Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Hebrews 2:3
How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard [him];
3. how shall we escape ] The “ we ” (being expressed in the original) is emphatic we who are sons, not servants. The verb means “how shall we succeed in escaping,” or, “make good our escape” namely, from similar, but yet more awful punishment (comp. Heb 12:25).
if we neglect ] Rather, “after neglecting,” or “when we have neglected.”
so great salvation ] The transcendence (Heb 7:25) of the safety provided is a measure of the guilt involved in ceasing to pay any attention to it (Heb 10:29; Joh 12:48). It came from Christ not from Angels, its sanctions are more eternal, its promises more divine, its whole character more spiritual.
which at the first began to be spoken ] Literally, “seeing that it, having at the first been spoken.”
by the Lord ] The Gospels shew that Jesus was the first preacher of His own Gospel (Mar 1:14). “The Lord,” standing alone, is very rarely, if ever, used as a title for Christ in St Paul. ( 1Th 4:15 ; 2Th 2:2; 2Ti 4:18, are, to say the least, indecisive.)
was confirmed ] The “ word of this salvation” the news of this Gospel was ratified to us (comp. 1Co 1:6), and so it becomes “steadfast.” The verb is derived from the adjective so rendered in Heb 2:2.
by them that heard ] We did not indeed receive the Gospel at firsthand, but from those who were its appointed witnesses (Luk 24:47-48; Act 1:8; Act 5:32). This verse, as Luther and Calvin so clearly saw, furnishes a decisive proof that St Paul was not the writer of this Epistle. He always insisted on the primary and direct character of the revelation which he had received as his independent Gospel (Gal 1:1; Gal 1:12; Act 22:10; Act 26:16 ; 1Co 11:23; 1Co 15:3, &c.). To talk of “accommodation” here is quite beside the mark.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
How shall we escape – How shall we escape the just recompense due to transgressors? What way is there of being saved from punishment, if we suffer the great salvation to be neglected, and do not embrace its offers? The sense is, that there is no other way of salvation, and the neglect of this will be followed by certain destruction. why it will, the apostle proceeds to show, by stating that this plan of salvation was proclaimed first by the Lord himself, and had been confirmed by the most decided and amazing miracles.
If we neglect – It is not merely if we commit great sins. Not, if we are murderers, adulterers, thieves, infidels, atheists, scoffers. It is, if we merely neglect this salvation – if we do not embrace it – if we suffer it to pass unimproved. Neglect is enough to ruin a man. A man who is in business need not commit forgery or robbery to ruin himself; he has only to neglect his business, and his ruin is certain. A man who is lying on a bed of sickness, need not cut his throat to destroy himself; he has only to neglect the means of restoration, and he will be ruined. A man floating in a skiff above Niagara, need not move an oar or make an effort to destroy himself; he has only to neglect using the oar at the proper time, and he will certainly be carried over the cataract. Most of the calamities of life are caused by simple neglect. By neglect of education children grow up in ignorance; by neglect a farm grows up to weeds and briars; by neglect a house goes to decay; by neglect of sowing, a man will have no harvest; by neglect of reaping, the harvest would rot in the fields. No worldly interest can prosper where there is neglect; and why may it not be so in religion? There is nothing in earthly affairs that is valuable that will not be ruined if it is not attended to – and why may it not be so with the concerns of the soul? Let no one infer, therefore, that because he is not a drunkard, or an adulterer, or a murderer, that, therefore, he will be saved. Such an inference would be as irrational as it would be for a man to infer that because he is not a murderer his farm will produce a harvest, or that because he is not an adulterer therefore his merchandise will take care of itself. Salvation would be worth nothing if it cost no effort – and there will be no salvation where no effort is put forth.
So great salvation – . Salvation from sin and from hell. It is called great because:
(1) Its author is great. This is perhaps the main idea in this passage. It began to be spoken by the Lord; it had for its author the Son of God, who is so much superior to the angels; whom the angels were required to worship Heb 1:6; who is expressly called God Heb 1:8; who made all things, and who is eternal; Heb 1:10-12. A system of salvation promulgated by him must be of infinite importance, and have a claim to the attention of man.
(2) It is great because it saves from great sins. It is adapted to deliver from all sins, no matter how aggravated. No one is saved who feels that his sins are small, or that they are of no consequence. Each one sees his sins to be black and aggravated, and each one who enters heaven, will go there feeling and confessing that it is a great salvation which has brought such a sinner there. Besides, this salvation delivers from all sin – no matter how gross and aggravated. The adulterer, the murderer, the blasphemer, may come and be saved, and the salvation which redeems such sinners from eternal ruin is great.
(3) It is great because it saves from great dangers. The danger of an eternal hell besets the path of each one. All do not see it; and all will not believe it when told of it. But this danger hovers over the path of every mortal. The danger of an eternal hell! Salvation from everlasting burnings! Deliverance from unending ruin! Surely that salvation must be great which shall save from such a doom! If that salvation is neglected, that danger still hangs over each and every man. The gospel did not create that danger – it came to deliver from it. Whether the gospel be true or false, each man is by nature exposed to eternal death – just as each one is exposed to temporal death whether the doctrine of the immortality of the soul and of the resurrection be true or false. The gospel comes to provide a remedy for dangers and woes – it does not create them; it comes to deliver people from great dangers – not to plunge them into them. Back of the gospel, and before it was preached at all, people were in danger of everlasting punishment, and that system which came to proclaim deliverance from such a danger, is great.
(4) The salvation itself is great in heaven. It exalts people to infinite honors, and places on their heads an eternal crown. Heaven with all its glories is offered to us; and such a deliverance, and such an elevation to eternal honors, deserves to be called great. If that is neglected, there is no other salvation; and man must be inevitably destroyed.
(5) It is great because it was effected by infinite displays of power, and wisdom, and love. It was procured by the incarnation and humiliation of the Son of God. It was accomplished amidst great sufferings and self-denials. It was attended with great miracles. The tempest was stilled, and the deaf were made to hear, and the blind to see, and the dead were raised, and the sun was darkened, and the rocks were rent. The whole series of wonders connected with the incarnation and death of the Lord Jesus, was such as the world had not seen elsewhere, and such as was suited to hold the race in mute admiration and astonishment. If this be so, then religion is no trifle. It is not a matter of little importance whether we embrace it or not. It is the most momentous of all the concerns that pertain to man; and has a claim on his attention which nothing else can have. Yet the mass of people live in the neglect of it. It is not that they are professedly atheists, or deists, or that they are immoral or profane; it is not that they oppose it, and ridicule it, and despise it; it is that they simply neglect it. They pass it by. They attend to other things. They are busy with their pleasures, or in their counting-houses, in their workshops, or on their farms; they are engaged in politics, or in bookmaking, and they neglect religion now as a thing of small importance – proposing to attend to it hereafter, as if they acted on the principle that everything else was to be attended to before religion.
Which at the first – Greek Which received the beginning of being spoken. The meaning is correctly expressed in our translation. Christ began to preach the gospel; the apostles followed him. John prepared the way; but the Saviour was properly the first preacher of the gospel.
By the Lord – By the Lord Jesus; see notes on Act 1:24.
And was confirmed unto us … – They who heard him preach, that is, the apostles, were witnesses of what he said, and certified us of its truth. When the apostle here says us, he means the church at large. Christians were assured of the truth of what the Lord Jesus spake by the testimony of the apostles; or the apostles communicated it to those who had not heard him in such a manner as to leave no room for doubt.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Heb 2:3
How shall we escape, if we neglect
The sinfulness and the danger of neglecting the gospel
The great salvation of which the apostle testifies is not the salvation which the gospel reveals, but the gospel itself, even the good news of the kingdom, which, by His Son, God in these last days hath spoken unto us (Heb 1:2).
The salvation which is in Christ Jesus may, with the most obvious propriety, be denominated great, if we compare it with the deliverance which was wrought for the house of Israel, when the Lord brought them out of the land of Egypt. The former was a temporal deliverance, the latter is a spiritual salvation, including deliverance from sin and wrath–from everlasting destruction; and not only deliverance from all evil, but also the enjoyment of eternal life. What is it to neglect so great salvation? All things are ready, come unto the marriage, is the intimation which the servants of the King, according to His commandment, gave to those who were bidden to the marriage of His Son. Did they regard this kind, this generous invitation as duty and interest required? No. They made light of it, and went their ways, one to his farm, another to his merchandise. They who neglect so great salvation, make light of the gospel. They do not regard it as the way of eternal life; they do not give to it that cordial reception to which it is entitled. The great salvation is neglected by all who enjoy the means of religious knowledge, and yet remain ignorant of the faith once delivered to the saints; by all who do not with the heart believe unto righteousness, how much knowledge soever they may have attained; by all who continue in the love and practice of sin, who profess to know God, but in works deny Him–who do not give to the salvation of their souls the preference to every other object of pursuit.
I. To NEGLECT SO GREAT SALVATION IS A VERY HEINOUS SIN.
1. The dignity of Him by whom the great salvation has been made known to us, illustrates the wickedness of neglecting it.
2. The wickedness which is included in rejecting the gospel of the blessed God our Saviour, is illustrated by the clear and full revelation which it makes of the way of eternal life. The mystery of salvation by the obedience and the death of the Son of God, which was hid from ages and generations, is clearly revealed, and hath appear, d unto all men. The gospel proclaims tidings so good and so interesting, that, on the acknowledged principles of human nature, it seems at first view reasonable to conclude, that to a very faint discovery of them, all whom they concern must give the most earnest heed. How inexcusable, then, must be they who turn away from Him who now speaketh from heaven, proclaiming in the clearest manner, Peace on earth, and good-will to men!
3. The wickedness of neglecting so great salvation is illustrated by the infallible proofs of its Divine origin by which it is recommended to our acceptance. That the gospel is indeed the Word of the living God is established by the most abundant evidence. Do you require evidence to convince you that the gospel which the apostles preached, is, indeed, the great salvation which, at the first, began to be spoken by the Lord? What you require. ,he text supplies in rich abundance. So, then, after the Lord had spoken unto them, He was received up into heaven, and sat on the right hand of God; and they went forth and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them, and confirming the Word by signs following. That the God who cannot lie will not attest what is false, is a self-evident truth. He cannot be deceived, and He will not, He cannot deceive. If, therefore, the God of heaven bears testimony to the doctrine which the apostles published, it must be the great salvation which, at, the first, began to be spoken by the Lord.
II. THE JUST RECOMPENSE OF REWARD WHICH AWAITS THOSE WHO REJECT THE COUNSEL OF GOD AGAINST THEMSELVES.
1. The righteousness of God renders it necessary that, on them who make light of that mercy which the gospel reveals, judgment shall be executed.
2. The condemnation of those who neglect so great salvation must be dreadful beyond conception.
3. The condemnation of those who neglect so great salvation is most certain. (W. Kidston, D. D.)
The inexcusableness of rejecting the gospel
1. Here is the intrinsic goodness and excellency of the thing itself, which wicked men reject; intimated as a just ground why they should not escape unpunished.
2. This further consideration, that the gospel is n express and positive revelation of the will of God, is a very high aggravation of the sin of neglecting so great a salvation.
3. The dignity and excellency of the Person, by and through whom this great salvation is proposed to us is a further aggravation of the sin of rejecting it.
4. The strength and clearness of the evidence, and the number and greatness of the proofs, made use of to assure us of the truth of the gospel, is the highest aggravation of the guilt of those who neglect or disobey it, and that which of all other things renders them the most absolutely inexcusable. (S. Clark. , D. D.)
The guilt of the unconverted in neglecting the offered salvation
I. THE GREATNESS OF THE SALVATION, which every unconverted person despises. It is a deliverance from the eternal ruin due to our sins; from the dominion of sin and Satan on earth, and from the doom of Satan after death; from present terror and from eternal remorse; from the wrath of an infinite Avenger; from a sorrow, which is near at hand, inevitable, intolerable, eternal; from all that thought shrinks to contemplate, and more than the imagination ever conceived. It is, on the other hand, an admission to blessings as vast. To adoption into the family of God; to all the privileges of His believing people; to be loved by Him, watched over, provided for, cheered, consoled, sustained, and guided to glory. It is an invitation to accept the blessings, given after the greatest provocation–a guilt which is incalculable. It is a salvation offered to those, who by the obduracy of their hearts and the ungodliness of their lives, persevered, d in through long years, have deserved that the Lord should exclude them from His favour for ever. It is a salvation provided for such rebellious transgressors at the cost of the death of Christ.
II. WHAT IS IT TO NEGLECT IT? It might seem that it was impossible to neglect a mercy such as this. The traveller, when he is dying of thirst in the desert, does not reject the gushing spring, which, bubbling at his feet, gives him refreshment and life. The prisoner does not hug his chain, and draw back from the sunshine and liberty offered him, to the damps and darkness of his dungeon. The sick man never scorns health. The poor dejected and homeless wanderer would never refuse proffered wealth. Yet it is not only possible to neglect this salvation, but it is too certain that it is very generally neglected–that while the road to perdition is crowded by multitudes, the road to glory is straight and narrow and few there be that find it. To neglect this great salvation is, evidently, not to obtain the blessings which it proposes; by whatever mode that neglect is manifested, in whatever way those blessings are lost, to lose them s to neglect this great salvation. God has offered them to sinners freely; He has set before you plainly the way in which they may be made yours; tie has offered them only in that one way; and therefore if either another way of obtaining them is preferred, or if they are not sought in this way, then is such a person chargeable with neglecting this great salvation.
III. THE GUILT OF NEGLECTING IT. That guilt is clearly implied in the expression in our text, How shall we escape if we neglect it? How shall we escape?–it evidently implies, that there is in it such a guilt as must provoke the severest punishment.
1. In the first place, you despise these blessings. Heaven, and the pardon of your sins, and the renewal of your hearts, and the indwelling Spirit the love of God, a holy and a blameless life, a glorious crown, an immortality of holiness and happiness–all this you despise, But I have a heavier charge to bring against you.
2. It is evil enough to disregard these mercies, but every unconverted person is also guilty of inconceivable ingratitude towards God. (B. W. Noel, M. A.)
The danger of neglecting Christ and salvation
I. THE GOSPEL SALVATION IS GREAT.
1. The deliverance of Noah from the general destruction brought upon the old world was wonderful; but the deliverance of our souls from the deluge of Gods wrath, by the gospel, is greater. The preservation of Lot from the destruction of Sodom was great; but the salvation we obtain by the gospel, from the vengeance of eternal fire, is greater.
2. The Author of this salvation (Isa 9:6), God manifest in the flesh 1Ti 3:16; Isa 59:16).
3. The means (Rom 8:3; Isa 53:8; Heb 9:22).
4. The salvation itself, or the benefits that accrue to believers through Jesus Christ.
(1) We are saved from the guilt of all our sins (Rom 8:1; Act 13:39).
(2) Believers are saved from the power of sin (Rom 6:6; Rom 6:14).
(3) Believers are saved from the contagion of sin (1Jn 3:9; Eze 36:25; Eze 36:29).
(4) They that are delivered from the body of sin and death, are saved, likewise, from fear; from all fear that hath torment (1Jn 4:18; 1Co 15:55; Isa 12:1).
(5) Believers are saved from the power of the grave (1Co Php 3:21).
(6) The saints shall be saved from hell and all misery (Rev 7:17; Psa 16:11).
II. WHO ARE THEY THAT NEGLECT IT?
1. Those who live in any known sin.
2. Those who trust in their own righteousness (Rom 10:3.)
3. Those who do not seek this salvation more than other objects.
III. THOSE WHO PERSIST IN THE NEGLECT OF THIS SALVATION CANNOT ESCAPE PUNISHMENT.
1. In this life conscience condemns them; therefore are they like the troubled sea (Isa 57:20-21). There is a curse on them, and on whatsoever they do.
2. At judgment justice will seize upon them (Rev 6:15-16; Rom 14:12; Pro 2:22).
3. In hell the vengeance of God will still pursue them (Psa 9:17, Rev 21:8).
Application:
1. How glorious is the gospel-scheme of salvation, how far superior to all those wonderful deliverances which God wrought in old times! Christ is our only refuge (Isa 32:2).
2. It is easy to see how heinous a thing sin is in the sight of God; how infinite and inconceivable the love of God is towards sinners (Joh 3:16; 1Pe 3:18).
3. Consider the great, the glorious salvation, which is offered to you by the gospel. Seek it while it may be found (Isa 55:7; Heb 3:7-8; 2Co 6:2).
4. Remember how it shall happen to all those who forget God (Rom 2:8-9; Psa 50:22). Speedily give up all for Christ (Php 3:8).
5. Though you may have neglected this great salvation to the present moment, God is willing and ready to pardon. Great salvation for great sinners (1Ti 1:15; Joh 6:37).
6. Never rest till you lest in Christ. (J. Hannam.)
The certainty that punishment in eternity awaits the unconverted
I. THE WORD OF GOD EXPRESSLY DECLARES THAT GOD WILL PUNISH SINNERS.
II. THE ATTRIBUTES OF GOD, HIS REVEALED PERFECTIONS, NO LESS CERTAINLY SECURE THE PUNISHMENT OF THE SINNER HEREAFTER.
III. We have another and an independent proof that the impenitent sinner must look for a severe retribution when he comes before the judgment of his Maker, derived from THE PAST JUDGMENTS WHICH HE HAS INFLICTED ON ACCOUNT OF SIN.
1. Often have individuals been made to experience the instant vengeance that God takes upon iniquity. Under the Mosaic law the provisions were exceedingly severe, to mark to that people that God abhors transgression.
2. On many occasions God has manifested His anger against sin, towards multitudes at once.
3. Once agate; contemplate a more awful wreck, and a worse disaster yet. Think of those angelic beings, that once were in the presence of God, loving, holy, happy beyond fear, who seemed in their Makers favourite have a shield that would secure them to eternity. Those angels transgressed the wilt of God. And keeping not their first estate they ,re now visited by no mercy, reserved to an eternity of horror. What God has done, why, sinner I should He not do again? How can you plead an exemption from the curse that has rested upon so many?
IV. But there is another fact, still more awful than all–another argument still more potent than these. If every other proof that God will visit iniquity were lost, if His Word were silent, if we otherwise knew not His attributes, if there were no past judgments to point at, still in THE CROSS OF CHRIST YOU would read a manifestation of the wrath of God against iniquity, which must reduce to hopelessness every considerate person still living in sin, or must reduce to silence at the last day every sinner that will cling to delusive hope. For why did Christ die, Because God will manifest how He hates iniquity; because He must–because holiness, justice, truth, goodness, and mercy require that He must–show that He hates sin. (B. W. Noel, M. A.)
The danger of neglecting the great salvation.
I. THE ONLY WAY OF SALVATION FOR SINNERS IS REVEALED BY THE GOSPEL 2Ti 1:10).
1. They must needs be strangers to the great salvation, who slight the gospel that brings the good tidings of it.
2. If the gospel alone brings the tidings of salvation for lost sinners, how thankful should you be to God for this revelation.
3. If the gospel alone brings you the tidings of salvation for lost sinners–a salvation we all needed to hear of and be interested in–then how worthy is it of all acceptation.
II. WHAT THE SALVATION IS, WHICH THE GOSPEL ALONE REVEALS.
III. WHY THE SALVATION REVEALED BY THE GOSPEL IS CALLED GREAT.
1. It is great salvation, as it is the product of infinite wisdom and unerring counsel.
2. From the dignity of the Person that wrought it out.
3. It is a fruit of a great price, even of the obedience and death of Jesus Christ.
4. It is applied by almighty power, against all the opposition, of Satan, of an evil world, and even of the very soul itself who is made partaker of it.
5. It delivers the soul from everything that is evil.
6. It brings the soul from darkness to light, from death to life, from the power of Satan unto God.
7. It is a fruit of great grace.
IV. SOME UNDER THE GOSPEL NEGLECT THE GREAT SALVATION.
1. Notice how the greatest and most dangerous sin under the gospel is described. Neglect not the only remedy, the true riches. It is an injury to Father, Son, and Spirit. It is a high affront offered to the wisdom of God, and to His goodness and grace in Christ.
2. Notice the misery of those that neglect the great salvation. They are condemned already (Joh 3:18).
3. Who are they, among all the hearers of the gospel, that neglect the great salvation?
(1) Such as satisfy themselves with notions of the gospel, and take no care about the transforming virtue of the Word of God upon their souls (1Th 1:5).
(2) Such as have often heard of the danger of sin, yet live in the love and practice of it.
(3) Such as hear of the necessity of an interest in Jesus Christ, but take no care to win Christ and be found in Him.
(4) Such as know their Masters will, and have no heart to do it.
(5) Such as have but a low esteem of the gospel of Christ, and the ordinances of it.
(6) Such as never inquire what they shall do to be saved, how they may escape the wrath to come.
4. Whence is it that some, who are placed by kind Providence under the gospel and ministry, neglect the great salvation?
(1) From the blindness of their minds, and ignorance of their hearts. They are not sensible of their misery, the guilt, bondage, defilement, and poverty that sin has brought them to.
(2) From the atheism of their hearts.
(3) From their natural aversion to the Word and ways of God.
V. THERE IS NO POSSIBLE WAY FOR THEIR ESCAPING ETERNAL MISERY WHO CONTINUE TO NEGLECT THE GREAT SALVATION.
1. Some impenitent sinners hope to escape the wrath of God, Though they neglect the great salvation.
2. Every one under the gospel should exercise their own judgment, reason, and conscience about their present behaviour, under their present trusts, and seriously think what will be the issue of their present carriage.
3. There is no mercy to be shown to impenitent sinners after this life, if they die in their sins.
4. Neglecting the great salvation is the only damning sin.
(1) It is a high affront to each of the Persons in the Holy Trinity.
(2) It is a slight of the only remedy.
5. The punishment that shall be inflicted, at last, upon impenitent sinners, for their neglect of the great salvation, will be found to be just.
(1) God has given them fair warning by His word.
(2) They will receive nothing at the great day but the just fruit of their rebellion against the Lord Jesus Christ.
(3) They will receive nothing but their own wishes and a retaliation of their own language (Job 21:14).
Uses: 1. Inferences.
(1) Hence we see how wonderfully rich the goodness of God is to poor lost mankind, in providing this great salvation for them.
(2) The goodness of God is further displayed in revealing this great salvation to us by the gospel.
(3) We learn hence the sin and folly, the danger and misery of such as sit under the gospel and yet neglect the great salvation.
(4) Such as neglect the great salvation will be found the greatest losers; a greater loss never was or can be sustained.
(5) Those of you who are partakers of this great salvation, you see where your treasure lies, and there your hearts should be also.
2. Examination: Ask your own souls what entertainment the gospel and its salvation have with you. It has been brought to your door; has it been brought to your heart?
3. Exhortations:
(1) Give yourselves time, closely and seriously, to consider the state and wants of your own souls.
(2) Take care and pains to clear up your interest in the great salvation, by the power of the Word of God upon the heart, and by the esteem of the Word of God upon your souls; by your hatred of sin and love of holiness, and by your hungering and thirsting after God the living God, and hearty concern for the salvation of others.
(3) Attend the ministry of the gospel with your affectionate prayers, that God would reveal His arm therewith, and powerfully apply His great salvation to the souls of your poor relations and neighbours.
(4) If you can make out to yourselves that you are partakers of the great salvation, then
(a) Give God the glory of what He has wrought.
(b) Take care to live agreeably to this great grace.
(c) Commend the Lord Jesus Christ and His salvation to others; endeavour to show them the necessity of it.
(d) Put this great salvation into the balance against all the great afflictions, losses, disappointments, and unkindnesses that you may meet with in the world (2Co 4:17; Rom 8:18). (W. Notcutt.)
The danger of neglect
I. OUR DANGEROUS CONDITION.
1. The inquiry, How shall we escape? implies it: bitten, depraved, dead, lest.
2. We need relief–salvation (Isa 53:6; Eze 37:11).
3. We cannot relieve or save ourselves (Job 36:18-19;Psa 49:7).
4. Christ brings salvation to us (Joh 3:16; Mat 1:21; Luk 9:56; 1Ti 2:6).
II. IT IS A GREAT SALVATION.
1. God in Christ is its Author.
2. Jesus is its Finisher.
3. It is plenteous and full (Psa 130:7).
4. It saves from great sins.
5. It saves from greatest dangers.
6. It is free.
7. It is the only salvation. None other name.
8. It is great in heaven. Infinite honours, eternal crown. Kings and priests.
9. It is everlasting (Isa 45:17).
III. THERE IS DANGER OF LOSING IT. Not great sinfulness alone, but simple neglect will destroy your soul. The man in business has but to neglect it to be ruined. The sick man neglects the means of recovery, and he dies. The man on Niagara neglects at the proper time to use the oar, and he plunges over the cataract. Ah, ruinous neglect! Let no one infer because he is moral and truthful, is not a drunkard, an adulterer, a murderer, or some redhanded, black-hearted criminal, that he is safe. Why, if your own morality and goodness were enough to save you, then Jesus need not have suffered and died. Salvation is n t forced upon us. We must make an effort to secure it. We may neglect to make that effort, and be lost. (B. F.Whittemore.)
Neglect of the great salvation
I. THE IMPORTANT SUBJECT COUCHED IN THE FEW BUT EXPRESSIVE WORDS, SO GREAT SALVATION.
1. Its heavenly origin.
2. The extraordinary means by which it is effected.
3. Its boundless fulness and freeness.
4. Its deliverances from evils
5. Its choice and extensive blessings.
II. THE NEGLECT SUPPOSED, AND VIRTUALLY CHARGED UPON US.
III. THE AWFUL CONSEQUENCES THAT MUST ENSUE TO ALL FOUND GUILTY
OF NEGLECTING SO GREAT SALVATION. (Essex Congregational Remembrancer.)
Do not neglect the great salvation
I. The word of the gospel which is preached to us, is THE WORD OF SALVATION.
1. It reveals and announces salvation. It tells us of Gods method of recovery for lost, guilty, sinful man. The gospel is the only revelation of saving mercy. Reason could never have discovered it. Philosophy never could have descried a scheme like this. Nature could never have given us any just conceptions of this subject. We see much of the goodness of God in the brightness of the sun, and in the descent of the shower; in the flowers which cover the earth; but not one word of salvation; not a syllable which relates to the restoration of man, and his deliverance from the deserved wrath which his apostasy has incurred.
2. Instrumentally it effects salvation. It brings salvation near, both to the understanding and to the heart.
3. It is the ordained means of perfecting and preparing the soul for the enjoyment of consummate bliss.
II. This salvation, announced and revealed and brought near in the gospel, is inconceivably GREAT. The apostle does not attempt to describe its greatness; but he wraps up the whole magnificence of his theme in this expression, so great salvation.
1. Think of the stupendous contrivance in which it originated; and it will be found a great salvation.
2. Look at the methods which have been adopted in order to render this salvation sure. Nothing less than the achievements of the eternal Son.
3. Think of the agency employed in securing the application and saving efficacy of this salvation–the Holy Spirit.
4. Think of the all-sufficient credentials and Divine attestations, by which the gospel is recommended to us; and you will easily perceive that it is, ill my text, most justly described.
5. Consider the richness and amplitude of its provisions.
6. I only refer, finally, to the ultimate end which it proposes to effect on behalf of all who are interested it, its benefits. That end is the resurrection of the body from the dust; the glorification of the entire Church; the subjugation of all evil; an eternity of unimaginable bliss.
III. I am to prove to you that THOSE who NEGLECT IT have not the remotest prospect of escape from the entire and hopeless ruin which such neglect inevitably involves.
1. Everything in the reason of the case forbids the hope of escape. Because God Himself has devised this method of recovery; He has revealed it; He has offered it; He has told us plainly, Neither is there salvation in any other than Christ. They who neglect this salvation, then, most perish, upon every principle of equity, and upon every principle of reason. There is a storm gathering. Divine mercy has provided a shelter. You neglect it; and the thunderbolt strikes you prostrate to the ground.
2. Everything in the character of God forbids the hope of an escape. He is a God of justice; and will never compromise the claims of equity in complaisance to the negligence and unbelief of His creatures.
3. There is, moreover, nothing in the Word of God which affords the slightest ground of expectation that this method of salvation discarded any other will be provided. (Heb 10:26.) Lessons:
1. Admire and adore the riches of Divine grace in having provided such a salvation for lost man.
2. How full of terror is this subject to you who are neglecting this salvation.
3. How happy are they who have reached the final end and ultimate enjoyment of that salvation of which we have been hearing; who have believed to the salvation of the soul. (G. Clayton.)
The superiority of Christianity as seen in its claims
I. THE NATURE OF CHRISTIANITYS CLAMS.
1. Their imperativeness.
2. Their personal character.
II. THE IRRETRIEVABLE CONSEQUENCES OF NEGLECTING THE CLAIMS OF CHRISTIANITY.
1. These consequences are suggested analogically.
2. These consequences are based on the intrinsic excellence of Christianity.
3. The character of the sin on account of which these consequences will be inevitably inflicted.
4. That such a sin as neglect must inevitably be followed by serious consequences is very obvious from the laws of our nature.
(1) That of relation between moral appreciation and moral advantage.
(2) That of free agency.
5. That these consequences will follow this sin is seen from the veracity of God.
Lessons:
1. We learn that there are two sides to salvation.
(1) The Divine side, viz., the providing salvation for a lost world.
(2) The human side, viz., the personal acceptance by faith of the salvation thus divinely provided.
2. We learn that, for all practical purposes, the human side is as important as the Divine.
3. We learn that, infinitely great and glorious as salvation is, there is no manifestation of the goodness of lied more easily sacrificed.
4. We learn the unspeakable importance of giving practical heed to the voice of Gods Spirit as He speaks in His Word.
(1) Because neglect is followed by such sad and irretrievable consequences.
(2) Because of the law of habit.
(a) Birds which build their nests in a belfry become habituated to the loudest and longest clangour.
(b) Those who live ill the vicinity or Niagara and cataracts of the Nile become so habituated to the roar of their waters that they do not mind it at all.
(c) Alas! is not this the explanation of the heedlessness to the gospel of thousands in Christendom–they have become too familiar with its sound.
(3) Because of this life being our probationary sphere.
(a) If we die in a state of unbelief we cannot hope for another opportunity.
(b) As we are liable to die any hour, to neglect salvation is of all follies the greatest. (D. C. Hughes, M. A.)
The sin and danger of neglecting the great salvation of the gospel
Whether we look at the source from which salvation originates, or the objects to whom it is extended; at the depth of misery from which it delivers, or at the height of glory to which it exalts; at the long train of prophecies by which it was introduced, or at the stupendous display of miracles by which it was established, we cannot but be deeply impressed with its magnitude and importance. There is one circumstance, however, which wonderfully augments these impressions, the unparalleled excellence and dignity of the Person by whom this salvation was perfected.
I. The first argument which I shall adduce results from THE VERY NATURE AND CONSTITUTION OF THINGS. They who neglect the great salvation of the gospel must, from the necessary connection between causes and effects, he involved in everlasting destruction. For what is the salvation of the gospel? It is salvation from sin. Should the drowning man neglect to lay bold of the only hand stretched out to save him; should the sick man neglect to follow the only prescription which can administer a cure: what, in all these several instances, must be the inevitable consequence? Death. Neglecting to improve the only opportunity vouchsafed to them of procuring the removal of their guilt, they must sink down for ever under the curse and burden of unpardoned sin.
II. Another argument arises from THE PECULIAR AND AGGRAVATED GUILT OF NEGLECTING SO GREAT SALVATION. The gospel is a remedy which we are constrained by the most powerful obligations to apply: a remedy, the neglect of which argues not only the most daring folly, but the most malignant wickedness, and consequently involves a degree of criminality which exhibits in a still stronger light the impossibility of escaping. To neglect the salvation of the gospel is to violate a positive command of God. It is also to pour contempt on His most glorious perfections. The gospel is the richest display of mercy to fallen man, the consummation of the Divine wisdom and love. (E. Cooper, M. A.)
How shall we escape?
I. SALVATION is the grand thought.
1. Consider salvation in its origin. May it not be termed so great salvation? God is its Author. It was planned in the councils of eternity; it is the fruit of infinite wisdom. Great, we own, is creation; greater far is redemption. God creates by the word of His power; He redeems by the blood of His Son; new-creates by the power of His Spirit.
2. Salvation is so great: when we remember its nature. It saves from great sins. Christ is able to save unto the uttermost.
3. It saves from great dangers.
4. There is salvation from great enemies. But we have given only one side of salvation–deliverance. Positive blessings belong to it. Salvation might be termed so great, if it were only for the blessedness it brings to the heart now; in this life; Christs peace, Christs joy, Christs wondrous love. But man has a destiny reaching away into the great eternity. When we think of man as he is, what be deserves, what he well may fear, guilty, depraved, condemned–as he shall be, when purified, glorified–is not salvation rightly styled so great ?
II. Think now of the word NEGLECT. Easy were it to show that such neglect is a great calamity, and a great crime.
1. This neglect is common. Alas! how many ,how their neglect in their lives–by open sin, by contempt of Gods Word, Gods day, Gods house.
2. It is inexcusable. Vain and flimsy as a spiders web are all excuses. The real reason why men neglect so great salvation is because they love this world more than God; time more than eternity; their sins more than their souls.
3. Neglect is foolish. What should we think of a prisoner who should bug the chains that bind him?
4. Neglect is easy. In one sense, it in hard for sinners to perish. God in mercy sets barriers in the way. In another sense, it is an easy thing. Neglect! The man in business does not need to gamble in order to go bankrupt; all he needs is to neglect his business.
5. When we add it is fatal, this brings us to the third word
III. ESCAPE. How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation? (D. S.Brunton.)
The vital question
I. CONSIDER THE CHARACTER DESCRIBED. The man who, amidst the multitude of other anxieties, sets the invitation to a banquet aside, and altogether neglects it, is just as sure of being found absent as the man who distinctly rejects it. There are many who idle a whole lifetime away in a sort of passive indifference to the gospel, and go down to the grave utter strangers to its Saving power. The man who is not diligent in the prosecution of his worldly business is said to neglect it; and so, in like manner, if you do not esteem the salvation of the soul as the one thing needful, if you do not strive to enter in at the straight gate, and give diligence to make your calling and election sure, then know, of a truth, that you are found among those woo are guilty of neglecting it.
II. CONSIDER THE QUESTION HERE PUT. More evil is done, and more injury sustained, through neglect than from any other cause. Escape is utterly and altogether impossible.
1. From the very nature of the case; for the neglect of salvation is just the rejection of the remedy, and if the remedy be releced, what but ruin can await us?
2. From the history of the Divine denyings. If God brought in the flood upon the world of the ungodly, so that they escaped not, how shall we escape? Say not that God is too merciful to inflict the penalty He has threatened; for was God not merciful then, and yet He did not permit them to escape?
3. From the very means employed for our deliverance. If sin were trivial, if the law were flexible, if God were changeable, Christ would never have suffered, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us unto God.
III. CONSIDER THE GUILT OF NEGLECTING THIS GREAT SALVATION. The mariner who refuses to cast his anchor on the rock deserves to suffer shipwreck. The man who declines to accept the bread that is offered to him deserves to die of famine. God has not provided this great salvation at such a mighty expenditure, and left men to sport and trifle with it at their pleasure. (Thos. Mair, D. D.)
Neglect
I. THE MISERY ARISING FROM NEGLECT.
1. In the lower or material realm, e.g., industrial, sanitary, commercial.
2. In the higher or mental and moral realm, e.g., education, religion.
(1) The signs of neglect. Listlessness and dulness, or profligacy and obduracy.
(2) The temptation to neglect. Example, spirit of procrastination, pressure of other claims.
II. THE GUILT OF NEGLECT.
1. It is spiritual suicide.
2. It is ruinous in its influence on others. You say, No danger, when the peril is terrific.
3. It is practical atheism.
4. It is in gratitude to the Redeemer. (Homlist.)
The only plan
I. GOD HAS MADE ABUNDANT PROVISION FOR THE WELFARE OF THE WORLD. So–the descriptive word of a child when failing to set forth in detail an object beyond its ability.
1. Salvation is Gods highest achievement.
2. Supplies all the wants of mankind.
3. Is all-powerful in its influence.
4. Is destined to be universal in its success.
5. Is everlasting in its duration.
II. GODS ABUNDANT PROVISION FOR THE WELFARE OF THE WORLD MAY BE IGNORED. If We neglect implies
1. The freedom of the human will.
2. The deluding power of sin.
3. The futility of mere knowledge.
4. The evil of contempt.
5. The power of self-righteousness.
6. The actual prevalence of carelessness.
(1) Some are totally indifferent.
(2) Some are idly procrastinating.
(3) Some by hoping for the best.
(4) Some because others do.
III. GODS ABUNDANT PROVISION FOR THE WELFARE OF THE WORLD, IF IGNORED, LEAVES MAN HOPELESS. How shall we escape?
1. Man bears in himself the elements of destruction. Born a sinner. Sin will never destroy itself. Powder train laid.
2. Salvation the only remedy. Ark, Brazen Serpent, Cities of Refuge. No other name. Jesus only.
3. Mans effort to appropriate the appointed means is essentially necessary. Wrecked sailor must enter lifeboat; manslayer flee to city of refuge; patient take prescribed medicine.
4. Non-compliance on mans part will result in endless misery. (B. D. Johns.)
The regret of lost souls
In the palace at Versailles as if by the irony of fate, is a famous statue of Napoleon in exile. His noble brow is lowered in thought, his mouth is compressed, his chin is resting upon his breast, and his grand eye gazes into space as if fixed on some distant scene. There is something inexpressibly sad in that strong, pale face. It is said that the sculptor represented Napoleon at St Helena, just before his death. He is looking back upon the field of Waterloo, and thinking how its fatal issue was the result of three hours delay. Those three short hours seem ever to write on the walls of his memory–The summer is ended, the harvest is past! Years rolled on, but the memory of that neglected opportunity follows the great emperor through his life, and haunts him through midnight hours in his sea-girt home. I have sometimes imagined that I could see on some remote and lonely shore of the Lake Avernus a soul haunted by its memories. The battle of lit e is long past, centuries have rolled away, but memory lives. Some lost soul wanders from the rest, where the waves of that gulf beat hopelessly on the far-off shore. The absent eye that gazes over the starless deep, is looking with longing unutterable to the precious time when those who are now in glory held up the blood-stained cross and pointed to the joys of heaven, then so near, now so tar. And a bitter sigh, and a sob as bitter as despairing love, fills the solitude; but it reaches no ear, touches no sympathy, awakes no echo. Such is the vengeance of neglected opportunity. (R. S. Barrett.)
How shall we escape?
By our wealth? Its currency is condemned at the judgment-seat. By our own good deeds? Those deeds have been weighed in the balance, and found wanting. Then how shall we escape? By concealing ourselves? Gods eye penetrates, with its burning glance, all space. Shall we escape in the crowd? Each individual shall be so insulated, as if there were no other creature besides at the judgment-seat. Then how shall we escape? There is but one way, and that escape is incompatible with neglecting the great salvation. Thus he says the gospel is the great salvation. How shall we escape–not, mark you, if we reject so great salvation, but if we neglect so great salvation? The sceptic rejects Christianity; the nominal believer neglects Christianity. Now, I very much question if it be not a greater insult to God to neglect religion than it is to reject it. I can understand that man who says, I have examined all the evidence, and I have come to the conclusion that the Bible is a fable, that Christianity is a romance; eternity, and death, and judgment the visions of a mere baseless dream. I pity him, I deplore his conclusion, but I can understand it; there is consistency about it. But the man that neglects such a religion, if it be true that God has spoken, if it be true that Christ has died for us, if it be true that we must stand at the judgment-seat, if it be true that by His righteousness alone we are justified, is guilty indeed. Such neglect is in the sight of God and man altogether inexcusable. (J. Cumming, D. D.)
The danger of neglect
During the terrible fire in the Ring Theatre at Vienna, a large crowd striving to reach one of the exits saw a sideway marked Emergency Door, in case of Fire. This was just what they needed. They turned aside from the main passages, and rushed to use this special way. But the bolts could not be drawn, the locks could not be turned, and the hinges were choked with rust; because the door had never been used, it could not now be suddenly put into requisition when urgently needed. A heap of dead soon lay before that gate. So, lips which never pray on earth will be speechless in the great day; the prayer for mercy will die unuttered, and the excuse which has been framed on earth will never be offered, when the King asks, How art thou come in hither all unprepared?
An unanswerable question
Many years ago a Welsh minister, a man of God, beginning his sermon, leaned over the pulpit, and said with a solemn air, Friends, I have a question to ask. I cannot answer it. You cannot answer it. If an angel from heaven were here he could not answer it. If a devil from hell were here he could not answer it. Death-like silence reigned. Every eye was fixed on the speaker. He proceeded, The question is this, How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation?
Folly of neglect
A certain man had a long journey before him, which must needs be made in one day, for it would be impossible for him to journey a mile in that country after nightfall, neither was there any place wherein he could lodge on the road. He knew right well that this journey was appointed him, and that it was his duty to perform it; and, moreover, he told his best friends that he was fully determined to set out thereon: but he thought the matter was easier than they seemed to imagine. In his stable there was a fine stud of strong and swift horses suitable for the road, and a carriage stood ready for his riding. The traveller did not set out in the early morning, for he said that there was time enough. Meanwhile, by a certain custom of the country, two of his best horses were taken for the kings service, and this caused the traveller to look about him; but he soon quieted down, sat down to his dishes and his cups, and cried, Whats the good of haste? While thus engaged, more of his horses were lost, or stolen, or else they strayed, and had he then set out and kept well to his journey, he had scarce the means left to accomplish it. Still he waited with his boon companions till one way or another his horses were gone, and he had nothing left to ride upon but a single wretched jade. Then he made much ado about setting out, and meant to fly along the road at a great rate; only it so happened that while he was resolving the sun went down, and he never reached the place where he would have been rewarded with honour and profit. The explanation of the riddle is easy. A man in his early days, with his best years before him, is so foolish as to put off the concerns of his soul till he is older. Years follow years, and yet he delays–delays even when his last worn, and feeble age is all that remains to him, and death comes before it is welcome. Alas, that men should think to perform the most important business of all at a time when all their powers and faculties are failing! Gods service requires all our abilities in the prime of their strength, and it is wicked as well as foolish to put Him off with our leavings, and endeavour to reach heaven on a worn-out steed at the fagend of the day. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Neglect
A traveller always provided himself with a life-preserver, which he kept in constant readiness for use. On the Mississippi an accident occurred which led him to dream of the advantages of precaution. He dreamed that the vessel was disabled, and rushing upon a lee-shore. The passengers, in different moods, awaited the result. Those who had life preservers were composed; while those who had none rushed to and fro in terror and dismay. Some cursed themselves because they did not buy them before they started; others did not apprehend danger; others had them laid away in their trunks, but found them useless through long neglect; others found themselves cheated with a counterfeit article; others were uselessly trying to escape by resting on the life-preservers of others, which could barely support their owners. The scene is one only too common in life.
When the storms come, and the frail vessel is a wreck, how many have secured the true life-preserver, and wait the result in good confidence?
How many are dismayed because unready? (New Cyclopedia of Illustrations.)
Opportunity must be grasped
Some years ago a large river in America became greatly swollen, and a rapid current was thus produced which was very dangerous to venture on, as a terrible fall was only a few miles distant.
A man who had some valuable timber in the stream got into a boat to rescue it. He was, however, soon drawn into the rushing tide. He had not the slightest power to stop or turn the boat, but rapidly it floated down the stream, hurrying him on to a certain destruction. A friend saw his peril, and mounting a fleet horse started for a bridge a few miles below as the only chance to rescue him. Reaching the bridge before the skiff, which came like an arrow towards the arch, he dropped a rope over the surface of the stream and called to the imperilled man to seize it as his only chance of escape. The trembling hand was extended, and with the firmness of a death-grasp clutched the rope as the boat shot by, and soon he was in the arms of his deliverer. This was the arch of mercy to him, which, if once passed, it would have been certain death.
How shall we escape?
It is an appeal to universal reason, to the consciences of sinners themselves; it is a challenge to all their power and policy, to all their interest and alliances, whether they, or any of them, can find out, or can force out, a way of escape from the vindictive justice and wrath of God. It intimates that the neglecters of this great salvation will be left not only without power, but without plea and excuse at the judgment day. (M. Henry.)
Neglect leads to deterioration
Let a certain number of pigeons, of different colours and varieties, be collected and carried to a desert island.
Let them fly wild in the woods and found a colony there. After the lapse of many years let the collector return to the island, when he will find The pigeons all of one colour–a black and white dun, or a dark slaty hue. All the beautiful colours will have vanished. Why? Because they have been neglected. The variations and improvements had been the result of care, nurture, and domestication: neglect has simply had the effect of letting them drop into their original state. So with plants–a rose–a strawberry; it is a natural law. So with man. By neglect his body will lapse into a savage state; his mind to imbecility; his conscience to lawlessness and vice; his soul to atrophy, ruin, and decay. Let him alone, and all the rest will follow. (Proctors Gems of Thought)
Unconscious of peril
As the inhabitants of a little, narrow street in Paris looked out at their doors one morning, they were astonished to see a young woman pacing backward and forward on the top of a six-story house. Their astonishment was changed into alarm when it was discovered that she was unconscious of her peril, and was walking in her sleep! The young creature seemed to be dreaming of an approaching gala day, and was humming a lively air. Again and again she drew near to the very verge of the parapet, and again and again crossed over to the other side of the roof, always smiling, and unconscious of danger. Suddenly her eye was attracted by a light in the house opposite. She awoke instantly; there was a piercing cry, a heavy fall, and all was over. Alas! that this sad incident should have a counterpart in things spiritual still more appalling. The despisers of Gods mercy, who are now dreaming away the brief remaining portion of their existence, will be aroused suddenly from their guilty slumber by the light which bursts in upon them from the other world, but only to discover the fearful precipice on which they have so long been standing, and when escape from ruin will be impossible. (J. N. Norton, D. D.)
Neglect–not gathering up
Bear in mind the teaching that lies hid in the derivation of the word neglect. It signifies not to gather up. It paints to us the blind man walking through a valley of diamonds, and in his ignorance gathering up none. And when, in their ignorance, men do not avail themselves of the riches of Gods grace, placed within their reach, how can they escape the results of their folly?
Danger of delay
A lady had a very important lawsuit on hand for which she needed the services of an advocate. She was strongly urged to secure the help of a verse eminent and well-known lawyer, but she could not make up her mind to entrust her case to any one. Time passed on, and at last she was compelled to take steps to secure an advocate, and called upon the great lawyer who had been mentioned to her. He listened whilst she expressed her wish to engage his help, but in a few minutes he said with a grave face, Madam, you are too late; had you come to me before, I would gladly have been your advocate, but now I have been called to the bench, and am a judge, and all I can do is to pass judgment upon your case. Now is the day of grace, and the Lord Jesus Christ is our Advocate, ever pleading the merits of His precious blood (1Jn 2:1-2), but the day will come when He will be the Judge of sinners, and must pass sentence upon them (2Ti 4:1).
Neglect
It is the neglected wheel that capsizes the vehicle, and maims for life the passengers. It is the neglected leak that sinks the ship. It is the neglected field that yields briers instead of bread. It is the neglected spark near the magazine whose tremendous explosion sends its hundreds of mangled wretches into eternity. The neglect of an officer to throw up a rocket on a certain night caused the fall of Antwerp, and postponed the deliverance of Holland for twenty or more years. The neglect of a sentinel to give an alarm hindered the fall of Sebastopol, and resulted in the loss of many thousand lives.
So great salvation
Great salvation–an appeal
I. AS SINNERS YOU ARE EXPOSED TO IMMENSE DANGER
1. Ever augmenting.
2. Self-created.
3. For ever unavoidable after death.
II. TO DELIVER YOU FROM. THIS DANGER HEAVEN HAS INTRODUCED A GLORIOUS EXPEDIENT. Great, because of
1. The great facts it involves.
2. The immense influence it exerts upon the universe.
3. The infinite blessings it secures to those who will accept it.
III. THE NEGLECT OF THIS GLORIOUS EXPEDIENT BENDERS SALVATION IMPOSSIBLE.
1. Because it is the only expedient now on earth that can effect your deliverance.
2. Because it is the only expedient that will ever be presented to you by Heaven for the purpose. (Homilist.)
The gospel and its Rejectors
I. THE ABSURDITY OF NEGLECTING THE GOSPEL SALVATION. This appears if we consider
1. Its gratuity.
2. Its greatness.
3. Its endurance.
4. Its relation to us.
5. Its singleness.
II. THE IMPOSSIBILITY FOR GOSPEL REJECTORS TO ESCAPE ETERNAL PUNISHMENT.
1. The inseparable connection between sin and punishment.
2. Gods veracity.
3. Gods almightiness.
4. Gods justice.
5. The nature of Heaven. (Homilist.)
Great salvation
1. It was a great thought in the heart of God.
2. It required a great preparation.
3. It exhibited great condescension.
4. It gives occasion to study a great mystery.
5. It exacted great sufferings.
6. It ensures a revenue of great glory. (H. T. Miller.)
The greatness of salvation
The word salvation occurs in the Bible under a variety of significations. When the children of Israel had just been delivered out of Egypt, and were brought to a stand-still before the Red Sea, Moses said to them–Stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord. Now, in what did that salvation consist? It consisted in this–in a temporary delivering of them out of their trouble, by making a path through the depths of the sea. The Lord delivered them then with a great salvation. Further, you remember that our Lord, on His visit to Zacchaeus, seeing how he was escaping from the bonds of that passion for ill-gotten lucre, exclaims, This day is salvation come unto this house. That was a great salvation–a deliverance from the thraldom of sin, by the introduction of the freedom wherewith Christ makes His people free. And there remains another appropriate use of the term. We are kept by faith unto salvation: to be redeemed and brought into that glorious state, where the white-robed ones stand–that city, in which we shall not only be saved, as we are now, but in a perfect state of salvation. That, also, is meant at times in the Scripture, when the word salvation is employed. Now, it becomes us to inquire which of these three senses are here conveyed by the words of our text. It seems to me that it comprehends all three; that is to say, all that is needed for the first liberation of man from sin; all that is needed of temporal deliverance to keep him from failing, and to enable him to persevere unto the end; and all that is comprehended in the hereafter, and not-to-be-revealed glory that remaineth for the people of God. Each of the three are great salvation, and, combined, they make the so great salvation. How shall we escape, if we neglect this so great salvation? Now, I think there are several things which will plainly prove that this is a great salvation.
I. First of all–as A SCHEME, a plan, to work out a Divine purpose–as a Divine scheme and plan, I maintain it is a great salvation.
1. If I examine the wisdom of the scheme–the plan of the scheme–here I come in contact with a wisdom of no finite being: it is the wisdom of the Divine Being Himself; it is infinite wisdom; the mint-mark has Heavens royal stamp, and the image and superscription are more than Caesars; they are those of the King of kings Himself. Now this wisdom is displayed in a threefold manner.
(1) First, in grappling with a difficulty in which no man can succeed. We can deal with our fellow-creatures bodies; we can deal with their minds; but their souls are encased as in triple steel; and whenever man has begun to touch sin, the only thing he has done has been to burn his own fingers, without putting that firebrand out of the world. Sin is everywhere, and man has never been able to cast it out. It stands, and ever will stand, till a Divine power shall come to cast it out. Now God has found out the way of accomplishing this, and He has devised a scheme which, in His hand, shall make this wide world to be covered with His glory, even as the waters cover the deep. That is one thing in which I detect the wisdom of God; He has accomplished that which has ever defied the wisdom of the wisest, and the might of the mightiest.
(2) Something further is to be noticed–God has done this with a wisdom so great, that He has foreseen all that He has purposed to do, and everything He has done, and has not left undone anything that He has purposed.
(3) Let me observe, again, that the wisdom of this scheme is something so great, that not a single wrong is done to any one. God has rest ,red the false note in the great organ of the universe, without staying its tune, or hindering the harmony of the music of the spheres; and He has done it all with a wisdom so infinite, that we must exclaim. This is indeed a s, great salvation.
2. But now, join that wisdom with love–think of the low, as well as the wisdom, and then you will have further heightened the thought.
II. Now, it is a great salvation, not only because of the scheme, but also because of THE AIM IN VIEW, and the objects which it purposes to perform. Christ came, not merely to save man from sin, and from Satan–not merely to save man from going down to the pit without ransom, though that would ha, e been a great salvation. Christ comes, we say, to destroy sin; but how? By bringing in a righteousness that shall far surpass the righteousness of men. He comes to destroy death; but how? By bringing life and immortality to light. He comes to destroy the works of the devil; and how? By doing the works of Him that sent Him, and the great salvation He brings in, has, for its end and aim, not merely the putting of man into the garden of Eden, where he was before the Fall but to put him in possession of life and immortality itself.
III. We exclaim again, It is a great salvation, from THE MEANS that have been used for the working-out of the scheme, and from the original end and aim proposed. And here I might begin at the beginning, but how can we go back to the countless ages of eternity? and time would certain, fail us, if I were to begin at the creation of the world, for it all has been but the theatre for the working-out of this great salvation. I would come down to the time of the Jews, and would see there all the wonders of the life of Abraham, and of Abrahams descendants. All these things formed part of the working-out of the scheme, for the Jews were like the scaffolding which needed to be erected, that there might be raised, inside of it, a true and living structure, which is to abide for ever. The Jewish race, with its wondrous history, has but served as the pinnacle for the erection and for the display of the cross thereupon. But we must narrow our limits again. Let us now start from Bethlehem; and there, in the stable of a lowly inn, we see a babe; small it is, but yet great ; the Son of Mary, and the Son of the Highest. He whom even the heaven of heavens cannot contain, is there, wrapped in that veil of our inferior clay. As I look upon that deep mystery, and see there that Child of God, I see also and adore the man my fellow–Christ in the flesh–God incarnate. I see there a mighty deed thatstamps this salvation with a greatness of His own. I pass by all the after-wonders of His life, and come to the cloning scene, when He hangs upon the cross. I look at that bleeding man, and I exclaim, How is it?–it is the blood of God–for I find the Scripture saying, The Church of God, which He has purchased with His blood. How it is I cannot tell; but there is a Divine efficacy in the death and blood of Christ.
IV. Fourthly, let us look at these facts taken as a whole, and as LYING AT THE FOUNDATION OF OUR RELIGION. Now reason could never discover a religion; I say that reason does tell us this–it is the best religion the world ever has seen, or can see. There are three things that we must find in every religion to make it great. It must reveal a God, worthy of the highest honour ; it must give benefits to the worshippers ; and it must establish a connection between the two. If it does not reveal a God, it is worthless. If it reveals a God, but He is not worthy of the highest honour, I say it is a weak religion–away with it. Now our religion is this: Glory to God in the highest–glory in the scheme, glory in the working-out, glory in the end proposed. (C.H. Spurgeon.)
The great salvation
I. THE CHARACTER OF THIS SALVATION.
1. It is worthy of the character given to it, if you consider the method of its contrivance.
2. It is a great salvation in the manner of its execution. Amazing love!
3. It is a great salvation in the blessing it secures.
4. In the manner of its bestowment. It regards us as we really are, poor and wretched; and without insulting us in our poverty, it invites us–nay more, it commands us–to come and take of the water of life freely. Were the smallest good required of you in exchange for this blessing, we might then calculate on your neglecting this great salvation, on the plea that you were destitute of what you were required to give for it. But you are invited to receive it without money and without price
5. In the countless multitudes who shall be brought to participate in it.
II. CONSIDER ITS REFERENCE TO US.
1. It demands great attention.
2. It should be embraced with great thankfulness.
3. Its refection will be accompanied with great condemnation.
God could devise no method more safe, more honourable, more glorious for a sinner’s salvation, than the method exhibited in the gospel. Grace in its richest character, mercy in its brightest form are here displayed. But the greater the grace, the richer the mercy, and the more free and generous the invitation, the greater will be the guilt of him who rejects it. (Essex Congregational Remembrancer,)
The great salvation
I. SALVATION. Now, suppose that I were on the bank of a river, and were to see some child or some fellow-man struggling in the stream; if I were to use my best endeavour to help that fellow-creature out of the water, and if I were successful in that attempt, it would be a salvation. Or, if I were to find some fellow-man suffering from a dreadful disease for which I had a specific, and I were to come and administer this specific to that man, and he were to recover from that disease, that would be a salvation. I am about to speak to you of a salvation of a different kind–not f a salvation from mere bodily death not of a salvation from bodily disease–but of a salvation from all the ills which soul, and spirit, and body are heirs to–a salvation from everything that blights and blasts our fallen human nature. 1. The salvation upon which I speak is the deliverance from ignorance of the true God. That ignorance, you know, is just like a dense darkness at a time when a man wants light, and in the place where a man wants light, and under circumstances where the shining of light is essential to a man. The man who is saved knows something of God, of our Father in heaven: t e knows enough of God for his present well-being, and for his present well-doing. That is one part of salvation. Now there is another.
2. I do not know how it is, but so it is, as we believe, that every one born into, this world is inclined to do wrong. God made such an arrangement when He created our first parents, that if they had done right, right dispositions would have been communicated. You sometimes see a very amiable mother and a very amiable daughter ; there is a disposition communicated the one from the other. Now, on account of that arrangement, when our first parents went wrong and they had children, the children received from them a wrong disposition–a disposition to do that which is had-that which is evil and it is within us all. Is there anything more common than to hear people say, I shall do as I like; don’t meddle with me, I shall do as I please? Now that is the very essence of sin. Any creature who begins to say, I will do as I like, falls immediately. If the brightest and best of the angels from around Gods throne were at this moment to say, I will do as I like, and were to begin to turn to his own way and to carry out the desired devices of his own heart, he would be immediately a fallen angel, and heaven would be no paradise to that being. What is this salvation? It is a salvation from the Ill do as I like principle,–from the Ill do what I please principle. It is deliverance from that. Itis the creation within us of another spirit, and of a new heart in that matter, and the question then is, Saviour, what shall I do? Saviour, how shall I speak? Saviour, how shall I live? Saviour, what shall I work at? Saviour, where shall I abide? Where shall I travel? What will be my occupation? Saviour, in all things what shall I do? That also is part of salvation. Some people, you know, especially some people with a profession of religion, think that their consciences always are right. You see such an one doing something that you think is very bad, something that the Bible condemns. You open the Bible and point to a text, and say to him, There, that passage says you are wrong. But he will probably really, I cannot be very wrong, for I did such and such a thing conscientiously. Now, suppose I were in the position of some of you who have places of business, and that I employed errand-boys to assist me in that business, and I required of a lad that he should always be at the shop at six oclock in the morning; and suppose he had a miserable sort of time-piece that was always two hours behind the time of day. I chide the lad for being two hours behind time, and he brings forth to me his old wretched thing of a watch, and shows me that its hands point to the hour of six, but I tell him that, according to the position of the sun in the skies, it is eight oclock. He argues with me, But my watch says it is six! Then, what I should say to him would he, Unless you are mocking me I require that you get your watch regulated, and take care that on the face of that watch there is always a correct index of the true time. Just so I say to people who do wrong, and justify their wrong-doing by reference to their conscience. Conscience is a thing amongst mankind which is as often wrong as a bad clock or as a bad watch, and consciences need mending–need rectifying. Now, salvation is to put a mans conscience right, so That it answers to the will of God, and to the pleasure of God, and is an index of what is right and of what is wrong. That is another part of salvation. I need not say to you that we are all hurrying onward to the grave, and that after death comes the judgment. Now, we carry with us, unless we are saved the guilt of the first sin we committed when we begin to say I will and I wont, and the guilt of all the sins committed throughout life. If we pass unsaved into the future state, we carry the guilt of all the transgressions with us to the bar of God. Now, you know that God must do one of two things: He must either forgive sin or punish it. He cannot pass it by. Oh, what must be the weight of His arm when it strikes the transgressor to punish! We cannot wonder that in the place of punishment there is weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth.
3. Now, this salvation is deliverance from such punishment. A man who is saved not only knows God, not only obeys God, but is free from all danger of future misery. God has cast his transgressions into the depths of the sea. They are beyond the arm and beyond the sight of any creature. That is salvation. There are fifty other things that might be said about the salvation if we were professing to speak of it fully, but we only intend to give you two or three illustrations of what it is.
Now observe it is great. Why?
1. First, because it comes from a great God; because it comes from that great Gods great heart; because it comes from the great grace of the great heart of that great God. That is why it is great.
2. It is brought down to us from that great Gods great heart and from His great grace by a great and personal Saviour.
3. It is a great salvation because it compasses all our wants, all our woes, all our trials, all our temptations, all the ills to which we are heir.
II. NEGLECT. Suppose we were to-night in an excursion train instead of being here, and suppose a train were just behind us–an express train. And suppose that the man at the last station had forgotten to stop that train, to signal it, or to tell the driver that the excursion train was before him and that he must go gently. Suppose he forgot it–that he was occupied with other matters so entirely as to forget it. What would be the effect of that neglect? Into our train would come dashing the express train. And what would be the consequence? Terrific loss of life. Or say that I am suffering from high fever. My medical attendant sends me medicine which he requires to be taken to me immediately. Say that some person in my house neglects to give me that medicine and I remain being consumed by the fever through the night. That person might nut intend to injure me; it might be very far from his wish; but the neglect does the injury. My fever rages, burns, and consumes, and before morning light, I am upon the very brink of the grave. We see what mischievous consequences may flow from neglect. If a person acre to put a bar of iron across the metals of the line upon which we were travelling, and do it with the purpose of upsetting the train, that would involve the most serious consequences. But we have seen that neglect does it without any bad intention. If a person were to administer poison intentionally, that would destroy life; but we have seen that the neglect in not giving the medicine might be the means of terminating life quite as really and effectually as the administering poison itself. Now I want your attention to this, for the text says, How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation?
III. Any day may bring forth such a change in your circumstances, as that you shall see no way of escape. To-day shows you AWAY OF ESCAPE, a place of repentance. To-day exhibits to you the great salvation: To-morrow may see you in such a position as that no way of escape can ever exist for you, and you may say in the agony of despair, How can I escape, for I have neglected Gods great salvation? (S. Martin, D. D.)
Neglectful of salvation
I. Those persons may certainly be numbered among this class WHO ARE SLUMBERING OVER THEIR IMMORTAL INTERESTS, and who are satisfied to be indifferent to the claims of the gospel, so long as they can be accused of no outrageous offence against it. On every principle of equity, great benefits deserve great and anxious labours and struggles to possess ourselves of them. The man would be accounted guilty of egregious toll,, who, having the opportunity to send forward his goods to their destination on strong and fleet horses, should insist on engaging for the purpose such as were worn out and helpless; but not so foolish as those who are wasting the days of health and vigour in indecision and idleness, and who are expecting to work out their everlasting salvation in the season of sickness and decrepitude.
II. The charge of neglecting this great salvation must also be brought against those WHO ARE MERELY NEUTRALS in the cause of God.
III. All those living in Christian lands may be said to neglect salvation WHO FAIL TO MAKE IT THEIR FIRST AND GREATEST CONCERN.
IV. Those persons are neglecting this great salvation WHO DO NOT USE GODS OWN APPOINTED MEANS FOR SECURING IT. (J. N. Norton, D. D.)
The great salvation by Jesus, Christ
I. WHAT IS MEANT BY THE WORD SPOKEN BY ANGELS ?
1. The law, unquestionably, as contradistinguished from the gospel.
2. When in this connection we speak of law as contradistinguished from gospel, we men that rule of moral conduct, of both heart and life, to which God exacts perfect obedience from all His intelligent creatures.
3. The law has not been abrogated by the introduction of the gospel; nor have its claims been alienated, or its sanctions abolish d.
4. To perceive the force of the apostles argument it is necessary to notice the prominence he gives to the penal character of the law. Eve, y transgression and disobedience received a just recompense of reward.
5. The just recompense of reward is this penalty. A recompense, says Mr. Benson, proportionable to the crime, according to the judgment of God, width is infinitely just and equal, and implies that they who commit sin are worthy of death. Death is the penalty of the law: The soul that sinneth, it shall die.
II. WHAT IS MEANT BY THE EXPRESSION, SO GREAT SALVATION?
1. The whole system of Christianity.
2. The theme of the gospel is salvation by Jesus Christ. It is founded in Him. Other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ. He is the Author and Finisher of our faith;–the Author of eternal salvation to all them that obey Him. Of the whole system of the gospel, he is the Alpha and the Omega. The gospel is a remedial system. It proposes satisfaction to the claims of justice by a propitiatory offering for sin. By this offering we were redeemed, bought back from the bondage of sin and the penal sentence of the law.
3. Eternal life, with all the means and provisions necessary to its attainment, is ascribed to the atonement.
4. To be thus saved, we must come to God through Christ. Whosoever shall call upon the name, &c. We must receive Him by faith: Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, &c. All who slight these requirements, neglect this great salvation.
5. All this, remember, upon which eternal life is offered to sinful man, is through the atonement by Jesus Christ; and is the only remedy God has provided against the penalty of the law.
6. But the text asserts the possibility and danger of failing to receive this gracious gift of God, everlasting life through Jesus Christ our Lord, by neglecting the gospel. Eternal life is suspended upon terms and conditions set forth in the gospel; and, to insure it, intense application to these is necessary, lest anything essential to that end should be permitted to slip, and the soul be left under the power of eternal death. How tremendous the motive to give the more earnest heed! They neglect this great salvation who are indifferent to its terms and provisions, and slight the offer of pardon it makes to the guilty. Their indifference shows that they are not influenced by that sense of the guilt of sin, without which they cannot be fit subjects for pardon, in any way consistent with the purity and integrity of the moral government of God.
III. THE CONCLUSION DEDUCED FROM THE RELATION IN WHICH THE GOSPEL OF THE GRACE OF GOD STANDS TO THE LAW, which is steadfast in its claims of justice strikes us with all the force of moral demonstration.
1. From what has been said, it is evident that everlasting life, as the gift of God through our Lord Jesus Christ, is the only remedy against eternal death, which is the penalty of the law.
2. Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea we establish the law. In the terms of both the law and the gospel, God deals with man as a moral agent. (S. Luckey. D. D.)
The elements of persuasion in the gospel salvation
The apostle does not attempt to tell us just how great salvation is. He probably felt respecting it much as he did in regard to the love of Christ, that it has a breadth and length and depth and height, which passeth knowledge. He could therefore express his views of it no better than by giving utterance to the words–so great salvation. Great it certainly is; so great, that we can conceive of none greater. I wish now to direct attention to some of the elements of impression and persuasion contained in it.
1. The salvation of the gospel commends itself, by the fact that it comes to you as a direct personal concern. You need this salvation, and your immortal all is involved in your acceptance of it in faith and love.
2. The salvation of the gospel embodies great and affecting truths; and this is another element of persuasion which it brings to bear on the mind and heart of man. First of all it unveits the character of God to your view in a new and most affecting light. It calls you to look to Him, not merely in the character of a righteous lawgiver, moral governor, and just judge, but of a kind and merciful father, calling you to His love, and proffering you pardon and everlasting happiness in Christ the Mediator. It holds up to your view the great truth that this Christ, the Son of God, has interposed in your behalf, has been in the world on your account, has by His sufferings and death made atonement for sin, and opened a way whereby God can justify and save you consistently with His holiness, His justice and His truth. And while thus the great salvation reminds you of the everlasting love of God, and of the infinite grace and kindness of the Saviour, it sets before you another truth in the most impressive light–I mean the truth of your own lost and utterly helpless condition as a sinner. In the very fact of offering you mercy it proclaims you condemned, and in seeking to raise you to life and heaven it shows you to be exposed to death and hell. It also presses on your attention another great truth–theft of the helping agency of the Holy Spirit, whose office it is to take of the things of Christ and show them unto men; who visits the heart and the conscience with His tender, awakening influence, and mercifully guides to peace and hope all who listen to His voice and yield to the drawings of His love.
3. It is another element of impression and persuasion in the salvation of the gospel that it is perfectly free and gratuitous. If you were continued in hopeless bondage in a strange land, with no hope of self-deliverance, and one unsolicited, a prince of royal blood, should, at a great expense of treasure and toil, procure your release and send you a document to that effect, the transaction would strike you as one of great kindness, and you could not fail, unless you had a heart of stone, to be deeply affected with a sense of indebtedness to so generous a benefactor. Now it is on tibia wise that the salvation of Christ comes to you. It is an unsolicited favour; it was procured at an infinite price; it offers you deliverance, complete and eternal, from the most terrible form of bondage–the bondage of sin and death–and all as a gratuity.
4. The salvation of the gospel has great power of appeal to the heart and mind of man.
5. Let us notice next the results at which the salvation of the gospel aims. Pardon, peace, joy in believing, reconciliation to God, adoption into His family, &c., in this present life. But who can speak of the results of salvation, as they will be developed in the kingdom of everlasting glory and blessedness? Salvation completed is everlasting happiness; happiness in the presence of God and the Lamb–pure, perfect, all satisfying; an exceeding and eternal weight of glory; fulness of joy and pleasures for evermore in the presence of the infinite Father, in the society of angels, and of just men made perfect.
6. Another element of impression and persuasion in this salvation lies in the fact that the offer of it is made to you only for a short time; and when withdrawn there is no more hope for eternity. (J. Hawes, D. D.)
The greatness of the gospel salvation
I. GOD HAS BY THE GOSPEL MADE SO EFFECTUAL PROVISION FOR OUR HAPPINESS, THAT NOTHING BUT OUR OWN NEGLECT CAN RENDER IT MISERABLE.
1. How great, how glorious a felicity, how adequate to the desires of a reasonable nature, is revealed to our hopes in the gospel.
2. What care and solicitude God has expressed for our attainment of it.
3. Upon how gracious reims of duty it is promised to us.
II. SINCE GOD HAS TAKEN SO GREAT CARE FOR OUR SALVATION, IT IS MOST REASONABLE THAT MEN SHOULD BE CAREFUL TO PERFORM THEIR PART OF THIS WORK, AND NOT NEGLECT IT THEMSELVES.
III. THEY WHO NEGLECT IT, HAVE NO EXCUSE FOR THE CRIME, BUT MUST EXPECT THE SEVEREST RESENTMENTS OF DIVINE JUSTICE. The direction, then, is sufficiently clear, and the duty required by it adjusted to the powers of our nature; neither ignorance, nor inability can be pretended; and what plea can we offer to Divine justice to prevent condemnation? (J. Rogers, D. D.)
Of the means of salvation
A sinner having heard that sin deserves Gods wrath and curse, the question that natively follows is, What way one may escape them? This is answered by the weighty question in the text, How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation? Which we may take up in these two things.
(1) There is no escaping for sinners, if they neglect the great salvation; they perish without remedy.
(2) They that do not neglect it, shall surely escape. Here let us consider
1. The danger sinners are in by their sin.
2. The way how they may escape; namely, by not neglecting, but falling in with the great salvation. The words intimate
(1) That there is a possibility of escaping; sinners are not shut up hopeless under the curse.
(2) The way of escape is not by fleeing from the Judge, and the execution of His sentence: nay, He is omniscient and omnipresent; one cannot outwit Him, or get away from His sight, or out of His reach. Nor is it by resisting, for He is omnipotent, and none can outbrave Him, nor make head against Him. But he may escape by falling in with the means of escape appointed by Himself, and required by Him to be made use of by us. It is neglected by unbelief, impenitency, and not using the means prescribed. On the contrary, then, He requires of us faith and repentance, which are the substance of the gospel (Act 20:21); and He requires of us the use of the means by which the salvation held forth in the gospel is obtained (Pro 8:34); for surely they neglect and slight the gospel, who do not believe, repent, or use the ordinary means of obtaining the salvation.
I. THE NECESSITY OF FAITH IN JESUS CHRIST, in order to escape the wrath and curse of God due for sin.
1. There is no pleasing God without it (Heb 11:6).
2. It is the great duty of the gospel, whereby one is made partaker of the remedy provided, and without which neither your persons nor performances can be accepted.
3. It is that which enters one into the covenant of peace; unites him with Christ and by which he comes to partake of all saving benefits.
4. Salvation and damnation turn upon this very point (Mar 16:16).
II. THE NECESSITY OF REPENTANCE.
1. The Word of God certifies us, that whosoever does not repent shall perish (Luk 13:5). Your souls then, lie at stake.
2. Heavens door is bolted against all impenitent sinners; it is not so wide as to let in a sinner with a burden of unrepented of guilt upon his back Rev 21:27).
3. Repentance is the other duty of the gospel; thereby signifying that without repentance there is no possibility but we must perish under Gods wrath and curse. John Baptist preached repentance, so did Christ Himself, the apostles, &c. How can one think then to escape without it?
4. True faith does always bring along with it true repentance (Zec 12:10).
III. ARE FAITH AND REPENTANCE IN MENS POWER, SINCE GOD REQUIRES THEM OF THEM? They are not. For Gods demands of us are the measure of our duty, but not of our strength, which reaches not to these. For
1. They are the gifts of God, and the operations of His special grace Eph 1:19; Act 5:31).
2. Sinners by nature, and in themselves, can do nothing which is good, and therefore cannot believe nor repent (Joh 15:5).
IV. THE CONNECTION BETWIXT FAITH AND REPENTANCE, AND ESCAPING THE WRATH AND CURSE OF GOD DUE TO US FOR SIN. Those who believe and repent shall certainly escape (Joh 5:24; Eze 18:30; Rom 8:1). In the moment the sinner comes into Christ, he is no more liable to eternal wrath, nor to the curse; for he is not under the law, but under grace: and the utmost he is liable to, is fatherly chastisements (Psa 89:30-33). Thus faith and repentance have the connection of appointed means prescribed by God Himself, which, by His blessing, are rendered subservient to this great end of obtaining salvation.
V. THE NECESSITY OF USING ALL THE OUTWARD MEANS WHEREBY CHRIST COMMUNICATETH TO HIS PEOPLE THE BENEFITS OF REDEMPTION.
1. God has peremptorily required this (Luk 13:24).
2. We hare no ground to expect grace or salvation but in the use of the Pro 8:34).
3. The neglect of the means is a contempt of the thing. If we would be healed, we would lie at the pool. If not, we say we care not for cure. And there is required here, not a careless or merely superficial use of the outward means, but a diligent one; that is an embracing of every opportunity that God in His providence gives us for attending upon them, a careful improvement of them, and a looking earnestly to Him for His blessing upon them. (T. Boston, D. D.)
Gods scheme of salvation as a great harbour
After a wild night, we have gone down to the harbour, over whose arms the angry waves have been dashing with boom of thunder and in clouds of spray. Outside the sea has been tossing and churning; cloudwrack driving hurriedly across the sky; the winds howling like the furies of olden fable. But within those glorious walls, the barks which had put in during the night were riding in safety; the sailors resting, or repairing rents in sail and tackle, whilst the waters were unstirred by the storm raging without. Such a refuge or harbour is a fit emblem of salvation, where tempest-driven souls find shelter and peace.
1. It is great in its sweep.
Sufficient to embrace a ruined world. Room in it for whole navies of souls to ride at anchor. Space enough for every ship of Adams race launched from the shores of time. He is the propitiation for the whole world. Whosoever will. Already it is becoming filled. There a vessel, once maimed by seven devils, a pirate ship, but captured by our Emmanuel, and at her stern the name, Mary of Magdala. And here one dismasted, and almost shattered, rescued from the fury of the Maelstrom at the last hour; on her stern the words, The Dying Thief. And there another, long employed in efforts to sap the very walls of the harbour, and now flying a pennon from the masthead, Chief of Sinners and Least of Saints.
2. It is great in its foundations. The chief requisite in constructing a sea-wall is to get a foundation a which can stand unmoved amid the heaviest seas. The shifting sand must be pierced down to the granite rock. But this harbour has foundations mighty enough to inspire strong consolation in those who have fled to it for refuge (Heb 6:18). The promise, and as if that were n t enough, the oath of God.
3. It was great in its cost. By the tabular bridge on the Menai Straits stands a column, which records the names of those who perished during the construction of that great triumph of engineering skill. Nothing is said of the money spent, only of the lives sacrificed. And so, beside the harbour of our salvation, near to its mouth, so as to be read by every ship entering its enclosure, rises another column, with this as its inscription: Sacred to the memory of the Son of God, who gave His life a sacrifice for the sin of the world.
4. It has been great in its announcement. The announcement of the law was by angels. The announcement of the gospel was by the Son. If the one were august, what must not the other have been? If the one were made sure by the most tremendous sanctions, what should not be said of the other? Proclaimed by the Lord; confirmed by apostles and eye-witnesses; testified to by the Almighty Himself, in signs and wonders, and gifts of the Holy Ghost. How dare we treat it with contumely or neglect?
5. It will be great in its penalties.–The tendency of our age is to minimise Gods righteous judgment on sin. It seems to be prevalently thought that, because out dispensation is on, of love and mercy, therefore there is the less need to dread the results of sin. But the inspired writer here argues in precisely a contrary sense. Just because this age is one of such tender mercy, therefore sins against its King are more deadly, and the penalties heavier. In the old days no transgression, positive, and no disobedience, negative, escaped its just recompense of reward: and in these days there is even less likelihood. (F. B. Meyer, B. J.)
Confirmed unto us
Of confirming the Word
Though Christs own publishing of the gospel were sufficient to make it worthy of all acceptation, yet it is said to be confirmed. That is confirmed which is further proved, or fulfilled, or made more sure and certain. Thus Christ is said to confirm the word of His apostles with signs (Mar 16:20), and God by sending His Son to confirm the promises made to the fathers (Rom 15:8). That also which is kept from failing or from being altered, is said to be confirmed. So God doth confirm His unto the end (1Co 1:8), and establish 1Co 1:21), and we are called upon to be established with grace (Heb 13:3). But that which Christ spake needed not in any such respect to be confirmed. He is a faithful and true witness Rev 3:14). He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life (Joh 14:6), that only true way that leadeth unto life. So there was no fear of any uncertainty, or of any failing in His Word. Christs Word, therefore, was con-fired for these and other like reasons.
1. Because He was not at all times, in all places present with His Church to urge and press His Word upon them. For this end He sent forth in His life time disciples to preach (Luk 9:2; Luk 10:1). And after His ascension He gave apostles and others for the perfecting of the saints (Eph 4:11-12).
2. Because of our weakness, Christ confirmed His Word, to support us, that we might have strong consolations. For this end God confirmed His promise by an oath (Heb 6:17-18).
3. Because of the commendable custom of men, who used to confirm their own words by the consent and testimony of others. Thus St. Paul in the inscriptions of his epistles joins with himself Sosthenes (1Co 1:1), Timothy (2Co 1:1), Silvanus and Timothy (1Th 1:1), Timothy with the bishops and deacons (Php 1:1), all the brethren which were with him (Gal 1:2).
4. Because by Gods law and mans, at the mouth of two or three witnesses every word shall be established (Deu 19:15). Thus Christs Word was confirmed:
(1) In that there were many witnesses of the same truth wherein they all agreed (Luk 24:48; Act 2:32).
(2). In that such as despised Him in His life-time, after His resurrection and ascension were wrought upon (Act 2:37).
(3) In that by reason of the power of the Spirit in them, they who preached the gospel of Christ after Him, were received as an angel of God, even as Christ Jesus (Gal 4:14).
(4) In that many who never heard Christ themselves, believed that Word which Christ had preached, but was made known to them by others (1Pe 1:8). Thus it appears that this confirming of Christs Word added nothing to the authority thereof. The Church may confirm the sacred Scriptures to be the Word of God: yet confirm nothing to their authority. Divine mysteries may be confirmed by human testimonies: yet no authority brought thereby to those mysteries. God being pleased thus to confirm the gospel to us, it ought to be a steadfast word to us, we ought with all steadfastness of faith to receive it, and to continue steadfastly therein, as the Christians of the primitive Church did in the apostles doctrine Act 2:42). (W. Gouge.)
A confirmed testimony
Confirmed is made steadfast (Heb 2:2), as the law was to Israel. The word confirmed does not mean, added their own testimony to the redemptive truth of what they heard and preached. This they no doubt did, and to men the testimony of other men founded on their own experience is very weighty and convincing; and of course we have it, not only in the faith of those around us, but in the unbroken life of the Church up to our time. The-point here, however, is rather the accuracy and trustworthiness with which the salvation has been handed on even unto us, by ear-witnesses of the Lord, combined perhaps with a certain authority which belonged to them as His personal healers, and the accompanying signs attesting their preaching. (A. B. Davidson,LL. D.)
Christ historical
It is of no use to say that Christ as exhibited in the Gospels, is not historical. Who among His disciples or among their proselytes was capable of inventing the sayings ascribed to Jesus, or imagining the lie and character revealed in the Gospels? Certainly not the fishermen of Galilee; as certainly not St. Paul, whose character and idiosyncrasies were of a totally different sort; still less the early Christian writers, in whom nothing is more evident than that the good which was in them was derived, as they always professed that, it was derived, from a higher source. (J. Stewart Mill.)
Value of testimony
Bishop Young says: The conviction produced by testimony is capable of being carried much higher than the conviction produced by experience, and the reason is this, because there may be concurrent testimonies to the truth of one individual fact; whereas there can be no concurrent experiments with regard to an individual experiment. (Smiths Dictionary of the Bible, Art. Resurrection.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 3. How shall we escape] If they who had fewer privileges than we have, to whom God spoke in divers manners by angels and prophets, fell under the displeasure of their Maker, and were often punished with a sore destruction; how shall we escape wrath to the uttermost if we neglect the salvation provided for us, and proclaimed to us by the Son of God? Their offence was high; ours, indescribably higher. The salvation mentioned here is the whole system of Christianity, with all the privileges it confers; properly called a salvation, because, by bringing such an abundance of heavenly light into the world, it saves or delivers men from the kingdom of darkness, ignorance, error, superstition, and idolatry; and provides all the requisite means to free them from the power, guilt, and contamination of sin. This salvation is great when compared with that granted to the Jews:
1. The Jewish dispensation was provided for the Jews alone; the Christian dispensation for all mankind.
2. The Jewish dispensation was full of significant types and ceremonies; the Christian dispensation is the substance of all those types.
3. The Jewish dispensation referred chiefly to the body and outward state of man-washings and external cleansings of the flesh; the Christian, to the inward state-purifying the heart and soul, and purging the conscience from dead works.
4. The Jewish dispensation promised temporal happiness; the Christian, spiritual.
5. The Jewish dispensation belonged chiefly to time; the Christian, to eternity.
6. The Jewish dispensation had its glory; but that was nothing when compared to the exceeding glory of the Gospel.
7. Moses administered the former; Jesus Christ, the Creator, Governor, and Saviour of the world, the latter.
8. This is a great salvation, infinitely beyond the Jewish; but how great no tongue or pen can describe.
Those who neglect it, , are not only they who oppose or persecute it, but they who pay no regard to it; who do not meddle with it, do not concern themselves about it, do not lay it to heart, and consequently do not get their hearts changed by it. Now these cannot escape the coming judgments of God; not merely because they oppose his will and commandment, but because they sin against the very cause and means of their deliverance. As there is but one remedy by which their diseased souls can be saved, so by refusing to apply that one remedy they must necessarily perish.
Which at the first began to be spoken] Though John the Baptist went before our Lord to prepare his way, yet he could not be properly said to preach the Gospel; and even Christ’s preaching was only a beginning of the great proclamation: it was his own Spirit in the apostles and evangelists, the men who heard him preach, that opened the whole mystery of the kingdom of heaven. And all this testimony had been so confirmed in the land of Judea as to render it indubitable; and consequently there was no excuse for their unbelief, and no prospect of their escape if they should continue to neglect it.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
How shall we escape? This consequent answereth the antecedent in Heb 2:2, but in one part of it, that which concerns the punishment of the transgressors of the law, thus: If the word by angels, much more the word by the Son; and if sins against that were punished, much more sins against this: the Spirit including the sanction of the gospels power in the judgment which it pronounceth upon its despisers, which it could not do if it were not established. The interrogative how, introducing the consequent, is vehemently negative; by no means, or there is no possibility of our escaping in the case proposed: compare the close of Isa 20:6. There is no avoiding the righteous punishment which the just God doth threaten gospel sinners with, such as is recorded in Mat 10:15; 11:22,24; 2Th 1:7-9; Heb 10:28,29; none can escape it, neither I nor you, if such transgressors; external offices, or church privileges, will not excuse any one from the just punishment and retribution of God.
If we neglect so great salvation; if being careless, so as to despise and make light of the gospel, or to reject it, Heb 8:9; Mat 22:5. Opposed this is to the sins of commission and omission about the law; any denial of receiving it, or of a progress into the necessary duties it requires, so to neglect them as to end in apostacy. For the gospel law of Christ revealing and promising salvation to believers, opposed here to the law given by angels, will make safe all spiritual good both for time and eternity to the sincere believers and obeyers of it. The gospel is called salvation metonymically, because the subject matter of it is salvation, Eph 1:13, and it hath a causal power and virtue to save, Act 13:26; Rom 1:16; opposed to the law, which was the ministration of death and condemnation, 2Co 3:7,9, being revealed by angels under carnal types and temporal promises, and, by reason of the veil on their hearts, became killing to them. The word by the Son is salvation, because a full and clear discovery to it. This salvation is transcendent, being not a terrene or temporary, but a heavenly, eternal salvation, delivering those who truly obey it from the worst of enemies, the sorest and most lasting punishment, and instating them in eternal happiness and blessedness in heaven. This was great for clearness of light, 2Co 4:4, and diffusive efficacy and success.
Which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord; an aggravation of the neglect of this salvation from the Lord publishing it. It had its rise and beginning from the Fountain of all truth, and was first by voice and preaching made known to the Hebrews, and such Gentiles as came to hear the promulgation of it, Mat 4:17, at Christs solemn entering on his ministry, above three years before his death and resurrection. And it may refer higher; for as it was most clearly, plainly, sweetly, and eminently preached by himself, beyond what was taught by the prophets in the Old Testament, or John; yet he first preached it himself in the beginning to our apostate parents in Paradise, Gen 3:15, and he preached it in all the prophets publishing of it since: yet this priority may be in respect of the ministry which he ordained to follow him, and not of that which went before. It was so preached by the Lord himself, the Mediator, Lord of life and death, Head of angels and all principalities and powers, the great Prophet, swaying all things by the word of his power. The law was preached by angels, the gospel by God the Son himself, Heb 1:2; and so is preferred before the law, in respect of its ministration by the Head, not of its authority.
And was confirmed unto us by them that heard him; settled it was, made firm and authentical, by himself. The Trinity bear witness to it in heaven, confirm it on earth by miracles, signs, and wonders, and mighty deeds, by Christ, Joh 5:36, by his apostles, 2Co 12:12, and by the gifts of the Holy Ghost in great variety distributed to his apostles and publishers of this gospel, which made their ministration of it effectual, Act 2:1-3; compare 1Co 12:9-11; even to the apostles and Hebrews, and to all who believe, it is so confirmed. Nor is Paul less the writer of this Epistle for that he joins himself with them, since he did hear both the Lord and the apostles, and was confirming those of them with whom he had fellowship, and was confirmed by them, Act 9:17,19; Ga 2:9. Christs disciples and apostles heard this gospel from him, and did witness it by preaching, writing, and sealing it with their blood, Phi 1:12; 2Pe 1:16,17; which confirmation by their sufferings was instrumental, mediate, and subservient to the miracles and gifts of the Holy Ghost enjoyed of them and wrought by them.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
3. wewho have received themessage of salvation so clearly delivered to us (compare Heb12:25).
so great salvationembodiedin Jesus, whose very name means “salvation,” including notonly deliverance from foes and from death, and the grant of temporalblessings (which the law promised to the obedient), but also grace ofthe Spirit, forgiveness of sins, and the promise of heaven, glory,and eternal life (Heb 2:10).
which“inasmuchas it is a salvation which began,” c.
spoken by the Lordasthe instrument of proclaiming it. Not as the law, spoken by theinstrumentality of angels (Heb 2:2).Both law and Gospel came from God the difference here referred to layin the instrumentality by which each respectively waspromulgated (compare Heb 2:5).Angels recognize Him as “the Lord” (Mat 28:6;Luk 2:11).
confirmed unto usnotby penalties, as the law was confirmed, but by spiritual gifts(Heb 2:4).
by them that heard him(Compare Lu 1:2). ThoughPaul had a special and independent revelation of Christ (Gal 1:16;Gal 1:17; Gal 1:19),yet he classes himself with those Jews whom he addresses, “untous”; for like them in many particulars (for example, the agonyin Gethsemane, Heb 5:7), he wasdependent for autoptic information on the twelve apostles. So thediscourses of Jesus, for example, the Sermon on the Mount, andthe first proclamation of the Gospel kingdom by the Lord (Mt4:17), he could only know by the report of the Twelve: so thesaying, “It is more blessed to give than to receive” (Ac20:35). Paul mentions what they had heard, rather thanwhat they had seen, conformably with what he began with,Heb 1:1; Heb 1:2,”spake . . . spoken.” Appropriately also in his Epistles toGentiles, he dwells on his independent call to the apostleship of theGentiles; in his Epistle to the Hebrews, he appeals to the apostleswho had been long with the Lord (compare Act 1:21;Act 10:41): so in his sermon tothe Jews in Antioch of Pisidia (Ac13:31); and “he only appeals to the testimony of theseapostles in a general way, in order that he may bring the Hebrews tothe Lord alone” [BENGEL],not to become partisans of particular apostles, as Peter, the apostleof the circumcision, and James, the bishop of Jerusalem. This verseimplies that the Hebrews of the churches of Palestine and Syria(or those of them dispersed in Asia Minor [BENGEL],1Pe 1:1, or in Alexandria) wereprimarily addressed in this Epistle; for of none so well could it besaid, the Gospel was confirmed to them by the immediate hearers ofthe Lord: the past tense, “was confirmed,” implies somelittle time had elapsed since this testification by eye-witnesses.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
How shall we escape,…. The righteous judgment of God, and eternal punishment:
if we neglect so great salvation? as the Gospel is, which is called salvation; in opposition to the law, which is the ministration of condemnation; and because it is a declaration of salvation by Christ; and is the means of bringing it near, and of the application of it in conversion, and so is the power of God unto it: and it is a “great” salvation; the Gospel which reveals it is great, for the author of it is Christ; it has been confirmed by miracles, and attended with great success; and has in it great things, great mysteries, and exceeding great and precious promises: and the salvation which it declares is great; it is the produce of great wisdom; it is wrought by a great person, by a Saviour, and a great one, and who is the great God, and our Saviour; it has been procured at great charge and expense, even at the expense of the blood and life of the Son of God; and has been obtained through great difficulties; and is the salvation of the soul, the more noble part of man; and it is a complete and everlasting one: to “neglect” this, is to be careless of it; to condemn it, and to despise the ministers of it; and to make anything else but Christ the way of salvation: and the danger such are in is very great; it is not possible that they should escape divine vengeance, since their sin is so great, and attended with such aggravating circumstances; for it is a contempt of the grace and wisdom of God in providing such a Saviour, and a trampling under foot the Son of God, and a counting his blood as a common thing; and besides, there is no more sacrifice for sin, they can have nothing to atone for it; and that God, whom they offend hereby, is both omniscient and omnipotent, and there will be no escaping out of his hands: to which must be added, that this Gospel of salvation is that
which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord; by the Lord Jesus Christ himself; the Gospel was preached by him, and he was extraordinarily qualified for it; and he spake it as never man did: it was preached by John indeed, and by all the prophets before him, and to the Israelites in the wilderness, and to Abraham before them, and even to Adam in Eden’s garden, which was the first time it was spoken; but then it was spoken to him by the Lord; by the Word of the Lord, the essential Word, the Son of God, as the ancient Chaldee paraphrases, which express the sense of the old Jewish church, show c: besides, it began most fully and clearly to be preached by him in the days of his flesh, so as it never was preached before, nor since; grace and truth, the doctrines of grace and truth came by him, in all their fulness and glory: and
was confirmed unto us by them that heard him; the Gospel is in itself firm and stable; nor did the words of Christ need any confirmation, who is truth itself, the “Amen”, and faithful witness; but in condescension to human weakness, and by reason that Christ, as man, was not everywhere, and that by the mouth of more witnesses it should be established, he sent forth his apostles to preach it; who heard it from him, and they published it to the Jews first, as these were to whom the apostle writes, and then to the Gentiles. And though the apostle had it first by revelation from Christ himself, Ga 1:11 it was confirmed to him by Ananias.
c Targum Onkelos & Jon. in Gen. iii. 8. & Hieros. in v. 9.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
How shall we escape? ( ;). Rhetorical question with future middle indicative of and conclusion of the condition.
If we neglect (). First aorist active participle of , “having neglected.”
So great salvation ( ). Ablative case after . Correlative pronoun of age, but used of size in the N.T. (Jas 3:4; 2Cor 1:10).
Which (). “Which very salvation,” before described, now summarized.
Having at the first been spoken ( ). Literally, “having received a beginning to be spoken,” “having begun to be spoken,” a common literary Koine idiom (Polybius, etc.).
Through the Lord ( ). The Lord Jesus who is superior to angels. Jesus was God’s full revelation and he is the source of this new and superior revelation.
Was confirmed (). First aorist passive indicative of , from (stable), old verb as in 1Co 1:6.
By them that heard ( ). Ablative case with of the articular first aorist active participle of . Those who heard the Lord Jesus. Only one generation between Jesus and the writer. Paul (Ga 1:11) got his message directly from Christ.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
How shall we escape [ ] . The rhetorical question expressing denial. We is emphatic. We, to whom God has spoken by his Son, and who, therefore, have so much the more reason for giving heed. jEkfeuxomeqa lit. flee out from. The English escape conveys the same idea, but. contains a picture which is not in the Greek word, namely, to slip out of one’s cape, ex cappa, and so get away. Comp. French ?happer. In Italian we have scappare “to escape,” and also incappare “to fall into a snare,” and incappuciare “to wrap up in a hood or cape; to mask.”
If we neglect [] . Lit. having neglected. Rare in N. T., o P. Comp. Mt 22:5; 1Ti 4:14. The thought falls in with drift past, ver. 1.
Salvation [] . Characterizing the new dispensation, as the word (ver. 2) characterizes the old. Not the teaching or word of salvation, but the salvation itself which is the gift of the gospel, to be obtained by purification from sin through the agency of the Son (ch. 1 3). Which [] Explanatory. A salvation which may be described as one which was first spoken by the Lord, etc.
At the first began to be spoken [ ] . Lit. having taken beginning to be spoken. Rend. which, having at the first been spoken. The phrase N. T. o.
By the Lord [ ] . Const. withajrchn labousa, not with laleisqai. It is the beginning, not the speaking which is emphasized. Was confirmed [] . It was sure [] even as was the word spoken by angels (ver. 2), and it was confirmed, proved to be real, by the testimony of ear – witnesses.
By them that heard [ ] . We heard it (ver. 1) from those who heard, the immediate followers of the Lord. The writer thus puts himself in the second generation of Christians. They are not said to have heard the gospel directly from the Lord. Paul, on the other hand, claims that he received the gospel directly from Christ (Gal 1:11).
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
1) “How shall we escape,” (pos hemeis ekpheuko ometha) “How shall we escape, flee away in fear; or avoid the punishment corresponding to our offence against or neglect of the word of the Son of God who is greater than angels? This refers first to the chastening hand of judgement on the people of God, Heb 10:29; Heb 12:25; Joh 12:48
2) “If we neglect so great salvation,” (telikautes amelesantes soterias) “Neglecting (continuously) so great a salvation; neglect the call of its obligations of a Iife of gratitude and service to Him who saves us and calls, “follow me,” Luk 9:23; Mar 8:36-37; Luk 12:45-48.
3) “Which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord,” (hetis archen labousa laleisthai dia tou kuriou) “Which received a beginning being spoken of (originating from) the Lord,” or “which salvation was first told, communicated by or from the Lord,” to Adam, in or at the gate of the garden of Eden, Gen 3:15-24; This may also allude to our Lord’s declaring himself to be the Saviour, the way, the truth, and the Life, Joh 8:24; Joh 14:6.
4) “And was confirmed to us by them that heard him,” (hupo ton akousanton eis hermas ebebaiothe) “And the story of it was confirmed to us by the ones who heard,” from Adam to Christ and from Christ to this moment. All true prophets preached that this salvation was obtained and retained by belief or trust in the coming Messiah, Jesus Christ, Act 10:43; Deu 18:15-18; Isa 45:18; Isa 45:22; Isa 53:4-6; Luk 24:47-48; Act 1:8; Act 5:32.
For a sinner to neglect the gospel of salvation is even a greater neglect, 1Pe 4:17-19.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
3. If we neglect so great a salvation, etc. Not only the rejection of the Gospel, but also its neglect, deserves the heaviest punishment, and that on account of the greatness of the grace which it offers; hence he says, so great a salvation. God would indeed leave his gifts valued by us according to their worth. Then the more precious they are, the baser is our ingratitude when we do not value them. In a word, in proportion to the greatness of Christ will be the severity of God’s vengeance on all the despisers of his Gospel. (30)
And observe that the word salvation is transferred here metonymically to the doctrine of salvation; for as the Lord would not have men otherwise saved than by the Gospel, so when that is neglected the whole salvation of God is rejected; for it is God’s power unto salvation to those who believe. (Rom 1:16.) Hence he who seeks salvation in any other way, seeks to attain it by another power than that of God; which is an evidence of extreme madness. But this encomium is not only a commendation of the Gospel, but is also a wonderful support to our faith; for it is a testimony that the word is by no means unprofitable, but that a sure salvation is conveyed by it. (31)
Which at first began, etc. Here he sets the Son of God, the first herald of the Gospel, in opposition to angels, and also anticipates what was necessary to remove a doubt which might have crept into the minds of many; for they had not been taught by the mouth of Christ himself, whom the greatest part had never seen. If then they regarded only the man by whose ministry they had been led to the faith, they might have made less of what they had learnt from him; hence the Apostle reminded them, that the doctrine which had been delivered them by others, yet proceeded from Christ; for he says that those who had faithfully declared what had been committed to them by Christ, had been his disciples. He therefore uses the word, was confirmed, as though he had said, that it was not a random report, without any author, or from witnesses of doubtful credit, but a report which was confirmed by men of weight and authority.
Moreover, this passage indicates that this epistle was not written by Paul; for he did not usually speak so humbly of himself, as to confess that he was one of the Apostles’ disciples, nor did he thus speak from ambition, but because wicked men under a pretense of this kind attempted to detract from the authority of his doctrine. It then appears evident that it was not Paul who wrote that he had the Gospel by hearing and not by revelation. (32)
(30) To “neglect,” is literally, not to care for; not to care for our salvation is to neglect it. It is rendered, to “make light of,” in Mat 22:5; and “not to regard,” in Heb 8:9. — Ed.
(31) So great, observes Dr. Owen is this salvation, that is a deliverance from Satan, from sin, and from eternal sin, and from eternal death. The means also by which it has been procured, and is now effected, and its endless results, prove in a wonderful manner its greatness. — Ed.
(32) The same objection has been advanced by Grotius and others, but it has no weight in it; for the Apostle here distinctly refers to the facts in connection with the twelve Apostles, as this alone was necessary for his purpose here; and the same reason for concealing his name accounts for no reference being made here to his own ministry. And “we” and “us” as employed by the Apostle, often refer to things which belong to all in common as Christians. See Heb 4:1, etc. And he uses them sometimes when he himself personally is not included. See 1Co 15:51. — Ed.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
Butlers Comments
Special Study
GIFTS, MIRACLES
(Heb. 2:3-4)
Introduction
I.
DEFINITION OF MIRACLE
A.
An event occurring in the natural world, observed by the senses, produced by divine power, without any adequate human or natural cause, the purpose of which is to reveal the will of God and do good to man (McCartney, in Twelve Great Questions About Christ).
1.
Hume once argued: there is more evidence for regularity in nature than for irregularity; therefore, regularity and not irregularity must be the truth of the matter.
2.
Certainly there is more evidence for the regular occurrence of nature than for any supernatural occurrence. If there werent we could not talk of miracles.
3.
The argument of miracle rests on the regularity of nature generally.
4.
Only if all the historical evidence available to man could show there is no being outside nature who can in any way alter it can there be an argument against the possibility of miracles. This the evidence does not doindeed cannot do!
B.
In our text four different words are used:
1.
semeiois = signs
2.
terasin = wonders
3.
dunamesin = powerful deeds
4.
merismois = distributions (of the Holy Spirit)
5.
Milligan (Hebrews) says these words classify miracles as:
a.
to their design (signs)
b.
to their nature (wonders)
c.
to their origin (supernatural power)
d.
to their Christian aspect (distributions of the Holy Spirit)
II.
THE FACT OF MIRACLES RESTS ON THE HISTORICITY OF OUR NEW TESTAMENT TEXT
A.
Were these writers eyewitnesses?
B.
Are they credible?
C.
Are the documents authentic?
D.
This is another subjectbut it is the fundamental subject.
III.
PURPOSE OF MIRACLES
A.
As our text points out, the primary purpose of miracles was to bear witness that the message from Jesus and that Jesus Himself was from God. Joh. 10:25; Joh. 10:37-38; Joh. 15:10-11; Mat. 9:1-8
The miracles do not prove Jesus to be the Son of Godmany men worked miraclesbut they prove Him to be a truthful messenger, and this truthful messenger says that He is God. Christ may have wrought miracles and not have been God; but He could not have wrought miracles and said that He was God without being God.
B.
To demonstrate the mercifulness of God in the case of individual men. Miracles illustrate and explain the teaching of Jesus on the love and mercy of God.
C.
To demonstrate Gods wrath upon sin and rebellious sinners Mat. 21:18-19 (cursed fig tree), Act. 13:11 (blinding of Elymas) Act. 5:5-10 (Ananias and Sapphira). Bible miracles taught not only Gods love and goodness but also His power and authority, and sometimes His righteous and fearful judgments.
D.
Miracles of the Bible demonstrate clearly that miracles were never intended to be universal:
1.
In extent: for they were always limited to few and special cases. Never have they been used to relieve suffering or prolong life here for all of Gods people universally.
a.
Some received no miraculous deliverance here (Heb. 11:35-40)
b.
John the Immerser, greatest born of women, worked no miracles, nor was he delivered miraculously (Mat. 11:7-11; Joh. 10:41).
c.
Jesus could have healed all or raised all from dead but He didnt.
d.
Paul healed many, but did not heal Trophimus and Timothy (2Ti. 4:20; 1Ti. 5:23).
2.
In result: All who were delivered from sickness had at other times to suffer again and die. All who were raised from the dead had to die again. Peter was delivered twice, but not a third time. (God was no less compassionate and Peter no less believing.)
IV.
PASSING OF MIRACLES (AS SUCH)
A.
It would take some convincing to persuade me that God does not work providentially in history today. I believe He answers when we pray (sometimes yes, sometimes no, sometimes without acting at all).
1.
I teach Life of Christ, Old Testament Prophets and Revelation. You cannot study and teach those books and believe them for 20 years without believing God is active in the affairs of men and nations.
2.
I do not deny that God could reinstitute an age of miracles such as we read about in the Old Testament and New Testament if it suited His purpose.
3.
It is just that I believe He will not because He has no further need of such miracles and signs. Here is why I believe that:
B.
When that which is perfect is come, that which is in part shall be done away . . . 1Co. 13:10.
1.
The reason for the election of the Jews in Christ (Eph. 1:1-23) was for a plan in the fulness of time, to unite all things in him . . . (not for heaven, but for earth). Thus the plan was to unite both Jew and Gentile, slave and free, man and woman, into one body, the church. This is why the spiritual miraculous gifts were given in Eph. 4:11 f., for this ministry of unifying. These miraculous gifts were to last until the teleios man was formed (Eph. 4:13).
2.
The identical context, outline, illustrations, and terminology in 1Co. 12:1-31; 1Co. 13:1-13; 1Co. 14:1-40 leads us to conclude that such is also the meaning of teleios there . . . to perfect both Jew and Gentile in the one body.
3.
It is unquestionably apparent that the problem in both Ephesians and Corinthians was the immaturity and schismatic tendencies of the early church. In light of the frequent association of love with perfection (maturity)and in light of the fact that the entire epistle of I Corinthians deals with the grand theme of divine love in the context of the childish immaturity of so many Christians at Corinth, it seems best to define the perfect in terms of the ultimate goal, aim, and end which Paul seeks to accomplish which is growth and maturity in Christ.
4.
Pauls description of the carnal immaturity of Christians at Corinth serves to underscore his emphasis on the ultimate goal which he sets for them in chapter 13. Chapter 13 must be read in the context of the whole book and may not be interpreted apart from his charge in 1Co. 14:1Make love your . . . and in 1Co. 14:20 Do not be children in your thinking; in malice be babes, but in thinking be perfect.
5.
When the perfect comes, says Paul, the tongues, etc. would cease. These miraculous gifts were not proofs of spiritual maturity. Paul does not say that these will cease when Jesus comes again, nor when the Corinthians get to heaven. Rather that in time, during their life on earth, the miraculous demonstrations will cease.
6.
I do not think perfect means just the completed canon of New Testament books; it also has to do with a perfected church.
a.
The canons formation was by uninspired men (so far as we know). I believe every book in the New Testament is inspired and apostolic. But what if another scroll of antiquity is found with the same credentials as the books we now have? We would not have a perfectcomplete New Testament!
b.
The perfect law of liberty was already at work when James wrote of it in Jas. 1:25. This perfect law was in action before the completion of our 27 books of the New Testament were formed into a New Testament. One could look into this law then and be blessed in obedience to it. It was the perfect law of freedom because it accomplished what the incomplete Law of Moses could not do. It is significant in this context that James also speaks of the children of God as being perfect and complete in the church (Jas. 1:4-5).
C.
The end for which miracles were wrought, to attest to the veracity of Christ and His claims, to bring the church to maturity, and to bring about faith through which we may partake of the divine nature (2Pe. 1:3-4)this is the ultimate goal of Gods work with us. MIRACLES CAN NEVER BE AN ACCEPTABLE SUBSTITUTE FOR THIS INDWELLING (1Ti. 1:5; 2Pe. 1:3-11; 1Jn. 1:5-8; 1Jn. 3:1-6; 1Co. 12:31; 1Co. 13:1-13; 1Co. 14:1; 2Co. 3:18). (See A Study of the Work of the Holy Spirit in Christians, by Seth Wilson, mimeo, Ozark Bible College bookstore.)
1.
Miracles are signs or works of the Holy Spirit, not the Holy Spirit Himself. They are the effects of which he is the cause. Miracles have been found where the personal indwelling of the Holy Spirit did not occur. (Mat. 10:1-42; Luk. 10:1-42; apostles and 70 disciples worked miracles months before Jesus said the Holy Spirit had not come yet (Joh. 7:38). King Saul on his way to murder Gods anointed was made to prophesy by the Spirit of God (1Sa. 19:18-24). Balaams ass (Num. 22:25-30). Cornelius (Act. 10:44-48).
2.
It is evident that some men whom Christ called workers of iniquity claimed to have worked many miracles in His name. If they speak that boldly to His face, at judgment, does it not appear that they will be sincerely convinced that they have actually wrought such mighty works by His power here?
3.
It does not appear that miraculous demonstrations are necessary effects whenever or wherever the Holy Spirit dwells in men. 1Co. 12:3, the man who honestly says Jesus is Lord manifests he has the Holy Spirit. 1Co. 12:29-30 shows that not all in the New Testament church had the gifts of miraculous works.
4.
The word of God has the power to regenerate and to sanctify through faith which allows the Spirit of God to dwell in us (Eph. 3:16-19; 1Ti. 1:5; Gal. 5:22-25; 2Pe. 1:3-4; 2Co. 3:18).
5.
Miraculous deeds did not guarantee a spiritual church. The Corinthian church came behind in no gift and was enriched in all utterance and in all knowledge (1Co. 1:5-7); yet that church was notorious for errors in doctrine and evils in practice.
6.
Are such wonders and signs always caused exclusively by the Holy Spirit? May some of the experiences and utterances be caused by the workings of the subconscious mind, by something like hypnotic influences? (See The Psychology of Speaking in Tongues, by John P. Kildahl, Harper & Row.) Scriptures warn of the possibility (at least in the first century) of lying wonders (Mat. 24:24; Mat. 7:22; 2Th. 2:9; 1Jn. 4:1-6; Rev. 13:14; Rev. 16:14; Rev. 19:20). Even the Old Testament warned against false prophets with signs (Deu. 13:1-5; Deu. 18:22; Isa. 8:20).
7.
Isolated wonders do not necessarily prove a divine revelation from God. Bible miracles were part of a coherent combination of many miracles and messages to which they were significantly related. The extent and quality of Bible miracles and revelations is different from the many alleged miracles and prophecies of today or centuries since apostles. Philips miracles and those of Simon Magus were different. Even Pharaoh could see (or should have) the difference between Moses miracles and those of his magicians (Gal. 1:6-9). Even a gospel by angels, if different than Pauls would be condemned.
8.
1Jn. 4:6 says it is not the Holy Spirit if men show they do not hear (heed and keep) the words of the apostles. Jas. 3:13-18 shows that the Spirit of God does not cause men to be jealous and factiousdivisive. WHEN THERE ARE SO MANY DENOMINATIONAL FACTIONS, ALLEGING TO HAVE THESE MIRACULOUS SIGNS AND WONDERS, YET STRIVING TO MAINTAIN THEIR DENOMINATIONAL DIFFERENCES EVEN IN THE FACE OF PLAIN SCRIPTURAL TEACHINGS, WHAT ARE WE TO CONCLUDE ABOUT THEIR CLAIMS?
V.
FUNCTIONAL GIFTS (Rom. 12:1-13)
A.
I believe all men and women have gifts from their Creator.
1.
All may not have the same gifts or latent potentialities.
2.
Some may have many more potentialities than others.
3.
BUT THEY ARE ALL NEEDED AS FUNCTIONS IN THE BODY OF CHRIST. This is the important point: No gifts, capacities, talents, abilities (all given by the grace of God) are more important FUNCTIONALLY, than others.
4.
The whole context here indicates Paul is talking not about miraculous gifts given by God for the same purposes as those of 1Co. 12:1-31; 1Co. 13:1-13; 1Co. 14:1-40; but of functional gifts, one of which at least every member of the body has (. . . I bid every one among you . . .).
B.
I like the way Carl Ketcherside explains it in Mission Messenger Vol. 36, No. 10, Oct. 1974, Functioning Gifts.
1.
Any gift freely bestowed by God is a gift of the Spirit, regardless of how it is communicated to the recipient. That is why I object to designating any period of time a charismatic age. There is no such thing as a charismatic age, for the simple reason that there is no non-charismatic age. There has never been a time when the will of God was not enhanced and promoted by gifts of grace. A gift is not charismatic because of its nature, method of reception, or effect, but because of its origin. It is charismatic because it is a gift of charts, grace.
2.
The man who has the enviable gift of understanding and relieving the needy is charismatic as surely as one who has the gift of prophecy. The one who can give cheerfully and freely as his contribution to the work of the saints is charismatic. In view of this, I am not turned on by such expressions as The Spirit is working again in our time. The Spirit has never ceased working.
3.
The gifts of God are varied. Paul wrote to a congregation which came behind in no gift and told them that the ability to restrain sexual passion, making marriage unnecessary was a charisma of God. But he also implied that the gift of sexual need which could be gratified in marriage was a charisma. I would that everybody lived as I do; but each of us has his own special gift from Godone in one direction and one in another (1Co. 7:7). It is quite evident that Pauls gift was in a different direction than that of the majority.
C.
Eph. 4:7 But grace was given to each of us according to the measure of Christs gift.
1.
Do not the parables teach that men are given (how else, but by the grace of God) talents and pounds according to different measures, and each one is expected to use them (none are non-functional) and be rewarded according, not to what he does not have, but according to how he uses what he does have?
2.
Now if we will follow the leading of the Spirit in His revealed will and make sure instead of worrying about having the Spirit that the Spirit has all of us, we will use our praxin (function, or action) charismata gifts for the benefit of the one body.
Actually, if we simply let ourselves be transformed by the renewing of our minds . . . (Rom. 12:1-2) we will use our gifts of grace for the upbuilding of the body in love.
Even unconverted men and women have charismatic gifts! functional giftswhatever they have in potentialities they have by the grace of God but they are not allowing the Spirit to use them for the upbuilding of Christs body.
D.
Does all this mean that the special supernatural gifts should also be continued by the Holy Spirit in the church today? No.
1.
They were for special needs. The functional gifts will always be needed.
2.
I do not need to see a miracle performed by anyone else, nor have one performed upon me, to produce faith in the revealed Word of God.
3.
The original envoys of Jesus who gave the message were thoroughly accredited and their message was confirmed by miracles, wonders and signs. There is no sense in having miracles to confirm miracles, and once truth is confirmed it never needs to be confirmed again.
4.
The spectacular, super natural, signs and wonders were to cease (there is no doubt about that), but the functional gifts through which every member of the body may love man and God will abide!
5.
AFTER ALL, THE GRACE OF GOD HAS GIVEN EACH OF US GIFTS FOR FUNCTIONING IN THE CHURCH AND WE USE THEM ACCORDING TO THE MEASURE OF OUR FAITH.
The miraculous, supernatural gifts could be given and made to function regardless of the measure of the faith of the person.
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
(3) How shall we escape?In a different context these words might naturally mean, How shall we, transgressors of the law, escape from the penalty it threatens, if we neglect the one means of deliverance now offered us? (Comp. Gal. 3:13; Gal. 4:5.) Here, however, are placed in contrast the command and threatening which came through angels and the salvation spoken through the Lord; while the one word is thus wholly unlike the other in substance and in form of proclamation, each is a law, in that neglect is visited with penalty. On the intrinsic greatness of the salvation the writer does not dwell; it is implied in the unique dignity and commission of Him through whom it was given.
Which at the first began to be spoken.Better, which having at the first been spoken through the Lord, was made sure unto us by them that heard. Through the Lord (comp. Heb. 1:2) was spoken this word of God which brought salvation. In two other passages Jesus receives the name our Lord (Heb. 7:14; Heb. 13:20), but nowhere else in this Epistle (unless perhaps in Heb. 12:14) is He spoken of as the Lord; the dignity of the title here heightens the contrast. By them that heard the word from Him, the writer says, it was made sure (not confirmed, as if stronger attestation were the meaning intended) unto us. It is evident that the writer here classes himself with those who had not immediately heard the word from Jesus. Such language as this stands in striking contrast with St. Pauls claim, repeatedly maintained, to have received his doctrine directly from the Lord Himself (Gal. 1:12; 1Co. 9:1, et al.).
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
3. How shall we Both Christians and all who hear the word spoken.
Escape Namely, the recompense suited in severity to the new conditions.
So great salvation Its greatness being here measured by the greatness of the Mediator who brings it, the clearness by which it is attested, the price (Heb 2:9) which it cost, and the glory to which it brings.
At the first At the commencement of the new revelation.
Confirmed unto us heard him That Paul never heard the living Christ at the first, we have recognised in our note to Act 9:1. So that this statement perfectly accords with Paul’s authorship of the epistle. Lunemann and others, indeed, argue that Paul always claims that he derived his Gospel not from men, but from Christ, and so could not have written these words or this epistle. But, certainly, Paul does not ever claim that he was a personal hearer of the teachings of Jesus, or an eye-witness of his miracles. How he acquired his knowledge of the facts of Christ’s history we have discussed in our note, Act 9:23. It is the doctrinal interpretation of those facts which he claimed to have obtained by revelation. We have shown in our notes on Act 8:1-4, that the Pentecostal Church was dispersed, and succeeded by a later body of believers. The Hebrews, to whom this epistle was written, assuming them to be Jerusalemite and Palestinian Jews, received their knowledge of Christ’s history from living testimony, as did Paul. Compare our notes on Luk 1:1-3. Nevertheless the we and us here do not literally or necessarily include the apostle; but may be simply used from delicacy, as a modest identification of himself with his hearers. The first person plural is used six times in 1-3, where it is clear that Paul does not mean himself. Stuart has abundantly shown this self-identification with his readers to be Paul’s custom, both in this epistle and elsewhere, adducing a mass of instances, as follows: “See Heb 2:1; Heb 2:3; Heb 3:6; Heb 4:1-2; Heb 4:11; Heb 4:13; Heb 4:16; Heb 6:1-3; Heb 6:18-19; Heb 10:22-26; Heb 10:39; Heb 11:40; Heb 12:1; Heb 12:9-10; Heb 12:28; Heb 13:10; Heb 13:13; Heb 13:15. He also uses we or ye indifferently for the persons whom he addresses; for example: Heb 4:1, let us fear lest any of you, etc.; we, in Heb 12:1-2; ye, in Heb 12:3-8; we, in Heb 12:9-10; ye, in Heb 12:17-18; Heb 12:22; Heb 12:25; we, in Heb 13:14; Heb 13:18, and often in the same way elsewhere, the address being still most manifestly made to the very same persons. He often employs, also, the first person plural to designate merely himself; as for example, in Heb 2:5; Heb 6:9; Heb 6:11; Heb 13:18. This, in like manner, he interchanges with the first person singular; for example, Heb 13:18; compare Heb 13:19; Heb 13:22-23. The same use of the first person plural runs through all the Pauline epistles; for example, we and I for the writer himself, Gal 1:8: comp. Heb 1:9-14, Gal 2:5; comp. Heb 2:1-4; Heb 2:6-7, and so very often elsewhere. So we and you for the persons addressed, Gal 3:1-29; Gal 4:3-20; Gal 4:26-31, and elsewhere.” The passage, with the entire class of facts, is, therefore, not a disproof, but rather a proof, of the Pauline origin of this epistle; as it shows a full conformity with the apostle’s habit of using the pronouns. See our note on 1Co 15:51.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘How shall we escape, if we neglect so great a salvation? Which having at the first been spoken through the Lord, was confirmed to us by those who heard,’
That being so how can we hope to escape judgment if we neglect an even greater offering of salvation, ‘so great a great salvation’, such as is revealed in the words of the Son, Who is a far more wonderful deliverance vehicle than anything the Old Testament could produce? If we neglect this new ‘word’ that was originally taught directly by the Lord Himself, and which we have heard confirmed to us by eyewitnesses, that is, by those who personally heard it and knew Him, what hope of escape from just punishment can we possibly have?
For to neglect a message is to treat it with contempt, but to neglect such a message delivered by such a Person is to be in total contempt of God Himself. This is in fact the great sin of the majority of the world. It is not that they reject the truth out of hand, it is that they simply do not bother with it. They neglect it. They often claim to honour Jesus but they disregard His word as ‘Lord’.
‘So great a salvation.’ In considering its greatness we should consider certain factors.
1) The greatness of the Son Who achieved it (chapter 1).
2) The greatness of the judgment from which it rescues the sinner (Heb 10:27-31).
3) The greatness of the eternal future which is promised through it (Heb 11:10; Heb 12:22-23).
4) The greatness of the Father’s love that has provided it (Joh 3:16; 1Jn 4:9-10).
5) The greatness of the humiliation and suffering endured by the One Who obtained it. (Heb 2:9; Heb 12:2-3; Php 2:6-8; Isaiah 53).
‘Having at the first been spoken through the Lord, was confirmed to us by those who heard.’ Central to Christian truth is that its source is in Jesus. Only what is in conformity with His words can be accepted as ‘Gospel truth’. This was why Paul himself stressed that what he taught came directly from Him, and this was why the Apostles were inspired by the Holy Spirit to later fully remember His teaching.
Much is often made of this verse as though it required that the writer had not himself heard the teaching of Jesus personally. But while the writer does use ‘we’ (emphasised, in contrast with those who were not Christians) he may well be using it rather loosely, signifying by it the group to which he was writing of which he saw himself a part, and continuing the use of ‘we’ with which he had begun the chapter. Thus he may simply be saying that while his readers had not heard it directly from the Lord, they, along with the whole church, had nevertheless heard it from eyewitnesses, from those who were actually there and heard His words, without necessarily saying anything about himself. But it is not characteristic of Paul who tended to stress his own special reception of revelation.
For it was ‘the Lord’ Who spoke it, and reliable eyewitnesses confirmed it, as they all know, and the authority of it is therefore unquestioned, and its certainty assured. What hope then can there be for them if they neglect it, when it has such authority behind it?
‘The Lord.’ We become so used to using the term glibly that we can easily not notice its force. It was because it was spoken by the Lord of glory, God’s true Son, the Creator and Sustainer of the world, the One Who is higher than the angels, that it was to be heard.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Heb 2:3. How shall we escape, &c.! The Jews had no reason to imagine that God would remit the punishments threatened in the law, if they resolved to adhere to it, and would not embrace the condition of faith in Christ which was offered to them: for the law had never been repealed, but continued in its original force; nor would disuse make it of no force, if the Lawmaker would put it into execution. By salvation here is understood, the doctrine of salvation;the gospel, which of course includes experimental religion: and as this stands opposed to the word spoken by angels, it is necessary to understand it of the word or doctrine published by Christ: and all the expressions here used, of Christ’s beginning to speak it,of men’s hearing it,of its being confirmed; and that God attested it,lead us to understand the place in the sense given. This doctrine of salvation, is said to be begun to be spoken by Christ, because there were some things which belonged to the gospel,as the resurrection and ascension of Christ, and the pouring out of the Spirit,which were to be more fully published by his apostles after his death. Confirmed to us, signifies properly, to our times; to the times in which the apostle lived: and the sense appears to be, “They who heard Christ himself preaching, have continued confirming the truth of what he preached to us Hebrews, even to this time; having the gifts of the Holy Ghost) various in their kinds, as God has been pleased to grant them to them.” It would have been, not the term , but , which the apostle would have used, if he had intended to say, That he himself learned the gospel from those who had heard Christ; nor would he have said, that the gospel was confirmed to him by them that heard Christ; since elsewhere he declares, that he had it not of men, neither by man, but by Jesus Christ. Gal 1:1. Supposing now St. Paul to have written this epistle in the year 67, he then says, that those who had heard Christ, continued uniformly and constantly to attest what he had said, from that time to this; that is, for upwards of thirty years. They who from this expression would argue, that St. Paul was not the author of this epistle, mistake the meaning of the phrase here used; which does not relate to the person writing, but to the time when he wrote. They who had heard Christ himself, had confirmed, even to this time, steadily and consistently, what they had heard from our Lord himself.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Heb 2:3 . The apodosis follows in the form of a question, which for the rest extends only to , not to the close of Heb 2:4 .
] how is it possible that.
] has the emphasis. The Christians in general are meant, in opposition to the men once belonging to the O. T. theocracy, of whom the writer has spoken at least by implication in Heb 2:2 .
] stands absolutely, as Heb 12:25 ; 1Th 5:3 . Needlessly do Heinrichs, Stengel, Ebrard, Bisping, Maier, and many others supplement from Heb 2:2 : .
] Instancing of the case or condition, after the arising of which an escape or deliverance from punishment becomes an impossibility: in case that , or if, we shall have neglected (slighted). The participle aorist is properly used, since the culpability must first have been incurred before a punishment can ensue.
] such a salvation, i.e. one so great, so far surpassing in exaltedness that of the O. T. Theodorus Mopsuestenus: , .
does not in itself contain a reference to (Tholuck and others; the former will then have taken in the sense of ), but stands there independently of any correlative; it is then, however, after the question has closed with , enforced by the clause with (quippe quae).
, ] which indeed, at first proclaimed by the Lord, was handed down with certainty to us by them that heard it . Wrongly does Ebrard translate: “which was confirmed to us by the hearers, as one proclaimed by the Lord from the very first,” in supposing that depends upon as an “apposition of object.” For how can denote something proclaimed “from the very beginning,” or “from the commencement”? And how unskilfully would the author have proceeded in the choice and position of his words, if as Ebrard supposes he had wished to express the thought, “that the was directly revealed by the Lord, has been transmitted to us as a certainty, and thus as a divine legitimation of the by the , the ear- (and eye-) witnesses!” , to begin , always presupposes an opposition, expressed or understood, to a being continued, or to a being brought to an end. When thus in our passage there is mention made not only of an by the Lord, but also of a on the part of those who heard the Lord, it is clear that the author will have these two factors regarded as statements of two distinct but mutually corresponding periods of time.
In general, it is wrong when Ebrard, in connection with his explanation just adduced, will find in Heb 2:3 the twofold contrast with the law (1) That the law was a mere word ( ); the gospel, on the other hand, a deliverance, a redemption, an act. (2) That the was manifested and proclaimed to men as at first hand, by the Lord Himself; the law, on the contrary, only at second hand, by the angels. For, as concerns the first alleged point of difference, assuredly the emphasis rests neither upon , Heb 2:2 , nor upon , Heb 2:3 ; but, Heb 2:2 , upon , and, Heb 2:3 , upon . The second alleged point of difference falls, however, with the consideration that the author employs the preposition , as before , Heb 2:2 , so also before , Heb 2:3 ; thus indicates that the supreme Author alike of the Mosaic law and of the gospel is God Himself, both consequently are proclaimed to man “only at second hand.” [42] The pre-eminence of the gospel can accordingly have been discovered by our author only in the fact that in connection with this the Lord Himself was the intervening agent; in connection with the law, on the other hand, only the angels, who, according to chap. 1., are subordinate to the Lord.
] by them that heard it ( sc . from the Lord; , Chrysost.), thus by His apostles and immediate disciples. From these the author distinguishes himself and his readers ( ). As well he himself as the Palestinian Christians to whom he writes must consequently have already belonged to a second generation of Christendom, and the author of the epistle cannot have been Paul (comp. Introd . p. 11). When Hofmann ( Schriftbew . II. p. 378, 2 Aufl.) objects to this: “from is in truth evident only that the author belonged not to the number of those who could testify that they had with their own ears heard the Lord, at the time when He was upon earth proclaiming that salvation which they now preached,” this is indeed perfectly correct. But when he adds that Paul likewise had certainly only heard the word of salvation from the mouth of those who had listened to Jesus, this is so long as the solemn asseveration of Paul himself (comp. expressly Gal 1:12 ) has any value for us decidedly false. For Paul reckons himself not among the disciples of the , but among the themselves. For the circumstance that the was otherwise brought about in his case than in the case of the original apostles, inasmuch as these had stood in the relation of to the Christ walking upon earth, Paul, on the other hand, stood in the relation of an to the exalted or heavenly Christ, left the essence of the matter itself untouched. Nor even by the assumption of a so-called , to which recourse has very frequently been had, can the conclusion resulting with stringent necessity from the words of our verse be set aside; for that which the writer of a letter says to his readers by means of an is always of such nature as to be likewise true of himself; never can it stand in excluding opposition to himself.
] corresponds to the , Heb 2:2 ; and is a well-known blending of the notion of rest with that of the preceding movement. See Winer, Gramm. , 7 Aufl. p. 386 f. Theophylact: , it came to us in a firm, trustworthy manner , so that it has become for us a . Wrongly Heinrichs (and so also Seb. Schmidt, Wittich, Wolf, Cramer, Paulus, and others), according to whom signifies ad nostra tempora , or usque ad nos .
[42] I cannot bring myself to recall this remark, although Delitzsch takes so great offence at it that he finds therein “a toning down of the opposition in gross misapprehension of the sense of the author.” The conception of an “immediate” speaking on the part of Jehovah in the N. T., on which Delitzsch insists, p. 49, 51, is regarded in general unbiblical ; it is, moreover, remote from the thought of the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews, as the whole chapter in itself shows; only by forcing upon him dogmatic notions already a priori determined, and entirely disregarding the laws of grammar, can it be brought out from his statements.
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
DISCOURSE: 2273
GREATNESS OF THE GOSPEL SALVATION
Heb 2:3. How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation?
TO estimate our privileges aright, we should compare them, not with those of the heathen world, but with those enjoyed by Gods ancient people the Jews. These were favoured with a revelation from heaven, and with ordinances of divine appointment, whereby they were to obtain acceptance with God. But their dispensation was burthensome beyond measure; their laws were executed with a rigour that was extreme; insomuch, that a man was stoned to death for only gathering a few sticks upon the Sabbath-day [Note: Num 15:32.]. In fact, any presumptuous violation of the law, attested by two or three witnesses, brought with it the punishment of death [Note: Num 15:30.]. Now, when it is considered how very different a dispensation we live under, it may well be asked, How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation? For surely, if a dispensation introduced by angels only required such strict attention, and was so inexorably enforced, much more must the Gospel dispensation, introduced as it has been by Gods only dear Son, and attested by the Holy Ghost, demand attention and observance from all to whom it is revealed.
The words which I have read, will lead me to shew you,
I.
The greatness of the Gospel dispensation
To learn what the Gospel salvation is, we are referred to the preaching of our blessed Lord and his Apostles
[Our blessed Lord did not systematically lay down the whole nature of the Gospel salvation; but he opened it with a sufficient clearness, that those who paid due attention to his word might easily comprehend it. What, for instance, could be plainer than the instruction given to Nicodemus, As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up; that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life [Note: Joh 3:14-15.]? Here the perishing condition of the whole world is declared, and the means of their deliverance; namely, through the death of Christ as an atonement for sin, and by the simple exercise of faith in him [Note: See also ver. 16, 18, 36.]. The same truth was repeatedly declared to others [Note: Joh 6:51; Joh 11:25-26; Joh 12:32-33 and Mat 26:27-28.] and it was fully announced, that, as he completed in himself the whole of the Mosaic ritual, he was the only medium of access to God, the only Saviour of the world: I am the truth, the way, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father but by me [Note: Joh 14:6.].
His Apostles after him preached the very same doctrine; and to it, as preached by them, the Holy Ghost set his seal. When Peter opened the Gospel to the Jews, he bade them believe in Jesus Christ for the remission of their sins; and in like manner when he opened it to the Gentiles: and on each occasion the Holy Ghost bare witness to it, by a visible descent from heaven [Note: Act 2:38-39; Act 10:43-44.]. So Paul also preached, and with the same effect, to the people at Antioch, and to the Jailor at Philippi [Note: Act 13:38-39; Act 16:30-31.]. In a word, this was the Gospel which they all preached; and by this they prevailed, to establish the kingdom of Christ throughout the greater part of the known world [Note: Mar 16:15-16.].]
But how shall I declare the greatness of this salvation?
[Consider it as imparted to us; who shall estimate the blessings of it? Take it either separately or collectively; and tell me if you, or an angel from heaven, can ever calculate the value of pardon, and peace, and holiness, and glory? Eternity would be too short to count the mighty sum. But consider it as purchased for us; there all efforts to estimate it aright are altogether vain. What shall I say of the incarnation of Gods only dear Son, and of his substitution in the place of sinners? What shall I say of his obedience unto death: and of his working out a righteousness, wherein every sinner in the universe, if only he believed in Jesus, might stand accepted before God? It is evident that the theme is too vast either for men or angels; and that the height, and depth, and length, and breadth of this love can never be fully comprehended, or adequately explored [Note: Eph 3:18-19.].]
Well, then, may we now be prepared to hear of,
II.
The danger of neglecting it
Here an appeal is made to every living man; and sinners are made judges in their own cause. Only consider what is included in a neglect of the Gospel salvation:
1.
What ingratitude!
[Did Almighty God so compassionate our fallen state as to give his only-begotten Son to stand in our place and stead, and by his own obedience unto death to rescue us from all the miseries we had deserved? What shall be said of those on whom this stupendous act of grace makes no impression? If but a man, a fellow-sinner, had substituted himself in our place, and died for us by the hands of a public executioner, what would be thought of us if we felt no obligation to him? I put it then to you, What must God think of us, if we feel no desire to requite his unmerited and unbounded kindness to us, in giving his only dear Son to die for us? I appeal to all, May we not well expect to lose this salvation, if we are so indifferent about it, as to treat both it, and the means used to effect it, with neglect? I cannot doubt what is the testimony which the conscience of every one before me is constrained to give.]
2.
What unreasonableness!
[Who ever thinks of attaining the means without the end? You cannot obtain any thing in this life without some effort suited to the occasion. How can you hope, therefore, that heaven, and all its glory, shall ever be attained without some effort? If I had to require all the exertions that poor heathen devotees employ to secure the favour of their gods, it were highly reasonable that you should engage day and night in all the most self-denying services that could be prescribed. But when I have only to say, Believe in Christ, and be saved, your neglect is unreasonable in the highest degree. Suppose, when Moses erected the brazen serpent that all who looked to it might be healed, any had been so perverse as to say, No, I will not turn my head to look to it; would you not say that such an one justly merited the death that must have ensued? Such then is the desert of you who neglect the Saviour: and I will leave you to judge, whether your unreasonable obstinacy, in refusing to comply with such easy means, do not justly cut you off from all hope of that salvation which he offers to you?]
3.
What horrible impiety!
[I am afraid of putting this in its true point of view, lest you should think that I wish to aggravate your guilt beyond all due bounds. But the Apostle himself represents it as a trampling under foot the Son of God, and putting him to an open shame, and doing despite unto the Spirit of grace. Now, suppose you could see this matter as God sees it. Suppose you could see the Lord Jesus Christ coming in person to that man, and the man turning upon him and trampling him under his feet: then suppose you saw the Holy Spirit also importuning and entreating him to accept of mercy, and the man turning his back upon him, and doing all manner of despite to him: should you think that man had any just ground to expect a salvation which he treated with such contempt? This, then, is the very light in which God places it, and in which you also ought to view it [Note: Heb 10:28-29.]. You, in fact, say to God, It was needless to send thy Son for me: I did not want him; nor will I receive him: and if I am not to be saved but by him, I am determined to abide by the alternative: for I will rather perish in my sins, than be at the trouble of seeking salvation through him. I think I need not put it to you, whether the damnation of such an obstinate sinner be just or not: I feel persuaded that the appeal made to you in my text has made its way to all your hearts; and that you see how vain it must be for any to hope to escape the displeasure of God, if they continue to treat with such neglect and contempt the wonderful salvation provided for them.]
Address
1.
Those who have neglected this salvation
[I wish it to be particularly remembered, that whilst I address you, I do not lay to your charge any sin except that which is expressly specified in my text. I will grant, that, as far as any flagrant act of sin, you have been as innocent as you yourselves can affirm. But have you therefore committed no damning sin? Ask yourselves whether you have not neglected the Gospel salvation. Ask whether, if any man had thought as little of his earthly business as you have thought of that, and had entered into his temporal concerns with as little ardour as you have into the concerns of your soul, he could reasonably have hoped for success? Yea, tell me, whether you yourselves would not have been ready to ascribe his failure to his neglect of business? You would not consider an occasional thought about his concerns sufficient, whilst yet he paid no just attention to them: and so, if you now and then, in a formal way, perform what you call your religious duties, whilst the concerns of eternity do not really occupy your souls, you must not imagine that you are free from the charge which my text imputes to you. Consider, I pray you, what salvation is; and how greatly you need it; and how it is to be sought; and what an entire devotion of soul is required in order to a due performance of that duty. Tell me, Have you, with deep contrition of heart, mourned and lamented your sins? Have you cried to the Lord Jesus Christ for mercy, as if you felt really your perishing condition? Have you utterly renounced all hope in yourselves, and cast yourselves altogether upon him as your only hope? And is this still, at this very time, the daily habit of your mind? Nothing less than this is what the Gospel requires of you; nor without this can you ever enjoy the salvation which it has provided for you. I pray you, consider this well: and provide, if you can, an answer to the appeal, the awful appeal, which God himself here makes to you ]
2.
Those who are really seeking after salvation
[If you are seeking salvation altogether in and through Christ, then will I alter the words of my text, and ask, How shall you not escape, if you are seeking this great salvation? Be assured of this; the salvation is great enough to answer all your wants, and to satisfy all your desires. There is in Christ an inexhaustible fulness of all that you stand in need of; and out of that fulness you shall receive to the utmost extent of your necessities. If a doubt or fear arise in your minds, know that none ever perished looking unto Jesus. To those who are in him, there never was, nor ever shall be, any condemnation [Note: Rom 8:1.]. Every promise in the Bible secures to you the possession of that salvation. Are you blind, and guilty, and polluted, and enslaved? Behold, wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and complete redemption, are are made over to you in Christ Jesus, and shall be imparted in the measure that your necessities require. Enjoy then your liberty; and let the salvation thus accorded to you fill you with unutterable joy. I grant, your enemies are mighty, and your corruptions great, and your temptations manifold: but still I boldly adopt the appeal in my text, and ask, How shall you not escape, if you seek this salvation? Look at others, and see how they have escaped. See in those who crucified the Lord of glory, how speedy and effectual was the change wrought on them. See what has been already done for that multitude whom no man can number, and who are already enjoying that salvation around the throne of God. Soon shall ye be of that happy number. Only let the Gospel salvation be sought by you as the one thing needful, and you shall never feel the want of it in time or eternity. Give yourselves thoroughly to the attainment of it; and your labour shall not be in vain in the Lord.]
Fuente: Charles Simeon’s Horae Homileticae (Old and New Testaments)
3 How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him ;
Ver. 3. If we neglect ] He saith not, if we reject, renounce, persecute; but if we neglect, let slip, shift off, as the word is, Heb 12:25 , and as those recusant guests did, Mat 22:1-14 . Say we rather with Samuel, “Speak, Lord, for thy servant heareth.” And with that Dutch divine, Veniat, veniat verbam Domini, et submitremus illi, sexcenta si nobis essent colla. Let the Lord utter his mind, and he shall have ready obedience, whatever come of it.
So great salvation ] The doctrine of the gospel, that “grace of God that bringeth salvation,” Tit 2:11 . I am fully persuaded (saith a late learned light of our Church, Dr Preston) that in these days of grace the Lord is much more quick and peremptory in rejecting men; the time is shorter, he will not wait so long as he was wont to do. The ground is, “How shall we escape if we neglect, &c.? which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed,” &c. This is somewhat like St Luke’s preface to his Gospel, Luk 1:2 . Hence some have thought that he also was the author of this Epistle.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
3 .] how shall we (emphatic: including Christians in general, all who have received the message of salvation in the manner specified below) escape ( and its compounds belong to that class of verbs which take the future middle, not using the active form of that tense. See a list of such in Krger, Gr. Sprachlehre, 39. 12. We may here either supply an object after the verb, such as , as in ref. Rom., 2Ma 7:35 , . , and ib. 2Ma 6:26 , or take . absolutely, as in the two last reff. and Sir 6:13 , . The latter seems best, inasmuch as . . does not fulfil the perfectly general motive of the hypothesis, and we are hardly justified in inserting any other object, such as in ref. Rom. The forensic sense of , to be acquitted , founded on that of , to be accused , maintained here by Wolf, appears to be merely imaginary, the forensic word being , not . So Thom. Mag.: , . . , . , . In the passage of Aristophanes which he quotes to support his view, Vesp. 993, , , the word, occurring as it does in the midst of the forensic use of (cf. v. 985, 997), may very well be only in its ordinary meaning, ‘ thou hast escaped ’) if we have neglected (the anarthrous participial construction implies a logical, i. e. here a hypothetical condition: the aor., that that condition will have been fulfilled at the date to which the fut. . refers) so great ( . , , , . , , , , . Chrys.: and Theod.-mops. even more to the point, , . . . . . . might belong to below, as Thol., assuming = , and referring to Matthi, Gr. Gr. 479, obs. 1. The instances there given of relatives after , , , , amply justify such a construction, e. g. Isocr. Epist. p. 408 D, . , : Xen. An. ii. 5. 12, , ; But it seems better here, and more befitting the majesty of the thing spoken of, to take absolutely, leaving the greatness and exalted nature of the salvation to be filled up, as Bleek says, in the consciousness of the readers. Still of course the introduces, both by the sense and by its own proper meaning ( ut qu ), an epexegesis of that which was enwrapped in ) salvation ( as in ch. Heb 1:14 ; no need, as many Commentators, to supply before it), the which (= ‘ seeing that it ,’ in a direct construction) having begun ( = . The phrase is found in the classics: e. g. Eur. Iph. in Aul. 1111, ; lian, Var. H. ii. 28, , : Polyb. iv. 28. 3, : see more instances in Bleek, Raphel, and the same usage of in Plato, Rep. p. 497 E, : Thuc. i. 91, . . Cf. Palm and Rost’s Lex. in ) to be spoken (the construction is a mixed one; the inf. after the substantive would naturally have the art., , but it is put without it as if had preceded) by means of (He was the instrument in this case, as the angels in the other; but both, law and gospel, came at first hand not from the mediators, but from God. See Ebrard’s mistaken antithesis treated below) the Lord ( . is to be joined with the whole . . ., not with alone. , as Bl. remarks, has here an especial emphasis setting forth the majesty and sovereignty of Christ: , Thdrt. See reff.), was confirmed (see ref. Mark, where the word is used exactly in the same sense and reference. It seems to be used to correspond to above, signifying a ratification of the gospel somewhat correspondent to that there predicated of the law: as also here answers to there. Thl. explains it, . ) unto us (not = the simple dative, which would be a dat. commodi, but implying the transmission and its direction; see reff.: nor, as Wolf, Wahl, al., to be rendered “ usque ad ,” a meaning of only to be assumed when defined by some indication of time or space in the context. Nor again must it be confounded with the idiom , “ among you ,” 1Co 1:6 . The construction is a pregnant one) by those who heard ( it? or Him? In the sense, the difference will be but little: in either case, those pointed at will be as Thdrt. : the . of Luk 1:2 . From the usage, however, of the Writer himself, I prefer understanding ‘it:’ cf. ch. Heb 3:16 ; Heb 4:2 ; Heb 12:19 ) it (Ebrard (with whom Delitzsch partly agrees) arranges this whole sentence strangely, and I cannot doubt, wrongly, thus: “was confirmed to us by those who heard it, as having been from the beginning spoken by the Lord:” and brings out a contrast between the law, which was given through a mediator, and the gospel, which came direct from the Lord Himself. But thus all the parallel, and with it the true contrast, is destroyed. Both law and gospel, proceeding from God, were to men: the former by angels, the latter by the Lord. Both were the former absolutely, as exemplified by the penalties which followed its neglect, the latter relatively to us, as matter of evidence requiring our hearty reception; delivered by eye and ear witnesses, and further witnessed to by God Himself. And in proportion as the Mediator of the new covenant is more worthy than were the mediators of the old covenant, will our punishment be greater if we neglect it. So there can be no doubt that the Writer meant to convey the sense against which Ebrard protests, and that the beginning of the promulgation of the gospel by the Lord, and the handing down of it by those who were its first hearers, are alleged by him as two separate and co-ordinate circumstances. On the evidence furnished by this verse as to the Writer of the Epistle, see Prolegg. i. parr. 130 ff.), God also bearing witness to it (nothing can be further from the truth than what Kuinoel, al., maintain, “ pro simplici positum esse.” In his own rendering of the word, the force of both prepositions is to be traced: “Deo simul confirmante.” is simply to bear witness : to attest , to bear witness to: to join in, attesting , or bearing witness to. The double compound is not uncommon in the later Greek writers: e. g. Aristot. de Mundo, v. 22, : Polyb. xxvi. 9. 4, , . . See examples from Sextus Empir., Galen, Philo, &c., in Bleek. On the sense, Chrys. remarks: ; ; , “ . . ” , , , . , , , ) with signs and wonders (Bleek remarks that these words are very commonly joined together, and cites numerous instances from the later classics, the LXX, and the N. T. His remarks are: “As regards the relation of the two expressions to each other in their combination here, as divine confirmations of human testimony, it is this: is a more general and wider idea than . Every , religiously considered, is also a , but not always vice versa . always includes the idea of something marvellous, something extraordinary in itself, betokens something which by its very occurrence raises astonishment, and cannot be explained from the known laws of nature. On the other hand a is each and every thing whereby a person, or a saying and assertion, is witnessed to as true, and made manifest: and thus it may be something, which, considered in and of itself, would appear an ordinary matter, causing no astonishment, but which gets its character of striking and supernatural from the connexion into which it is brought with something else, e. g. from a heavenly messenger having previously referred to some event which he could not have foreseen by mere natural knowledge. But it may also be a , properly so called. Still, it is natural to suppose that the biblical writers, using so often as they do the words together, did not on every occasion bear in mind the distinction, but under the former word thought also of events which of themselves would be extraordinary and marvellous appearances”) and various (this adj. belongs only to , not also, as Bleek, to the following clause, in which the of itself includes the idea of variety) miraculous powers (so are used in reff.; and in Act 2:22 ; 2Co 12:12 ; 2Th 2:9 , we find them joined with . as here; and with only, in Act 8:13 . See also 1Co 12:10 ; 1Co 12:28 f. In some of these places it is taken for the miraculous acts themselves which followed on the exercise of the powers: and so perhaps it may be here: but I prefer the other rendering on account of the near connexion with the following clause, which if we break by joining it to the foregoing, we destroy the grouping in couples, and also violate the proper construction of the ) and distributions (the rare word (see reff.) is in strict analogy with the usage of the verb: e. g. Rom 12:3 , : 1Co 7:17 , : 2Co 10:13 , . But both, in their simple classical meaning, merely signify division , as in ch. Heb 4:12 , and not distribution, which is a later sense, found in Polyb. xi. 28. 9, Diog. Laert., Herodian, &c. See Palm and Rost’s Lexicon) of the Holy Spirit (is this a genitive of the object distributed, or of the subject distributing? The latter is held by Camerar., al., and also referred to the will of the Holy Spirit. And so St. Paul certainly speaks, 1Co 12:11 , , . But it does not thence follow that such is the sense here: and it seems much more natural to refer the pron. to God, the primary subject of the sentence. Otherwise we should have expected . Still, it may be said that the reference of this genitive is independent of that of the pronoun , and that the clause should be considered on its own ground. But thus considered, if it be once granted that refers to God, we should have, on the supposition of the subjective genitive, an awkwardly complicated sense, hardly consistent with the assertion of absolute sovereignty so prominently made in the following clause. I take then the genitive with most Commentators, as objective, and the Holy Spirit as that which is distributed according to God’s will, to each man according to his measure and kind. The declaration in Joh 3:34 , of Him whom God sent, , speaks of the same giving , but of its unmeasured fulness, as imparted to our glorious Head, not of its fragmentary distribution to us the imperfect and limited members), according to His (God’s: see above) will ( is a rarer word (reff.) than , both being Alexandrine forms. Pollux says of it, v. 165, , , , . It is best to refer this clause, not to the whole sentence preceding, with Bhme, nor to the two clauses, . ., . . . ., as Bleek, Lnem., but to the last of these only, agreeably to 1Co 12:11 , and to the free and sovereign agency implied in . See on the whole sense, Act 5:32 )?
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Heb 2:3 . . “How shall we” to whom God has spoken through the Son, Heb 1:2 “escape ( . prob. in final judgment, as in Heb 10:27 ) if we have neglected (the aorist suggesting that life is looked at as a whole) so great a salvation?” the salvation which formed the main theme of the new revelation. The meaning of is best illustrated by Mat 22:5 , where it is used of those who disregarded, or treated with contempt, the invitation to the marriage-supper. The guilt and danger of so doing are in proportion to the greatness of the announcement, and this is no longer of law but of life, cf. 2Co 3 . The word now spoken is vastly more glorious and more fully expressive of its Author than the Law, “Non erat tanta salus in V.T., quanta est in gratia quam Dei filius nobis attulit” (Atto Vercell:). The “greatness” of the salvation is involved in the greatness of Him who mediates it (Heb 1:4 ), of the method employed (Heb 2:10 ), of the results, many sons being brought to glory (Heb 2:10 ). But one relevant aspect of its greatness, the source and guaranteed truth of its proclamation is introduced by , which here retains its proper qualitative sense and may be rendered “inasmuch as it ”. “Its object is to introduce the mention of a characteristic quality, which explains or emphasises the thing in question” (Vaughan). It was the trustworthiness of the new revelation of salvation which the Hebrews were beginning to question. The law had proved its validity by punishing transgressors but the majesty and certainty of the recent proclamation were doubtful. Therefore the writer insists that it is “very great,” and illustrates its trustworthiness by adducing these three feattures: (1) its original proclamation by the Lord, (2) its confirmation by those who heard Him, (3) its miraculous certification by God. [This is not contradicted by Bleek’s “Das ., tantae talisque salutis, verweist an sich wohl nicht auf den nachfolgenden relativen Satz,” nor by Weiss’ “Das hngt weder sprachlich noch sachlich mit . zusammen.”] , lit.: “having received a beginning to be spoken” = “having begun to be spoken,” or “which was first proclaimed”. ., a common phrase in later Greek, see Stephanus and Wetstein. In Polybius of a war “taking its rise”. In lian, V. H. , ii. 28. , . It is used here to indicate with precision the origin of the proclamation of the revelation about which they are feeling uncertain. refers back to Heb 2:2 and also to Heb 1:1 . to be connected with .; it is used instead of because God is throughout viewed as the ultimate source of revelation. , “the Lord” supreme over angels, and whose present exaltation reflects dignity and trustworthiness on the revelation He made while on earth. The salvation which they are tempted to neglect was at first proclaimed not by angels sent out to minister, not by servants or delegates who might possibly misapprehend the message, but by the Lord Himself, the Supreme. The source then is unquestionably pure. Has the stream been contaminated? God testifies to its purity. There is only one link between the Lord and you, they that heard Him delivered the message to you, and God by witnessing with them certifies its truth. The main verb is which looks back to of Heb 2:2 , and compares the inviolability of the one word or revelation with that of the other. We must not, he argues, neglect a gospel of whose veracity and importance we have assurance in this, that it was first proclaimed by the Lord Himself and that we have it on the authority of those who themselves heard Him, and who therefore were first-hand witnesses who had also made experimental verification of its validity. For though without an object expressed, plainly means those who heard the Lord, cf. Luk 1:1 . is rendered by Theophylact , it has been conveyed to us in a trustworthy manner. To their testimony was added the all-convincing witness borne by God, . The word is found in Aristotle, Philo and Polybius, xxvi. 9, 4, . Also in Clement, Ep. , c. xxiii., ; but only here in N.T., cf. 1Pe 5:12 ; Rom 2:15 ; Rom 8:16 ; Rom 9:1 . The sense is found in Mar 16:20 , , . This witness was borne “by signs and wonders,” the two words referring to the same manifestations ( closely uniting the words), which in one aspect were “signs” suggesting a Divine presence or a spirtual truth, and in another aspect “wonders” calculated to arrest attention. [The words are similarly conjoined in Polybius, Plutarch, lian, Philo and Josephus.] “and various miracles,” lit. powers, as in Mat 11:21 , . Bleek thinks it is not the outward manifestations but the powers themselves that are here meant. This, he thinks, is suggested by the connexion of the word with , “distributions of the Holy Spirit”. The genitive is genitive objective, “distributions consisting of the Holy Spirit”. The remarkable character of the Charismata and the testimony they bore to a Divine presence and power are frequently alluded to in the N.T. and are enlarged upon in 1Co 12:14 . Paul uses the same argument as this writer in Gal 3:1-4 . The article is wanting before in accordance with the usage noted by Vaughan, that it is generally omitted when the communication of the Spirit is spoken of, cf. Luk 2:25 , Joh 7:39 , with Joh 14:26 , Act 19:2 with 6. only here and in a different sense in Heb 4:12 ; the verb is common. St. Paul uses it in connection with the distribution of spiritual gifts in Rom 12:3 , 1Co 7:17 . No one thought himself possessed of the fulness of the Spirit, only a . These distributions or apportionings, being of the Spirit of God, are necessarily made “according to His [God’s] will”. In 1Co 12:11 the will is that of the Spirit. “Non omnibus omnia dabat Deus, sed quae et quantum et quibus vellet, Eph 4:7 ” (Grotius). [ only here in N.T., but ten times in LXX. Pollux calls it a “vulgarism” . On the substitution of nouns in – for nouns in – , see Jannaris’ Hist. Gram. , p. 1024, a nd cf. 10:7, 9:36, 13:21, so that in the present passage the choice of the active form is deliberate.] The clause is added to enforce the writer’s contention that all the Charismata with which his readers were familiar were not mere fruits of excitement or in any way casual, but were the result of a Divine intention to bear witness to the truth of the gospel.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
if we neglect = neglecting. Greek. ameleo. See 1Ti 4:14.
which, &c. Literally receiving a beginning.
Lord. App-98.
and. Omit.
confirmed. Greek. bebaioo. See Rom 15:8.
unto. Greek. eis. App-104.
by. Greek. hupo. App-104.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
3.] how shall we (emphatic: including Christians in general, all who have received the message of salvation in the manner specified below) escape ( and its compounds belong to that class of verbs which take the future middle, not using the active form of that tense. See a list of such in Krger, Gr. Sprachlehre, 39. 12. We may here either supply an object after the verb, such as , as in ref. Rom., 2Ma 7:35, . , and ib. 2Ma 6:26,-or take . absolutely, as in the two last reff. and Sir 6:13, . The latter seems best, inasmuch as . . does not fulfil the perfectly general motive of the hypothesis, and we are hardly justified in inserting any other object, such as in ref. Rom. The forensic sense of , to be acquitted, founded on that of , to be accused, maintained here by Wolf, appears to be merely imaginary, the forensic word being , not . So Thom. Mag.: , . . , . , . In the passage of Aristophanes which he quotes to support his view, Vesp. 993, , ,-the word, occurring as it does in the midst of the forensic use of (cf. v. 985, 997), may very well be only in its ordinary meaning, thou hast escaped) if we have neglected (the anarthrous participial construction implies a logical, i. e. here a hypothetical condition: the aor., that that condition will have been fulfilled at the date to which the fut. . refers) so great ( . , , , . , , , , . Chrys.: and Theod.-mops. even more to the point,- , . . . . . . might belong to below, as Thol., assuming = , and referring to Matthi, Gr. Gr. 479, obs. 1. The instances there given of relatives after , , , , amply justify such a construction, e. g. Isocr. Epist. p. 408 D, . , : Xen. An. ii. 5. 12, , ; But it seems better here, and more befitting the majesty of the thing spoken of, to take absolutely, leaving the greatness and exalted nature of the salvation to be filled up, as Bleek says, in the consciousness of the readers. Still of course the introduces, both by the sense and by its own proper meaning (ut qu), an epexegesis of that which was enwrapped in ) salvation ( as in ch. Heb 1:14; no need, as many Commentators, to supply before it), the which (= seeing that it, in a direct construction) having begun ( = . The phrase is found in the classics: e. g. Eur. Iph. in Aul. 1111, ; lian, Var. H. ii. 28, , : Polyb. iv. 28. 3, : see more instances in Bleek, Raphel, and the same usage of in Plato, Rep. p. 497 E, : Thuc. i. 91, . . Cf. Palm and Rosts Lex. in ) to be spoken (the construction is a mixed one; the inf. after the substantive would naturally have the art., , but it is put without it as if had preceded) by means of (He was the instrument in this case, as the angels in the other; but both, law and gospel, came at first hand not from the mediators, but from God. See Ebrards mistaken antithesis treated below) the Lord ( . is to be joined with the whole . . ., not with alone. , as Bl. remarks, has here an especial emphasis setting forth the majesty and sovereignty of Christ: , Thdrt. See reff.), was confirmed (see ref. Mark, where the word is used exactly in the same sense and reference. It seems to be used to correspond to above, signifying a ratification of the gospel somewhat correspondent to that there predicated of the law: as also here answers to there. Thl. explains it, . ) unto us (not = the simple dative, which would be a dat. commodi, but implying the transmission and its direction; see reff.: nor, as Wolf, Wahl, al., to be rendered usque ad, a meaning of only to be assumed when defined by some indication of time or space in the context. Nor again must it be confounded with the idiom , among you, 1Co 1:6. The construction is a pregnant one) by those who heard (it? or Him? In the sense, the difference will be but little: in either case, those pointed at will be as Thdrt. : the . of Luk 1:2. From the usage, however, of the Writer himself, I prefer understanding it: cf. ch. Heb 3:16; Heb 4:2; Heb 12:19) it (Ebrard (with whom Delitzsch partly agrees) arranges this whole sentence strangely, and I cannot doubt, wrongly, thus: was confirmed to us by those who heard it, as having been from the beginning spoken by the Lord: and brings out a contrast between the law, which was given through a mediator, and the gospel, which came direct from the Lord Himself. But thus all the parallel, and with it the true contrast, is destroyed. Both law and gospel, proceeding from God, were to men: the former by angels, the latter by the Lord. Both were -the former absolutely, as exemplified by the penalties which followed its neglect, the latter relatively to us, as matter of evidence requiring our hearty reception; delivered by eye and ear witnesses, and further witnessed to by God Himself. And in proportion as the Mediator of the new covenant is more worthy than were the mediators of the old covenant, will our punishment be greater if we neglect it. So there can be no doubt that the Writer meant to convey the sense against which Ebrard protests, and that the beginning of the promulgation of the gospel by the Lord, and the handing down of it by those who were its first hearers, are alleged by him as two separate and co-ordinate circumstances. On the evidence furnished by this verse as to the Writer of the Epistle, see Prolegg. i. parr. 130 ff.), God also bearing witness to it (nothing can be further from the truth than what Kuinoel, al., maintain, pro simplici positum esse. In his own rendering of the word, the force of both prepositions is to be traced: Deo simul confirmante. is simply to bear witness: to attest, to bear witness to: to join in, attesting, or bearing witness to. The double compound is not uncommon in the later Greek writers: e. g. Aristot. de Mundo, v. 22, : Polyb. xxvi. 9. 4, , . . See examples from Sextus Empir., Galen, Philo, &c., in Bleek. On the sense, Chrys. remarks: ; ; , . . , , , . , , , ) with signs and wonders (Bleek remarks that these words are very commonly joined together, and cites numerous instances from the later classics, the LXX, and the N. T. His remarks are: As regards the relation of the two expressions to each other in their combination here, as divine confirmations of human testimony, it is this: is a more general and wider idea than . Every , religiously considered, is also a , but not always vice versa. always includes the idea of something marvellous, something extraordinary in itself, betokens something which by its very occurrence raises astonishment, and cannot be explained from the known laws of nature. On the other hand a is each and every thing whereby a person, or a saying and assertion, is witnessed to as true, and made manifest: and thus it may be something, which, considered in and of itself, would appear an ordinary matter, causing no astonishment, but which gets its character of striking and supernatural from the connexion into which it is brought with something else, e. g. from a heavenly messenger having previously referred to some event which he could not have foreseen by mere natural knowledge. But it may also be a , properly so called. Still, it is natural to suppose that the biblical writers, using so often as they do the words together, did not on every occasion bear in mind the distinction, but under the former word thought also of events which of themselves would be extraordinary and marvellous appearances) and various (this adj. belongs only to , not also, as Bleek, to the following clause, in which the of itself includes the idea of variety) miraculous powers (so are used in reff.; and in Act 2:22; 2Co 12:12; 2Th 2:9, we find them joined with . as here; and with only, in Act 8:13. See also 1Co 12:10; 1Co 12:28 f. In some of these places it is taken for the miraculous acts themselves which followed on the exercise of the powers: and so perhaps it may be here: but I prefer the other rendering on account of the near connexion with the following clause, which if we break by joining it to the foregoing, we destroy the grouping in couples, and also violate the proper construction of the ) and distributions (the rare word (see reff.) is in strict analogy with the usage of the verb: e. g. Rom 12:3, : 1Co 7:17, : 2Co 10:13, . But both, in their simple classical meaning, merely signify division, as in ch. Heb 4:12, and not distribution, which is a later sense, found in Polyb. xi. 28. 9, Diog. Laert., Herodian, &c. See Palm and Rosts Lexicon) of the Holy Spirit (is this a genitive of the object distributed, or of the subject distributing? The latter is held by Camerar., al., and also referred to the will of the Holy Spirit. And so St. Paul certainly speaks, 1Co 12:11, , . But it does not thence follow that such is the sense here: and it seems much more natural to refer the pron. to God, the primary subject of the sentence. Otherwise we should have expected . Still, it may be said that the reference of this genitive is independent of that of the pronoun , and that the clause should be considered on its own ground. But thus considered, if it be once granted that refers to God, we should have, on the supposition of the subjective genitive, an awkwardly complicated sense, hardly consistent with the assertion of absolute sovereignty so prominently made in the following clause. I take then the genitive with most Commentators, as objective, and the Holy Spirit as that which is distributed according to Gods will, to each man according to his measure and kind. The declaration in Joh 3:34, of Him whom God sent, , speaks of the same giving, but of its unmeasured fulness, as imparted to our glorious Head, not of its fragmentary distribution to us the imperfect and limited members), according to His (Gods: see above) will ( is a rarer word (reff.) than , both being Alexandrine forms. Pollux says of it, v. 165, , , , . It is best to refer this clause, not to the whole sentence preceding, with Bhme, nor to the two clauses, . ., . . . ., as Bleek, Lnem., but to the last of these only, agreeably to 1Co 12:11, and to the free and sovereign agency implied in . See on the whole sense, Act 5:32)?
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Heb 2:3. ) how shall we escape the just and severe retribution? So Heb 12:25, They did not escape; (therefore) we shall not escape.-) salvation, in the world to come, joined with glory, Heb 2:5; Heb 2:10, notes. The term salvation, which is repeated in the tenth verse, is akin to the name Jesus, which resounds in the gospel of salvation.-, beginning) Formerly there had not been preached so great a salvation, and by so august an interpreter [exponent or mediator of it].-, to be spoken) from His baptism up to His ascension, Act 1:2.- , by the Lord) A majestic appellation; comp. ch. Heb 3:4, and the following verses; Psa 110:1. He does not say here, by our Lord; for he intimates that He is also Lord of the angels, whom the angels themselves call Lord: Luk 2:11; Mat 28:6. [Whatever is mentioned, ch. 1, and afterwards, Heb 2:7-10, is included in this appellation.-V. g.] The antithesis is, by angels, Heb 2:2. Comp. Heb 2:5, and the following,- ) by those who had heard it face to face from the Lord Himself. They also had been eye-witnesses and ministers, Luk 1:2 : but the apostle mentions their having heard Him here, agreeably to what he began with, Heb 2:1-2. The apostle has regard not only to the evangelical history in general, but even to particular heads of it, for example, that concerning the supplication in the garden, etc., ch. Heb 5:7, note. Paul, writing to the churches of the Gentiles generally, speaks much of his calling, and of the fruits of his labour; but here, when he writes to the brethren of the circumcision, he most especially appeals to the apostles who had been long with the Lord; comp. Act 1:21; Act 10:41; Act 13:31, note; and he only appeals to the testimony of those apostles in a general way, in order that he may bring the Hebrews to the Lord alone.- , to us) This denotes that age then present.-, has been confirmed) not by penalties, but by spiritual gifts. This word corresponds to , firm, stedfast, Heb 2:2.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
salvation
(See Scofield “Rom 1:16”).
Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes
How: Heb 4:1, Heb 4:11, Heb 10:28, Heb 10:29, Heb 12:25, Isa 20:6, Eze 17:15, Eze 17:18, Mat 23:33, Rom 2:3, 1Th 5:3, 1Pe 4:17, 1Pe 4:18, Rev 6:16, Rev 6:17
so: Heb 5:9, Heb 7:25, Heb 7:26, Isa 12:2, Isa 51:5, Isa 51:8, Isa 62:11, Luk 1:69, Joh 3:16-18, Act 4:12, 1Ti 1:15, Tit 2:11, Rev 7:10
began: Heb 1:2, Mat 4:17, Mar 1:14, Luk 24:19, Act 2:22
and was: Mar 16:15-19, Luk 1:2, Luk 24:47, Luk 24:48, Joh 15:27, Act 1:22, Act 10:40-42
Reciprocal: Gen 19:17 – Escape Exo 32:28 – there fell Exo 35:2 – whosoever Lev 24:23 – General Num 9:13 – forbeareth Num 19:13 – purifieth Deu 4:9 – keep thy soul Deu 18:19 – General 1Sa 19:5 – wrought Job 11:20 – they shall not escape Job 36:18 – then Psa 50:3 – a fire Pro 8:36 – he Isa 55:6 – Seek Jer 4:30 – And when Jer 44:14 – shall escape Eze 33:9 – if he Dan 10:14 – the vision Mic 5:8 – and none Zep 1:6 – and those Zec 11:6 – and out Mat 11:22 – It shall Mat 13:37 – is Mat 21:41 – He will Mat 21:44 – but Mat 22:5 – they Luk 9:2 – General Luk 9:35 – hear Luk 14:21 – being Joh 3:18 – he that believeth not Joh 3:36 – but Joh 8:24 – for Joh 8:28 – and that Joh 10:25 – the works Joh 12:48 – rejecteth Joh 15:24 – If Joh 19:35 – he that Act 3:23 – that every Act 4:20 – the things Act 5:32 – are Act 13:31 – who Act 13:40 – Beware Act 17:26 – hath determined Act 20:24 – to testify 1Co 1:6 – was 2Co 13:8 – General Eph 1:13 – the gospel 1Th 1:5 – in much 2Th 1:8 – and that Heb 6:9 – things Heb 10:15 – General Heb 10:27 – a certain Heb 11:1 – substance Jam 1:21 – which 2Pe 2:13 – the reward 1Jo 5:7 – the Holy Rev 20:15 – whosoever
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
THE SIN OF SINS
How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation?
Heb 2:3
Is not the sin of sins the neglect of His great salvation, which has been wrought with such marvellous wisdom, love, and sacrifice?
I. How shall we escape?Howin what wayhow shall we escape, if we neglect this great salvation?
(a) By pleading good works? There is not a living man who is not conscious, painfully conscious, that he has offended God and incurred His just displeasure. Is there anything over and above which can be available to atone for any other wrong of life? How then can one act make amends for another act?
(b) By pleading temptations? Was not there a provision made quite sufficient to overcome it? And did not you know that there was?
(c) By pleading Gods mercy? Will you plead the mercy of God? Is He not just also? Would not His whole empire suffer by a false leniency or favouritism?
II. The way of escape.Then, where will you run? What exit is there from Gods displeasure and your condign punishment but in the way of His own providing, faith in a Substitute? How can you escape but by that one great salvation? And let me ask, Would God have sent His Son to die for this world if there could be any other way but that one? The coming of Christ has provided for you
(a) A Brother, in the sympathies of a Man, and the power of God, always at your side.
(b) A Pattern, a Perfect Model, Whom you have nothing else to do but to follow, that you may secure a straight path and a happy life.
(c) A Teacher Whose teachings are the very mind of God.
(d) An Advocate Who both Himself pleads your cause with His Father and makes your poorest prayers and offerings acceptable before the throne.
(e) A Substitute Who has borne, in your stead, all your punishment.
(f) A Representative, the pledge of your own admission into heaven.
(g) A Righteousness in which you, even you, can stand in the presence of a holy God perfect and entire, lacking nothing.
Rev. James Vaughan.
Illustration
Thursday, June 22, 1893, will long be marked as a day of mourning in the annals of the British Navy. The tidings of that day sent a thrill of horror and dismay through every English heart. It was in no time of war or tempest, but on summer seas, engaged in peaceful manuvres with friendsnot foesthat suddenly, almost without a warning, the proudest battleship that England owned heeled over, and in one short quarter of an hour entombed herself, and hundreds of her gallant crew, deep down in a watery grave. What did it mean? Was it really possible that the Admiral had blunderedthe Admiral, than whom no braver man or more skilful sailor ever trod a deck? To this day a mystery surrounds the fatal order which cost his country, his family, and himself so dear. And yet the reluctant verdict of his peers compels the inference that it was through neglectneglect to measure duly the distance required for the safe turning of the shipsthat the irreparable mistake was made. Neglect! neglect! Who can measure its fatal consequences?
(SECOND OUTLINE)
AN UNANSWERED QUESTION
I. Salvation is great, because
(a) Of its source.
(b) Of the blessings it confers.
(c) Of the cost at which it was procured.
II. What is it to neglect salvation?Who are they that neglect it?
(a) Those who live in open sin neglect it.
(b) Those who are not in earnest in seeking it neglect it.
(c) Those who are content to live on without it neglect it.
III. How shall they escape who neglect it?For the sinner who has neglected the offer of salvation there will be no escape. No escape! How shall we escape? It is an unanswered question. The preacher does not answer it, God Himself does not answer it. It cannot be answered. There will be no escape.
Rev. E. W. Moore.
Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary
Heb 2:3. How shall we escape our just fate? If we neglect is fully as dangerous as to be guilty of active wrongdoing. So great salvation is said because of the greatness of the means by which it was made known to us, which means will now be described. Began to be spoken by the Lord. Jesus spent more than three years in the personal work of preparing the foundation or fundamentals of His kingdom among men. Was confirmed unto us by them that heard him. This refers to the apostles who were chosen by Christ to be with him all of the time between His baptism and ascension (Act 1:21-22). The apostles had first-hand information from Christ when he was on earth, and they afterward received “all truth” pertaining to the Gospel as the plan of Christ for salvation (Joh 16:13). This word was confirmed by the miracles which they and their converts were enabled to perform (Mar 16:20).
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Heb 2:3. By the Lord, rather through, by the instrumentality of. When instrumentality is clearly expressed in the context, as when it is said, By whom He made the worlds (chap. Heb 1:2), no change is needed; but when, as here, by is ambiguous, making it uncertain whether it describes a mere agent or the originating cause, it is important to mark the distinction. The Lord is here regarded as the divine messenger, whose message God Himself attested (Heb 2:4).
The Lord. The title thus given to Christ has special dignity, and is not common in this Epistle, being found only in Heb 7:14, Heb 13:20, and perhaps in Heb 12:14. It is the word used in the Septuagint to translate Jehovah.
Was confirmed unto us has been quoted to prove that Paul did not write this Epistle, he having affirmed elsewhere that he received his doctrine directly from Christ Himself (Gal 1:12; 1Co 9:1, etc.) There is, however, no inconsistency. The writer is here speaking of the Gospel as attested by many human witnesses whom he, and those he is addressing, had heard.
So great salvation. Nothing is said here of the greatness of the salvation beyond the qualities immediately named, viz. that the Gospel began with the teaching of the Lord, and was confirmed by the testimony and experience of those that heard it; still farther by the variety and the diffusion of miraculous and spiritual giftsGods own witnesses. A gospel originated in this way, and sustained by such evidence, has the strongest claim on our attention. The primary evidence of Christianity is Christ and Christiansthe character of Him who first taught it, and next the testimony of men who have believed it, and who can tell of its fitness to bring peace and to produce holiness; and all this evidence is permanent, as clear and as strong now as in the first age.
Neglect. The sin rebuked here is not the rejection of the Gospel or contempt of it. It is simply neglect or indifference. The hearers did not care to examine the truths and duties it revealed. Tell men what God is and what God has done to make them happy and good, and the character of men is as fully tested by their indifference as by their formal rejection of the truth. Not to care about a message of reconciliation and holiness decides the character and the destiny of many who have heard but will not regard. We have only to neglect salvation and we lose it, as in the previous verse we have only to take no heed; and we are carried away to our ruin in both cases.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Verse 3
To be spoken; to be announced. The gospel was first made known by Jesus himself, and afterwards by those to whom he committed it.
Fuente: Abbott’s Illustrated New Testament
2:3 How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; {2} which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by {d} them that heard [him];
(2) If the neglect and disobedience of the word spoken by angels was not left unpunished, much less will it be tolerated if we neglect the gospel which the Lord of angels preached, and was confirmed by the voice of the apostles, and with so many signs and wonders from heaven, and especially with great and mighty working of the Holy Spirit.
(d) By the apostles.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
Jesus Christ spoke of salvation during His earthly ministry (e.g., Mat 4:17; Mat 19:28; Luk 12:31-32; Luk 22:29-30). The apostles taught the same truth and by doing so confirmed His word. This is the gospel, in its widest meaning.
"By speaking of ’the hearers’ (ton akousanton), all interest is concentrated on the message, not the office, of those who had brought the word of redemption to the community . . ." [Note: Lane, p. 39.]
God testified to His approval of Christ’s preaching and the apostles’ preaching about Christ by providing authenticating miracles that showed God was with them (cf. Act 2:43; Act 4:30; Act 5:12; Act 6:8; Act 8:6; Act 8:13; Act 14:3; Act 15:12; 2Co 12:12). "Signs" emphasizes that the miracles signify something. "Wonders" emphasizes the reaction of awe that the miracles produced in those who observed them. "Miracles" emphasizes their supernatural origin and "gifts" the graciousness of God in providing them. The writer intended that reference to these miracles would bolster the readers’ confidence in the gospel that they had received.
This statement does not force us to date the epistle after the apostles had died.
"It is too much to read into this verse that the writer and his readers belonged to a second generation of Christians . . ., though Heb 5:12 shows that they were not new converts . . ." [Note: Ellingworth, p. 141.]
The original readers seem to have been people who had heard the apostles’ preaching and had observed the miracles that accompanied that preaching. Guthrie believed the writer had not heard Jesus firsthand. [Note: Guthrie, p. 82.] This verse does not say that the signs and wonders had already ceased. They may have, but this statement does not say that. The prediction that they would cease occurs in 1Co 13:8. Eph 2:20 implies the temporary duration of apostolic ministry that included signs and wonders. [Note: See J. Lanier Burns, "A Reemphasis on the Purpose of the Sign Gifts," Bibliotheca Sacra 132:527 (July-September 1975):245-46; Morris, p. 22.]
"Hebrews’ references to the Holy Spirit are generally incidental; much of the space occupied in Paul’s theology by the Spirit is filled in Hebrews by the exalted Christ." [Note: Ellingworth, p. 143.]
I think signs and wonders are less common in developed countries today because most of these countries have the complete Word of God. God now typically validates the gospel through His Word (cf. Rom 8:16; 1Jn 5:1-13). Occasionally we hear reports of miracles that validate the gospel, but they are usually in places where the Word of God is not as available.
This is the first of five warnings in Hebrews (cf. Heb 3:1 to Heb 4:16; Heb 5:11 to Heb 6:20; Heb 10:19-39; Heb 12:1-29). It is the shortest and mildest one. These five warnings deal with drifting from the gospel, disbelieving the gospel, dullness toward the gospel, despising the gospel, and defying the gospel.
"The warning of Heb 2:1-5 is linked by dia touto (’for this reason’) with the entire argument of Hebrews 1. Because of the Son’s superiority to angels (Heb 1:1-5), the angels’ worship of and service to Him at His coming (Heb 1:6-7), His future rule and sharing of joy with His companions (Heb 1:8-9), and His future subjugation of His enemies (Heb 1:10-14), the readers would do well to heed these eschatological teachings. Neglect of this eschatological salvation (cf. Heb 1:4; Heb 2:3; Heb 2:5) may result in individual temporal discipline similar to that experienced under the Old Covenant (Heb 2:2). The ’salvation’ of Heb 2:3 is the same as that in Heb 1:4. Heb 2:5 clarifies that the soteria under discussion is eschatological." [Note: Oberholtzer, p. 97.]
"One of the greatest dangers of the Christian life is losing interest in what is familiar (Heb 8:9; Mat 22:5). The entire Epistle lays stress on steadfastness at almost every stage, and this is one of the essential marks of the true, growing, deepening Christian life (Heb 3:14; Heb 4:2; Heb 4:12-13; Heb 6:1; Heb 6:19; Heb 10:26; Heb 12:27-28; Heb 13:8)." [Note: Thomas, p. 29.]
". . . the doctrines the epistle presents, the warnings it delivers, and the exhortations it gives all were intended to prevent regression and to encourage continuous dynamic development toward spiritual maturity." [Note: Pentecost, p. 31.]