyes. (1)
The Primacy of Jesus. Jesus' superiority to the prophets is
marked in six ways. First, he is the Son, and as such speaks with greater
authority and completeness than the prophets. Through them God spoke at
many times and in various ways, but not always when men desired, nor
as clearly as they might have wished. The word spoken through the prophets
and that spoken by the Son is marked by three particulars: a contrast of
method (various ways), of time (various times), and of agency (in Son),
all marking the prophetic revelation as inferior to that which comes through
the Son. 'What is communicated in parts, sections, fragments, must of necessity
be imperfect; and so also a representation which is made in many modes cannot
be other than provisional" (Westcott 1889:3-4). F. F. Bruce puts the
matter well: "Priest and prophet, sage and singer were in their several
ways His spokesmen; yet all the successive acts and varying modes of revelation
in the ages before Christ came did not add up to the fullness of what God
wanted to say" (1964:3).
God's word through the Son is final and complete. The apostles are but additional
spokesmen for Christ, for in their letters they only expand his subject
matter and do not add any new teachings or insights. Jesus affirms this
superior status himself when he says to his disciples, "Blessed are
your eyes because they see, and your ears because they hear. For I tell
you the truth, many prophets and righteous men longed to see what you see
but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it"
(Mt 13:16-17).
The phrase these last days means more than merely the present time.
It looks on to the second appearing of Jesus (9:28) which brings the last
days of the present age to an end, to be followed by the new age of the
kingdom referred to in 6:5. The appearance of the Son on earth to reveal
truth "kept secret from the foundation of the world," also marks
the beginning of the last days which continue until he comes again.
Second, the Son's superior greatness to the prophets springs from his position
as both creator and heir of all things. Here Paul's argument in Colossians
1:15-17 is perhaps reflected. Creation's beginning and end form the boundaries
of time. Jesus stands both at the end of the future and at the beginning
of the past. He made this claim himself to the astonishment of the Jews,
"Before Abraham was born, I am!" (Jn 8:58). Jesus is also the
heir of all creation. The prophets were God's spokesmen, living out their
allotted span of time, circumscribed by the events of earth---but Jesus
is the eternal Son, who creates, and therefore owns, all things. Westcott
sees the absence of the article before Son as significant (by
his Son is simply "in Son" in the Greek text). He expresses
that significance by saying, " [it] fixes attention upon the nature
and not upon the personality of the Mediator of the new revelation. God
spake to us in one who has this character that He is Son" (1889:7).
Though Jesus is clearly superior to the prophets, he does not replace their
revelation. The Old Testament remains as valid Scripture for the followers
of Jesus, as the author will bring out many times. The prophets were used
by God as spokesmen, but the Son, by contrast, "stands" (appointed)
as heir of all things. Those all things refer to the material
universe and all forces within it, seated by the Son in partnership with
the Father and the Spirit. (2)
In the phrase translated through whom he made the universe F. F.
Bruce sees a trace of a primitive Christian hymn or creedal confession of
faith. One finds parallels in similar phrases in John 1:3 and Colossians
1:16. The expressions the radiance of God's glory and the exact
representation of his being also find a parallel in "the image
of the invisible God" in Colossians 1:15 and "being in very nature
God" in Philippians 2:6. There is no question but that important Christian
doctrines were formulated in hymnic style and used widely in early church
worship services. Indeed, when a modem congregation sings "Fairest
Lord Jesus," they are responding to the same urge that moved the early
Christians to praise their Lord.
Third, the Son shares fully in the divine nature. Though our author will
argue later that Jesus is also fully man, as other men are, here he unmistakably
asserts his deity. The Son is the radiance of God's glory. Radiance
is light that streams forth from a source of light. As no one can separate
the sun's light from the sun itself, so also no one can separate the nature
of Christ from that of his Father. Whether the radiance is seen as reflected
brightness or inherent brightness, the thought is clear: in Jesus we see
the essence of God. He is, therefore, the exact representation of his
[God's] being. As a coin reflects the exact image of the die, so the
Son reproduces the precise character (Gk: charakter---used only here)
of the Father. Thus Jesus could say to Philip, "Anyone who has seen
me has seen the Father" (Jn 14:9). No more powerful expression of the
deity of Jesus is possible. Any attempt to place Jesus as simply the highest
product of creation will fail because the evidence is decisive for the contrary.
Many sects have tried to teach that Jesus is only human, but they have no
scriptural basis to do so.
This full statement leads naturally to the fourth aspect of the Son's work
as the master of the universe: sustaining all things by his powerful
word. This statement of Hebrews is a direct challenge to modern scientific
humanism as well as to the older Deism. F. W. Grant states, "There
is thus no thought in Scripture of a creation which shall be sufficient
for itself, a perfect machine made to run eternally without the Hand that
made it" (1903:15). As scientists probe the nature of the universe
they increasingly confront the mystery of an unweighable, invisible force
which literally holds all things together. This force is identified here
as the powerful word of "One who carries all things forward on their
appointed course" (Bruce 1964:6). The thought includes more than mere
sustaining (as an Atlas holds the world on his shoulders), but expresses
movement and progress toward an appointed end. It results in what scientists
call "laws of predictability," and so technology becomes a source
of evidence for a God-ordered world. New objects discovered in space, such
as black holes, quasars and novas, present new problems for astronomers
and physicists. These new questions ought not to threaten a Christian's
faith. Rather, they can enhance it as God's power and majesty is revealed
more and more as our knowledge is increased.
Fifth, in sharp contrast to this image of universal power is the sentence:
After he had provided purification for sins. This evokes all the
agony and blood of the cross. In doing so, the Savior accomplishes something
which no prophet or sage of the past nor philosopher or scientist of the
present could ever do. Mere power, even vast, creative power, cannot help
here. "The glory of God is not the glory of shattering power, but the
glory of suffering love" (Barclay 1957:5).
Certain manuscripts emphasize the uniqueness of this act by adding the words
by himself. This stresses the preciousness of redemption. It was
not something done through an impersonal provision; it involved the very
heart and soul of the Redeemer and the shedding of his life's blood! Even
if the phrase is omitted the thought is retained by the middle form of the
verb. The terrible problem which human sin presents can be solved by one,
and only one, remedy---the death of Jesus. This is the central theme of
the epistle, to which the writer returns many times. It forms the ultimate
and final word to man, uttered by the Son and far more significant than
anything which has gone before or could ever follow. Creation rests upon
power, but redemption upon the sacrifice of one who was "crucified
in weakness." He rose and now is seated at the right hand of our majestic
God in heaven.
Sixth, Jesus sat down to give expression to his cry from the cross, "It
is finished!" The phrase sat down at the right hand is meant
symbolically, not literally, for God has no right hand. It denotes the supreme
honor accorded to the triumphant Lord, who is risen from the dead. Surely
it is a reference (the first of five in Hebrews) to Psalm 110, "The
LORD says to my Lord: 'Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a
footstool for your feet.'" Of this Bruce says, "Ps. 110 is the
key text of this epistle" (1964:8). That Jesus saw himself in the psalm
is evident by his words to the Sanhedrin, "From now on, the Son of
Man will be seated at the right hand of the mighty God" (Lk 22:69).
In Hebrews 10:11, our author will contrast the seated Messiah with the Aaronic
priests who must stand as they offer sacrifices, because Jesus ended the
need for further sacrifice forever. That act of redemption reaches out to
include the material creation as well as man (Rom 8:20), so that finally
nothing remains untouched by its transforming grace. Paul argues this eloquently
in Colossians 1:19-20 and Ephesians 1:9-10.
Clearly the world we live in today is one which desperately needs redemption.
In this introductory paragraph Jesus has been portrayed as the supreme Prophet,
the unique Owner of all things, the uncreated Creator, the exact Image of
God's being, the Sustainer of the universe, the Sacrificing Priest who cleanses
sin, and the Conqueror who occupies the place of honor above all his creation.
From this lofty beginning the writer will assert the supremacy of Jesus
above all other names of honor in Hebrew thought or practice. He turns now,
in 1:4-2:18, to consider the sharp contrast between Jesus and the angels.
The nation was startled when Nancy Reagan was reported to be influencing
her husband's decisions on the basis of advice obtained from her astrologer.
Perhaps what is even more startling is to realize that pastors preaching
to evangelical congregations today may very well be addressing some, if
not many, in their audience who are worshipping angels. There may well be
a woman in the fifth row who consulted her horoscope before coming to church.
Some teenagers may be involved with experiments with Ouija boards or "channeling"
to obtain guidance in important decisions. Perhaps someone has already accepted
the teaching of reincarnation as the explanation of what happens to humans
after death. As many know, the New Age movement of the late twentieth century
encourages such teachings, calling fallen angels avatars or spirit-guides.
Their human devotees practice channeling or mediumistic activities, offering
to awaken hidden powers within men and women which will help them fulfill
their greatest possibilities. Every pastor must ask, What does the writer
of Hebrews say that will help those who, knowingly or not, are drawn to
such teaching?
Obviously the teaching is not new. It has been present in every century
since the earliest times. The writer sees his readers as under attack from
such ideas and understands that he must deal with this first because these
attacks threatened their view of Jesus and his pre-eminence. Even angels
could challenge this truth. But why would angels pose a threat? Surely the
Jewish background of these readers would suffice to prevent them from honoring
angels above the Savior. The words of the First Commandment are clear: "Thou
shalt have no other gods before me!" It is evident from Paul's letter
to the Colossians that those with a strong Jewish background (Col 2:16-17)
could also "delight in false humility and the worship of angels"
(2:18). The danger then is apparent: "Those to whom this letter is
sent were entertaining, or being encouraged to entertain, teaching which
elevated angels, or particular angels, to a position which rivaled that
of Christ himself" (Hughes 1987:51-52). If we think this was only a
first-century phenomenon, we should remember the way humans have always
responded to manifestations of supernatural beings by treating them as gods,
or at least demigods, and giving obeisance to them. Indeed, the apostle
John twice falls at the feet of the angel who was his guide and is rebuked
for so doing (Rev 19:10; 22:8-9).
But their difficulty only serves to underscore the nature of their error.
They were being pressured by their former Jewish leaders and also by pagan
contacts to view Jesus not as God but as merely a man, and therefore less
than the angels. Angels had played a powerful role in Israel's past. There
is no record in the Old Testament of an angelic messenger whose message
was rejected or whose person was attacked or stoned. When an angel spoke,
people listened (Henrichsen 1979:24). The writer acknowledges this impressive
impact in his warning of 2:2.
This exaltation of angels above Jesus is intolerable to the writer of Hebrews.
He devotes a major passage to its answer, supporting the infinite superiority
of Jesus over angels with several reasons. They are his superior name of
Son (1:4-5); the command to angels to worship him (1:6);the nature of angels
versus the nature of the Son(1:7-14);the great danger of ignoring the Son
(2:1-4); his glory as risen and enthroned man (2:5-9); his work as the author
of human salivation (2:10-13); and his unique ability to help the recipients
of grace (2:14-18). With these seven points, the writer reveals Jesus as
the worthy object of praise and worship which not even the most glorious
angel could claim.
4 So he became as much superior to the angels as the name he has inherited is superior to theirs. 5 For to which of the angels did God ever say, "You are my Son; today I have become your Father" ? Or again, "I will be his Father, and he will be my Son" ?
The passage from 1:5 to 1:14 constitutes a marvelous choreography of
Old Testament passages which, like a well-programmed ballet, catches immediate
interest with a pas-de-deux of two Messianic phrases: one from Psalm 2:7
and the other from 2 Samuel 7:14. Both center on the name of Son
which must belong properly to Jesus and to no one else. These verses distinguish
him from the Father, but also place the Father's imprimatur on his brow.
(3)
It is true that angels are called "sons of God" in the book of
Job (1:6; 2:1; 38:7, KJV) because, like Adam, they are direct creations
from God's hand. This fact may seem to mark angels as equal with Jesus and
therefore proper objects of worship. But Jesus is God's Son from ail eternity---the
uncreated Son. Furthermore, the quotation from Psalm 2 highlights Jesus'
status as the exalted Son of Man, as Paul declared in his sermon at Pisidian
Antioch (Acts 13:33) referring to his resurrection from the dead. Thus he
was both the eternal Son and the glorified human Son (Son of God and Son
of Man).
The writer here especially claims the superiority of Jesus over the angels
as the Son of Man. No angel could claim either eternity or resurrection
as the basis of his sonship, but Jesus had both. Though the angels collectively
were called sons of God, no individual angel ever is given that title, or
singled out as having a unique status before God. So the writer demands
rhetorically, To which of the angels did God ever say, "You are
my Son; today I have become your Father."
Psalm 2 is specifically applied to Jesus in Revelation 12:5 and 19:15 and
to those who share his kingdom reign in Revelation 2:27, especially in conjunction
with the words "you will rule them with an iron scepter" (Ps 2:9).
Several scholars have felt that Psalm 2 represents a coronation liturgy
which was included in enthronement ceremonies of the Davidic dynasty. One
of the rabbis in Midrash Tehillim says of Psalm 2:7, "And when
the hour comes, the Holy One---blessed be He!---says to them, I must create
him a new creation, as it is said, 'This day have I begotten thee.'"
Of this F. F. Bruce says, "The implication here seems to be that Psalm
2:7 refers to the time when Messiah, after suffering and death, is brought
back to the realm of the living" (1964:13, fn. 63). This understanding
would agree with Paul's use of Psalm 2:7 in Acts 13:33 and clearly the word
today refers to the resurrection of Jesus rather than the day of
his birth in Bethlehem, or of his baptism in the Jordan.
The second source of support from the Old Testament draws on 2 Samuel 7:14.
Historically the words "I will be his father, and he will be my Son"
were spoken to David concerning Solomon when the prophet Nathan told David
that Solomon will build a house for God in Jerusalem. There is, however,
a hint that David's power would extend to his progeny, which would also
include the Messiah. The prophets in later times spoke often of a greater
son of David who would fulfill all the promises to David of an eternal reign.
Bruce quotes from the Dead Sea Scrolls where 2 Samuel 7:14 is linked with
an expectation of the imminent restoration of David's house by the "shoot
of David," the Messiah (1964:14). Note again how the human nature of
the Lord is underscored by his title Son of David. As the risen Man, he
claims the throne of David, but as such the Father calls him "my Son."
By these two quotations, with their royal implications, the writer of Hebrews
claims that being related to God as a Son is a far greater title than any
angel could claim. This rests on the base of a shared eternity and a resurrection,
which is the "new creation."
6 And again, when God brings his firstborn into the world, he says, "Let all God's angels worship him."
The angels were created, but the Son is begotten. His superiority is
now upheld by a verse from the Septuagint version of Deuteronomy 32 which
commands all angels to worship the Son (v. 43 LXX). (4)
The passage is the Song of Moses uttered before the crossing of the Jordan.
At that time Moses said to the people: "Take to heart all the words
I have solemnly declared to you this day. . . . They are not just idle words
for you---they are your life" (Deut 32:46-47). Allusions to this hymn
are found in eleven books of the New Testament (twice in Hebrews---1:6 and
10:30), which indicates its importance to early Christians. In the Song
of Moses, the angels are called to worship Yahweh (Jehovah). New Testament
writers apply such passages without hesitation to Jesus. Many places in
Scripture witness the obedience of the angels, notably Job 38:7, Luke 2:13,
and Revelation 5:11-12. Mark 3:11 indicates that even the demons (fallen
angels) fell down before Jesus when they saw him and addressed him as the
Son of God.
Since the earliest times, Christian commentators have differed on what the
again refers to in verse 6. If it is taken with the verb he says
("he says again"), as in the NIV, it simply means another quotation
that supports the superiority of Jesus. If, however, it is linked with the
verb brings ("he brings again"), it is a reference either
to the coming of Jesus at the Incarnation, his reappearance after the resurrection,
or his Second Coming at the end of the age. In view of the connected character
of these quotations, it seems best to take it as a second support citation,
"he says again." Twice in Hebrews, Jesus is called firstborn
(here and in 12:23). In this verse it seems to refer to his creative work.
Bruce rightly says, "He is called 'the firstborn' because He exists
before all creation, and because all creation is His heritage" (1964:15).
Paul's great assertion is recorded in Colossians 1:15, "the firstborn
over all creation." The point of it all is: He whom the Hebrews thought
to be subordinate to angels is the very one whom the angels are commanded
to worship as their creator!
7 In speaking of the angels he says, "He makes his angels winds, his servants flames of fire." 8 But about the Son he says, "Your throne, O God, will last for ever and ever, and righteousness will be the scepter of your kingdom. 9 You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness; therefore God, your God, has set you above your companions by anointing you with the oil of joy." 10 He also says, "In the beginning, O Lord, you laid the foundations of the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands. 11 They will perish, but you remain; they will all wear out like a garment. 12 You will roll them up like a robe; like a garment they will be changed. But you remain the same, and your years will never end." 13 To which of the angels did God ever say, "Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet" ? 14 Are not all angels ministering spirits sent to serve those who will inherit salvation?
In 1:7-14 the author for the third time sweeps through the Psalms to
display a chorus of verses that praise the Son who has a nature inherently
superior to angels. In the Hebrew of Psalm 104:4 the natural elements of
wind and fire are called the messengers of God; in the Septuagint it is
the angels who are made to be these elements. Though they are as powerful
as the wind and can be as destructive as lightning, they are, nevertheless,
only messengers of the Son while Jesus is the Son of God himself.
This sharp contrast is sustained also by two verses coming from Psalm 45:6-7.
Their antiphonal character with verse 6 is clear in the way they are introduced:
In speaking of the angels he says, . . . But about the Son he says .
. . Psalm 45 is a wedding song, originally describing a king of Israel,
but later understood by the rabbis as messianic. The contrast between a
royal personage and his servant-companions is the point of the quotation.
This king is addressed twice as God; possesses a throne, a scepter and a
kingdom; loves righteousness and hates wickedness; has a special anointing
of joy; and continues as king forever and ever. No angel could claim these
attributes. The cause of the king's joy is traced to his love of righteousness
and hatred of wickedness. Here, by contrast, may be a hint of the moral
defection of the host of angels who fell with Satan. Angels could and did
sin, but the Son's love of righteousness kept him safe through the most
severe temptations. Even those unfallen angels who also, presumably, love
righteousness do so on the basis of choice, while the Son's love of righteousness
is inherent in his very nature. For this reason (therefore) God has
set him above his companions. (5)
Once more our author displays the dazzling glory of the Creator, who is
infinitely superior to any angel, by summoning the words of Psalm 102:25-27:
In the beginning, O Lord, you laid the foundations of the earth, and
the heavens are the work of your hands.This is not simply a restatement
of truth he has already declared ("through whom he made the universe"---v.
2), but the point he now twice asserts is the timeless endurance of the
Son: They will perish, but you remain; . . . they will be changed. But
you remain [Gk: "you are"] the same. He will make the point
again in 13:8, "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever."
Psalm 102 is addressed to Yahweh by a sorely afflicted suppliant who feels
the brevity of his own life in light of the heavens and the earth. But even
they shall pass away in due course, like garments that grow old and are
changed. This is a marvelous poetic description of what scientists call
the law of entropy, or the second law of thermodynamics, which views the
universe as running down. But the Creator is above his own laws and remains
unchanged forever. These words, applied unhesitatingly to Jesus, place him
as far beyond the angels.
As a finale for his presentation of Old Testament support for the superiority
of the nature of the Son over that of angels, the author returns to his
mildly scornful rhetorical question: To which of the angels did God ever
say, "Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for
your feet"? This second reference to Psalm 110 restates the thought
of 1:2, "whom he appointed heir of all things." Even his enemies
will find their place at the Son's feet when God's purposes are fulfilled.
It reflects Paul's declaration in Colossians 2:15, "And having disarmed
the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing
over them by the cross." The cross won the beginning of the ultimate
triumph, but its fulfillment awaits the return of Jesus as King.
Contrasted to this Supreme Conqueror, the writer asks, Are not all angels
ministering spirits sent to serve those who will inherit salvation? Even
the mightiest angel is under orders to the Son of God, and gladly helps
in fulfilling his desire to bring many sons to glory (2:10). Though the
author does not enlarge on the specifics of angelic ministry here, it only
requires a review of Bible stories to see that such ministry involves protection
(Ps 91:11), guidance(Gen 19:17), encouragement(Judg 6:12), deliverance (Acts
12:7), supply (Ps 105:40), enlightenment (Mt 2:19-20) and empowerment (Lk
22:43), as well as occasional rebuke (Num 22:32 ) and discipline (Acts 12:23).
Their service is rendered largely unseen and often unrecognized, but a passage
like this should make us watchful for such help and grateful to the gracious
Lord who sends angels to our aid.
2:1 We must pay more careful attention, therefore, to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away. 2 For if the message spoken by angels was binding, and every violation and disobedience received its just punishment, 3 how shall we escape if we ignore such a great salvation? This salvation, which was first announced by the Lord, was confirmed to us by those who heard him. 4 God also testified to it by signs, wonders and various miracles, and gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will.
Having proved beyond all argument that angels cannot compare in importance,
power or glory to the Son of God, our author now raises a warning voice
against taking lightly what the Son has said. This is the first of five
major warning passages in Hebrews, each designed to prevent a specific form
of unbelief The five warnings are found in 2:1-4, 3:12-19, 6:4-8,10:26-31
and 12:25-29. Our author is deeply concerned lest his readers succumb to
the pressures they were feeling and either renounce the gospel outright
or gradually turn from public confession and lose its influence entirely.
The danger faced in this first warning is that of drifting away from truth.
A dramatic word is employed for "drift away," pararreo,
which means "to flow by" or "slip away from." It describes
that carelessness of mind which, perhaps occupied by other things, is not
aware it is losing ground. Plato used it of something slipping away from
the memory, and Plutarch of a ring slipping from a finger. Another figure
often suggested is that of a ship loose from its moorings. The danger highlighted
is that of a great loss occurring unnoticed. The cause is not taking
seriously the words spoken to them. Inattention or apathy will rob them
of their treasure. (6)
With these words, the writer reveals his shepherd's heart, since he is not
content with instructing the mind with intriguing doctrine. He also longs
to reach the heart and move the will to action. The remedy urged is pay
more careful attention to the things heard (from the Son). This would
suggest the frequent reading or hearing of the four Gospels, which contain
the actual words of Jesus, and a repeated and careful reading of the further
exposition in the Epistles. To neglect or ignore these is to be in deadly
danger of drifting away from essential truth, and losing, by default, the
great salvation which the Son has brought. It is not necessary to
openly renounce the gospel. One can remain lost by simply and quietly drifting
away from hearing it, or hearing it with no comprehension of the seriousness
of its message.
The word salvation forms the link between chapters one and two. The
chapter division was not intended by the writer, who moved immediately (dia
touto, "therefore") to draw a practical conclusion to the
truth he has presented. Soteria, "salvation," is found
seven times in Hebrews, more than in any other New Testament book. In Zechariah's
song concerning his son John the Baptist (Lk 1:67-79), he says that the
Baptist's ministry was "to give his people the knowledge of salvation
through the forgiveness of their sins" (Lk 1:77). Salvation, then,
begins with a moral cleansing and in later New Testament development includes
justification, sanctification and, finally, glorification with Christ. As
Brown astutely observes, "The author is deeply persuaded that a personal
relationship with Christ expressed in repentance and faith determines the
believer's salvation. But in the teaching of the letter salvation is clearly
portrayed as an ongoing process" (1982:24). That Jesus, "the author
of their salvation" should have achieved it only by being made "perfect
through suffering" (2:10), makes salvation an infinitely precious gift
in the eyes of this author.
And that anyone should prefer the ministry of angels, who mediated the giving
of the law, to the salvation available in the Son was almost incredible
to him! "Come on," he seems to say, "haven't you heard what
I've been saying? You value highly the law, though it was given only by
angels, but you pass lightly over the final word from God which came in
the flesh and blood, and through the death and resurrection, of the very
Son of God himself." Both Paul (Gal 3:19) and Stephen (Acts 7:53) acknowledge
the part angels played in the giving of the law, though the Old Testament
is almost silent about it. Deuteronomy 33:2 and Psalm 68:17 represent only
vague references to angels present at Sinai.
But to ignore even the law's partial revelation carried with it certain
inevitable consequences (just punishment---2:2). Even under the law
the divine principle which Paul affirms ("God cannot be mocked; a man
reaps what he sows") was operating. The Old Testament gives countless
illustrations of this truth. Yet, "if the breakers of the law did not
go unpunished, certainly despisers of the gospel cannot expect to do so"
(Hughes 1977:73). To ignore the great salvation found in Jesus is
to find oneself unable to escape the consequent wrath of God, and the judgment
of hell. There is no other offer of release!
How great this salvation was is seen in three measures. First, its proclamation
began with Jesus himself! This great fact astonished the writer of Hebrews
from the beginning of his letter. The incarnate Son has himself announced
the impact of his redemptive work upon the cross, and even before that work
was accomplished. Mark 1:15 records Jesus as saying, "The time has
come. The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news!"
"From the moment of his public appearance to the day of his ascension,
Jesus unfolded the full redemptive revelation of God" (Kistemaker 1984:59).
So much greater was this announcement than the help which the law held forth
that Jesus could say to his disciples: "I tell you the truth, many
prophets and righteous men longed to see what you see but did not see it,
and to hear what you hear but did not hear it" (Mt 13:17).
Second, though verse 3 suggests that the writer of Hebrews did not personally
hear the good news from the lips of Jesus, he says, it was confirmed
to us by those who heard him. These were surely the twelve apostles
and perhaps others as well. This statement rests the gospel securely on
eyewitnesses who recorded accurately what they both saw and heard (1 Jn
1:3; 2 Pet 1:16). But, as Hughes observes, this apostolic witness "goes
back not just to the apostles, but through the apostles to the Lord"
(1977:79). It was he who sent them forth and promised them the Holy Spirit
to bring to their remembrance whatever he had said to them (Jn 14:26).
This implication of the writer that he had not personally heard the Lord
removes the twelve apostles as possible authors of this letter---and also
virtually rules out Paul (as Luther, Calvin and others have pointed out)
since Paul stoutly asserts in Galatians 1:1 and 1 Corinthians 15:3 that
he had not obtained his gospel from men but directly from the Lord. He must
be included as one of those who had heard the Lord, and the writer of Hebrews
does not claim this for himself.
But it is not simply on human memories that the authenticity of the apostolic
gospel rests, as the writer adduces a third confirmation of great importance.
God also testified to it by signs, wonders and various miracles, and
gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will. Just as
the Father had borne witness to the Son by signs and miracles (Jn 5:3637),
so he worked with (Gk: synepimartyrountos, "testifying with")
the apostles and others, confirming their word by similar signs and wonders
and gifts of the Holy Spirit. The authority from which the gospel flows
include all three persons of the Godhead: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The
Son makes the full announcement of it and completes the basis for it through
pain and blood; the Father works with him to confirm his word with signs
and wonders; and the Spirit continues the confirmation by distribution of
spiritual gifts.
John, in his Gospel, tells us that the miracles were "signs,"
symbols whose meaning revealed the nature of God. John, Matthew and Mark
also call them "wonders," that awaken awe and fear; the Synoptists
frequently refer to "miracles," or more properly "powers."
All three terms appear often in Acts, especially the first fifteen chapters,
and mark the validation by the Father to the ministry of the early preachers
of the gospel.
The phrase gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will
is a bit ambiguous. Taken objectively, it means "gifts which the Holy
Spirit distributes." Subjectively, it refers to the imparting of the
Holy Spirit himself, as distributed by God. Paul, in his list of spiritual
gifts in 1 Corinthians 12:7-11, says, "All these are the work of one
and the same Spirit, and he gives them to each one, just as he determines."
The last phrase would slant the decision on Hebrews 2:4 toward the objective
meaning, that spiritual gifts are given to each believer by the Spirit as
the continuing witness of the Spirit to the truth of the gospel.
Do the signs, wonders and various miracles also continue throughout
the present age? It is impossible to set aside the testimony of Christians
through the centuries to the miracle-working power of God in human lives.
Many well-attested occurrences of such miracles have been recorded throughout
the church centuries, including today. Missionaries and Christian workers
of the most sterling character have reported such miracles in widely separated
places and cultures so that it cannot be said that the age of miracles ever
ceased.
But it must also be remembered that both Jesus and Paul warn clearly that
as the age draws to its close there will be manifestations of counterfeit
miracles, signs and wonders, done through Satanic agencies, which will deceive
many (see Mt 24:24 and 2 Thess 2:9)! It is the effect of these signs and
wonders on the lives of those involved which will reveal the genuine teachers
from the false ("By their fruit you will recognize them"---Mt
7:15-16). It must also be considered that the profound power of the mind
upon the body often produces dramatic improvements in health. But these
are not always, or even frequently, associated with religious influence.
They are scarcely to be equated with the healings recorded in Scripture,
which usually consist of the kind Jesus described to John the Baptist's
disciples: "The blind receive sight, the lame walk those who have leprosy
are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised" (Mt 11:5).
But let us not lose our way at this point. The concern of Hebrews is not
to defend miracles but to warn against losing the so great salvation
by a careless inattention to its content or its practice in daily life.
An individual's response to these great truths determines his destiny. Leon
Morris well says, "This Epistle leaves us in no doubt but that those
who are saved are saved from a sore and genuine peril. Christ's saving work
is not a piece of emotional pageantry rescuing men from nothing in particular"
(quoted in Brown 1982:52). Neglecting the word of angels brought immediate
earthly consequences; ignoring the salvation of the Son, confirmed by decades
of divine ministry through godly men and women, results in eternal tragedy
beyond description.
5 It is not to angels that he has subjected the world to come, about which we are speaking. 6 But there is a place where someone has testified: "What is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him? 7 You made him a little lower than the angels; you crowned him with glory and honor 8 and put everything under his feet." In putting everything under him, God left nothing that is not subject to him. Yet at present we do not see everything subject to him. 9 But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, now crowned with glory and honor because he suffered death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.
Still thinking of the supremacy of the Son over angels, our author, in
2:5-9, approaches the theme from a different view. In chapter 1 the deity
of Jesus was primarily in the foreground; in chapter 2 his perfect humanity
means that he is the superior of every angelic being. Verse 5 carries forward
the subject of verse 4, It is not to angels that he [God] has subjected
the world to come, about which we are speaking. (7)
Some fascinating themes are introduced by this observation. It raises immediately
the question, What is meant by the world to come? It can mean (1)
life after death, (2) the future kingdom of Christ on earth (the millennium)
or (3) the new heavens and the new earth. Since almost nothing is said in
Hebrews about life after death (9:27), (1) can be dismissed without further
development for it is obviously not what he refers to in the phrase about
which we are speaking. That limiting phrase probably looks back to 1:11-12
which emphasizes the changes which the material creation will experience.
Paul, in Ephesians 2:7, speaks of "coming ages," indicating that
at least two more ages lie ahead. The two which Scripture continually name
are the restored Davidic kingdom (the millennium) and the new heavens and
the new earth. In several places Scripture describes the new heavens and
earth as lasting forever, intimating it would be the last age yet to come.
But the word world (Gk: oikoumene) in 2:5 refers not to the
cosmos, but to the inhabited earth, and this would strongly suggest the
writer has in mind (2), the kingdom of Christ on earth. Hughes calls the
world to come, "the age of the Messiah in which the messianic promises
and prophecies of old find their fulfillment" (1977:82). It is surely
to this that Jesus refers in Matthew 19:28, "Truly, I say to you, in
the new world [palingenesia, 'restoration'], when the Son of man
shall sit on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit
on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel" (RSV). Several
passages in Hebrews (6:5 and 12:22-24) suggest that this kingdom is in some
sense already available to those who live by faith. Perhaps, we should see
this new age to come as spiritually arrived, yet physically still to come.
A reference to the new heavens and new earth seems unlikely in view of the
mention of judgment in Matthew 19:28, for sin will have no place in the
new creation. Also Israel will not play a distinctive role among the nations,
for then "the kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our
Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever" (Rev
11:15 KJV).
If, as the writer claims, the world to come has not been subjected to angels,
it raises the possibility that the present age is subject to angelic governance.
F. F. Bruce supports this view, citing the LXX rendering of Deuteronomy
32:8:
When the Most High gave to the nations their inheritance
When he separated the children of men,
He set the bounds of the peoples
According to the number of the angels of God.
He further quotes Daniel 10:20, which names angelic beings as "the
prince of Persia" and "the prince of Greece," and Daniel
10:21 and 12:1 speak of Michael as "the great prince" who champions
the people of Israel (1964:33). This concept would explain why the fallen
angel called Satan is referred to as "the god of this world" and
is permitted his control until the Lord returns and the new age begins and
the curse is lifted from nature. Then, too, the devil will be bound and
cast into a bottomless pit for a thousand years (Rev 20:2-3).
This background serves to give special meaning to the quotation from Psalm
8 which the writer of Hebrews now invokes. His vague reference to his source
(Gk: "Someone somewhere has testified") is not due to uncertainty
but to a desire to stress Scripture as speaking, not a mere human author
(Bruce, Kistemaker and Hughes). David's psalm is a wondering reaction to
the majesty of the night sky as it reveals the power and wisdom of God and
forces the question, What part do puny human beings play in such a universe?
The answer is that we were made a little lower than the angels, but then
crowned with glory and honor, and everything has been put under our feet.
This is a direct reference to Genesis 1:26:
Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground."
Here is glory and honor (made in the image and likeness of God) and authority
and power (ruling over all the earth). Some commentators take the made
a little lower than the angels in a temporal sense, "made for a
little while," to imply that human existence in this space-time continuum
is only for a brief lifetime, and then we are freed to live the life of
eternity. Whichever way the phrase is read, it is clear that our intended
destiny was one of power and authority over all the conditions and life
of earth. If this was our commission from the moment of creation, what light
it sheds on our responsibility to care for this planet and its creatures!
We were not given dominion so the earth and the animals should serve us;
rather, we are given authority to develop them to the fullest extent intended
by the fruitful mind of the Creator. We are to serve them by thorough knowledge
and loving care, in the form of servant-leadership which the Lord himself
manifested when he came.
Yet, says this writer in what must be the understatement of the ages, we
do not see everything subject to him. No, there are many things fallen
humans cannot control: the weather, the seasons, the instincts of animals,
the tides, our own passions, international events, natural disasters, and
on and on. The increasing pollution of the planet, the spread of famines
and wars, the toll taken by drugs, accidents and disease, all tell the story
of a lost destiny.
But almost with a shout the author cries, But we see Jesus! He is
the last hope of a dying race. And that hope lies both in his deity and
his humanity. He alone, as a human being, managed to fulfill what was intended
for us from the beginning. When we read the Gospels, we are forced to ask,
Who is this man who stills the winds and the waves with a single word; who
multiplies food at will; who walks on the waves; who summons fish to bring
up coins at his command; who dismisses disease with a touch; and calls the
dead back to life? Who is he? He is the Last Adam, living and acting as
God intended us to act when he made us in the beginning. It was the First
Adam who plunged the race into bondage and limitation; it is the Last who
sets us free in soul and spirit, so that we may now learn how to live in
the ages to come when the resurrection gives us back a body fit for the
conditions of that life.
The writer traces in terse phrases the steps Jesus took to solve forever
the problem of human sin. (1) He was made a little lower than the angels.
There is the whole wonder of the Incarnation; in John's phrasing, "the
Word became flesh and lived for a while among us." Then (2) because
he suffered death, he was (3) crowned with glory and honor and
thus he achieved as a human being the position intended for us in
the beginning: the being who was to be closest to God, higher than any angel,
and in authority over all things! Then, lest we should forget the cost,
the writer adds (4) so that by the grace of God he might taste death
for everyone. To taste death does not simply mean to die, but
to experience death in its full horror and humiliation. He comes under the
penalty of sin in order that he might remove it. The emphasis here is that
what Jesus did through his death and exaltation was for everyone.
Salvation is now open to all; no one who comes to Jesus will ever be refused.
His death was for everyone in the sense that everyone was thereby rendered
savable.
Ever since the death of Jesus the way to glory has always Included a death
which leads to life. Some forms of media-evangelism have presented the Christian
life as the way to fulfillment of great possibilities without also making
clear that it includes a death to self-indulgence and learning obedience.
We dare not extol the incredible benefits of the Christian life without
reminding ourselves that they will also lead us to a cross.
To whom, then, is the world to come subject? Not to angels, that
is clear. It is to be subject to the human race---to the human race as God
intended us to be, redeemed and restored through sharing the life of the
Man in glory, seated at the right hand of God. This is the theme of verses
10-13.
2:10 In bringing many sons to glory, it was fitting that God, for whom and through whom everything exists, should make the author of their salvation perfect through suffering. 11 Both the one who makes men holy and those who are made holy are of the same family. So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers. 12 He says, "I will declare your name to my brothers; in the presence of the congregation I will sing your praises." 13 And again, "I will put my trust in him." And again he says, "Here am I, and the children God has given me."
Commentators on Hebrews have pointed out that there is no reference to
the love of God in this epistle. Though technically this is true, a text
such as 2:10 reveals that behind the suffering and sacrifice of Jesus is
the heart of a Father who longs to bring many sons to glory. Though
the Father was in full control of all forces and events in the universe
(for whom and through whom everything exists), it was necessary that he
subject his beloved Son to a degree of agony and humiliation that could
alone fit him to carry out that purpose. This is clearly the meaning of
make . . . perfect through suffering. Jesus had always had a perfect
character since his birth; perfection of function required the whole process
of incarnation, ministry, death and resurrection. But it was love for the
lost human race that drove both Father and Son to choose that process.
Thus did Jesus become the author of . . . salvation. Other versions
substitute "pioneer" (RSV), "captain" (KJV) and "leader"
(NEB), for "author." The Greek word archegos implies someone
who initiates or originates a plan or program for others to follow. Every
American knows that in 1804-1806 two explorers, Captain George Clark and
Captain Meriwether Lewis, were sent by President Thomas Jefferson to find
a way across the old, trackless West from St. Louis to the Pacific Coast.
Such an exploration involved tremendous preparation, special provisions
and wise decisions. It was accomplished through great danger and many hardships,
as the Lewis and Clark journals make clear. When the explorers returned
the whole American West lay open to development. This is the thought behind
the word archegos Jesus, our archegos, opened up a completely
new spiritual country, the realm of universal dominion for the human race,
which was originally intended for us but was lost by Adam. Those who follow
Jesus now are fitted and trained to live in that new world as they walk
in the footsteps of him who has gone before.
This concept fits well with the thought of verses 11-13. These describe
the Savior and his redeemed as belonging to one family who share the same
nature. The one who makes holy [sanctifies] is Jesus who had, first,
to solve the problem of sin before he could apply it to those who are
made holy, the redeemed. The act of making holy implies the impartation
of a new life, the life of God himself since only God is holy. Those who
by faith become sons of God are made holy (sanctified) because they share
the life of the Son of God. John 1:12 declares, "To all who received
him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children
of God," and 1 John 5:11-12 adds, "God has given us eternal life,
and this life is in his Son; he who has the Son has life."
Because of this shared life the writer of Hebrews can say they are, literally,
"all of One" (ek henos pantes), which refers to the Father.
(The NIV's of the same family, to my mind, somewhat weakens the force
of this declaration.) Jesus, who is of different rank and origin, still
is not ashamed to call them brothers. Since he has made them holy
by imparting his own life to them, he cannot deny the very holiness he has
given. Now the groundwork is laid for believers to learn to live everyday
on the basis of the new men and women they have become rather than continuing
to live on the old level of humanity they had once been. It is Paul's constant
exhortation: "Put off the old man; put on the new." The writer
of Hebrews urges the same activity in 12:14. Holiness of nature is the possession
of all true Christians; holiness of behavior is to be their goal. But even
before that goal is attained to any appreciable degree, it is still true
that Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers. The picture is that of
an oldest son affirming to another his pride in his younger siblings, even
though they do not always act in ways pleasing to him.
To support this wonderful fact, the writer summons three texts from the
Old Testament. (8) The first, verse 22, from the well-known
Messianic hymn, Psalm 22, reflects the praise of the resurrected Lord as
he shares with his brothers and sisters the glories of God's grace. He appears
as their teacher, opening their eyes continually to the wonders of the Father
whose family they have joined. They then join him in sharing those wonders
with the whole congregation. The quotation suggests that his reason for
not being ashamed of them is because they share with him the endless adventure
of discovering the full meaning of the name of God.
The second text, from Isaiah 8:17, expresses the common sense of dependence
which children share toward God; and the third, Isaiah 8:18, recognizes
the relationship of children as all equally under the care of one father.
Isaiah 8, from which these verses are taken, is the prophet's prediction
of a great invasion of Assyria into the land of Judea. Yet in the face of
that terrible threat the people are exhorted to continue to trust the Lord
Almighty and to wait for his deliverance, though it seem delayed. The Messiah
is seen as "a stone that causes men to stumble and a rock that makes
them fall," and it is of him that Isaiah cries, "I will put my
trust in him. Here am I, and the children the LORD has given me."
It is easy to see how our author saw these verses as a description of Jesus
and his faith-siblings (Christians). That first-century world was coming
apart at the seams, just as Isaiah's world had been. And just as Isaiah
and his children looked to their invisible Lord for help, so Jesus stands
ready to support those who take refuge in him from the threats of a crumbling
world.
These two texts, in their original setting, were part of a prophecy of an
event yet 100 years in the future, and beyond this, reached to the coming
of the Messiah both in his first and second comings. To apply fragments
of such prophecies to the Hebrews' circumstances may seem strange to us,
but this is fully in line with the use of the Old Testament by all the New
Testament writers. The specific verses quoted here are all found in a messianic
context.
2:14 Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death --that is, the devil-- 15 and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death. 16 For surely it is not angels he helps, but Abraham's descendants. 17 For this reason he had to be made like his brothers in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that he might make atonement for the sins of the people. 18 Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.
Drawing on his use of Isaiah's quotation, the writer picks up the word
children and declares, Since the children have flesh and blood,
he too [Jesus] shared in their humanity. This description of the Incarnation
answers fully all docetic notions that his humanity was simply a phantom
appearance. The purpose of Christ becoming a flesh-and-blood man was to
enable him to die: that is the startling claim of verse 14! In Charles Wesley's
great hymn "And Can It Be?" he begins a verse:
'Tis mystery all, the Immortal dies!
Who can explore that strange design?
In vain the first-born seraph tries
To sound the depths of love divine!
How can one who is immortal die? That is a puzzle which even the angels
could not solve. But the Son of God solved it by becoming flesh and blood.
He took upon himself our humanity which, even in perfection, was doomed
to die (as happened to Adam and Eve). Yet this must be balanced by the gospel's
statement that Jesus did not have to die (as all of us must), but gave up
his life voluntarily. And die he must if he was to deal with the great enemy
of all flesh and blood---death! Behind death the writer sees the power of
Satan, who uses God's righteous judgment against sin to bring to death all
human beings who sin. But when God's Son willingly entered the dread realm
of death on behalf of the race, he could not be held there because he himself
was sinless. By his resurrection he broke the power of death over all who
accept his invitation to share his risen life. He rendered impotent (katargeo---"to
annul," "to make inoperative") the devil's power to carry
out the full effects of death---that is, spiritual separation from God forever.
Physical death remains for all, believers and nonbelievers alike, the transition
point between this life and the next. But for believers the "sting
of death" is gone, the grave no longer has its victory (1 Cor 15:54-57)!
But this is not a blessing to be obtained only in the future. It has an
immediate effect as well, delivering the redeemed from all fear of death,
and so liberating them from a lifelong bondage. Since death is the absence
of life, spiritual death is already present in human affairs, appearing
as depression, fear, boredom, despair, waste, limitation and defeat (Rom
8:6---"The mind set on the flesh is death"). The devil's lie is
to convince many that they can avoid such experiences by amassing wealth,
maintaining youth by strenuous exercise or expensive treatments, searching
for adventure, falling in and out of love, gaining the marks of success,
indulging in widespread travel, satisfying every whim, and so forth.
It is the fear of that kind of death which creates the frantic restlessness
found in so many. That unsatisfied restlessness, that yearning for what
cannot seem to be found, is at least partly what the writer here means by
slavery. Like a slave bound to a cruel master human beings find themselves
forced to keep searching for what they never attain. They try everything,
but nothing satisfies. There is pleasure and fun---but seldom peace and
contentment. Soon everything palls and the search must begin again. It is
a lifelong bondage, for the quest never ends till life itself does.
No better example of this futile search can be found than Howard Hughes.
Bill Hybels recounts his quest for more money, more fame, more sensual pleasure,
more thrills, more power, and concludes, in the end "he died a billionaire
junkie, insane by all reasonable standard."
But even on our deathbed the bondage is not over, for there again lurks
the dread question, What lies beyond?
Against all this stands the words of Jesus, "Whoever finds his life
will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it"
(Mt 10:39). He came to free those who all their lives were held in slavery
by their fear of death. His method was first to impart a new life to
all who come to him, and join them to a great family of similarly reborn
brothers and sisters. Then, through his word, he instructs them in how that
new life should be lived and promises the Spirit himself who accompanies
the believer throughout his entire journey, teaching him how to turn from
the world's ways and Satanic wiles to loving relationships and fruitful
service until at last he grows old and steps, through death, into glory
and power that beggars description. "The man or woman who lives by
this principle will find that for them the devil is impotent" (Stedman
1974:30). James writes, "Resist the devil, and he will flee from you"
(4:7). Thus freedom from the lifelong bondage of self-serving is clearly
included in the victory of Jesus over death!
If it seems that the writer has drifted far from his intent to show the
superiority of Jesus over angels, verse 16 brings us back directly to the
point: For surely it is not angels he helps, but Abraham's descendants.
(9) Only by living himself as a human being could he
fully sympathize with, and therefore help, those who struggle with great
temptation on their way to glory. The term Abraham's descendants
clearly envisions Paul's declaration, "If you belong to Christ, then
you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise" (Gal 3:29).
This help for Abraham's struggling spiritual descendants is not offered
to angels (who are neither redeemed nor Abraham's seed), but it is constantly
available to those who come to Jesus as their merciful and faithful high
priest. It is mercy which he shows toward sinners; faithfulness is exhibited
before the Father. This is the first designation in Hebrews of Jesus as
high priest, and introduces a theme which will become a major emphasis in
chapters 7 through 10.
The record of the four Gospels gives us the details of how Jesus was made
like his brothers in every way. Everyday he felt the perturbations caused
by living in a sinful world; he knew disappointments and sorrows, physical
pains and frustrations of spirit; he grew weary and sore and must often
have longed for home and comforts; he was lied to, falsely reproved, argued
with, disliked and cheated. The earthly temptations which he endured in
the wilderness and at other times (Lk 4:13) from the devil, and daily from
the "opposition from sinful men" (12:3), including even his own
disciples, made him a sympathetic priest. By virtue of his atonement (propitiation)
he can make effective intercession before the Father for any who bring their
burdens to him. The fact that he made atonement for the sins of the people
lifts him to an incomparable level of priestly help. No priest under the
law could do that, except in a symbolic and token fashion. But Jesus not
only holds forth the hope of finding forgiveness of sins, he has actually
taken them away already! To be able to be both merciful toward sinners and
faithful to a holy God is possible only because the offense of sin before
God has been removed.
The genuine humanity of Jesus reminds him continually of the way temptation
feels to us when we are under assault, and his atonement overcomes any limitation
of help caused by our sins, so that he may uphold us with both sympathy
and integrity before the Father. "If anybody does sin, we have one
who speaks to the Father in our defense---Jesus Christ, the Righteous One"
(1 Jn 2:1). Bruce puts the case well: "A high priest who has actually,
and not merely in symbolism, removed His people's sins, and therewith the
barrier which their sins erected between themselves and God, is a high priest
worth having" (1964:53).
What a Friend we have in Jesus,
All our sins and griefs to bear;
What a privilege to carry,
Everything to God in prayer.
So the section concludes, and the writer completes his arguments. How can anyone, given the facts, continue to follow angelic guidance (be it from demigod, avatar, spirit guide, ancient master) when the Son of God himself has come, before whom all the angels, fallen or unfallen, are commanded to worship; for whom angels are but messengers committed to do his wishes; who has himself revealed a far greater message than the Law; and who has recaptured for all who come to him the lost heritage of creation; who has lifted, through the ultimate personal sacrifice, the terrible burden of sin and guilt which lies on us all; and who offers to us each day an inner supply of strength and wisdom for the journey through life? What angel can do all or any of that?
3:1 Therefore, holy brothers, who share in the heavenly calling, fix your thoughts on Jesus, the apostle and high priest whom we confess. 2 He was faithful to the one who appointed him, just as Moses was faithful in all God's house. 3 Jesus has been found worthy of greater honor than Moses, just as the builder of a house has greater honor than the house itself. 4 For every house is built by someone, but God is the builder of everything. 5 Moses was faithful as a servant in all God's house, testifying to what would be said in the future. 6 But Christ is faithful as a son over God's house. And we are his house, if we hold on to our courage and the hope of which we boast. 7 So, as the Holy Spirit says: "Today, if you hear his voice, 8 do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion, during the time of testing in the desert, 9 where your fathers tested and tried me and for forty years saw what I did. 10 That is why I was angry with that generation, and I said, `Their hearts are always going astray, and they have not known my ways.' 11 So I declared on oath in my anger, `They shall never enter my rest.'" 12 See to it, brothers, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. 13 But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin's deceitfulness. 14 We have come to share in Christ if we hold firmly till the end the confidence we had at first. 15 As has just been said: "Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion." 16 Who were they who heard and rebelled? Were they not all those Moses led out of Egypt? 17 And with whom was he angry for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the desert? 18 And to whom did God swear that they would never enter his rest if not to those who disobeyed? 19 So we see that they were not able to enter, because of their unbelief.
Houses come in many sizes and designs. The first house my wife and I
lived in was a tiny building in Hawaii which served as a parsonage for a
church where I was not the pastor (they had none at the time). It had only
one bedroom, one bath, a tiny kitchen and a small living room. It's long
gone now, and over the years we have lived in several houses. Our last one
in California had five bedrooms and three baths and was a virtual mansion
compared to the first. But all the houses we have lived in have had two
things in common: a preconceived design and a builder.
In Hebrews 3, the writer turns from the angels to compare Jesus to Israel's
greatest and most revered leader, Moses, whose primary honor was that he
was faithful as a servant in all God's house. But, he immediately adds,
Christ is faithful as a son over God 's house. (10)
As in many chapter divisions in the New Testament, the opening words could
as well have been the closing words of the previous chapter. The therefore
ties them together and introduces a fifth title for Jesus thus far in Hebrews:
Son, Firstborn, Lord, High Priest and now Apostle. We are encouraged to
fix [our] thoughts on Jesus, the apostle and high priest whom we confess.
The recipients of this encouragement are called holy brothers and
those who share in the heavenly calling. These phrases represent
a delicate shift from a well-known Jewish-Christian description ("brothers")
to that which is distinctively Christian, and not Jewish ("heavenly
calling"---Eph 1:3; 2:6). This explains his plea to look beyond Moses
and Jewish things to Jesus, who combines, in his divine-human person, both
functions which Moses exercised (apostle and high priest). However, Jesus
fulfilled these to a loftier and far greater level.
The reference to Moses' faithfulness in God's house looks back to Numbers
12:7-8 where God describes to Aaron and Miriam how he spoke to prophets
in visions and dreams. He continues: "But this is not true of my servant
Moses; he is faithful in all my house. With him I speak face to face, clearly
and not in riddles." Though several commentators take "God's house"
to refer to the nation of Israel, it is better to link it to the tabernacle.
Its precursor is the Tent of Meeting, where God spoke these words, and the
typology of which is developed more expansively in Hebrews 9. The tabernacle
is called "the house of God" at least six different times in the
Old Testament, and its successor, the temple, is so designated 43 times.
Moses is especially connected with the tabernacle as the one who received
its design on Mount Sinai and oversaw its building and ritual. If the tabernacle
was the symbol of the dwelling place of God in the midst of his people,
as will be seen more fully in 3:6, then we may view the phrase God's
house as referring both to Israel and the building itself, each standing
for the other.
At any rate, the meaning of verses 3-5 is clear: the builder of a house
is more worthy of honor than the house which he builds. The house is only
the product of the builder's skill and wisdom. Overall conception and the
design of infinite detail originates in the mind of the architect-builder;
the house simply makes it visible. Thus, Jesus, as the agent of God in building
all things, is more worthy of honor than Moses, who was just a servant in
the house which the Son was building. This is support for the argument of
the existence of God. Cornell University astrophysicist Carl Sagan and many
others today insist that we are alone in the cosmos; the cosmos is all there
is. If every earthly house shows the design and craft of a builder, how
much more does the universe reflect, in its complexity and interrelatedness,
a Mind and Hand that put it all together? This Mind and Hand belongs to
Jesus as John 1:3 and other Scriptures attest. As the builder of everything,
he outranks even a faithful servant like Moses, who served in the house
Jesus made.
The phrase testifying to what would be said in the future supports
the idea that the tabernacle, with its intensive typology, would teach future
generations much about human nature, God and redemption. Stephen, in Acts
7:44, says, "Our forefathers had the tabernacle of the Testimony
with them in the desert. It had been made as God directed Moses, according
to the pattern he had seen." This is expanded in chapter 9 where we
shall learn much more about this idea of testifying about the future.
But Christ is faithful as a son over God's house, declares verse
6. (11) And we are his house introduces a theme
which will become dominant throughout the rest of the letter. The role of
a servant and of a son in a house are worlds apart. I recall in my high-school
days in Montana a visit I made to a large cattle ranch on the Missouri River
as a friend of one of the cowboy employees. We slept in the bunkhouse with
the rest of the help and had no access to the main quarters. We rode a couple
of rather scruffy horses, and I was involved in helping him do certain assigned
chores. Later I visited the same ranch as a friend of the son of the ranch's
owner. What a difference! We had the run of the big house, ate in the main
dining room, rode the best horses on the ranch and could go anywhere at
any time. It made me forever aware of the difference between a son and a
servant. The author wants to make this difference clear to his readers'
minds also.
It will become readily apparent in chapter 9 that the reality which the
tabernacle pictures (and which harmonizes the two peoples of God, Israel
and the Church), are human beings themselves. The writer declares: "We
are his house!" It is redeemed humanity who is to be the dwelling place
of God (1 Cor 6:19; Eph 2:22; Rev 21:3). The writer has just presented Jesus
(in chapter 2) as the Man who fulfills God's intent for the human race.
That ultimate intent is that we may be indwelt by God. This is surely the
meaning of Jesus in John 14:20, "On that day you will realize that
I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you."
Again, in John 17:22-23, he prays to the Father, "I have given them
the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one: I in them
and you in me."
These concepts are revolutionary to the Jewish mind, as Jesus himself understood
in trying to teach them to his disciples, and as the writer of Hebrews realizes
as he seeks to lift his readers to views of themselves which they had only
grasped dimly, if at all. At this point he ventures to use for the first
time the Greek term for the Messiah (Christ---literally, "anointed")
and so help turn their minds from Jewish hopes to the "better things"
of which the Jewish shadows spoke.
We [believers] are his [Christ's] house, he asserts, if we hold
on to our courage and the hope of which we boast. This if has
troubled many people for it seems to imply that being a member of Christ's
house can be lost after it is gained by wavering in our courage or hope.
But the statement is more likely descriptive rather than conditional
It tells us that courage (parresian) or boldness, and the demonstration
of hope in word and deed is the continuing mark of those who belong to Christ.
It does not rule out periods of weak faith and struggle. Bruce comments,
"Nowhere in the New Testament more than here do we find such repeated
insistence on the fact that continuance in the Christian life is the test
of reality." The true members of Christ's house are those who show
the reality of their faith by holding on to courage and hope, even though
they may waver at times. He further adds that stumbling from faith "is
precisely what our author fears may happen with his readers; hence his constant
emphasis on the necessity of their maintaining fearless confession and joyful
hope" (1964:59).
To show his grave concern the author reminds them, in the second major warning
passage of the letter, chapters 7-15, of the possibility of that apostasy
which left thousands of Israelites dead in the wilderness. And this had
even been under the leadership of Moses.
Once again the writer draws from the treasury of the Psalms to support
his warning. The beginning of Psalm 95 describes worship which is acceptable
to God but closes with a flashback to the false worship of Israel in the
wilderness. They had outwardly seen themselves as God's flock, but in their
hearts they were hard against him and complained to Moses about their lack
of water. The incident is recorded in Exodus 17:1-7. After God miraculously
met their thirst by ordering Moses to strike the rock and bring forth water,
Moses named the place Meribah (which means "quarreling,") and
Massah (which means "testing"). Unfortunately, their attitude
was not one of quiet trust in God, but one of fretful complaint and querulous
challenge. This outlook was repeated many times (ten times, according to
Num 14:22) throughout the wilderness wanderings until at last God said,
"They are a people whose hearts go astray, and they have not known
my ways. So I declared on oath in my anger, 'They shall never enter my rest'
" (Ps 95:10-11). (12)
God's anger is not lightly aroused. Their grumblings and murmurings were
patiently endured over a span of forty years. On occasion God sought to
make them aware of their ingratitude and rebellion by visiting them with
deserved punishment (fire, plagues, quails and poisonous serpents). But
he always offered repentance and recovery. Still, their complaints continued
and their hearts gradually hardened until, at Kadesh-Barnea, when God commanded
them to enter the land of Canaan and take it for their own, they rebelled
and refused to go up. Finally, God spoke in anger and said, "Their
hearts are always going astray, and they have not known my ways So I declared
on oath in my anger, 'They shall never enter my rest.'"
Note the reasons for his solemn oath: (1) They continually went astray in
their heart Their inward life was askew. Rather than having a grateful spirit
for astounding deliverances and limitless blessings, there was a settled
attitude of complaint because everything did not go exactly as they desired
each day. They saw themselves as deserving more than they were getting,
and they resented it, not with an occasional outburst of displeasure, but
with a constant harping that wore down everyone's nerves. (2) They had not
learned God's ways. Over forty years, their real knowledge of God had not
increased because their grumbling hearts blinded their spiritual eyes. A
teachable spirit sustains a grateful heart. Centuries later Jesus would
pray: "Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true
God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent" (In 17:23). This failure
to grow in knowledge of God's ways is the very danger our author sees as
a possibility for his own readers. He reminds them of this episode in Israel's
history so they might heed its warning. Full apostasy is present when God
says of anyone, They shall never enter my rest.
This is the first use of the word rest in Hebrews. This word describes
the end of wandering and restlessness, and promises calmness and tranquillity.
Here it clearly refers to the land of Canaan and the promise of a settled
state of peace and full supply. But, as we shall see, this Canaan rest was
a symbol, a shadow, of a greater rest available to the people of God in
the future. The failure to correct a habit of grumbling and murmuring against
God led over a million Israelites to such a hardened state of heart that
they were unable to lay hold of the opportunity to enter the land of promise
when they came to its borders. They perished at an average of almost ninety
deaths a day, until the generation that left Egypt (except for Joshua and
Caleb) had died out.
In verses 12-13, this example is now applied to all who read Hebrews.
The writer's argument is: If unbelief kept Israelites out of the land of
Canaan (a picture of God's rest), how much more serious is it today to give
way to unbelief and thus miss the greater rest (the rest of justification
and salvation). The warning is addressed to the whole assembly (See to
it, brothers, . . . encourage one another daily). These phrases recognize
individual responsibility to act (that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving
heart, . . . none of you may be hardened by sin's deceitfulness) and
describe accurately the terrible result of sin's hardening (turns away from
the living God). Bruce puts it powerfully, "a relapse from Christianity
into Judaism would be comparable to the action of the Israelites when they
'turned back in their hearts unto Egypt' (Acts 7:39); it would not be a
mere return to a position previously occupied, but a gesture of outright
apostasy, a complete break with God" (1964:66).
We who read this may not be battling with pressures to return to a previously
held faith, but many church members today are content to live lives that
are essentially no different than the lives of non-Christians around them.
They easily forget Paul's plea, "Do not conform any longer to the pattern
of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind" (Rom
12:2). Also, "So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that
you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking"
(Eph 4:17). All who ignore these words today are in great danger of repeating
the ancient error of Israel.
For the first time in Hebrews the power of corporate faith is recognized
with the words encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today.
(13) It will be highlighted again in 10:24-25. Those
who profess to share life in Christ are urged both to caution and encourage
one another. This is done whenever it is needed (Today used eight
times in Hebrews) and consists, not of stem rebuke, but loving admonition
against a complaining spirit, and helpful illumination of sin's deceptive
approach. "Sin is an extremely dangerous power confronting the believer.
It always attacks the individual, much as wolves stalk a single sheep"
(Kistemaker 1984:95). Its terrible danger lies in the deceptive ease by
which it gradually hardens the heart, as it lessens the will's power to
resist evil. As the first warning passage (2:1-4) dealt with the danger
of drifting past truth, this one warns of the danger of failing to deal
with a grumbling and complaining spirit.
Verses 14-19 recapitulate the warning from Psalm 95 and support the declaration
of verse 14, We have come to share in Christ if we hold firm till the
end the confidence we had at first. This verse looks back to verse 6,
"we are his [Christ's] house." Believers share in Christ (metokoi,
"become partakers of") through a dual relationship: "You
in me, and I in you," that is, Christ dwelling in us as a Son in his
own house; and believers dwelling in Christ, as sharers of his divine-human
life. But this is made evident only by persevering as a Christian until
the end of life itself! (See John 10:28 where Jesus says, "I give them
eternal life, and they shall never perish"). Once again the if
is descriptive, not conditional. If we hold firmly . . . the confidence
we had at first envisages deliberate efforts made to renew faith and
trust on a daily basis. As we read the Scriptures thoughtfully and closely
every day, or when we pray regularly with and for one another, or when we
worship with other believers in a shared experience of God's wonder and
glory, when we serve people's needs out of love for Christ, we are doing
the things that cause us to bold firmly to the end the confidence we had
at first.
The rhetorical questions of verses 16-18 show how an outward facade of belief
can be maintained while the heart is still unrepentant, and therefore unredeemed.
(14) It is possible to participate in and benefit
from the great miracles of God, as the Israelites did who came out of Egypt
with Moses (v. 16). Yet, despite such evidence, the heart can remain unchanged
for a lifetime. God sees that inner hardness and warns continually against
it until he is forced to judge it (v. 17). Now the growing stages of unbelief:
general rebellion (v. 16); sin, punished by physical death (v. 17); and
disobedience (Gk: "being unpersuadable"---v. 18). The cause of
this recalcitrance lies deeper than a wrong attitude or wrong behavior;
it lies in a disobedient will. Therefore, the loss of promised blessing
is traceable only and solely to long-continued unbelief (v. 19). This word
apistian, "disbelief") is the platform upon which the writer's
more positive explanation of rest is founded He gives us the other side
of disbelief in chapter 4.
4:1 Therefore, since the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us be careful that none of you be found to have fallen short of it. 2 For we also have had the gospel preached to us, just as they did; but the message they heard was of no value to them, because those who heard did not combine it with faith. 3 Now we who have believed enter that rest, just as God has said, "So I declared on oath in my anger, `They shall never enter my rest.'" And yet his work has been finished since the creation of the world. 4 For somewhere he has spoken about the seventh day in these words: "And on the seventh day God rested from all his work." 5 And again in the passage above he says, "They shall never enter my rest." 6 It still remains that some will enter that rest, and those who formerly had the gospel preached to them did not go in, because of their disobedience. 7 Therefore God again set a certain day, calling it Today, when a long time later he spoke through David, as was said before: "Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts." 8 For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken later about another day. 9 There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; 10 for anyone who enters God's rest also rests from his own work, just as God did from his. 11 Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will fall by following their example of disobedience. 12 For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. 13 Nothing in all creation is hidden from God's sight Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account.
Dreams of Utopia have haunted human minds for millennia. When Sir Thomas
More, in 1516, wrote the book Utopia, he chose the name because in
Greek it means "no place." Many attempts have been made in history
to find or create such a place where life approaches perfection, but none
has succeeded. Yet the dream has not faded, probably because it represents
a vestigial human memory of something we once had and still yearn for, a
greater Sabbath. On the seventh day of creation (Sabbath means "seven")
God was said to have "rested from all his work" (Gen 2:2). This
was not total inactivity, for God has been active throughout all history.
It is probably best described as a rest of a perfectly functioning creation,
as a mechanic rests from his work when his machine runs perfectly. That
is what men have dreamed Utopia would be: a properly functioning society.
In Hebrews 4:1 we are given the first hint that the promise of rest given
to Israel envisaged more than entering the Promised land. It is, he says,
a promise which still stands that is, was not satisfied by entering
Canaan, but still exists at the time of his writing. Furthermore, his readers
stand in danger of missing it unless they are careful. The Greek construction
of the phrase that none of you be found to have fallen short of it
indicates that wrong behavior, such as disobedience or long-continued grumbling,
suggests the heart is unchanged and unbelieving. Be found refers to God's
knowledge of the heart and his actions based on that knowledge.
In verse 2, we are given the reason for the Israelites' unbelief in the
wilderness. Even though the gospel of God's deliverance from an evil heart
was proclaimed clearly through the sacrifices, the tabernacle ritual and
the preaching of Moses, it met with a lack of faith among those who perished.
The writer will declare in 11:6 that "without faith it is impossible
to please God." Without a personal response to the promise of salvation,
no one may be saved. Declared many times in Scripture, this fact invalidates
completely the teaching of universalism that everyone is already saved by
virtue of Christ's death and that God will reveal that to them at the end,
no matter how they lived. This teaching ignores the need for repentance:
turning from ungrateful rebellion to a thankful acceptance of God's provision.
Romans 10:17 indicates that the gospel ("the word of Christ")
has power to awaken belief in is hearers; if that belief is acted upon by
a willing response (faith), it results in salvation (divine life imparted).
(15)
In verses 3-10, we learn the full meaning of the word rest. First,
it is a rest which believers of the first century (and today) can actually
experience (v. 3). The writer uses the present, but not the future, tense,
we. . . enter that rest. Jesus had declared, "Come to me, all
you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest" (Mt 11:28).
That is the same promise of rest which the writer, in verse 1, has declared
still stands. If believed, it requires a response, for though the promise
is still valid, so is the threat that follows: Just as God has said,
"So l declared on oath in my anger, 'They shall never enter my rest.
'" Now is the time to enter it (today--- v. 7), and now is the
time to lose it, if one test God's patience too long. (16)
Second, this true rest has been available since creation (vv. 3-4), and
some who may not have entered Canaan could have entered God's rest still.
God calls this rest my rest. This means not only does he give it,
but he himself also enjoys it! He experienced rest when he ceased the work
of creation, as recounted in Genesis 2:2-3. As we have seen, this does not
imply subsequent idleness, for God continues to maintain his creation, as
1:3 attests. He is endlessly active in the work of redemption too, as Jesus
declared in John 5:17. It does mean he ceased creating; he has rested from
that work since time began. What that means for God's people will be made
clear in verse 10. The third factor the writer stresses is that entering
this rest must not be delayed. Again, he quotes Psalm 95:7, Today, if
you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts.
Delay hardens the heart, especially when we are fully aware that we have
heard the voice of God in the inner soul. Every shrug of the shoulder that
pus off acting on God's urging for change, every toss of the head that says,
"I know I should, but I don't care," every attempt at outward
conformity without inner commitment produces a hardening of the heart that
makes repentance harder and harder to do. The witness of the Spirit must
not be ignored, for the opportunity to believe does not last forever. Playing
games with the living God is not only impertinent, but also dangerous.
There is a line, by us unseen,
That crosses every path.
The hidden boundary between
God's patience and His wrath.
Today is a word of hope. All is not lost while today lasts. Though
there has been some hardening, it can yet be reversed if prompt repentance
is made. The situation is serious, though, for Today is never more
than twenty-four hours long and that's all anyone is given at a time!
Though Jesus is not compared here with Joshua in terms of relative greatness,
it is apparent from verses 8-10 that the work of Joshua in leading Israel
into the rest symbolized by the Promised Land was far inferior to the work
of Jesus. He provides eternal rest to all who believe in him. The fact that
God repeats his promise of rest through David in Psalm 95, centuries after
Israel had entered Canaan, is used to indicate that Sabbath-rest is the
substance and Canaan-rest but a shadow. There was an experience of rest
for Israel in Canaan (from armed invasion, natural disasters, failure of
crops) when they were faithful to God. But even at best that rest was outward
and essentially physical, and could not satisfy the promise of rest to the
human race which was intended from the beginning. The author specifically
states, There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God.
In verse 10, we learn at last the nature of that rest. It means to cease
from one's own work, and so, by implication, to trust in the working of
God instead. In Ephesians 2:8-9 Paul asserts, "For it is by grace you
have been saved, through faith---and this not from yourselves, it is the
gift of God---not by works, [we are to rest from our own works!] so that
no one can boast."
The use of the term sabbatismos ("Sabbath-rest") suggests
that the weekly sabbath given to Israel is only a shadow of the true rest
of God. Paul also declares in Colossians 2:16-17 where he lumps religious
festivals, New Moon celebrations and sabbath days together as "a shadow
of the things that were to come, the reality, however, is found in Christ."
Thus rest has three meanings: (1) the Promised Land; (2) the weekly sabbath;
and (3) that which these two prefigure, that cessation from labor which
God enjoys and which he invites believes to share. This third rest not only
describes the introduction of believers into eternal life, but also depicts
the process by which we will continue to work and live, namely, dependence
on God to be at work through us. "It is God who works in you to will
and to act according to his good purpose" (Phil 2:13). (17)
This is in many ways the lost secret of Christianity. Along with seeking
to do things for God, we are also encouraged to expect God to be at work
through us. It is the key to the apostle's labors: "I can do everything
through him who gives me strength" (Phil 4:13). Also, "I have
been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.
The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved
me and gave himself for me" (Gal 2:20). Note, "I no longer live"---that
is, I do not look for any achievement by my own efforts. Rather "Christ
lives in me" and the life I live and the things that I do are "by
faith"---that is, done in dependence on the Son of God working in and
through me.
This makes clear that truly keeping the sabbath is not observing a special
day (that is but the shadow of the real sabbath), but sabbath-keeping is
achieved when the heart rests on the great promise of God to be working
through a believer in the normal affairs of living. We cannot depend on
our efforts to please God, though we do make decisions and exert efforts.
We cease from our own works and look to his working within us to achieve
the results that please him. As Jesus put it to the apostles, "Apart
from me you can do nothing" (Jn 15:5). They must learn to work but
always with the thought that he is working with them, adding his power to
their effort. That is keeping the sabbath as it was meant to be kept!
Learning to function from a position of rest is the way to avoid burnout
in ministry or any other labor. We are to become "co-laborers with
God," to use Paul's wonderful phrase. This does not mean that we cannot
learn many helpful lessons on rest by studying the regulations for keeping
the sabbath day found in the Old Testament. Nor that we no longer need time
for quiet meditation and cessation from physical labor. Our bodies are yet
unredeemed and need rest and restoration at frequent intervals. But we are
no longer bound by heavy limitations to keep a precise day of the week.
Paradoxically, we read in verse 11 the exhortation to make every effort
to enter that [sabbath] rest. Of course, effort is needed to resist
self-dependence. If we think that we have what it takes in ourselves to
do all that needs to be done, we shall find ourselves rest-less and ultimately
ineffective. Yet decision is still required of us and exertion is needed;
but results can only be expected from the realization that God is also working
and he will accomplish the needed ends. This is also the clear teaching
of Psalm 127:1, "Unless the LORD builds the house, its builders labor
in vain. Unless the LORD watches over the city, the watchmen stand guard
in vain." Human effort is still needed, but human effort is never enough.
Failure to expect God to act caused the disobedience of Israel in the wilderness,
and a similar failure destroys thousands today. It is called overachieving
now, but it is the cause for most of the breakdown of Christians under the
pressure of stress or responsibility. Pastors and teachers particularly
have often been taught that they are personally responsible to meet the
emotional needs and to solve the relational problems of all in their congregations.
Many sincerely attempt this but soon find themselves overwhelmed with unending
demands and a growing sense of their own failure. Relief can come only by
learning to operate out of rest and by sharing responsibility with others
in the congregation whom God has also equipped with gifts of ministry.
The subtlety of the temptation to self-dependence is highlighted by verses
12-13. The opening For strongly ties them to verse 11 since they
explain what the Israelites who fell in the wilderness failed to heed. David
asks, in Psalm 19:12, "Who can discern his errors?" The answer
he gives in the psalm and that of the writer of Hebrews is the same. Only
the Word of God, which is living and active and sharper than any double-edged
sword, is capable of exposing the thoughts and attitudes of a single human
heart! We do not know ourselves. We do not even know how to distinguish,
by feelings or rationale, between that which comes from our souls (psyches)
and from our spirits (pneumas). Even our bodily functions (symbolized here
by joints and marrow) are beyond our full knowledge. Only the all-seeing
eye of God knows us thoroughly and totally (Ps 139:1-18), and before him
we will stand and ultimately give account.
The images the author employs in this marvelous passage are effective ones.
Like a sharp sword which can lay open the human body with one slashing blow,
so the sword of the Scripture can open our inner life and expose it to ourselves
and others. Once the ugly thoughts and hidden rebellions are out in the
open, we stand like criminals before a judge, ineffectually trying to explain
what we have done. Yet such honest revelation is what we need to humble
our stubborn pride and render us willing to look to God for forgiveness
and his gracious supply.
Plainly, Scripture is the only reliable guide we have to function properly
as a human in a broken world. Philosophy and psychology give partial insights,
based on human experience, but they fall far short of what the Word of God
can do. It is not intended to replace human knowledge or effort, but is
designed to supplement and correct them. Surely the most hurtful thing pastors
and leaders of churches can do to their people is to deprive them of firsthand
knowledge of the Bible. The exposition of both Old and New Testaments from
the pulpit, in classrooms and small group meetings is the first responsibility
of church leaders. They are "stewards of the mysteries of God"
and must be found faithful to the task of distribution. This uniqueness
of Scripture is the reason that all true human discovery in any dimension
must fit within the limits of divine disclosure. Human knowledge can never
outstrip divine revelation.
The remaining verses of chapter 4 (vv. 14-16) properly belong with the subject
of chapter 5 and will be considered there. Thus far we have seen that Jesus
is far greater than any angel, eclipses Moses as the spokesman of God, and
leads believers into a far superior rest than Joshua led Israel into. In
chapter 5, we are introduced to the major theme of Hebrews: the high priesthood
of Jesus. He is superior in every respect to the priesthood of Aaron, and
encompasses a ministry which the Old Testament only faintly shadowed in
the mysterious ministry of Melchizedek to Abraham.
14 Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has gone through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. 15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are--yet was without sin. 16 Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.
As I was writing this chapter, I was concerned about a young man whom
I wanted to help grow in Christ. At the moment his Christian life was on
hold, and though he listened patiently to what I told him, he seemed unwilling
to make any changes or to take seriously what I was saying. I found myself
feeling frustrated and uncertain how to proceed. There was much truth I
was anxious to impart to him and I longed particularly to open his eyes
to the enormous resources for help in times of temptation and pressure that
were available to him from the daily presence of Christ in his life. But
he seemed to be dull of hearing and unable to grasp the excitement and vitality
of what I was portraying. I began to realize how the writer of Hebrews must
have felt as he tried to help his readers grasp the full import of the high
priestly ministry of Jesus.
In 4:14 he begins an extended discussion of that ministry, which will conclude
at 7:28. The therefore which opens the discussion looks back to the
previous verse (4:13), where the whole human race is viewed as totally vulnerable
before the all-seeing eyes of God. Our writer probably has in mind Adam
and Eve, when they suddenly became aware of their nakedness and sought to
hide from God in the Garden. But believers in Jesus, though naked before
God, do not need to hide, for they have an Advocate before the Father, even
the Son of God himself. Now they can, in the words of 4:16, approach
the throne of grace with confidence.
Jesus, as high priest, is both great and has gone through the heavens.
This last phrase denotes his completed work of redemption and transcendent
availability. The practical result of that availability is that there is
no necessity for anyone to give up faith under the pressure of peril or
persecution, for the help needed to stand is both sympathetically offered
and fully effective. This offer of help from on high to any who struggle
with the pressures and problems of life on earth is undoubtedly the most
widely neglected resource for Christians. It proposes simply and clearly
to meet every situation, not with human wisdom but divine---and not with
merely human strength, but God's inexhaustive strength! History provides
many examples of those who have tried this offer and found it eminently
true. Yet despite this encouragement from the past and present, many believers
look only for human help, and if it is not available, succumb quickly to
discouragement, defeat, despair and even suicide. These verses are often
quoted as part of a Christian's defense provision, but too often forgotten
when actual times of trouble arrive.
The basis for our great high priest's sympathy is that he has fully shared
our plight. The writer has already (2:17) reminded his readers that Jesus
was "made like his brothers in every way" and that this was done
"through suffering" (2:10). Now we are told that he has been
tempted in every way, just as we are. As Adam and Eve before the Fall
could be tempted even in their innocent state, so Jesus could feel the force
of temptation to the full, though he remained without sin. He exceeds
us in his awareness of the power of temptation. "Such endurance involves
more, not less, than ordinary human suffering" (Bruce 1964:86). Only
the sinless can experience the full intensity of temptation, for the sinful
yield before the limit of temptation is reached. We may count on his sympathy
for our feelings of pressure and constraint to evil, and be assured, as
the psalmist says, "he knows how we are formed; he remembers that we
are dust" (Ps 103:14).
For centuries, Christians have debated the question, Was Jesus not able
to sin because of his deity, or was he simply able not to sin even
though he fully shared our humanity? This question is, in my judgment, one
of those issues about which no final answer can be given due to the limitations
of human knowledge and the reticence of Scripture to speak. If unduly pressed,
it falls under Paul's warning against quarreling about words, for such quarreling
"is of no value, and only ruins those who listen" (2 Tim 2:14).
What Scripture does reveal in several places (7:14) is that Jesus was without
sin. With that statement we should be content. Luther once observed,
"When the angels want a good laugh, they read the commentaries!"
Let us not add to their laughter by quarrels over things beyond our knowledge.
The throne of grace to which we come for help is pictured by the
mercy seat in the old tabernacle. That mercy seat, where God could meet
with sinful humans because of the blood of sacrifice sprinkled upon it,
is the throne of power in the universe from which grace constantly flows
to needy suppliants. Mercy is the remission of deserved judgment, while
grace is the supply of undeserved blessing. Both are needed by sinful believers
such as we all are, and both are available to us when we come with confidence.
We are loved as children and cherished as recipients of the great salvation
won by the blood of our great high priest!
5:1 Every high priest is selected from among men and is appointed to represent them in matters related to God, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins. 2 He is able to deal gently with those who are ignorant and are going astray, since he himself is subject to weakness. 3 This is why he has to offer sacrifices for his own sins, as well as for the sins of the people. 4 No one takes this honor upon himself; he must be called by God, just as Aaron was. 5 So Christ also did not take upon himself the glory of becoming a high priest. But God said to him, "You are my Son; today I have become your Father. " 6 And he says in another place, "You are a priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek." 7 During the days of Jesus' life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with loud cries and tears to the one who could save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission. 8 Although he was a son, he learned obedience from what he suffered 9 and, once made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him 10 and was designated by God to be high priest in the order of Melchizedek. 11 We have much to say about this, but it is hard to explain because you are slow to learn. 12 In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God's word all over again. You need milk, not solid food! 13 Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. 14 But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.
Chapter 5 continues the priestly theme by looking first, in verses 1-4,
at the necessary qualifications to serve as a priest. (18)
They are fourfold:
1. He must be human, "selected from among men" since he "is
appointed to represent them" before God (v. 1).
2. His ministry consists of offering "gifts and sacrifices for sins,"
as his major work solves the alienation created by human sin (v. 1).
3. He must "deal gently with those who are ignorant and going astray,"
and he can do so because of his own sense of weakness and sin (vv. 2-3).
4. He must be appointed to his priestly office by God. No one can make himself
a priest (v. 4).
All these Aaron fulfilled, as did, with varying degrees of accomplishment,
many of his successors in the priestly office. We tend to think of the Levitical
priests as engaged, only in rituals and sacrifices which were often virtually
meaningless to the people. But if we read Leviticus and Deuteronomy carefully,
we will see that such priests served in the place of modern psychologists
and psychiatrists today. In explaining to the people the purpose of each
offering, they would be dealing with problems of fear, insecurity, anxiety,
guilt and shame. Thus they fulfilled an extremely important role in the
nation's life.
The writer now shows that Jesus, as a high priest, fulfills each of those
qualifications, though he is of a different order than that of Aaron. The
fourth qualification is mentioned first---the need to be appointed by God.
That divine appointment was found in the words of Psalm 2, quoted once before
in 1:5, You are my Son; today I have become your Father. This precisely
identifies the one who will be made a priest (my Son), and is immediately
linked with the words of Psalm 110:4, You are a priest forever, in the
order of Melchizedek. This first of eight mentions of Melchizedek in
Hebrews stresses the right of Jesus to serve because his appointment came
directly from God and is confirmed by Psalms 2 and 110.
The second qualification (to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins) is not
mentioned of Jesus here, possibly because it has been described already
in 2:17. This will be dealt with extensively in chapters 8 and 9, particularly
in 8:3. That Jesus met this credential in full is the major theme of Hebrews
and is, therefore, taken for granted in this demonstration of his priestly
qualifications.
But Jesus' fulfillment of the third qualification (to feel his own weakness
and sins) is described in the words of verses 7-8. These strange verses
explain how a sinless person could nevertheless feel his own weakness and
sins. The major commentators agree that they describe the experience of
Jesus in the dark shadows of Gethsemane. There---with only Peter, James
and John nearby---he experienced a protracted period of excruciating torment
of spirit which found expression in groanings ("If it be possible,
Father, let this cup pass") and streaming tears, and ended in a terrible
sweat, almost like blood.
There is a great mystery here. Jesus seems to face the experience with puzzlement
and deep unrest of heart. For the first time in his ministry, he appeals
to his own disciples for help, asking them to watch and pray for him. He
confesses being deeply troubled in his spirit. Each of his three prayers
questions the necessity for this experience and each is addressed to
the one who could save him from death. Luke tells us that before the
third prayer an angel was sent to strengthen him. Perhaps this is what the
words of 5:7 refer to, he was heard because of his reverent submission.
His cry to the Father was one of such desperate need that the Father answered
by strengthening him through an angel. But when the angel had finished,
the third and most terrible experience began.
The author implies that Jesus faced the emotional misery which sin produces:
its shame, guilt and despair. He felt the iron bands of sin's enslaving
power. He was oppressed by a sense of hopelessness, total discouragement
and utter defeat. He is anticipating the moment on the cross when he would
be forsaken of the Father, since he would then be bearing the sin of the
world as though it were his own. The very thought of it crushed his
heart as in a winepress. No sinner on earth has ever felt the stain and
shame of sin as he did. He understood exactly the same feeling we have (in
much lesser degree) when we are angry with ourselves and so filled with
shame and self-loathing that we cannot believe that God can do anything
but hate us for our evil. Jesus knows what that is like. He went the whole
way and took the full brunt. We will never pass through a Gethsemane as
torturous as he did. He saw our sins as his own, and thus fulfilled beyond
any other priest's experience the ability to deal gently with other's sins
since he was so fully aware of the sense of personal defilement sin leaves.
This also explains the unusual words of 5:8, Although he was a son, he
learned obedience from what he suffered. There in Gethsemane he learned
how it feels to obey when such obedience only promises further pain. He
could and did add to his prayers, "yet not my will, but yours be done."
Thus Jesus learned obedience when every fiber of his being longed to escape.
He had gladly been obedient to the Father all his life. In Gethsemane it
was hard, excruciatingly hard, for him to accept God's will, just as it
often seems hard to us to obey it. But this is because we are impure, not
pure. Nevertheless, even though he was a son who loved to obey his Father,
yet he learned obedience the hard way through his experience in Gethsemane.
Verses 9-10 take us to the cross. Having learned obedience in Gethsemane,
Jesus is now perfectly qualified to become at once the sin offering and
the high priest who offers it. This anticipates the clause of 9:14, "through
the eternal Spirit [he] offered himself unblemished to God."
This perfect sacrifice, offered by the perfect priest, entirely supersedes
the Aaronic priesthood and is again designated by God as of the order
of Melchizedek. The phrase appears five times in Hebrews and becomes
the subject of the epistle from 5:6 to 7:28. It is the Melchizedek priesthood
that is described by 2:18: "Because he himself suffered when he was
tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted." In view of
this help so easily available, why do we insist so strenuously on obtaining
only human help? The mutual assistance of others like ourselves is scripturally
valid and often helpful, but it was never intended to replace the help available
from our great "Melchizedek." Let us go boldly and much more frequently
to our high priest who sits on the throne of grace, ready and able to help.
Come, ye disconsolate, where'er ye languish,
Come to the mercy seat, fervently kneel.
Here bring your wounded heart, here tell your anguish,
Earth has no sorrows that heaven cannot heal!
The paragraph from 5:11 to 6:3 turns aside for the moment to examine
the spiritual condition of the readers of this epistle. Verses 11-13 describe
their immature state; verse 14 shows them what they should be; and 6:1-3
tells them how to get there. There will follow, in 6:4-8, the third major
warning passage of Hebrews, and in 6:9-20, the writer lifts his readers
to a new level of hope based upon the oath and promise of God given to Abraham.
He then will resume the discussion of the Melchizedek priesthood in chapter
7.
It has been quite evident thus far in Hebrews that the pastor's heart of
the author has been deeply troubled over the spiritual state of some of
his readers. Twice he has warned them at some length that they are in danger
of repeating the unbelief of the Israelites in the wilderness and failing,
therefore, to enter into the spiritual rest which they had been promised.
Once again he confronts them with their perilous state. (19)
They are slow to learn, he declares, and because of this dullness,
he has difficulty in explaining to them the extraordinary advantages of
the Melchizedek priesthood of Jesus. If they had been growing as they should,
they ought by now to be able to pass the great truths of the faith along
to others. They would no longer be learning elementary truths of God's
word for themselves but could be teachers of those coming after
them. The high priestly ministry which Jesus wants them to learn represents
an advance on the introductory truths of the Christian faith. But instead
of responding to his exhortations they seem to require those basic truths
to be explained to them again. At best, they are spiritual infants who need
to be taught over and over the elementary truths as a baby needs to be fed
milk and is not ready for solid food. At worst, they are not Christians
at all, but are like many of the Israelites in the wilderness. They also
are in danger of failing to act in faith on the teaching they have received.
Fear that this may be their condition is what leads the author to issue
the solemn warning of 6:4-8, though in 6:9, he indicates that he does not
yet believe they are all in such a fearful state.
The cause of their immaturity is clearly described in 5:13. They are not
acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. Commentators differ
as to whether righteousness here refers to conduct or imputed worth. Hughes
opts for the latter view, describing it as "the teaching about righteousness
which is fundamental to the Christian faith, namely, the insistence on Christ
as our righteousness (1 Cor. 1:30, 2 Cor. 5:21) as opposed to self-righteousness
or works-righteousness" (1977:191). Ignorance of having a righteous
position in God's eyes already through faith in Christ has been the cause
of much useless laboring to earn righteousness through the centuries. It
invariably produces a form of legalism which tries to earn "brownie
points" with God to gain his acceptance. The dullness which does not
understand the divine program that leads to right conduct manifests its
ignorance by being unable to "distinguish good from evil." But
those who, by persistent obedience to the truth, are able to grasp such
solid food will give evidence of it in wise and wholesome conduct.
They will identify evil as evil, even when it looks good, and follow good
because it is good, even when it looks evil.
How do Christians train themselves to be able to understand the teaching
about righteousness? The steps are the same in any age. (1) Begin with truth
you already know but have not been obeying. Does God want you to stop some
activity you know to be wrong? Does Scripture exhort you to change your
attitude, forgive someone, reach out with help to another? No further light
will be given until you begin to obey the light you already have. (2) Review
the promises of God for help from on high to obey his word, for example,
Hebrews 2:18; 4:14-16; 2 Timothy 2:7. (3) Claim those promises for yourself,
do whatever you need to do, and count on God's grace to see you through
the consequences. (4) Follow this procedure whenever you become aware of
areas of your life and thinking that need to be changed. This is the constant
use which will enable one to grow and to handle the solid food
of the teaching about righteousness. Paul, in Ephesians 4:14, says, "Then
we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown
here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness
of men in their deceitful scheming."
Since understanding and practicing the truth of the high priestly ministry
of Jesus leads believers to such maturity, it is obvious that it is one
of the most important truths of Scripture and also one which every Christian
should seek diligently to grasp and practice.
6:1 Therefore let us leave the elementary teachings about Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again the foundation of repentance from acts that lead to death, and of faith in God, 2 instruction about baptisms, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment. 3 And God permitting, we will do so. 4 It is impossible for those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, who have shared in the Holy Spirit, 5 who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the coming age, 6 if they fall away, to be brought back to repentance, because to their loss they are crucifying the Son of God all over again and subjecting him to public disgrace. 7 Land that drinks in the rain often falling on it and that produces a crop useful to those for whom it is farmed receives the blessing of God. 8 But land that produces thorns and thistles is worthless and is in danger of being cursed. In the end it will be burned. 9 Even though we speak like this, dear friends, we are confident of better things in your case --things that accompany salvation. 10 God is not unjust; he will not forget your work and the love you have shown him as you have helped his people and continue to help them. 11 We want each of you to show this same diligence to the very end, in order to make your hope sure. 12 We do not want you to become lazy, but to imitate those who through faith and patience inherit what has been promised. 13 When God made his promise to Abraham, since there was no one greater for him to swear by, he swore by himself, 14 saying, "I will surely bless you and give you many descendants." 15 And so after waiting patiently, Abraham received what was promised. 16 Men swear by someone greater than themselves, and the oath confirms what is said and puts an end to all argument. 17 Because God wanted to make the unchanging nature of his purpose very clear to the heirs of what was promised, he confirmed it with an oath. 18 God did this so that, by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled to take hold of the hope offered to us may be greatly encouraged. 19 We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain, 20 where Jesus, who went before us, has entered on our behalf. He has become a high priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek.
Life presents a thousand examples of the need to act on knowledge before any benefit is received. It is not enough to know a telephone number; if you want to talk to someone, you must dial the number. It is not enough to know the price of an object; if you want it, you must pay that price. It is not enough to know where India is; if you want to see it, you must go there. So it should not seem strange that the writer of Hebrews insists that to know Jesus you must receive him by faith an
