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Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Hebrews 4:11

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Let us labor therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief.

11. Let us labour ] Lit., “let us be zealous,” or “give diligence” (2Pe 1:10-11; Php 3:14).

lest any man ] See note on Heb 4:1.

of unbelief ] Rather, “of disobedience.”

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

Let us therefore labour – Let us earnestly strive. Since there is a rest whose attainment is worth all our efforts; since so many have failed of reaching it by their unbelief, and since there is so much danger that we may fail of it also, let us give all diligence that we may enter into it. Heaven is never obtained but by diligence; and no one enters there who does not earnestly desire it, and who does not make a sincere effort to reach it.

Of unbelief – Margin, disobedience. The word unbelief best expresses the sense, as the apostle was showing that this was the principal thing that prevented people from entering into heaven; see the notes at Heb 3:12.

Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

Heb 4:11

Let us labour therefore to enter

Believers labouring for their reward

In these words there is, first, an exhortation; second, a motive pressing it.

In the exhortation we may consider

1. The dependence of it upon what goes before, intimated in the particle therefore; showing that it is an inference from some preceding doctrine. In the latter part of the third chapter, he shows that unbelief kept the disobedient Israelites out of Gods rest; both out of Canaan, and heaven typified thereby (chap. 4.).

(1) He lets them see that they had an offer of that eternal rest as well as the Israelites in the wilderness had; because both had the gospel, only the Israelites in the wilderness did not believe it.

(2) The great thing which we are to have in our eye, that rest, namely, of which David speaks (Psa 95:11); that rest which remains (Heb 4:9).

(3) What we are to aim at in reference to that rest; to enter into it, that is, to be partakes of it.

(4) The means to be used, in order to our entering, is labouring. Heaven will not fall down into our mouths while lying on the bed of sloth.

(5) Observe the order of the labour and the rest. In the way of Gods appointment, and of godly choice, the labour is first, then comes the rest. It is quite contrary with the wicked. They begin with a day of rest, and end with eternal toil; the godly begin with a night of toil, and end, or rather continue in eternal rest. Oh, that we may follow Gods order!

(6) Observe the end and design of this labour: it is rest. Men work in their young days, and lay up that they may rest in old age. So does the Christian. The wicked also labour that they may rest; but there is a vast difference both betwixt their labour and rest. Their labour is in sin, and their rest is there; but sought in vain, for in the fulness of their sufficiency they are in straits. But the godly have their labour in grace, their rest in glory, and between these there is an infallible connection; who, then, would refuse that labour which ends in that rest.

(7) The persons exhorted to labour; us, which includes the apostle and all the Hebrews, whom he exhorts to-day to hear Gods voice, so that this exhortation belongs to all the visible Church, godly and ungodly. Some have entered the avenue leading to glory, some have not; both are called to labour to enter.

2. The motive pressing the exhortation. It is taken from the danger of not labouring. Consider here

(1) That of which people are in danger, and which will come upon them, if they labour not to enter, falling; that is, falling short of heaven, and missing salvation.

(2) The great cause of ruin, that is, unbelief or unpersuasibleness. Unbelief is the great cause of the ruin of the hearers of the gospel, and that which cuts the sinews of true diligence, so as people under the power of it cannot labour.

(3) A confirmation of the certainty of their ruin: after the same example of unbelief.

(4) The universality of the danger: any man.

I. IN WHAT THE CHRISTIANS LABOUR CONSISTS.

1. The mind must be intent on the business of salvation. This imports

(1) An impression of the weight of that matter upon the spirit. No wise man will labour for a trifle.

(2) An habitual minding of that business. Religion is the believers trade–hence his conversation is in heaven.

(3) The hearts being set upon salvation (2Co 5:9). The scattered affections of the soul arc gathered together from off the variety of objects which the world affords us, and are fixed here (Psa 27:4).

2. In this labour there is painfulness and diligence. The man labours for salvation, as working for his life itself, for indeed he sees his all is at stake. No opposition will make him give over. There is such a faintness in all the endeavours of many for heaven, that with the fearful who have no heart, they are excluded (Rev 21:8).

3. In this labour there is haste. Our work must be done speedily, for the time proposed for our labouring is but to-day. There is an unbelieving haste, that will not wait Gods time; but this true haste is not to let his time slip.

4. There is this labour carefulness and holy anxiety about salvation, in the managing of the work (Php 2:12). Nosy this implies

(1) The turning of the soul from anxious cares about the world, to a holy solicitude about the salvation of the soul.

(2) A fear of falling short of heaven.

(3) An earnest desire to be set and kept on the way to heaven.

(4) A fear of mismanagement in his work. The labourer for heaven should work, and doth best work with a trembling hand. It was the fundamental maxim of the heathen moralists, Have confidence in yourself. But I may say the Christian maxim is, Have no confidence in yourself. He that trusteth in his own heart is a fool.

II. FOR WHAT WE ARE TO LABOUR. To enter into the heavenly rest. This is that which we are to have in our eye, and to which our endeavours are to be directed. We are not called to work for nought; but as heaven is attainable, we are to labour that we may enter into it.

1. Show some Scriptural notions of heaven, to which this of entering doth agree.

(1) Heaven is held out under the notion of a garden or paradise.

(2) A house.

(3) The temple typified by that at Jerusalem.

(4) A city glorious for magnificence and beauty (Rev 21:1-27.).

(5) A country; even a better country than the best here below (Heb 11:16).

(6) A kingdom (Mat 25:34); a kingdom that cannot be moved Heb 11:28).

2. Show what it is to enter into the heavenly rest.

(1) There is an entering into heaven by the covenant. The covenant of grace is the outer court of heaven. Of this everlasting covenant, ordered in all things and sure, David says, this is all my salvation and all my desire. Surely, then, heaven was in it.

(2) There is an entering by faith.

(a) In so far as faith lays hold upon Christ, and unites us to Him Joh 6:54).

(b) In so far as faith lays hold on the promise in which heaven is wrapped up.

(3) There is an entering by hope (Rom 8:24). Faith goes out as a conqueror, and hope divides the spoil.

(4) There is an entering by obedience. I know, said Jesus, that His commandment is life everlasting. There is a personal way to heaven, that is, Christ. I am, saith He, the Way. Also a real way to heaven, that is, the commands of God, called everlasting life, because they certainly land the soul in heaven, and there is an infallible connection betwixt true obedience and glory.

(5) There is an entering into heaven by actual possession, which in respect of our souls is at death, and in respect of our bodies will be at the resurrection, which is the full and final entry, to which all the rest are subservient. This entrance is that solemn entering into the kings palace Psa 45:15), which shall also be most joyful.

3. Mention some steps in the way by which we must labour to enter.

(1) We must labour to get grace; this is the first step. Let us have grace, says Paul, whereby we may serve God acceptably, with reverence and godly fear.

(2) We must labour to exercise grace in the gracious performance of duties.

(3) Growing in grace.

(4) Assurance of grace and glory.

(5) Perseverance in grace to the end.

4. Consider this labouring to enter, as it has a respect to our preparation for that eternal rest in heaven. The man that is to go abroad is a busy man, putting all things in order for his voyage; and he that is making for his nights rest in bed, is not idle; and he that is to enter into the possession of eternal rest, has much work on his hand preparatory thereto. And thus to labour to enter into the heavenly rest implies

(1) The solid faith of eternal life, even of this truth, that there remaineth a rest for the people of God.

(2) A sincere desire to be partaker of that rest, after this troublesome life is over.

(3) Resolute endeavours to enter there, by Gods own way, which has already been described.

(4) Frequent thoughts of that eternal rest.

III. HOW WE SHOULD LABOUR

1. We should labour willingly and cheerfully.

2. Diligently.

3. With all your might.

4. Resolutely.

5. Constantly.

6. With fear and trembling.

7. Quickly.

8. Refusing no piece of work God puts into your hands.

9. Evangelically.

IV. THAT WE MUST LABOUR IN ORDER TO OUR ENTERING INTO THAT REST.

1. Consider the several notions under which the Christians life and the way to heaven is held forth, all of them implying true pains and labours. It is a working, Labour not for the meat that perisheth (Greek, work), Joh 6:27). Here he that works not shall not eat. Yea, it is a working out of our own salvation; a bringing the work to perfection, otherwise what is done will be lost (2Jn 1:8). It is compared to the work of the husbandman, which you know is not easy, ploughing, sowing, reaping Hos 10:12), especially considering that they are both the labourers, and the ground that is laboured. The Christian is a spiritual soldier, he must 2Ti 4:7); yea, and overcome (Rev 3:21). Heaven has a strait gate by which to enter in, and therefore cannot be entered with ease. Men must press into it (Luk 16:16); and take it by storm; yea, put forth their utmost strength as they that agonising. The apostle says (2Co 5:9), we labour; the word signifies to labour most earnestly, as an ambitious man for honour; and what will not such do, to gain their point?

2. Consider how the way to heaven was typified under the Old Testament. Canaan was a type of heaven, and to what labour were the Israelites put before they could reach that land, though it was promised to them. Another eminent type of it, was the ascent into the temple, which was seated upon a hill, even Mount Moriah (1Ki 10:5). Many a weary step had some of them ere they got to Jerusalem (Psa 84:6-7); and when they came there, they had to ascend unto the hill of God (Psa 24:3), the mount of the Lords house, a type of heaven.

3. Consider how the Scripture supposeth this labour (Rom 7:24; Gal 6:5).

4. Consider how the Scripture represents the sluggard and his temper to us, as most hateful to God, and as one that is lost by his sloth (Pro 13:4; Pro 20:4; Pro 21:25). The sluggard is the unprofitable servant (Mat 26:34).

5. Whom God intends for heaven, in then] He puts an active principle of grace. It is as natural for grace to bring forth good works, as for a good fruit tree to bring forth good fruit.

6. To enter heaven without labour is a contradiction; and so impossible. Heaven is a reward, and necessarily pre-supposeth working. Moreover, it is a rest which is a relative term, and has necessarily labour pre-supposed to it.

V. WHY WE MUST LABOUR IN THIS SPIRITUAL WORK, in order to our entering heaven. Negatively; not because by works we must merit heaven, for the gift of God is eternal life, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Our working is the way to the kingdom; not the cause of our reigning; Christs working was that. But we must labour, because

1. It is the command of our great Lord and Master, whose command we are not to dispute, but to obey.

2. The glory of God requires it.

3. Because there is an infallible connection betwixt labouring and the rest. Labouring is the only way we can attain it. There is no reaching the treasure of glory without digging for it.

4. Because otherwise we pour contempt on the heavenly rest. It was the sin of the Israelites (Psa 106:24-25).

5. Because it is difficult work you have to do, and therefore we should set ourselves to labouring, for it is heart work.

Motives:

1. Consider that in other things you do not refuse to labour. You are not such as live idle and at ease. Now God is putting a piece of work in your hands; will you labour for others, but not for Him?

2. Your profession and your vows call upon you to labour to enter.

3. Your time is short; ere long all of us shall be in an unalterable state.

4. Your time is uncertain, as well as short.

5. The devil is busy to keep you out of that rest.

6. You have weighty calls to this work and labour. Lessons:

1. You have the call of the Word and ordinances. Wherefore has the Lord sent you His gospel, but for this end.

2. You have the call of providence.

3. The call of conscience.

4. If you labour not, you will never see heaven.

Now to make this labour easy to you, I would recommend–

1. To keep the encouragements to the work in your eye; particularly such as these, the example of those that have gone before you, and have got safe to the journeys end. These have made it appear the work is possible, and the reward certain.

2. Live by faith.

3. Labour to get and keep up love to Christ.

4. Look upon that labouring as your interest as well as your duty.

5. Be constant in that labour. (T. Boston, D. D.)

Labour to enter into eternal rest

How calm and beautiful to the servant of God is the close of a Sabbath day! It has, if he has used it aright, helped to allay all his cares and soothe all his woes; to brighten earth by the reflection of heaven. How endearing and animating, then, the blessed link, that knits the passing Sabbath of earth with the interminable Sabbath of heaven!–that makes the best and brightest day in the seven, to be to the child of God at once the pledge and the antepast of the everlasting rest that remaineth for the people of God!

I. Let us labour to enter into that rest; FOR LABOUR IS NEEDFUL, IF WE WOULD ENTER. Most true it is, that eternal life is from first to last the gift of God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Death we win–it is the wages of our service; life we receive–it is the free boon of boundless grace. Purchased, but by the blood of God; given to us without money and without price. But it is not less true, that though it be the gift of God, it is given to us in order to, and in connection with, toil, struggle, self-denial, self-subjugation, a warfare unremitting, a perpetual maintenance of the good fight of faith, against the flesh, the world, and the devil. We see, in the history of Gods saints in every age, that to enter the glorious rest was a task of stupendous difficulty–was a pursuit for unremitting earnestness and energy–and called for and cost them all their devoted powers. Says not the Scripture everywhere the same? Strive, said the Saviour–agonise–to enter in at the strait gate; for many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able.

II. We must labour to enter into that rest, because IF WE FAIL OF THAT REST, WE FAIL OF ALL REST FOR EVER.

III. Let us labour to enter into that rest; for IT IS WORTH OUR UTMOST LABOUR. It was beautifully said by a heathen wise man, that the noblest thing on earth is a noble object nobly pursued. That man, in his sentiment, was not far from the kingdom of God. Oh! had he possessed the lamp that lights us, to reveal to him the glories prepared for them that love God, he would have seen at once, that the only noble object for immortal, responsible, rational man–the only noble object to be nobly pursued, in faith, in love, in self-denial, in holiness, in obedience, in patience, in indomitable resolution–is the kingdom of Gods dear Son.

IV. Let us labour, therefore, to enter into that rest; for EVEN HERE HOW MUCH OF THIS REST MAY BE OURS, WHILE WE TOIL AND TRAVEL AND CONFLICT BELOW! The apostle beautifully says in the preceding context, We which have believed do enter into rest. There are first-fruits brought from heaven to the wilderness, as there were first-fruits brought from Canaan to the desert.

V. Let us, therefore, labour to enter into that rest; for our LABOUR IS NOT IN VAIN IN THE LORD. In this race none fails through inveterate ignorance, if that ignorance be not of choice and of obstinacy; none comes short through want of talent or opportunity or advantage, if he makes the most of such as God gives him; none fails because of extremity of poverty or misery or desolation of earthly circumstances; none comes short because there was not mercy in God, there was not efficacy in the blood of Christ, there was not freeness and fulness in the Spirit of grace, there was not room in heaven, there was not amplitude in the gospel of peace. Every man that fails and comes short, cannot enter in because of unbelief; because he would not come to Christ that he might have life, or, coming to Christ, he would not have life in the way of ,working out his own salvation with fear and trembling, because it was God that worked in him to will and to do of His good pleasure. (H. Stowell, M. A.)

The need of labour before rest

We may properly regard this as an intimation that care and trouble are absolutely necessary on our part, in order to the procurement and enjoyment of those things which God hath prepared for them that love Him. We should never fail to consider this life as a state of trial. In order to the attainment of human perfection, we perceive much labour to be necessary; there is no science, there is scarcely any art or employment in our several vocations in which we can arrive at eminence without industry and toil: exceptions there doubtless are, but this is the rule. We may further observe, that the greatest delight which we experience upon earth is frequently obtained by previous exertion or privation. As it is with the body, and with the attainment of natural blessings, so we have much greater reason to expect that it should be with the soul, with the attainment of those pure and spiritual blessings to which the natural man is averse. We could not expect them to be enjoyed without a previous discipline, without an anxious seeking, without a determined conflict. Not that such discipline and duty, on our part, are to be regarded as effectual in themselves; still less as entitling us to the benefits of the gospel on the ground of desert: we can have no such title but through the merits and for the sake of our blessed Redeemer. Whatever the labour might be–however severe, however unassisted and unrelieved–every wise man, every man who exercised a common judgment and prudence, would thankfully submit to it for a few years as the appointed means of a happy eternity; just upon the same principle as he would gladly submit to the trouble or toil of a day for the sake of procuring riches and comfort and honour during the remainder of his existence upon earth. But the work of the Christian, in the preparation of his soul for rest, is not a labour unassisted and unrelieved; not a gloomy period of service without the light of the sun. There is a heaven-born spirit, an all-sufficient grace, a holy energy and animation imparted, affording much more than a recompense even at present, and making the believer thankful that he has struggled and endured. Nevertheless, the mainstay of the children of God in their infirmities, the refreshment of their spirit in the vale below, is the promise of a heavenly rest at the end of their short pilgrimage, towards which they have the comfort of making a daily advancement: the promise of a final and blissful consummation. An aged Christian, now near this end, commonly says, at every striking of the clock upon his ear, thank God I am an hour nearer to my home and my rest. Such thankfulness may every one of us be able heartily to express! (J. Slade, M. A.)

Labour and study necessary for reaching heaven

We must not think to go to heaven without study, bare wishing will not serve the turn. It is not enough to say with Balaam, Oh, that my soul might die the death of the righteous, and my last end be like his (Num 23:10). It is not sufficient to all, oh, that I were in heaven, but we must study to go to heaven. Now in all studying these things must concur.

1. There must be the party that studieth, and that is every Christian–high and low, rich and poor, of what estate or condition soever. The king and the subject, the ministers and their people, the master and the servant, the father and the child, the husband and the wife, the merchant and the clothier, the gentleman and the yeoman, the divines, lawyers, physicians, husbandmen, &c., all must study to enter into this rest.

2. There must be a closet, or a place to study in, that is, the chamber of our own hearts.

3. There must be a book to study on. Every, student must have his books. There can be no workman without his tools, nor a scholar without a library. Now the Lord will not trouble us with many books. As Christ said, one thing is necessary. So one book is necessary, the book of books the Holy Scriptures. Let us study that thoroughly, and learn the way to heaven.

4. There must be a light to study by. No man can study in the dark; either he faust have daylight or candlelight. The light whereby we study is the light of Gods Spirit, who must enlighten our eyes that we may see the wonders of Gods laws and direct us to this heavenly rest.

5. There must be diligence m study. Every student must be diligent. Learning is not gotten without pains. We must not study by fits, a start and away, but we must lie at it, if by any means we may come to this rest.

6. There must be a time to study in. Now this time is the term of our life.

7. And it is worth our study. (W. Jones, D. D.)

Heaven a plaice of rest

Heaven is a place, or state, of rest. What kind of rest? The rest of inactivity, of absence of occupation, of listlessness, dreams, and luxurious vacuity? Certainly not. This is evidently not the kind of happiness that dignifies, improves, satisfies, or suits man, even here; far less therefore can it haronise with his exalted nature hereafter, which would only be cramped, imprisoned and dishonoured by such uncongenial inactivity.

I. A REST FROM DISTRACTING DOUBT. Here there is much sophism which is hardly to be distinguished from truth; in heaven all is truth. Here there is a great battle between truth and error; in heaven the victory is decided, and peace is eternal. Here we know in part, and therefore we can prophesy but in part; there we shall know even as we are known. There we shall rest; rest from the tides and fluctuations of uncertainty, and find a calm shot, and a secure haven. Nothing there can excite in us the least suspicion of the care, the justice, or the goodness of oar Maker, for these will be the visible support of our immortal life.

II. A REST FROM ANXIOUS CARES. In heaven these instruments of our earthly discipline will be laid aside. There will be no thorns in the pillow of that rest.

III. A PLACE, OR STATE, OF REST FROM PAIN,

IV. A REST FROM CONTENTION AND STRIFE. Discord, divisions, and fightings shall cease, and the confused noise of the warrior shall no more be heard there. Such things must not come where the Prince of Peace sits on the right hand of His Father. All rivalry and hate will be extinguished. There no friend goes out, nor enemy comes in.

V. A PLACE, OR STATE OF REST FROM SIN. (F. W. P. Greenwood, D. D.)

Labouring for rest

That is a singular paradox and bringing together of opposing ideas, is it not? Let us labour to enter into rest. The paradox is not so strong in the Greek as here; but it still is there. For the word translated labour carries with it the two ideas of earnestness and of diligence. And this is the condition on which alone we can secure the entrance, either into the full heaven above, or into the incipient heaven here. But note, we distinctly understand what sort of toil it is that is required to secure it, that settles the nature of the diligence. The main effort of every Christian life, in view of the possibilities of repose that are open to it here and now, and yonder in their perfection, ought to be directed to this one point of deepening and strengthening their faith and its consequent obedience. You can cultivate your faith, it is within your own power. You can make it strong or weak, operative through your life, or only partially, by fits and starts. And what is required is that Christian people should make a business of their godliness, and give themselves to it as carefully, and as consciously, and as constantly, as they give themselves to their daily pursuits. The men that are diligent in the Christian life, that exercise that commonplace, prosaic, pedestrian, homely virtue of earnest effort, are sure to succeed; and there is no other way to succeed. And how are we to cultivate our faith? By contemplating the great object which kindles it. By averting our eyes from the distracting competitors for our interest and attention, in so far as these might enfeeble our confidence. Do you do that? Diligence; that is the secret–a diligence which focusses our powers, and binds our vagrant wills into one strong, solid mass, and delivers us from languor and indolence, and stirs us up to seek the increase of faith, as welt as of hope and charity. Then, too, obedience is to be cultivated. How do you cultivate obedience? By obeying–by contemplating the great motives that should sway and melt, and sweetly subdue the will, which are all shrined in that one Easing, Ye are not your own; ye are bought with a price, and by rigidly confining our desires and wishes within the limits of Gods appointment, and religiously referring all things to His supreme will. If thus we dot we shall enter into rest. (A. Maclaren, D. D.)

Diligence explained

Diligence comprises both the impulse of the bowstring that despatches the arrow, and the feather that keeps it true to its aim. Diligio, the Latin word from which diligence is derived, means I choose, select, or love. To be diligent, therefore, is to resemble an eager hunter, who selects the fattest of the herd, and, leaving the rest, pursues and captures that one. Napoleon the First won his victories chiefly by rapid concentration of his forces on one point of the enemys line. A burning-glass is powerful because it focalises a mass of sunbeams on one point. So in all departments of activity, to have one thing to do, and then to do it, is the secret of success.

The need for diligence

God does not give thee the flower and the fruit of salvation, but the seed, the sunshine, and the rain. He does not give houses, nor yet beams and squared stones, but trees, and rocks, and limestone, and says: Now build thyself a house. Regard not Gods work within thee as an anchor to hold thy bark firmly to the shore, but as a sail which shall carry it to its post. (J. P. Lunge.)

Diligence

Its root meaning is to love, and hence it signifies attachment to work. The habits of literary men illustrate this. Lord Macaulay loved order, accuracy, and precision. He corrected his MS. remorselessly. So with his proof-sheets. He could not rest till the lines were level to a hairs breadth, and the punctuation correct to a comma; until every paragraph concluded with a telling sentence, and every sentence flowed like running water. (Thwings Preachers Cabinet.)

Christianity requires doing as well as believing

The other day I met a friend noted for a fretful and anxious disposition; and seeing that his face was cheerful and his step elastic, I said, Well, old friend, you look as if things were going pleasantly. He replied, Oh yes; my relatives have bought an annuity for me in the Assurance office, and until I die I shall have 200 a year to live on. You see, my future is provided for, and I have no need to worry myself about it as I used to do! Like that man, some people imagine that when they believe in Jesus, there is a something done which makes them safe for ever, without any further trouble to themselves. A man who buys a railway ticket, gets into the train, and feels he has nothing more to do except sit there comfortably until the train arrives at the journeys end. But the Christian life is much more difficult. It is true that through Jesus Christ is preached unto men the forgiveness of all their sins; but it is an error to preach that Christians have nothing to do except believe, Jesus demands a faith in Him which shall constrain us to do. (W. Birch.)

Labour till the last

Calvin, even in his dying illness, would not refrain from his labours; but when his friends endeavoured to persuade him to moderate his exertions, he replied, What! shall my Lord come and find me idle?

Labour necessary for our salvation

Never think that God is going to make a Christian out of you without effort of your own. When the lion crouches down before you, and his eyes glare upon you, and he is about to spring, you need not expect Providence to fire your gun for you; you must do it yourself or die. Tis kill or be killed with you then. God has already done His part in the work of your salvation. If you dont choose to do your part, you will perish. (H. W. Beecher.)

Fall after the same example of unbelief

The use of examples of punishment

This implies

1. There is danger and an evil to be feared.

2. The evil is falling.

3. All and every one is in this danger Lest any fall.

4. Lest any should slight the danger, he instanceth in the Israelites, who fell by unbelief.

To fall may be a sin or a punishment. If a sin, it is apostasy. If a punishment, it is exclusion out of Gods rest, with all the miseries that accompany it. So it seems here to be taken. By this, as by many other places, we easily understand how we must conceive of examples, and what use we must make of them. If they be examples of punishments, we must account them as executions of Gods laws, and especially of His comminations. The use that we must make of them is, to avoid those sins for which they were inflicted, and to be the more careful in this particular because by them we may easily know that Gods laws are not only words and His threats only wind. It is not with God as it is often with men, who will threaten more than they will or can do. Thence the saying, Threatened men live long. But here it is otherwise. Gods word is His deed, and His punishments, threatened against apostates are unavoidable. They are not made unadvisedly, and out of rash passion, but according to the eternal rules of wisdom and justice. And let every one know that that God that spareth neither men, nor angels, nor His own chosen and beloved people, will not spare us. Therefore, as we desire to escape this fearful punishment, let us labour to enter into that rest which God hath promised. (G. Lawson.)

Disobedience and unbelief

Disobedience is the root of unbelief. Unbelief is the mother of further disobedience. Faith is submission, voluntary, within a mans own power. If it be not exercised the true cause lies deeper than all intellectual ones, lies in the moral aversion of his will and in the pride of independence which says, Who is the Lord over us? Why should we have to depend upon Jesus Christ? And as faith is obedience and submission, so faith breeds obedience, and unbelief leads on to higher-handed rebellion. The two interlock each other, foul mother and fouler child; and with dreadful reciprocity of influence the less a man trusts the more he disobeys; the more he disobeys the less he trusts. (A. Maclaren, D. D.)

Unbelief incompatible with salvation

People say that it is arbitrary to connect salvation with faith, and talk to us about the injustice of men being saved and damned because of their creeds. We are not saved for our faith, nor condemned for our unbelief, but we are saved in our faith, and condemned in our unbelief. Suppose a man did not believe that prussic acid was a poison, and took a spoonful of it and died. You might say that his opinion killed him, but that would only be a shorthand way of saying that his opinion led him to take the thing that did kill him. Suppose a man believes that a medicine will cure him, and takes it, and gets well. Is it the drug or his opinion that cures him? If a certain mental state tends to produce certain emotions, you cannot have the emotions if you will not have the state. Suppose you do not rely on the promised friendship and help of some one, you cannot have the joy of confidence or the gifts that you do not believe in and do not care for. And so faith is no arbitrary appointment, but the necessary condition, the only condition possible, in the nature of things, by which a man can enter into the rest of God. If we will not let Christ heal our wounds, they must keep on bleeding; if we will not let Him soothe our conscience, it must keep on pricking; if we will not have Him to bring us nigh, we must continue far off; if we will not open the door of our hearts to let him in, He must stop without. Faith is the condition of entrance; unbelief bars the door of heaven against us, because it bars the door of our hearts against Him who is in heaven. (A. Maclaren, D. D.)

Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell

Verse 11. Let us labour therefore] The word implies every exertion of body and mind which can be made in reference to the subject. Rebus aliis omissis, hoc agamus; All things else omitted, this one thing let us do. We receive grace, improve grace, retain grace, that we may obtain eternal glory.

Lest any man fall] Lest he fall off from the grace of God, from the Gospel and its blessings, and perish everlastingly. This is the meaning of the apostle, who never supposed that a man might not make final shipwreck of faith and of a good conscience, as long as he was in a state of probation.

Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible

Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest: this is the use of the former doctrine, that since many through unbelief fall short of Gods rest, therefore let us labour: imports study of mind, earnestness of affection, diligence of endeavour, with all the powers of soul and body to intend this work: so is it used, 2Pe 1:10. This is the most necessary, excellent, and important one to us in this world, our single great business in it; and therefore, as students, our minds must be bent on it, and our wills fixed and resolved about it, and the operations of all the executive powers of our persons put forth to the utmost degree, so as all the duties necessary thereunto, as attendance on all ordinances, and the constant exercise of faith and obedience, must be fitting us for, and bringing us into, the full possession of the eternally blessed and glorious rest of God, 2Pe 1:5-11.

Lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief; that not any particular person may fall into sin and the consequences of it. The particle may be read, into, and then it implies, lest any of you prove rebels and apostates. Or it is read, by, or after, and then it is a fall to destruction and hell, with all the miseries that those feel who are shut out of Gods rest, as their unbelieving forefathers were. God spared neither apostate men nor angels, and will not spare others if they sin as those did. Our judgments may be rather sorer, being warned by their example, 1Co 10:11; compare Heb 10:26,27,29. They were contumacious and disobeyed the gospel of Gods rest, therefore he destroyed them in the wilderness, and thrust them down to hell for ever: avoid you their sin, as you would labour to avoid their punishment.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

11. Let us . . . thereforeSeeingsuch a promise is before us, which we may, like them, fall short ofthrough unbelief.

labourGreek,“strive diligently.”

that restwhich isstill future and so glorious. Or, in ALFORD’Stranslation of Heb 4:10, “Thatrest into which Christ has entered before” (Heb 4:14;Heb 6:20).

fallwith the soul, notmerely the body, as the rebel Israelites fell (Heb3:17).

after the same exampleALFORDtranslates, “fall into the same example.” The lessprominent place of the “fall” in the Greek favorsthis. The sense is, “lest any fall into such disobedience(so the Greek for ‘unbelief’ means) as they gave a sample of”[GROTIUS]. The Jews say,”The parents are a sign (warning) to their sons.”

Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest,…. Not eternal rest; this is not to be entered into now; nor is an entrance into it to be obtained by labour; salvation is not by works; eternal life is a free gift; good works do not go before to prepare heaven for the saints, but follow after: nor is the saints’ entrance into it a precarious thing; God has promised it, and provided it for his people; Christ is in the possession of it, and is preparing it for them; and the Spirit of God is working them up for the self same thing, and Christ will give them an abundant entrance into it: but the Gospel rest is here meant, that rest which believers now enter into, and is at this present time for them, Heb 4:3 and though true believers are entered into it, yet their rest, peace, and joy in Christ, is not full; they enter by degrees into it, and by believing enjoy more of it: and this is to be laboured for by prayer, hearing the word, and attendance on ordinances; and this requires strength, diligence, and industry; and supposes difficulties and discouragements, through the corruptions of the heart, and the temptations of Satan; and this is designed to quicken and awaken a godly jealousy in God’s people, over themselves:

lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief; into the sin of unbelief, and into punishment through it, as the Israelites did; who sinning, their carcasses fell in the wilderness, and they entered not into God’s rest, as he swore they should not: true believers may fall into sin, and from a degree of the exercise of grace, and of the steadfastness of the Gospel; but they cannot finally and totally fall away, because they are kept by the power of God; yet they may so fall, as to come short, or at least seem to come short of enjoying the rest and peace of the Gospel state: external professors may fall from the Gospel, and the religion they have professed, and come short of the glory they expected; and fall into just and deserved punishment, in like manner as the unbelieving Israelites did.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

Serious Exhortation; The Priesthood of Christ.

A. D. 62.

11 Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief. 12 For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. 13 Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do. 14 Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession. 15 For we have not a high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. 16 Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.

In this latter part of the chapter the apostle concludes, first, with a serious repeated exhortation, and then with proper and powerful motives.

I. Here we have a serious exhortation: Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, v. 11. Observe, 1. The end proposed–rest spiritual and eternal, the rest of grace here and glory hereafter–in Christ on earth, with Christ in heaven. 2. The way to this end prescribed–labour, diligent labour; this is the only way to rest; those who will not work now shall not rest hereafter. After due and diligent labour, sweet and satisfying rest shall follow; and labour now will make that rest more pleasant when it comes. The sleep of the labouring man is sweet, Eccl. v. 12. Let us therefore labour, let us all agree and be unanimous in this, and let us quicken one another, and call upon one another to this diligence. It is the truest act of friendship, when we see our fellow-christians loiter, to call upon them to mind their business and labour at it in earnest. “Come, Sirs, let us all go to work; why do we sit still? Why do we loiter? Come, let us labour; now is our working time, our rest remains.” Thus should Christians call upon themselves and one another to be diligent in duty; and so much the more as we see the day approaching.

II. Here we have proper and powerful motives to make the advice effectual, which are drawn,

1. From the dreadful example of those who have already perished by unbelief: Lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief. To have seen so many fall before us will be a great aggravation of our sin, if we will not take warning by them: their ruin calls loudly upon us; their lost and restless souls cry to us from their torments, that we do not, by sinning as they did, make ourselves miserable as they are.

2. From the great help and advantage we may have from the word of God to strengthen our faith, and excite our diligence, that we may obtain this rest: The word of God is quick and powerful, v. 12. By the word of God we may understand either the essential or the written word: the essential Word, that in the beginning was with God, and was God (John i. 1), the Lord Jesus Christ, and indeed what is said in this verse is true concerning him; but most understand it of the written word, the holy scriptures, which are the word of God. Now of this word it is said, (1.) That is quick; it is very lively and active, in all its efforts, in seizing the conscience of the sinner, in cutting him to the heart, and in comforting him and binding up the wounds of the soul. Those know not the word of God who call it a dead letter; it is quick, compared to the light, and nothing quicker than the light; it is not only quick, but quickening; it is a vital light; it is a living word, zon. Saints die, and sinners die; but the word of God lives. All flesh is grass, and all the glory thereof as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away, but the word of the Lord endureth for ever,1Pe 1:24; 1Pe 1:25. Your fathers, where are they? And the prophets, do they live for ever? But my words, which I commanded the prophets, did they not take hold of your fathers?Zec 1:5; Zec 1:6. (2.) It is powerful. When God sets it home by his Spirit, it convinces powerfully, converts powerfully, and comforts powerfully. It is so powerful as to pull down strong holds (2Co 10:4; 2Co 10:5), to raise the dead, to make the deaf to hear, the blind to see, the dumb to speak, and the lame to walk. It is powerful to batter down Satan’s kingdom, and to set up the kingdom of Christ upon the ruins thereof. (3.) It is sharper than any two-edged sword; it cuts both ways; it is the sword of the Spirit, Eph. vi. 17. It is the two-edged sword that cometh out of the mouth of Christ, Rev. i. 16. It is sharper than any two-edged sword, for it will enter where no other sword can, and make a more critical dissection: it pierces to the dividing asunder of the soul and the spirit, the soul and its habitual prevailing temper; it makes a soul that has been a long time of a proud spirit to be humble, of a perverse spirit to be meek and obedient. Those sinful habits that have become as it were natural to the soul, and rooted deeply in it, and become in a manner one with it, are separated and cut off by this sword. It cuts off ignorance from the understanding, rebellion from the will, and enmity from the mind, which, when carnal, is enmity itself against God. This sword divides between the joints and the marrow, the most secret, close, and intimate parts of the body; this sword can cut off the lusts of the flesh as well as the lusts of the mind, and make men willing to undergo the sharpest operation for the mortifying of sin. (4.) It is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart, even the most secret and remote thoughts and designs. It will discover to men the variety of their thoughts and purposes, the vileness of them, the bad principles they are actuated by, the sinister and sinful ends they act to. The word will turn the inside of a sinner out, and let him see all that is in his heart. Now such a word as this must needs be a great help to our faith and obedience.

3. From the perfections of the Lord Jesus Christ, both of his person and office.

(1.) His person, particularly his omniscience: Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight, v. 13. This is agreeable to what Christ speaks of himself: All the churches shall know that I am he that searches the reins and hearts, Rev. ii. 23. None of the creatures can be concealed from Christ; none of the creatures of God, for Christ is the Creator of them all; and there are none of the motions and workings of our heads and hearts (which may be called creatures of our own) but what are open and manifest to him with whom we have to do as the object of our worship, and the high priest of our profession. He, by his omniscience, cuts up the sacrifice we bring to him, that it may be presented to the Father. Now as the high priest inspected the sacrificed beasts, cut them up to the back-bone to see whether they were sound at heart, so all things are thus dissected, and lie open to the piercing eye of our great high priest. An he who now tries our sacrifices will at length, as Judge, try our state. We shall have to do with him as one who will determine our everlasting state. Some read the words, to whom with us there is an account or reckoning. Christ has an exact account of us all. He has accounted for all who believe on him; and he will account with all: our accounts are before him. This omniscience of Christ, and the account we owe of ourselves to him, should engage us to persevere in faith and obedience till he has perfected all our affairs.

(2.) We have an account of the excellency and perfection of Christ, as to his office, and this particular office of our high priest. The apostle first instructs Christians in the knowledge of their high priest, what kind of high priest he is, and then puts them in mind of the duty they owe on this account.

[1.] What kind of high priest Christ is (v. 14): Seeing we have such a high priest; that is, First, A great high priest, much greater than Aaron, or any of the priests of his order. The high priests under the law were accounted great and venerable person; but they were but faint types and shadows of Christ. The greatness of our high priest is set forth, 1. By his having passed into the heavens. The high priest under the law, once a year, went out of the people’s sight within the veil, into the holiest of all, where were the sacred signals of the presence of God; but Christ once for all has passed into the heavens, to take the government of all upon him, to send the Spirit to prepare a place for his people, and to make intercession for them. Christ executed one part of his priesthood on earth, in dying for us; the other he executes in heaven, by pleading the cause, and presenting the offerings, of his people. 2. The greatness of Christ is set forth by his name, Jesus–a physician and a Saviour, and one of a divine nature, the Son of God by eternal generation; and therefore having divine perfection, able to save to the uttermost all who come to God by him. Secondly, He is not only a great, but a gracious high priest, merciful, compassionate, and sympathizing with his people: We have not a high priest who cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, v. 15. Though he is so great, and so far above us, yet he is very kind, and tenderly concerned for us. He is touched with the feeling of our infirmities in such a manner as none else can be; for he was himself tried with all the afflictions and troubles that are incident to our nature in its fallen state: and this not only that he might be able to satisfy for us, but to sympathize with us. But then, Thirdly, He is a sinless high priest: He was in all things tempted as we are, yet without sin. He was tempted by Satan, but he came off without sin. We seldom meet with temptations but they give us some shock. We are apt to give back, though we do not yield; but our great high priest came off clear in his encounter with the devil, who could neither find any sin in him nor fix any stain upon him. He was tried severely by the Father. It pleased the Lord to bruise him; and yet he sinned not, either in thought, word, or deed. He had done no violence, neither was there any deceit in his mouth. He was holy, harmless, and undefiled; and such a high priest became us. Having thus told us what a one our high priest is, the apostle proceeds to show us,

[2.] How we should demean ourselves towards him. First, Let us hold fast our profession of faith in him, v. 14. Let us never deny him, never be ashamed of him before men. Let us hold fast the enlightening doctrines of Christianity in our heads, the enlivening principles of it in our hearts, the open profession of it in our lips, and our practical and universal subjection to it in our lives. Observe here, 1. We ought to be possessed of the doctrines, principles, and practice, of the Christian life. 2. When we are so, we may be in danger of losing our hold, from the corruption of our hearts, the temptations of Satan, and the allurements of this evil world. 3. The excellency of the high priest of our profession would make our apostasy from him most heinous and inexcusable; it would be the greatest folly and the basest ingratitude. 4. Christians must not only set our well, but they must hold out: those who endure to the end will be saved, and none but they. Secondly, We should encourage ourselves, by the excellency of our high priest, to come boldly to the throne of grace, v. 16. Here observe, 1. There is a throne of grace set up, a way of worship instituted, in which God may with honour meet poor sinners, and treat with them, and they may with hope draw night to him, repenting and believing. God might have set up a tribunal of strict and inexorable justice, dispensing death, the wages of sin, to all who were convened before it; but he has chosen to set up a throne of grace. A throne speaks authority, and bespeaks awe and reverence. A throne of grace speaks great encouragement even to the chief of sinners. There grace reigns, and acts with sovereign freedom, power, and bounty. 2. It is our duty and interest to be often found before this throne of grace, waiting on the Lord in all the duties of his worship, private and public. It is good for us to be there. 3. Our business and errand at the throne of grace should be that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. Mercy and grace are the things we want, mercy to pardon all our sins and grace to purify our souls. 4. Besides the daily dependence we have upon God for present supplies, there are some seasons in which we shall most sensibly need the mercy and grace of God, and we should lay up prayers against such seasons–times of temptation, either by adversity or prosperity, and especially a dying time: we should every day put up a petition for mercy in our last day. The Lord grant unto us that we may find mercy of the Lord at that day, 2 Tim. i. 18. 5. In all our approaches to this throne of grace for mercy, we should come with a humble freedom and boldness, with a liberty of spirit and a liberty of speech; we should ask in faith, nothing doubting; we should come with a Spirit of adoption, as children to a reconciled God and Father. We are indeed to come with reverence and godly fear, but not with terror and amazement; not as if we were dragged before the tribunal of justice, but kindly invited to the mercy-seat, where grace reigns, and loves to exert and exalt itself towards us. 6. The office of Christ, as being our high priest, and such a high priest, should be the ground of our confidence in all our approaches to the throne of grace. Had we not a Mediator, we could have no boldness in coming to God; for we are guilty and polluted creatures. All we do is polluted; we cannot go into the presence of God alone; we must either go in the hand of a Mediator or our hearts and our hopes will fail us. We have boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus. He is our Advocate, and, while he pleads for his people, he pleads with the price in his hand, by which he purchased all that our souls want or can desire.

Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary

Let us therefore give diligence ( ). Volitive subjunctive aorist of , old verb to hasten (2Ti 4:9), to be eager and alert (1Th 2:17). The exhortation has a warning like that in 4:1.

That no man fall ( ). Negative purpose with and the second aorist active subjunctive of , to fall.

After the same example of disobedience ( ). The unbelief is like that seen in the Israelites (Heb 3:12; Heb 3:18; Heb 4:2). H is a late word from (Mt 3:7) and means a copy (John 13:15; Jas 5:10). The Israelites set a terrible example and it is so easy to copy the bad examples.

Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament

This promise of rest carries with it a special responsibility for the people of God.

Let us labor therefore [ ] . For the verb, see on Eph 4:3. Give diligence, not hasten, which is the primary meaning. That rest [ ] . The Sabbath – rest of God, instituted at creation, promised to the fathers, forfeited by their unbelief, remaining to us on the condition of faith.

Lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief [ ] . Pesh fall is to be taken absolutely; not, fall into the same example. jUpodeigma example, mostly in Hebrews. Rejected as unclassical by the Attic rhetoricians. Originally a sign which suggests something : a partial suggestion as distinct from a complete expression. See ch. Heb 8:5; Heb 9:23. Thus Christ ‘s washing of the disciples ‘ feet (Joh 13:15) was a typical suggestion of the whole field and duty of ministry. See on 1Pe 2:6. It is not easy to give the exact force of ejn in. Strictly speaking, the “example of disobedience” is conceived as that in which the falling takes place. The fall is viewed in the sphere of example. Comp. 2 Macc. 4 30; 1Co 2:7. Rend. that no man fall in the same example of disobedience : the same as that in which they fell.

Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament

1) “Let us labor therefore,” (spoudasomen oun) “Let us therefore be eager; God’s children are saved and called to labor, Eph 2:10. It is in the daily pursuit of their calling, working for him that they find the greatest degree of rest or refreshment of the soul, Joh 9:4; Ecc 11:6.

2) “To enter into that rest,” (eiselthein eis ekeinen ten katapausin) “To enter into that rest,” also. The idea is “with view to” entering into that final rest when we, shall be judged for rewarding “according to our works,” 1Co 3:8; 1Co 3:13-15; 2Co 5:9-11.

3) “Lest any man fall,” (hina me tis pese) “In order that not anyone might fall,” in order that or to avoid that none fall thru disobedience, murmuring, complaining, faultfinding, etc. against the call of God, as Israel did, which brought chastening death to so many, Psa 95:8-11.

4) “After the same example of unbelief,” (en to auto hupodeigmati tes apeitheias) “In the same (kind of) example of disobedience,” or failure to be persuaded to believe and do the bidding of God for us, 1Co 10:1-14; 2Pe 1:3-10. Faithful obedience by a child of God does not bring him salvation, but it does bring him an abundant entrance, “an entrance with great reward into the kingdom labors of our Lord,” at his coming, 2Pe 1:11-12.

Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary

Having pointed out the goal to which we are to advance, he exhorts us to pursue our course, which we do, when we habituate ourselves to selfdenial. And as he compares entering into rest to a straight course, he sets falling in opposition to it, and thus he continues the metaphor in both clauses, at the same time he alludes to the history given by Moses of those who fell in the wilderness, because they were rebellious against God. (Num 26:65.) Hence he says, after the same example, signifying as though the punishment for unbelief and obstinacy is there set before us as in a picture; nor is there indeed a doubt but that a similar end awaits us, if there be found in us the same unbelief.

Then, “to fall” means to perish; or to speak more plainly, it is to fall, not as to sin, but as a punishment for it. But the figure corresponds as well with the word to “enter”, as with the sad overthrow of the fathers, by whose example he intended to terrify the Jews.

Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary

Exhortation and warnings. Heb. 4:11-13.

Text

Heb. 4:11-13

Heb. 4:11 Let us therefore give diligence to enter into that rest, that no man fall after the same example of disobedience. Heb. 4:12 For the Word of God is living, and active, and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing even to the dividing of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and quick to discern the thoughts and intents of the heart. Heb. 4:13 And there is no creature that is not manifest in His sight: but all things are naked and laid open before the eyes of Him with Whom we have to do.

Paraphrase

Heb. 4:11 Since there remaineth such a happy rest to the people of God, let us carefully strive to enter into that rest, by obeying Jesus, lest any of us should fall, after the example of the Israelites, through unbelief.

Heb. 4:12 For the Word of God, the preached Gospel whereby we are now called to enter into Gods rest, and are to be judged hereafter, is a living and powerful principle, and more cutting than any two-edged sword, piercing not into the body but into the mind, even to the separating between both soul and spirit; showing which of the passions are animal and which spiritual: and to the separating of the joints also and marrows, laying open the most concealed parts of the animal constitution; and discerner of the devices and purposes of the heart.

Heb. 4:13 But, not to insist farther on the rule of judgment, consider the omniscience of the Judge himself: there is no creature un-apparent in His sight, for all things, the most secret recesses of the heart, and stripped of every covering, both outwardly and inwardly, before the eyes of Him to whom we must give an account.

Comment

Let its therefore give diligence to enter into that rest

Here is an exhortation to labor:

Exertion of mind and body is a requirement of salvation.

This is a lawful work, in a world where men try other methods.

2Ti. 2:5 : strive lawfully.

Joh. 10:1; Some will be like thieves and robbers.

There is no room for predestination here, but there is an appeal to work.

that no man fall after the same example of disobedience

This does not sound like the position of some who say men are saved, not in spite of apostasy but from apostasy:

A person may make shipwreck of his faith, for God leaves man free to choose.

We are no different from the Israelites.

There are some who put people on probation for church membership, but refuse God the privilege of allowing man to prove his worthiness for eternal life.

The example of disobedience is recorded in Num. 26:65.

for the Word of God is living

Living is also translated quick:
Some dispute whether the word is referring to Christ or the scripture:

It is not the Old Testament law. See 2Co. 3:7. It was a ministration of death. Rom. 4:15 : worketh wrath.

The word is probably not the personal word, but the word of the Personthe Gospel.

The Word of God does not beat the air with emptiness:

It leads some to triumph: 2Co. 2:14 : But thanks be to God Who always leadeth us in triumph in Christ.

It has the power of binding and loosing. Mat. 18:18 :

Some, it draws to salvation; others, are driven to ruin.

It promises salvation to some, but pronounces vengeance on others.

It has the power of God in it. Rom. 1:16.

It is a living Word because it is backed by a living God and a living Christ.

and active

It is also translated powerful:

Rom. 1:16the power of God is the Gospel:

A person uses dynamite to move obstacles. The Word is Gods means of action.

It is Gods way to move man today.

No power or action is equal to it.

God deals with men not by mere influences, but through His Word, whether written or preached.

and sharper than any two-edged sword

The sword is a metaphorical word, military expression used to illustrate the character of the Word:

It is a part of the Christians armor. Eph. 6:17.

It goes out of the mouth of the Rider, with which He smites the nations. Rev. 19:15.

Two-edged sword:

It does double duty with one preaching or writing the Word.

This is simply to say that it is tremendously sharp.

and piercing

The meaning is that it examines a man thoroughly:

It searches his thoughts and scrutinizes his will, with all of its desires.

Calvin insists that its character is to he confined to the faithful only, as they alone are thus searched to the quick.

It is piercing for all, Christian and non-Christian:

Tit. 1:9 : to convict the gainsayers.

Jud. 1:15 : to convict all that are ungodly.

Joh. 16:8 : He will convict the world.

even to the dividing of soul and spirit

Some claim only the Christian has a spirit, hence the word only deals with them.
The Word is for all, and is active toward all:

Joh. 16:8 : when the Spirit is come He shall reprove the world of sin.

Rom. 1:16 : Jew and Gentile.

What is the difference between the soul and spirit? Views differ.

Soul means all the affection; spirit, the intellectual faculty, according to Calvin, He quotes two passages to prove it:

1Th. 5:23 : May your soul, body and spirit be preserved.

Isa. 26:9 : My soul desired Thee in the night; I sought Thee with my spirit.

Soul is life, and spirit is personality, say others:

We do not know whether Paul was speaking of man as he really was or using a current phraseology, says Milligan.

The inner man is emphasized to show how discerning the word is.

Greek words involved:

Bodyphysical.
Soulanimal soul or life.
Spiritimmortal.

of both joints and marrow

Indicating that there is nothing so hard or strong in man that it can be hidden.

With a sword, man is content to pierce the heart, but Gods word can delve into the inner man.

A sword can glance off the bone of an enemy, but nothing can resist the power of Gods word.

Milligan thinks this is a proverbial saying indicative of the inmost parts of a person.

and quick to discern the thoughts

In the thick darkness of unbelief and hypocrisy is a horrible blindness, but God scatters this away.

Vices hidden under the false appearances of virtue are known by God:

Men may have good reputations, yet harbor evil thoughts, and God knows it.

God is all-wise, so we have no secrets.

and intents of the heart

Some people are evil, but lack the courage to act:

Many embryo Hitlers exist in the world, but they lack his initiative.

Some people have evil intents, but appear to work from good motives:

Rom. 16:18 : by fair speech deceive.

Gal. 6:12 : make fair show in the flesh.

2Pe. 2:13 : sporting while they feast.

And there is no creature that is not manifest in His sight

No creature can escape God:

Some have tried:

Adam and Eve hid.

Cain said he wasnt his brothers keeper.

Jonah ran away, but he wasnt away from God.

Some will try again, says Rev. 6:16, when they want rocks and mountains to hide them from Gods wrath.

God knows us as we really are.
Manifest in His sight means to be made known:

Evil is manifested. Gal. 5:19 : Works of the flesh are manifest.

Good is manifested. 1Ti. 5:25 : The good words of some are manifest. 1Jn. 3:10 : Children of God are manifest.

but all things are naked

There is no covering, camouflaging, or deceit before God.
This may refer to a sacrificial term, says Clarke:

An animal prepared for sacrifice was slain, then cut open so that its intestines were exposed to view.

It was carefully examined for imperfections.

It was divided exactly in two, so that the spinal marrow was cloven down the center.

Adam and Eve were told by the serpent that when they ate of the tree they would be as God. Gen. 3:5 :

Note that when they ate they saw their nakedness.

God has tried to cover mans sin since that time.

laid open before the eyes

It may mean as a criminal has his neck bent back so as to expose the face to full view so that every feature might be seen.

of Him with Whom we have to do

All men must give an account of themselves:

The wicked cannot die and go without judgment.

Heb. 9:27; Rom. 2:6 : Render to every man according to his deeds.

Death does not end all; the skeptic cannot get by. We have to face God:

Vengeance is His. Rom. 12:19; Nah. 1:2.

Judgment is His. Heb. 10:27-31.

We must someday confess His Son. Php. 2:10-11.

Study Questions

613.

What is meant by give diligence?

614.

If man is saved regardless of what he does, would this exhortation to diligence be in order?

615.

Compare the idea of diligence with 2Ti. 2:15.

616.

Does this eliminate the doctrine of predestination?

617.

Is man saved in spite of his apostasy according to this verse?

618.

Why should Baptists put people on probation if they believe once saved, always saved? Is it consistent?

619.

If they can put people on probation, why not extend God the same right?

620.

What example of disobedience is referred to in Heb. 4:11? Cf. Num. 26:65.

621.

Heb. 4:12 speaks of the Word of God as living. Is this a reference to Christ living?

622.

Is the word referred to here an Old Testament word, or the Word of Christ?

623.

What scripture would teach that it is not the Old Testament word? Cf. 2Co. 3:7; Rom. 4:15.

624.

If it is not Christ, then how can it be spoken of as living?

625.

Quote a verse that shows that the word makes alive.

626.

How can the Word be spoken of as being active? What other word could be used? Cf. Rom. 1:16.

627.

On what does it act?

628.

Explain the significance of the expression, sharper than any two-edged sword.

629.

Who wields this sword? Is it active without people to wield it?

630.

Is it a part of a Christians armor? Cf. Eph. 6:17.

631.

Compare Rev. 19:15 for its use as judgment.

632.

What other words could describe the idea of piercing?

633.

How can the word of God be considered piercing? Cf. Tit. 1:9; Jud. 1:15; Joh. 16:8.

634.

Is the piercing of the spirit limited to the believers only, according to Jud. 1:15; Joh. 16:8?

635.

Explain the expression, dividing of soul and spirit.

636.

Are soul and spirit different, or is this just a current phraseology of Pauls day?

637.

Could the word dividing refer to a practice of the altar in dissecting the animals?

638.

How can the word enter joints and marrow?

639.

Is a real sword of man likely to pierce joints and marrow?

640.

If not, what is meant?

641.

How can the Bible discern mans thoughts and intents?

642.

Does man always know his own intents?

643.

Do we know the intent of others?

644.

Do we ever misjudge intents?

645.

Are there embryo Hitlers who lack the initiative to be tyrants?

646.

Do false teachers have evil intents? Cf. Rom. 16:18; Gal. 6:2-4; 2Pe. 2:1.

647.

What is meant by no creature that is not manifest in His sight? What is meant by manifest?

648.

Have some tried to escape His sight? Who?

649.

Will they try it again, according to Rev. 6:16?

650.

Does this word, creature, include animals?

651.

What is meant by, all things are naked?

652.

Could this refer to the sacrifice being examined for flaws?

653.

Who felt naked in Gods presence because of sin?

654.

Laid open would refer to what?

655.

Who is the person with Whom we have to doGodChrist? Cf. Heb. 9:24; Rom. 2:6; Rom. 12:19; Heb. 10:27-31.

Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series

(11) Labour.Rather, give diligence, strive earnestly. It is the necessity of watchful and constant faithfulness that is enforced. Hence the words that follow: Lest any one fall into (or, after) the same example of disobedience (Heb. 4:6; Heb. 3:18).

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

11. Therefore The doctrine of the divine rest has been stated; now for the solemn inference as to practice.

Labour God laboured, so let us labour.

Unbelief Still the key-word; the fatal secret of Israel’s fall, the fearful token of our fall.

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

‘Let us therefore give diligence (arouse endeavour) to enter into that rest, that no man fall after the same example of disobedience.’

His concern for his readers is twofold. Firstly to ensure that they have entered into that rest, and secondly to ensure that they fully enter into it, rather than being disobedient like the Israelites. It is so important that they are to use the utmost endeavour.

For it is incumbent on all to ensure that they have entered into that rest and also that they fully enter into it, and continue to experience it by finding their rest in Christ and keeping His yoke on them and learning of Him (Mat 11:28-29). The writer tactfully names himself as also needing to exercise the same diligence. They must ensure that they do enter fully into that rest, so that they do not fall like Israel did, through similar disobedience. And it is necessary also to fully enter that rest so that they will be fitted to face the examination of their hearts by the word of God.

But, it may be asked, if the ‘rest’ is the rest of salvation and of partaking in Christ, how can those who have already been saved enter into it? The answer is that the rest is the sphere of salvation, the resultant position of receiving salvation in Christ, the sphere of partaking in Christ, to be enjoyed continually by faith. In one sense all have rest once they become His and partake in Him, resting in His finished work, in another they have to learn to rest, to ‘find rest’ (Mat 11:29) as they walk with Him, to attain to confident assurance and peace, otherwise they will fall into disobedience. ‘In returning and rest you will be saved, in quietness and in confidence will be your strength’ (Isa 30:15), God told His people. Salvation is a free gift and results from the working of God within but from a human point of view it requires a lifetime’s diligence to enter into it and obtain its full benefit, ‘to go on being saved’ (1Co 1:18), moving from one degree of glory to another, enjoying the rest that it offers. We have partaken of Christ once-for-all, but we are also to partake of Him continually and more and more effectively, finding rest in Him. But to have finally turned away from Christ would be to lose that rest for ever, and to return to a life of ‘works’, which would soon be shown up for what they are. It would be to leave the peace of the Garden of Eden to return to a life of work and labour and would result in death.

Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett

Boldness in Faith in Our High Priest.

The power of God’s Word in the face of unbelief:

v. 11. Let us labor therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief.

v. 12. For the Word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

v. 13. Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in His sight; but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of Him with whom we have to do.

The exhortation follows naturally from the exposition: Let us, then, earnestly strive to enter into that rest, lest anyone fall in the same sort of unbelief. Christians should be eager, they should make every effort, they should strive with all the power of their regenerated heart to enter into that rest which is held out before them by the promise of God. The children of Israel in the wilderness had the Word of God proclaimed to them; the promise of salvation had been held out to them by Moses, but they had refused to heed and obey, they had not believed the precious and glorious message. Their behavior, therefore, will serve as a warning example for all times, to keep men from becoming guilty of a like transgression and being rejected by God as disobedient and unbelieving children.

For this matter is not to be thought of lightly, as the sacred writer proceeds to show: For living is the Word of God and effective and sharper than any two-edged sword, and penetrating to the very division of soul and spirit, joints and marrow, and judging the conceptions and ideas of the heart. If the message of salvation were a dead, ineffective sound, an unbeliever might have the excuse that he had gotten no value out of his hearing the Word. But we are told that the Word of God is living, instinct with the wonderful life of its source, full of quickening power, Joh 6:63; 1Pe 1:23. It is in itself active, effective, energetic, able to carry out the work which it was intended to do, Jer 23:29; Rom 1:16. It is keener, sharper than any two-edged sword, Rev 1:16; Rev 2:12; Eph 6:17. Its penetrating power is so great that it pierces to the very division of soul and spirit: it cuts apart, it makes a clear line of division between the old natural and the new spiritual life of a man, just as a Damascus blade will cleave the joints and lay bare the marrow of the bones, Act 2:37. The entire passage is figurative, of course, the writer’s object being to produce an effect by the rhetorical fullness of the expression. In plain words, as he adds, the Word of God judges the conceptions and ideas of the heart. The innermost ideas and deepest movements of the heart are open before the all-seeing eye of God and before the omniscience of His Word, Joh 3:20-21; 1Co 14:24-25. There is nothing hidden before the proclamation of God’s will, both the holy and just will and the good and gracious will; He knows our hearts far better than we ourselves know them, and His Word opens up to us hidden depths of which we ourselves never dreamed.

The emphasis is continued in the next verse: And no created thing is unrevealed before Him, but all things lie naked and exposed before His eyes with whom is our reckoning. The figure used by the inspired writer at this point is that of a sacrificial animal whose head was bent back and then cut open, exposing the interior to the inspection of the priest. The person who fatuously believes that he is able to keep some transgression, some sinful condition hidden before the eyes of God and the penetrating power of His Word, is deceiving himself. No man may forget for any length of time that there will be a final reckoning, at which time all the hypocrisy and deceit practiced by men will be exposed and laid bare in all its hideous nakedness. Knowing this, we Christians will certainly abstain from all attempts at deceiving the omniscient Lord and strive with all earnestness to enter into that rest which is prepared for us in the mansions of our Lord. For how can we escape if we neglect so great salvation? Heb 2:3.

Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann

Heb 4:11-13 . Conclusion by way of warning admonition.

] not: festinemus (Vulg.), but: let our earnest effort be directed to this end .

] deduces the inference from all that has been hitherto said, from Heb 3:7 onwards.

] that very , of which the discourse has heretofore been, which was described as a of God, as one already promised to the fathers, and then again to us, as a possession which they, on account of their disobedience and unbelief, failed to obtain, but which is still open to us as an ideal Sabbatic rest and everlasting blessedness, if we manifest faith and confidence.

] lest any one fall into the same example of unbelief, i.e. lest any one fall into the same obstinate perversity as the fathers, and like them become a warning example for others. Thus the Vulgate, Luther, Beza, Cornelius a Lapide, Grotius, Abresch, Alford, Kurtz, Hofmann, Woerner, and others. is also quite usual in classical authors; see Passow and Pape ad vocem . From it is distinguished only by a greater degree of significance in that it does not merely like this express the falling into something, but also the subsequent lying in the same. Others, as Chrysostom, Oecumenius, Theophylact, Vatablus, Calvin, Schlichting, Jac. Cappellus, Wolf, Bengel, Carpzov, Schulz, Heinrichs, Bleek, de Wette, Stengel, Tholuck, Bisping, Grimm (Theol. Literaturbl. to the Darmstadt A. K.-Z . 1857, No. 29, p. 664; the last-named because the expression “to fall into an example,” instead of “to afford an example,” is supposed to be a forced one, the expression, however, is only a concise one (see above), and because is probably chosen with a retrospective glance to Heb 3:17 , the passage to which reference is here made, with the difference that the word there denoted the physical destruction. But such intention in connection with the choice of the word is not at all to be assumed), Delitzsch, Riehm ( Lehrbegr. des Hebrerbr . p. 774), Maier, Kluge, Moll, Ewald, take absolutely : “ fall , i.e. to be brought to ruin, perish.” In that case is explained either by per (Wolf, Stengel, Ewald, al .), or “conformably to [ gemss ]” (Tholuck), or propter (Carpzov), or, what with this construction would alone be correct, of the condition, the state in which one is (Bleek, de Wette, Bisping, Delitzsch, Riehm, Maier, Moll): “in giving the same example.” But this whole construction is artificial. Opposed to it is likewise the position of . For had this word such emphasis as it must have so soon as it is taken in the absolute sense, it would not have been inserted in such subordinate, unaccentuated fashion between the other words, but have been introduced at the very beginning of the proposition: . . .

Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary

IV
The peculiar and extraordinary nature of the word of God should deter us from resisting it

Heb 4:11-13

11Let us labor [strive zealously, ] therefore, to enter into that rest, lest any man [any one] fall after the same example of unbelief [disobedience, ]. 12For the word of God is quick [living], and powerful [effective, energetic, ], and sharper than any two-edged sword [and], piercing [through] even to the dividing asunder of soul6 and spirit, and of the joints [of both joints] and marrow, and is a discerner of [sits in judgment on, ] the thoughts [reflections] and intents 13 [thoughts] of the heart. Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and opened [laid bare] unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do.

[Heb 4:11., let us strive zealously, 2Pe 1:10, give diligence. Here Alf., earnestly strive; Bib. Un., endeavor, perhaps not quite strong enough. De Wette, streben; Moll, ernstlich trachten. . Eng. ver., fall after; Vulg., Luth., Del., Alf., Bib. Un., etc., fall into; Moll, fall in the like, etc.; De Wette, fall, as a like example. All but the second (Vulg. etc.) take , absolutely of perishing, against which Alf., after Ln., urges its unemphatic position, but to which we may reply, that this springs from a desire to give a special emphasis to . Grammatically, , for , fall into, is doubtless admissible: but fall in, or into an example, is harsh, and to fall into the same example, harsher still. I prefer taking with Eng. ver. and Moll, , absolutely, of perishing, and I believe the expression to be a pregnant one, for experience a like fall with that of those after whose disobedience you thus pattern; the pattern not looking forward to the effect of their fall on otherswhich seems not at all in the authors sphere of thoughtbut backward to the effect of the fall of their fathers upon them., disobedience, not unbelief, .

Heb 4:12. , for living, placed emphatically at the beginning., working, operative, effective. , more cutting beyond, a double comparative., coming through, piercing through. , both joints and marrow; with the omission of the after , these words become naturally an explanatory apposition to ..: Eng. ver., Bib. Un., discerner; Alf., judger, or discerner; De Wette, Richter; Ln., zu beurtheilen oder zu richten befhigt; Moll, richterlich. , not, thoughts and intents, but reflections, or sentiments, emotions, affections, and ideas, thoughts, the former looking more to the moral and emotional, the latter to the intellectual nature.K.].

EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL

Heb 4:11. Let us therefore strive earnestly to enterexample of disobedience.The fact stated in Heb 4:1, and subsequently unfolded, that there not only is a true rest for the people of God, consisting in a participation of the rest of God Himself, but that we Christians are invited to it by a word of promise, and have in Jesus our true Leader, leads now, according to our understanding of Heb 4:1, either to the resumption of the exhortation which it contains, or to a new exhortation to earnest and zealous striving for an entrance into that rest (, that, marking the specific rest just described). Whoever intermits this striving will fall on the way, and will furnish precisely such an example of disobedience, alike in his conduct and his destiny, as did the nation of Israel, in their march through the desert. Instead of , in familiar use with the earlier Attic writers, but wanting in the N. Test., we have here, as at 2Pe 2:6, . Both words denote, sometimes copy, sometimes pattern. The is not=per (Wolf, Strig., etc.), or propter (Carpz.), but denotes state or condition, the being in (Bl., De W., Bisp., Del.). With this coincides substantially the view of Thol. that it corresponds with the Dat. modi, indicating the way and manner in which the fact as a whole presents itself (Bernhardy, Synt. 100), i.e., fall, and in his fall present the same example of disobedience as the Fathers. is thus taken absolutely, a construction which, since Chrysostom has been given to it by most interpreters, though with an unwarranted reference to the use of the word, Heb 3:17, they restrict it to mere perishing (exclusive of the idea of sinning). Lnemann (followed by Alford) maintains that the position of forbids our taking it here thus absolutely. But his view is untenable, and all the more so as his own explanation of the idea accords substantially with that given by us. He is right, however, in remarking that the translation of Luther, after the Vulg.: that no one fall into the same example of unbelief, is not, as by and since Bleek, to be rejected on grammatical grounds. For is as good Greek as , only that it connects with the idea of falling into, that of subsequently remaining in. Del. adds still further examples from the Hellenistic, Psa 35:8; Psa 141:10; Eze 27:27.

Heb 4:12. For the word of God is livingtwo-edged sword.Many distinguished Christian fathers, and, among recent expositors, Biesenthal even yet, regard the here as the hypostatical or personal word of God; but as our Epistle nowhere else speaks of the personal Logos,although it must certainly be supposed to have aided in preparing the way for that designation,it is generally understood of the word of God as spoken and as recorded in the Scriptures. Under this view some (Schlicht., Mich., Abresch, Bhm., etc.) restrict it to the threatening and heart-piercing word of the O. Test., while others (Camero, Grot., Ebr., etc.) apply it te the Gospel of the N. T. Ebrard so regards it, even with reference to the fact that the Old Testament word remained exterior, and, as it were, a thing foreign to man. There is no ground, however, for such limitations; nor is there, on the other hand, any more ground for that wide and vague generalizing of the term which, with Bez., Schultz, Bisp., etc., would include in it the whole range of the Divine threatenings and promises, and strip the passage entirely of its local coloring. It is clear from the context that the passage is designed to justify and enforce the preceding warning (Heb 4:1), terminating emphatically and designedly with its suggestive . To do this, the writer brings out the characteristic nature of the word of God. That which God says (Ln.) is, as a product of the Divine activity, infinitely different from every human word. But it appears here in reference to no specific subject-matter whatever, but in reference merely to this single and peculiar feature, that it has proceeded from God, and has the form of the Logos. This is indicated by the properties which are immediately ascribed to it. As a word of God, it is living (), Act 7:38; 1Pe 1:23; having life in itself, while again the like appellation is given to God, from whom it comes, Heb 3:12; Heb 10:31. Ebrard interpolates into the thought a contrast with the dead law; while Schlichting and Abresch unwarrantably restrict its import to imperishable duration, and Carpz., equally unwarrantably, to its capacity to nourish the life of the soul. But the inner life of the word reveals itself in actual operation. Hence, it is called , proving itself operative and efficient; and since it lay within the scope of the author to unfold this feature of the words peculiar character, it is called, sharper than any two-edged sword. Such a sword, which, as , or double-mouthed, devours on both sides, issues, according to Rev 19:15, from the mouth of the Logos. stands after a comparative, Luk 16:8; Jdg 11:25, as , Heb 1:4. In similar terms, Philo repeatedly speaks of the Logos.7

Heb 4:12. And piercing throughfeelings and thoughts of the heart.These expressions subserve the same purpose as the preceding, viz., to characterize the word of God as such. A union of the word of the Gospel, or even of the Hypostatical Logos, with the inner life of believers, is not indicated by a single feature of the picture. It simply presents to us the word of God in its proper and peculiar character, as penetrating through every outward and enveloping fold, into the inmost being of man, and thus competent to exercise judicial supervision ( not ) over those and , which, as sources of human action, have their sphere of operation in the heart. The word exercises its judicial functions as well in the realm of thought, purpose and resolution, as in that of affection, inclination and passion; for it penetrates so deeply as to effect the work of separation () in the province of soul and spirit, and that in their natural (though not necessarily, as maintained by Del., sensuous and corporeal) life of emotion and sensibility. For form doubtless a figurative expression for the collective and deeper elements of mans inner nature (as, in the same way, is found at Eurip. Hippol., 255, and Themist. Orat., 32, p. 357), and were here naturally suggested by the comparison of the word with a sword. And we can scarcely apply the language to the separating of the soul from the spirit, or of both from the joints and marrow of the body (Bhme, Del.); or to the penetrating of the word clear to the most secret place where soul and spirit are separated (Schlicht., who, although is not repeated, does not make , dependent on , but cordinates them with it). The separation is rather described as taking place in these designated spheres themselves, the word, like a sword, cleaving soul, cleaving spirit. Hofm. (Schriftb., I., 259) assumes a very harsh and indefensible inversion, making depend on =alike the joints and marrow of the inner life. It is a more natural construction (with Ln., Alf., etc.), to take , connected as they are by into closely united parts of one whole, as subordinate to , thus=soul and spirit, alike Joints and marrow [i.e., joints and marrow of soul and of spirit]. To assume (with Calv., Bez., etc.) a cordination of the two sets of words, as corresponding and similarly divided pairs, is forbidden by the absence of the in the first, pair; and the order of the words themselves (, preceding ) forbids our assuming, with Delitzsch, an advance from the , as the primary and proper seat of gracious influences, through the more outward to the strictly material and bodily portion of our nature.

Heb 4:13. And there is no creature that is not manifest, etc.At the first glance, the language looks like a continuance of the description of the ; and hence many expositors who do not adopt the hypostatical view regarding the word, still refer the repeated , and the to . But although Joh 12:48 ascribes to the word a judicial function at the final judgment, and Pro 3:16 ascribe hands to wisdom, yet still here alike the mention of eyes, and the Hellenistic corresponding to the Heb. , indicate that the subject passes over from the word to God Himself. This transition is all the more natural, in that the attributes, previously ascribed to the word, point collectively to its origin from God, and to the power of God prevailing in it. But we are particularly forced to this construction from the final clause . This were an impotent, superfluous and purely objectless addition if it meant nothing but: of whom we are speaking,= , Heb 5:11 (Luth., Grot., Schlicht., Strig., etc.), whether we refer the sentence to God or to His word. Nor does it mean properly: to whom we have to give an account (Pesh., Chrys., Primas., etc.); but more exactly: with whom we stand in relation, i.e, of accountability (Calv., Beng., Bl., and the later intpp.). No special emphasis rests on , and, at all events, none strong enough to support the interpretation which Ebrard, on the strength of it, gives to the passage. The rendering proposed in Reuters Rep., 1857, p. Hebrews 27: to whom [viz., God) the word is for us, i.e., to whom the word is to lead us, is far-fetched and artificial. Before God, then, there is no creature, , i.e., invisible and untransparent; rather ( for , as Heb 2:6) are all creatures, , stript of all natural and artificial covering; and , with neck bent back, so as to give a full view of the face. The archological explanations drawn from ancient usages, either in gladiatorial combats, or in the treatment of criminals, or in animal sacrifices, are either unnatural, or superfluous. The explanation of , as opus hominis quia id est velut creatura hominis (Grot., Carpz.), is decidedly to be rejected. [ (Hesych., ) has been explained from the usage of athletes in grasping by the neck or throat their antagonist, and prostrating him on his back, so that he lies open and prostrate; or from the practice of bending back the necks of malefactorswho would naturally bow their headsso that all may see their shame; or, from throwing back the necks of animals in sacrifices, in order to lay them bare to the knife of the slaughterer. The first seems objectionable, as giving to , a meaning, i.e., of laying prostrate and bare, which is merely incidental to, and inferential from its proper force, seize by the neck, throttle. The second, from the fact that, though a Roman custom, there is no evidence that it was expressed by the Greek word . The third, also, is liable to the objection, that, though the usage was familiar to the Greeks, there is no evidence that this word was employed to designate it. The latter view is adopted by Ln.; the second by Bleek, De Wette, etc. Alford insists on the frequency of the occurrence of the word in Philo (especially in a passage cast so much in Philos mode of rhetorical expression), (who uses it uniformly in the sense of laying prostrate, generally metaphorically), and would thence interpret it here as signifying entire prostration and subjugation under the eye of God. Words worth renders: bare and laid open to the neck, throat and back-bone; and adds: The metaphor is from sacrificial victims first flayed naked, and then dissected and laid open by the anatomical knife of the sacrificing Priest, so that all the inner texture, the nerves and sinews, and arteries of the body were exposed to view.K].

DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL

1. The word searches out in our hearts the eternity which hitherto lay buried under a multitude of fancies and imaginations of the heart, and was too feeble to come forth of itself. It creates a spiritual understanding, which consists in true and substantial ideas. It furnishes an answer to the objections which distrust, fear, impatience, unbelief, awaken in our bosoms. It teaches us that there are within us two hostile wills; one from truth, the other from imagination; one from God, the other from ourselves. It separates the desires springing from imperfect education, from misunderstanding of the letter of the law, and those that spring from an uncleansed conscience and habitual desire, and it so judges and uncovers all deception, that nothing is hidden from it. Thus this word is a genuine auxiliary to the attainment of rest. (Hahn, priest in Echterdingen).
2. The word is the essential means of revealing the true and living God, inasmuch as He in His essence is Spirit (Joh 4:24); and since speaking appears in this connection as an essential living utterance of God, its product, the word, must contain in itself, and express, the peculiarity of the divine life. Precisely for this reason, the same qualities are applied to the Word of Revelation as to the hypostatical Logos, and interpreters could easily question whether our text spoke of the former or the latter. At all events this passage belongs, as already recognized by Olshausen (Opuscula, p. 125); Kstlin, (Joh. Lehrbegr., p. 376) Dorner, (Christology I. 100) to those Biblical declarations which explain and prepare the way for the origin of the mode of expression in the prologue of the Gospel of John. For if Christ is conceived, not merely as the mediator of the creation, the redemption, and perfection of the world, but also as mediator of the whole revelation of God; if again the word is the essential means of this revelation, and if, finally, the personal mediator muse, in such a relation, be conceived of as of like nature with God, as demanded by the expressions , Heb 1:3, and , (Col 1:15), it becomes then entirely natural to characterize the Son of God, not merely as being the substance of the announced word, but as the eternal and personal Word, by the appellation of Logos.

3. Although expressions are found in Philo, regarding the cutting and penetrating sharpness of the word, which are similar to those used here, we are still not to go back to Philo for the explanation of our passage, but rather to conceptions and expressions of the Old Testament which Philos philosophical speculations not unfrequently obscure and misinterpret. The Word of God is specially compared (Isa 49:2) with a sharp sword, and Isa 11:4 speaks of the rod of His mouth, which will smite the earth, and of the breath of His lips which will slay the wicked. For this same reason similar figures are found at Eph 6:17; 2Th 2:8; Rev 1:16; Rev 2:12; Rev 19:15. The judicial power of the word, which is spirit and life (Joh 6:63; Act 7:38); is mentioned, also Joh 12:48;, as at Wis 16:12, its healing, and at Sir 43:26, its all-creating and sustaining power. We might also, perhaps, be reminded of the expressions at Wis 18:15; = .

4. Since (spirit) in our passage denotes a constituent element of human nature, and is distinguished from (soul) the trichotomical view of the nature of man is here expressed, which is found also 1Th 5:23; while Mat 6:25; Jam 2:26 point undeniably to that of a dichotomy. But this indicates no contradiction in the Holy Scriptures itself, but simply authorizes both forms of representation. Regarding the contrast of the Scriptural dichotomy with a false trichotomy and in like manner of the Scriptural trichotomy with a false dichotomy, see Del., System of Biblical Psychology, Leipz. 1855, p. 64 ff; Olshausen, Opusc. Theol. p. 152, and Lutz, Biblical Dogmatic, p. 76; Von Rudloff, The Doctrine of Man, Leipz. 1858; and G. Von Zezschwitz, Classic Greek, and the Spirit of the Biblical Language, Leipz. 1859; p. 34 ff. In the latter work it is well said p. 60 that the Scripture speaks dichotomically in respect of the parts, trichotomically, of the living reality, but maintaining everywhere the fundamental unity of the human essence. It is entirely false to refer with G. L. Hahn, (Theol. of the New Testament, 1 vol., Leipz. 1854, p. 415) the in our passage to the Spirit of God. According to the view of this scholar, it would be here said, that the Word of God is not despised with impunity, inasmuch as it is able to penetrate into the inmost recesses of human nature, where the soul, the central seat of life, receives from the spirit its contributions and nourishment. Granting, then, that the word is able to separate the soul from the spirit, this means, according to him, nothing else than that the Word of God has power to procure for man the eternal death of the soul. But the Spirit is here evidently a constituent element of human nature, which, in its origin, comes immediately from God, and belongs, in its nature, to the immaterial super-sensuous world. In it is involved the continued existence of man, and his entrance after death into the invisible world. The (soul) is in this connection the central, and as it were aggregating point of human life, which is touched immediately by bodily impressions, but which also receives into itself the influences proceeding from the . (Riehm, II. 672 ff.).

HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL

He who would attain to the desired goal must not merely give heed to the Word of God, but must strive earnestly to enter into the Rest of God.What we hare in the Word of God, we best ascertain from its agency and its influence.The character of the Word of God corresponds as well to its origin as to its object.God judges in His word, 1, in order to save; 2, the whole world; 3, not merely the walk, but also the heart.When is our striving a blessed one?1, When it is directed to the attainment of the Rest of God;2, when it is directed in accordance with the Word of God; 3, when it comes from a heart which has a living consciousness of its responsibility to God.What is the nature of that God with whom we have to do?Does the earnestness with which God desires our salvation find an answering earnestness in our striving after His approval?To the magnitude of that which God has bestowed upon us, corresponds the weight of our responsibility, and the heaviness of His judgment.

Starke:Without rest we were the most miserable of all creatures, and it were better for us that we had never been born, than that we remained in eternal unrest. Therefore, take courage, vigorously onward, be active in the struggle, joyful in the course, that we may lay hold of the jewel of rest (1Ti 6:12).The Gospel is the means which God employs for our salvation. If then, it is to make living men out of dead ones, it must itself be living.Gods Word has Gods power.Observest thou not how it arouses thy conscience and rebukes thee?God evinces His power in the works of faith and of salvation, no otherwise than through His word, and it also proves itself mighty in those who will not obey the truth, since it becomes to them a savor of death unto death, (1Co 1:24; 2Co 10:4-5; Rom 1:16; Psa 19:8.)The law is a sharp sword, which pierces into the soul of a transgressor (Gal 3:10); but the Gospel is still sharper in its convicting power; it is able to soften the hardest heart, and to cut it asunder through the preaching of Christ, (Act 2:37; Act 16:14; Act 16:32; Act 26:27-28).As the word is of divine authority, it is also a perfect, clear, and sure rule of faith.The power of the word of God evinces itself in this, that without compulsion or external power, it draws hearts to itself, brings them out of the power of the devil, of sin, and of death, into obedience, and brings them to eternal, divine freedom, righteousness and life.Our heart has frequently been smitten, we know not how or whence. Frequently we hear a whispering, without any sensible emotion. Then again it happens that we hear the same small voice, and taste in it a power, and receive from it a wisdom, that fills us with wonder, (Act 24:25).Thoughts are not free from accountability; hearest thou not that they have their judge?If thou goest about with evil trick and artifices, although they are choked down in the heart, and bear no fruit, they will still be revealed and judged to thine eternal shame, (1Co 4:5).

Berlenburger Bible:He who will not hear the voice of God cannot possibly attain to the Rest of God, and although there may be found some who have said that they enjoy rest, they have still only a transitory and self-procured rest; but not a rest in God.Many thousands have lost their rest because they did not put forth their utmost power in entering into it, (Luk 13:24).Where unbelief puts itself in the way of the word, there the living word proves its power, so as to disclose the condition of the man.The living Word of God cuts so deep into the soul that the false blood of selfishness, as it were, issues forth, and of necessity, betrays itself.None is so upright toward theeof that be assuredas this word.

Laurentius:With the regenerate the spirit must have sway: the body must be subject to the soul, but the soul to the spirit.From God nothing is hidden, neither the wickedness of the unconverted, nor the secret desire of believers. He knows and sees all better than we ourselves.

Rambach:Those greatly err who hold the Word of God to be a dead letter; yet the law cannot make alive, for this is an honor which belongs alone to the Gospel.

Von Bogatzky:None can have any excuse for remaining dead and inanimate, or sluggish and inactive; because the word is living and powerful.With the sword of the Spirit must all our enemies be smitten, and not hinder us from entering into the heavenly Canaan.We have not to do with mere men who formerly wrote the word, and who now preach it; no, we have to do with God Himself, the Judge of all flesh.The more exalted is the person who speaks to us, the more reverently do we receive the word and obey it.

Rieger:There arises in the heart, particularly if during many years it has not remained totally estranged from, and indifferent to, the proffers of God, an incredible blending of good and evil, of truth and falsehood, of earthly-mindedness, and occasional longing after something better, of inclination to the obedience of faith, and temptation to depart from the living God. If these remain always blended with each other, then the man always remains hidden from himself, now inclined to be influenced and yield to right persuasion, and now again timid, trembling before the temptation to cast away his confidence. With this he sinks at one time into fear, without exertion, and acts as if nothing more were to be accomplished; and at another plunges into self-confident endeavors in exertion without fear, without thought of the power of unbelief, from both of which only the call and drawing of God can set us free. From such a labyrinth there would be no escape without this judicial and serving power of the divine word, which must divide asunder for us faith and unbelief in their deepest roots, and their inmost and most vital tendencies.

Stier:The unbeliever already has his judge in the heard but despised word, and his judgment in his heart and conscience.He who in the deepest, indestructible original foundation of the fallen man, still attests by the voice of conscience His right and His truth, is the same one who now speaks by the word of His grace unto and into the conscience.

Von Gerlach:All that is here said of the word, that is, of the revelation of God generally, holds in the highest degree of the independent, personal, eternal Word which was with the Father, and has appeared among us in the flesh; every individual word of God is an emanation from the eternal Word.The greater the compassionate grace which God bestows upon us in Christ, the mightier the power of His all-healing and restoring love, so much the more fearful is the responsibility, if we nevertheless despise His word.

Heubner:The Word penetrates even through the thickest bulwarks of prejudice, of illusion, and into the hardest and grossest hearts; it seizes upon the inmost being, the very vital principle of man.How often has the declaration of the Bible assailed and completely penetrated the hardened and the transgressor, or a promise awakened the sluggish and the timid.The power of the word comes from God who has created both the word and the human soul. Even the simplicity of the word strengthens its power.God knows alike true and wavering faith.

Hahn:We cannot believe and yet remain idle.The word will at once render us cheerful, and will help us on if we deal with it honestly and do not weaken its power.Many would gladly go into rest, but they do not lift up a foot in the right direction.

Fricke:The goal toward which we tend is indeed rest, but the way is toil and labor.

Footnotes:

[6]Heb 4:12.The after is to be expunged according to Sin. A. B. C. H. L., 3, 73.

[7][The following passages from Philo (cited by Ln.), are among the striking evidences that our author, while totally free from the mystical and allegorizing fancies of Philo, could yet have hardly been unacquainted or unfamiliar with his writings: Qui rerum divinarum hres, p. 499. (Gen 15:10) , , , , , , , . Again de Cherubim, p. 112 f. Philo finds in the , flaming sword, Gen 3:24, a symbol of the Logos, and then remarks in reference to Abraham: , , , (Gen 22:6), , . In the first passage, Philo speaks of God dividing (cutting) all the natures of bodies and of things in succession, which seem to have been fitted and united together, with His word, which is the divider (cutter) of all things, which being whetted to the keenest edge, never ceases dividing all things which are perceptible to sense, etc. In the others he says that Abraham, when he began to measure all things, according to Godtakes a likeness of the flaming sword (i.e., of the Divine Logos), to wit, fire and a sword (), seeking to sever and burn away the mortal part from himself, in order that with his naked intelligence he might soar and fly up to God.K.].

Fuente: A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical by Lange

XXIX

EXHORTATIONS AND SPECIAL PASSAGES

All New Testament exhortation is based on antecedent statement of doctrine. In Hebrews the whole letter is a succession of doctrines and exhortations first a doctrine, then its application. In some respects, then, is it a model in homiletics.

1. It shows the relation between dogma and morals. There can be no morals apart from dogma. To leave out dogma undermines morality.

2. Dogma, as a mere theory, is valueless. Its power lies in its application to practical life, governing thought, emotion, imagination, words, and deeds in all of life’s relations to God home, country, and the universe.

The present-day ministry has deteriorated in the power of exhortation based on vivid conceptions of great and definitive doctrines concerning God, law, sin, salvation, heaven, and hell.

The first exhortation in this letter is an exhortation to earnest attention: “Therefore, we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things that were heard, lest haply we drift away from them. For if the word spoken through angels proved stedfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompense of reward, how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation, which having at the first been spoken through the Lord, was confirmed unto us by them that heard?” (Heb 2:1-3 ). The doctrinal basis of this exhortation is all chapter I, setting forth our Lord’s threefold sonship, by eternal subsistence, by his incarnation, by his resurrection, and his threefold superiority over the universe, over the angels, and over the prophets. The precise tendency against which this exhortation warns is to “drift away” from great truths. Any steady lateral pressure which insidiously swerves a floating object from a given direction, and causes drifting, as a prevalent wind, an ocean current or undertow, rapids in a river leading to a fall, or the suction of a whirlpool. Inherited depravity, the course of this world, the temptations of Satan, the increasing power of evil habits until they become second nature in a word, the world, the flesh, and the devil constitute the drifting power, or trend away from salvation. The danger of neglecting this exhortation is that we are carried away unwittingly until there is no escape forever. The great majority of life’s irreparable disasters are brought about by “drifting away” through “heedlessness” and “neglect.”

The element of the greatness in this salvation is deliverance of the entire man, soul and body, forever, from the guilt, defilement, love, and dominion of sin, into an eternal and most blessed state of reconciliation and companionship with God. The historical argument against any hope of escape if this salvation be neglected is that from Sinai to Christ’s advent every word of the law disposed by angels proved steadfast, and every transgression was justly punished. The historical instances of this penalty of the law and of the prophets are numerous. The applied logic of this history is as follows:

By so much as Christ is greater than angels or prophets; by so much as his revelation is more complete and the light of his gospel brighter; by so much as it is better accredited; by so much as it is final where theirs was transitional and educational by that much is its penalty surer and severer. The second exhortation (Heb 3:8 ) is against “hardening the heart.” There is a relation between “drifting” and “hardening:” “Drifting” precedes and tends toward “hardening,” which is a more dangerous state. By “hardening” is meant a blunting of the moral perceptions, a growing callousness to spiritual sensations, tending to the condition of “past feel- ing.” According to the context “an evil heart of unbelief” operating through the “deceitfulness of sin” causes hardening. This deceitfulness consists in misconstruing the grace of delay in punishment as immunity altogether, as saith the prophet: “Because sentence against an evil deed is not speedily executed, the heart of the sinner is fully set in him to do evil.”

The third exhortation is found in Heb 4:11 thus: “Let us labor therefore to enter into the rest.” The doctrinal basis of this exhortation is that as God rested from creation, commemorating it by a sabbath day, so Jesus rested after the greater work of redemption, commemorating it by appointing a new day for sabbath-keeping.

The fourth exhortation (Heb 4:14 ) is this: “To hold fast to our confession.” The doctrinal basis is the fact that Jesus, our High Priest, has entered into the heavenly holy of holies to make atonement and intercession for us.

The fifth exhortation (Heb 4:16 ) is to come boldly to the throne of grace for mercy and help in every time of need. The doctrinal basis of this exhortation is the fact that our High Priest is touched with a feeling of our infirmities, having been in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.

The occasion for the sixth exhortation is that they were in a state of arrested development, remaining “babes in Christ” when they ought to have been teachers, and so not only unprepared to receive the higher grades of Christian knowledge, but they were unable to discern between good and evil because their spiritual senses had not been exercised; hence they were continually tempted to try to rub out and make a new start from the very beginning (see Heb 5:11-14 ). This reminds us of the three classes into which our Lord divided his flock: (1) Lambs, Greek: arnia , i.e., new converts; (2) Sheep, Greek probata i.e., mature Christians; (3) Little sheep, Greek (best manuscript): ” probatia ,” i.e., Christians stunted in growth (see Joh 21:15-19 ). These Hebrews were “little sheep.”

The phrase “by reason of use” is illustrated by the senses or faculties, or muscles which increase in power by use, or go into bankruptcy by disuse. Certain Chinese families, training the sense of touch for generations, can tell colors of cloth fabrics in the dark by feeling. It is said also that certain Japanese dentists, by long training of the muscles of thumb and forefinger, extract teeth, using the hand alone as forceps. Again, the prophet, referring to the second nature of long continued evil habits, says “As the Ethiopian cannot change his skin nor a leopard his spots so one accustomed to do evil cannot learn to do well.”

This sixth exhortation is to leave the first principles, not attempting the relaying of foundations, but go on to maturity, (Heb 6:1 ). The first principles of Christian oracles are the foundation of repentance and faith, the teaching of baptisms, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead and eternal judgment (Heb 6:2 ).

Repentance and faith are called a foundation because without them one can neither be a Christian nor be saved. Therefore the folly of attempting to relay this foundation, since it is never laid but once, which Paul hypothetically states thus: “For as touching those who were once enlightened and tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Spirit, and tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the age to come, and then fell away, it is impossible to renew them again unto repentance” (Heb 6:4-6 ).

This passage has several interpretations as follows:

1. John Bunyan held that the “enlightening,” “tasting,” and “partaking” of this passage refer to illumination and conviction by the Holy Spirit which did not eventuate in regeneration. This view the author rejects because the passage also supposes genuine repentance as well as “illumination” and “conviction,” else why say it is impossible to renew them again unto repentance? Moreover, he disconnects the force of “being made partakers of the Holy Spirit” and “tasting of the powers of the world to come.”

2. Dr. Wilkes, a Methodist preacher, as the author heard him say, held that the passage certainly taught two things: (1) A genuine Christian may lose regeneration; and (2) if he does he can never be converted again.

3. The author holds that “the enlightening,” “tasting,” and “partaking” are equivalent to regeneration, and that the passage does teach that if regeneration were once lost it could never be regained, because, having exhausted the benefits of Christ’s crucifixion in the direction of regeneration, another regeneration would call for another crucifixion, but Christ, as a sin offering, dies but once; he is offered once for all. So the passage teaches “‘Seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh and put him to an open shame.” It would be an open shame to Christ if a beneficiary of his salvation should lose it and thus vitiate the certainty of the Father’s promise to him and covenant with him. But that the statement is hypothetic appears from the apostle’s added words: “But, beloved, we are persuaded better things of you, and things that accompany salvation, though we thus speak”; “But we are not of them that shrink back unto perdition; but of them that have faith unto the saving of the soul.” The object of the exhortation is so to influence the Christian to move on and not spend a lifetime as the foundation, for in any event this is folly.

To illustrate: Being present, as a visitor, at a Methodist meeting, I was invited to talk to some of the mourners. I approached a man who seemed to be weeping in great distress, and asked what was his trouble. His reply was, substantially: “I have been converted several times, but I always lose it.” I assured him he was mistaken on one or the other of two points either he was never genuinely converted, or he had never lost it both could not be true. He replied: “I know I was converted, and I know I lost it.” Then said I: “Why are you wasting time here; why shedding fruitless tears? If you are right on both points, then you are forever lost. You have exhausted the plan of salvation. Your only chance is for Christ to come and die again and send the Holy Spirit again, of which there is no promise, and even in that case there is no certainty for you unless he and the Holy Spirit should do more efficient work next time. I don’t desire to shake your positive, infallible knowledge that you have been regenerated and that you have lost it, but merely point out that in such case you are forever lost, just as certainly as if you were in hell now. Here, look at Heb 6:4-6 , and see that I can do you no good, and so will pass on to cases not hopeless.” “Don’t leave me,” he said, “maybe I am mistaken on one of those points.”

“Baptism” here is in the plural and there is a reference here, (1) To baptism in water (Mat 28:19 ); (2) to baptism in fire, or eternal punishment (Mat 3:10-12 ); (3) to baptism in the Holy Spirit (Act 1:5 ); (4) to baptism in suffering (Mar 10:39 ).

“The teaching of laying on of hands” refers: (1) To conferring of miraculous power by the laying on of hands of the apostles (Act 8:17 ; Act 19:6 ), which, accrediting of the apostles passed away with the apostles; (2) to the abiding requirement of laying on of hands in the ordination (1) for deacons (Act 6:6 ), (2) for evangelists (Act 13:3 ; 1Ti 4:14 ); and (3) for other preachers (1Ti 5:22 ).

From a peculiar interpretation of Heb 6:1-2 there arose a sect known as the “Six-Principle Baptists” who practiced laying hands on those who were baptized as an essential part of the form of the ordinance.

QUESTIONS

1. What the New Testament method of exhortation?

2. In what respects, then, is it a model in homiletics?

3. Wherein has the present-day ministry deteriorated?

4. What is the first exhortation in this letter, and what is its doctrinal basis?

5. What is the precise tendency against which this exhortation warns?

6. What are the causes of drifting?

7. What, in plain terms, constitute the drifting power, or trend away from salvation?

8. What is the danger of neglecting this exhortation?

9. What is your estimate of the relative proportion of life’s irreparable disasters brought about by “drifting away” through “heedlessness” and “neglect”?

10. What the element of greatness in this salvation?

11. What is the historical argument against any hope of escape if we neglect this salvation?

12. Cite historical instances of this penalty (1) of the law and (2) of the prophets.

13. What is the applied logic of this history?

14. Against what is the exhortation in Heb 3:8 ?

15. What is the relation between “drifting” and “hardening?”

16. What do you understand by “hardening?”

17. What do we find in the context as a cause of “hardening?”

18. In what does deceitfulness consist?

19. What is the exhortation relative to rest, and what its doctrinal basis?

20. What is the exhortation relative to confession, and what its doctrinal basis?

21. What is the exhortation relative to our need, and what the doctrinal basis?

22. What is the occasion of the exhortation relative to perfection?

23. Into what three classes did our Lord divide his flock, and of which class were these Hebrews?

24. Ex-pound the phrase “by reason of use.”

25. What, then, is the exhortation relative to perfection?

26. What are the first principles of Christian oracles?

27. Why are repentance and faith called a foundation?

28. What is the folly of trying to relay this foundation, and what the doctrine involved?

29. How does Paul hypothetically state this?

30. What are the several interpretations of this passage?

31. Give an incident of the use of this passage by the author.

32. What is the meaning of “baptisms” used in this passage?

33. What is the meaning of “laying on of hands?”

34. What sect of Baptists arose from a peculiar interpretation of Heb 6:1-2 , and what their construction of “laying on of hands?”

XXX

EXHORTATIONS AND SPECIAL PASSAGES (CONTINUED)

The seventh exhortation in this book is as follows: “Let us draw near with a true heart in fulness of faith let us hold fast the confession of our hope that it waver not let us consider one another to provoke unto love and good works, not forsaking our own assembling together, exhorting one another” (Heb 10:22-25 ). The doctrines that underlie this manifold exhortation are, (1) Christ has rent the veil hiding the holy of holies by his death, and dedicated for us a new and living way. (2) We have a great High Priest over the house of God. (3) The day of his final coming is rapidly approaching (Heb 10:19-21 ).

Here a question arises, Does “having our bodies washed with pure water” (Heb 10:22 ) refer to water baptism, and if so, what the bearing of the teaching? It is not clear that it has such reference. But if it does, it strongly supports the Baptist teaching, to wit: Our souls are cleansed by the application of Christ’s blood by the Holy Spirit in regeneration. Baptism in water only washes the body, and hence can only externally symbolize the internal cleansing. In this way Paul, internally cleansed, could arise and wash away his sins symbolically in baptism (Act 22:16 ), or as Peter puts it: “Water, even baptism, after a true likeness doth now save us, not putting away the filth of the flesh [i.e., the carnal nature] but the answer of a good conscience toward God, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ” (1Pe 3:21 ). In other words, it is a figurative salvation, and the figure or likeness is that of a resurrection (see Rom 6:4-5 ). Paul’s reason for the seventh exhortation is expressed in the famous passage (Heb 10:26-29 ), the whole of which is an explanation of the eternal, unpardonable sin against the Holy Spirit, very different from the gradual, unconscious sins of “drifting” and “hardening.” Its conditions and characteristics are:

1. There has been great spiritual light and knowledge, thoroughly convincing the judgment of the truth of the gospel, and strongly impressing the mind to accept it.

2. It is a distinct and wilful rejection of the well-known light and monition of the Holy Spirit.

3. It is a culmination of sin against every person of the Trinity. (1) It is a sin against the Father in deliberately trampling under foot the Son of his love. (2) It is a sin against the Son in counting the blood of his expiation an unholy thing. (3) It is the sin against the Holy Spirit in doing despite to his grace who has furnished complete proof to the rejector’s conscience that it is God’s Son who is trampled under foot, and that the blood of his vicarious sacrifice alone can save.

4. Once committed, the soul is there and then forever lost, having never forgiveness in time or eternity, and knows that for him there is no more sacrifice for sin, and expects nothing but judgment and fiery wrath which shall devour the adversaries.

5. Let the reader particularly note that this sin cannot be committed except in an atmosphere, not merely of light and knowledge, but of spiritual light, knowledge and power, and that it is one wilful, malicious act arising from hate hating the more because of the abundance and power of the light. The eighth exhortation is, “Cast not away your boldness” (Heb 10:35 ). The exhortation is based on appeal to their remembrance of the triumphs of their past experience. They had patiently endured a great conflict of suffering just after their conversion; they had been made a gazing stock both by reproaches and afflictions cast on them and by their sharing in the afflictions of their leaders. This is evident from the history of Paul’s labors among men. There was nothing in their present afflictions severer than those they triumphantly endured in their earlier experience.

The ninth exhortation is, “Therefore, let us also, seeing that we are compassed about by so great a cloud of witnesses, lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising shame, and hath sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider him that hath endured such gainsaying of sinners against himself, that ye wax not weary, fainting in your souls” (Heb 12:1-3 ). The imagery here is that of a foot race, such as these people had often witnessed in the Isthmian Games at Corinth, or in the great amphitheater at Ephesus. “The race set before us” the great example upon whom the runner must fix his eye is Jesus, the author (or captain) and perfecter of our faith.

The force of the example of Jesus in Heb 12:2 is this:

He is set before us as the one perfect model or standard. A joy was set before him as a recompense of reward that when attained would make him the gladdest man in the universe. For this he voluntarily became the saddest man in the universe. Thus “the Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief” was “anointed with the oil of gladness above his fellows;” “He saw of the travail of his soul and was satisfied.” Here we are confronted with this double question: Does the phrase, “author and perfecter of our faith,” mean that Jesus first inspires and then completes our individual faith i.e., what he begins he consummates or that he is the captain and completer of the faith in the sense that his completed victory is both cause and earnest of our own victory, as in Heb 2:10 ? The latter best accords with the import of the Greek word, archegos , used both here and in Heb 2:10 , and with the whole context.

The word “witnesses” in Heb 12:1 means martyrs whose examples should excite our emulation, and accords with the meaning and usage of the Greek word marturos , which makes them witnesses to the truth and not spectators of what other people may do. Moreover, the biblical evidence is scant, if there be any at all, that departed souls are allowed to sympathetically intervene in the struggle of those left behind. Yet, by rhetorical license, in the exercise of the imagination, a poet, orator or writer may summon the dead to appear before the living for dramatic effect. But we go far when we seek to construct doctrine on rhetorical license. What is the “besetting sin” in Heb 12:1 ? It may not be the same in all cases. It is the sin to which one most easily yields whether pride, lust, covetousness, anger, vanity, or any other.

The tenth exhortation (Heb 12:4-13 ,) is, “Regard not lightly the chastening of the Lord, because (1) chastening is an evidence of sonship. (2) If we have borne arbitrary chastening from earthly parents, much more we will bear disciplinary chastening from our Heavenly Father. (3) While grievous at first, it yieldeth afterward peaceable fruit or righteousness, if rightly received.

Here come up the Creationist theory of the origin of human spirits and the Traducian theory. The Creationist theory is that the spirit of every human being born into the world is a direct creation of God, and only the body is derived from the earthly parent. The Traducian theory is that every child, in his entirety, spirit and body, is derived from his earthly parents, begotten in the likeness not only of bodily features but in spiritual state, otherwise man could not propogate his species, and every child would, in his inner nature, be born holy, not subject to inherited depravity and not needing regeneration until he became an actual transgressor hence needing only proper environment and training to grow up in holiness.

The passage in question is not decisive for either theory. God is the Father of spirits in that originally the spirit of man was not a formation from inert matter, but a special creation (see Gen 2:7 ). Thus the whole race, body and spirit, was potentially in the first man, died body and spirit in him when he fell, and after his fall he “begat children in his likeness” body and spirit.

In Heb 12:12-13 , “hands hanging down,” “palsied knees,” and “crooked paths” refer to the physical effects of spiritual depression or terror, the inner man acting on the outer. See case of Belshazzar (Dan 5:6 ), and recall cases coming under your own observation in which discouragements or despondency of the spirit enfeeble the body. Some men, morally brave, are physically timid. A famous French marshal always trembled at the beginning of battle. On one occasion his officers rallied him on his shaking legs. He answered, “If my legs only knew into what dangers I will take them today, they would shake more than they do.”

The eleventh exhortation (Heb 12:14 ff) is, “Follow after peace with all men, and the sanctification without which no man shall see the Lord.” There are two hazards attending obedience to this exhortation, against which there are special cautions, as follows: (1) The springing up of a root of bitterness to defile many. (2) The spirit of profanity, or the despising of sacred things.

In our own experience or observation, cases arise of a single root of bitterness disturbing the peace of communities and retarding the sanctification of hundreds.

Profanity here means, not so much swearing as it does a spirit of irreverence in speaking of sacred things, and, sometimes interested lost souls are completely sidetracked by the levity and foolish jestings, and the questionable anecdotes of preachers in their hours of relaxation.

The author having often, in his early ministry, witnessed the wounding and shocking of sober-minded Christians and the loss of interest in awakened sinners caused by the foolish jestings in the preacher’s tent concerning sacred things, and sometimes by obscene anecdotes, entered into a solemn covenant with Dr. Riddle, the moderator of the Waco Association, never to tell nor willingly hear a doubtful anecdote. This covenant was made while camping out one night on the prairie in the light of the stars.

The twelfth exhortation and its doctrinal basis are found in Heb 12:28-29 : “Wherefore, receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us have grace, whereby we may offer service well-pleasing to God with reverence and awe: for our God is a consuming fire.

I will group in classes the exhortation of Heb 13 as follows:

1. Love to brethren, strangers, and those in bonds.

2. Honor the sanctity of marriage.

3. Eschew the covetous spirit.

4. Hold in kind remembrance your leaders that have passed away.

5. Bear the reproach of Christ, even if it ostracises from worldly society.

6. Offer spiritual sacrifices of praise, confession, contribution, and prayer.

In closing this exposition there are two things worthy of note: First, The bearing of Heb 13:8 on the preceding verse, which means that preachers may come and go, but Jesus is ever the same. Second, The controversy arose over Heb 13:10 , a controversy as to what is the Christian altar. Was it the cross on which Jesus was crucified? Then how can the altar be greater than the gift on the altar, as Christ taught? Was it Christ’s divinity on which his humanity was sacrificed? This controversy was a refinement of foolishness, because the altar under consideration is not supporting the expiating sin offering of which the priests were never allowed to have a part, but the altar to which non-expiatory offerings were brought, such as meat offerings, thank offerings, tithes etc. Of these the priests and Levites might partake. The meaning is simply this that Christianity provides in its way for the support of its laborers through the voluntary offerings to Christ’s cause (see 1Co 9:13-14 ).

QUESTIONS

1. What is the exhortation in this book relative to faith, hope, and love?

2. What doctrines underlie this manifold exhortation?

3. Does “having our bodies washed with pure water” (Heb 10:22 ) refer to water baptism, and if so, what the bearing of the teaching?

4. How do you interpret Paul’s reason for this exhortation as expressed in Heb 10:26-29 , which refers to the eternal sin?

5. What is the exhortation relative to boldness, and on what is it predicated?

6. What is the exhortation relative to weights, sins, etc., what its imagery, and what its elements?

7. What is the force of the example of Jesus in Heb 12:2 ?

8. What does the phrase “author and perfector of our faith” mean?

9. What is the meaning and import of “witnesses” in Heb 12:1 ?

10. What is the “besetting sin” in Heb 12:1 ?

11. What is the exhortation relative to chastening, and what its reasons?

12. What are the theories relative to the origin of human spirits, and what the bearing of this passage on the subject?

13. What is the meaning and force of “hand hanging down,” “palsied knees,” and “crooked paths?”

14. What is the exhortation relative to peace and sanctification?

15. What two hazards attending obedience to this exhortation?

16. Do you know of a case of a single “root of bitterness” disturbing communities and hindering sanctification?

17. What is the meaning of profanity here, and what illustration of the effect of such profanity given?

18. In what did Esau’s profanity consist?

19. What is the meaning of Heb 12:17 ? So, What the exhortation relative to grace, and what its doctrinal basis?

21. Group in classes the exhortations of Heb 13 .

22. What is the bearing of Heb 13:8 on the preceding verse?

23. What controversy arose over Heb 13:10 ?

24. Why was this controversy a refinement of foolishness?

Fuente: B.H. Carroll’s An Interpretation of the English Bible

11 Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief.

Ver. 11. Let us labour ] Here he resumes and re-inforces his former exhortations; that his words may be as nails and goads fastened by the masters of the assemblies. The judgment is first to be illightened by doctrine, and then the affections to be inflamed by exhortation; like as, in the law, first the lamps were lighted, and then the incense burned.

Fall after the same example ] God hangs up some malefactors, as it were in gibbets, for a warning to others. a Jethro grew wise by the plagues that befell his neighbour, prince Pharaoh, as Rabbi Solomon observeth. And Belshazzar is destroyed for not profiting by his father’s calamities; Dan 5:22 , “Thou hast not humbled thy heart, though thou knewest all this.”

a Exemplo alterius qui sapit, ille sapit.

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

11 13 .] Exhortation , so frequently interspersed in the midst of the argument: see on ch. Heb 3:1 . Let us therefore (consequence from Heb 4:3-7 ; seeing that the promise is held out to us, as it was to them, and that they failed of it through disobedience) earnestly strive (not, as vulg., “ festinemus :” see reff.) to enter into that rest (viz. that mentioned in Heb 4:10 , into which Christ has entered before, cf. Heb 4:14 ; ch. Heb 6:20 ), lest any one fall into (so vulg., Luth., Beza, Corn. a-Lap., Grot., Abresch, Lnemann, Delitzsch, al., and rightly, both from usage and from the position of the verb. Had been absolute, ‘ fall ,’ = , as Chrys, c., Thl., Calv., Schlichting, Wolf, Bengel, Bleek, De W., Thol., al., its position in the sentence certainly must have been more prominent. As it stands, it holds the most insignificant place, between the genitive in government and the word governing it. And usage abundantly justifies the idiom , for ‘to fall into.’ Cf. , Pind. Isthm. iv. 39: , Isthm. viii. 14: , Pyth. ii. 75: ; Soph. El. 1475: , Eurip. Herc. Fur. 1092. The construction is simply a pregnant one , so as to be ) the same example ( is found fault with by the Atticists: , , Thom. Mag.: and similarly Phrynichus. But Bleek shews that it is in frequent use, from Xenophon downwards. Its proper meaning is, something shewn in a light and merely suggestive manner : so in ch. Heb 8:5 , . But it is oftener used, as here, to signify a pattern or example , good or bad: cf. besides reff., Jos. B. J. Heb 6:1 , : and other examples in Bleek) of disobedience (not, unbelief : see on ch. Heb 3:18 . It was who failed to enter in).

Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament

Heb 4:11 . The exhortation follows naturally, “Let us then earnestly strive to enter into that rest, lest anyone fall in the same example of disobedience”. The example of disobedience was that given by the wilderness generation and they are warned not to fall in the same way. is commonly construed “fall into,” but it seems preferable to render “fall by” or “in”; being used absolutely as in Rom 14:4 , . Vaughan has “lest anyone fall [by placing his foot] in the mark left by the Exodus generation”. is condemned by Phrynichus who says: . “In Attic was never used except in its natural sense of show by implication ; but in Herodotus and Xenophon it signifies to mark out, set a pattern .” Rutherford’s Phryn. , p. 62. Cf. Heb 8:5 of this Epistle with Joh 13:15 for both meanings. It is used in Jas 5:10 with genitive of the thing to be imitated.

In Heb 4:12-13 another reason is added for dealing sincerely and strenuously with God’s promises and especially with this offer of rest. , “for the word of God is living,” that word of revelation which from the first verse of the Epistle has been in the writer’s mind and which he has in chaps, 3, 4 exhibited as a word of promise of entrance into God’s rest. Evidently, therefore, is not, as Origen and other interpreters have supposed, the Personal Word incarnate in Christ, but God’s offers and promises. Not only is the , linking this clause to the promise of rest, decisive for this interpretation; but the mention of in Heb 4:2 and the prominence given in the context to God’s promise make it impossible to think of anything else. To enforce the admonition to believe and obey the word of God, five epithets are added, which, says Westcott, “mark with increasing clearness its power to deal with the individual soul. There is a passage step by step from that which is most general to that which is most personal.” It is, first, , “living” or, as A.V. has it, “quick”. Cf. 1Pe 1:23 , , and 1Pe 1:24 . The meaning is that the word remains efficacious, valid and operative, as it was when it came from the will of God. “It is living as being instinct with the life of its source” (Delitzsch). It is also , active, effective, still doing the work it was intended to do, cf. Isa 55:11 . , “sharper than any two-edged sword”. . is a more forcible comparative than the genitive; cf. Luk 16:8 ; 2Co 12:13 . The positive is found in Plato Tim . 61 E. and elsewhere. double-mouthed, i.e. , double-edged, the sword being considered as a devouring beast, see 2Sa 11:25 , . A double-edged sword is not only a more formidable weapon than a single-edged, offering less resistance and therefore cutting deeper (see Jdg 3:16 where Ehud made for himself a span long, and cf. Eurip., Helena , 983), but it was a common simile for sharpness as in Pro 5:4 , , whetted more than a two-edged sword; and Rev 1:16 , . The same comparison is used by Isaiah (Isa 49:2 ) and by St. Paul (Eph 6:17 ); but especially in Wis 18:15 , “Thine Almighty Word leaped down from heaven and brought thine unfeigned commandment as a sharp sword. This sharpness is illustrated by its action, , , an expression which does not mean that the word divides the soul from the spirit, the joints from the marrow, but that it pierces through all that is in man to that which lies deepest in his nature. “It is obvious that the writer does not mean anything very specific by each term of the enumeration, which produces its effect by the rhetorical fullness of the expressions” (Farrar). For the expression cf. Eurip., Hippol. , 255 . But it is in the succeeding clause that the significance of his description appears; the word is “judging the conceptions and ideas of the heart”. The word of God coming to men in the offer of good of the highest kind tests their real desires and inmost intentions. When fellowship with God is made possible through His gracious offer, the inmost heart of man is sifted; and it is infallibly discovered and determined whether he truly loves the good and seeks it, or shrinks from accepting it as his eternal heritage. The terms in which this is conveyed find a striking analogy in Philo ( Quis. Rer. Div. Haer. , p. 491) where he speaks of God by His Word “cutting asunder the constituent parts of all bodies and objects that seem to be coherent and united. Which [the word] being whetted to the keenest possible edge, never ceases to pierce all sensible objects, and when it has passed through them to the things that are called atoms and indivisible, then again this cutting instrument begins to divide those things which are contemplated by reason into untold and indescribable portions.” Cf. p. 506. In addition to this ( ), the inward operation of the word finds its counterpart in the searching, inevitable inquisition of God Himself with whom we have to do. “No created thing is hidden before Him (God) but all things are naked and exposed to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do.” has created difficulty. is a word of the games, meaning “to bend back the neck” and so “to overcome”. In this sense of overmastering it was in very common use. In Philo, e.g. , men are spoken of as f1 . This meaning, however, gives a poor sense in our passage where it is followed by . Chrysostom says the word is derived from the skinning of animals, and Theophylact, enlarging upon this interpretation, explains that when the victims had their throats cut, the skin was dragged off from the neck downwards exposing the carcase. No confirmation of this use of the word is given. Perizonius in a note on lian, Var., Hist. , xii. 58, refers to Suetonius, Vitell. , 17, where Vitellius is described as being dragged into the forum, half-naked, with his hands tied behind his back, a rope round his neck and his dress torn; and we are further told that they dragged back his head by his hair, and even pricked him under the chin with the point of a sword as they are wont to do to criminals, that he might let his face be seen and not hang his head. [So, too, Elsner, who refers to Perizonius and agrees that the word means resupnata, manifesta , eorum quasi cervice ac facie reflexa, atque adeo intuentium oculis exposita , genere loquendi ab iis petito, quorum capita reclinantur, ne intuentium oculos fugiant et lateant; quod hominibus qui ad supplicium ducebantur, usu olim accidebat.” Cf. “Sic fatus galeam laeva tenet, atque reflexa Cervice orantis capulo tenus applicat ensem.” Virgil, n . x. 535.] Certainly this bending back of the head to expose the face gives an excellent and relevant sense here. The reason for thus emphasising the penetrating and inscrutable gaze of God is given in the description appended in the relative clause; it is He , which, so far as the mere words go, might mean “of whom we speak” ( cf. Heb 1:7 and Heb 5:11 ), but which obviously must here be rendered, as in A.V., “with whom we have to do,” or “with whom is our reckoning,” cf. Heb 13:17 .

From Heb 4:14 to Heb 10:15 the writer treats of the Priesthood of the Son. The first paragraph extends from Heb 4:14 to Heb 5:10 , and in this it is shown that Jesus has the qualifications of a priest, a call from God, and the sympathy which makes intercession hearty and real. The writer’s purpose is to encourage his readers to use the intercession of Christ with confidence, notwithstanding their sense of sinfulness. And he does so by reminding them that all High priests are appointed for the very purpose of offering sacrifice for sin, and that this office has not been assumed by them at their own instance but at the call of God. It is because God desires that sinful men be brought near to Him that priests hold office. And those are called to office, who by virtue of their own experience are prepared to enter into cordial sympathy with the sinner and heartily seek to intercede for him. All this holds true of Christ. He is Priest in obedience to God’s call. The office, as He had to fill it, involved much that was repugnant. With strong crying and tears He shrank from the death that was necessary to the fulfilment of His function. But His godly caution prompted as His ultimate prayer, that the will of the Father and not His own might be done. Thus by the things He suffered He learned obedience, and being thus perfected became the author of eternal salvation to all that obey Him, greeted and proclaimed High Priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek.

Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson

Hebrews

MAN’S SHARE IN GOD’S REST

Heb 4:11 .

WITH this simple, practical exhortation, the writer closes one of the most profound and intricate portions of this Epistle. He has been dealing with two Old Testament passages, one of them, the statement in Genesis that God rested after His creative work; the other, the oath sworn in wrath that Israel should not enter into God’s rest. Combining these two, he draws from them the inferences that there is a rest of God which He enjoys, and of which He has promised to man a share; that the generation to whom the participation therein was first promised, and as a symbol of that participation, the outward possession of the land, fell by unbelief, and died in the wilderness; that the unclaimed promise continued to subsequent generations and continues to this day. All the glories of it, all the terrors of exclusion, the barriers that shut out, the conditions of entrance, the stringent motives to earnestness, are one in all generations. Surface forms may alter; the fundamentals of the religious life, in the promise of God, and the ways by which men may win or miss it, are unchangeable. And so the reiterated appeal comes to us with its primeval freshness, saying, after so long a time, ‘Today, if ye will hear His voice, harden not your hearts.’ We have, then, in the words before us, these three things – the rest of God; the barriers against, and the conditions of, entrance; and the labour to secure the entrance. I. Note then, first, the rest of God. Now it is quite possible that the Psalmist, in the passage on which our text foots itself, may have meant by ‘My rest’ nothing more than repose in the land, which rest was God’s since He was the giver of it. But it seems more probable that something of the same idea was floating in his mind, which the writer of this Epistle states so expressly and strongly – viz., that far beyond that outward possession there is the repose of the divine nature in which, marvellous as it may seem, it is possible for a man, in some real fashion, to participate. What, then, is the rest of God? The ‘rest’ which Genesis speaks about was, of course, not repose that recruited exhausted strength, but the cessation of work because the work was complete, the repose of satisfaction in what we should call an accomplished ideal. And, further, in that august conception of the rest of God is included, not only the completion of all His purpose, and the full correspondence of effect with cause, but likewise the indisturbance and inward harmony of that infinite nature whereof all the parts co-operant to an end move in a motion which is rest. And, further, the rest of God is compatible with, and, indeed, but another form of, unceasing activity. ‘My Father worketh hitherto, and I work,’ said the Master; though the works were, in one sense, finished from the foundation of the world. Now can we dare to dream that in any fashion that solemn, divine repose and tranquillity of perfection can be reproduced in us? Yes! The dewdrop is a sphere, as truly as the sun; the rainbow in the smallest drop of rain has all the prismatic colours blended in the same harmony as when the great iris strides across the sky. And if man be made in the image of God, man perfected shall be deiform, even in the matter of his apparently incommunicable repose. For they who are exalted to that final future participation in His life will have to look back, too, upon work which, stained as it has been in the doing, yet, in its being accepted upon the altar on which it was humbly laid, has been sanctified and greatened, and will be an element in their joy in the days that are to come. ‘They rest from their labours, and their works do follow them’ – not for accusation, nor to read to them bitter memories of incompleteness, but rather that they may contribute to the deep repose and rest of the heavens. In a modified form, but yet in reality, the rest of God may be possessed even by the imperfect workers here upon earth. And, in like manner, that other aspect of the divine repose, in the tranquillity of a perfectly harmonious nature, is altogether, and without restriction, capable of being reproduced, and certain in the future to be reproduced in all them that love and trust Him, when the whole being shall be settled and centred upon Him, and will and desires and duty and conscience shall no more conflict. ‘Unite my heart to fear Thy name,’ is a prayer even for earth. It will be fully answered in heaven, and the souls made one through all their parts shall rest in God, and shall rest like God. And further, the human participation in that divine repose will have, like its pattern, the blending without disturbance of rest with motion. The highest activity is the intensest repose. Just as a light, whirled with sufficient rapidity, will seem to make a still circle; just as the faster a wheel moves the more moveless it seems to stand; just as the rapidity of the earth’s flight through space, and the universality with which all the parts of it participate in the flight, produce the sensation of absolute immobility. It is not motion, but effort and friction, that break repose; and when there is neither the one nor the other, there will be no contrariety between activity and rest; but we shall enjoy at once the delights of both without the wear and tear and disturbance of the one or the languor of the other. This participation by man in the rest of God, which has its culmination in the future, has its germ in the present. For I suppose that none of the higher blessings which attach to the perfect state of man, as revealed in Scripture, do so belong to that state as that their beginnings are not realised here. All the great promises of Scripture, except those which may point to purely physical conditions, begin to be fulfilled here in the earnest of the inheritance. And so, though toil be our lot, and work against the grain, beyond the strength, and for merely external objects of passing necessity., may be our task here, and the disturbance of rest through sorrows and cares is the experience of all, yet even here, as this Epistle has it, ‘we who have believed do enter into rest.’ The Canaan of the Jew is treated by the writer of this Epistle as having only been a symbol and outward pledge of the deeper repose to which the first receivers of the promise were being trained, if they had been faithful, to look forward and aspire; and the heaven that awaits us, in so far as it is a place and external condition, is in like manner but a symbol and making manifest to sense of the spiritual verity of union with God and satisfaction and rest in Him. II. So look, secondly, at the barriers against, and the conditions of, entrance into that rest. My text says, ‘Lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief.’ Now it is to be observed that in this section, of which this is the concluding hortatory portion, there is a double reason given for the failure of that generation to whom the promise was addressed to appropriate it to themselves; and that double representation has been unfortunately obscured in our Authorised Version by a uniform rendering of two different words. Sometimes, as here in my text, we find that the word translated ‘unbelief’ really means disobedience; and sometimes we find that it is correctly translated by the former term. For instance, in the earlier portions of the section, we find a warning against ‘an evil heart of unbelief.’ The word there is correctly translated, Then we find again, ‘To whom He ‘sware in His wrath that they should not enter into His rest; but unto them that believed not,’ where the word ought rather to be ‘them that were disobedient.’ And in the subsequent verse we find the ‘unbelief’ again mentioned. So there are not one but two things stated by the writer as the barriers to entrance – unbelief and its consequence and manifestation as well as root, disobedience. And the converse, of course, follows. If the barrier be a shut door of unbelief, plated with disobedience, like iron upon an oak portal, then the condition of entrance is faith, with its consequence of submission of will, and obedience of life. Notice the important lessons that are given by this alternation of the two ideas of faith and unbelief, obedience and disobedience. Disobedience is the root of unbelief. Unbelief is the mother of further disobedience. Faith is submission, voluntary, within a man’s own power. If it be not exercised the true cause lies deeper than all intellectual ones, lies in the moral aversion of his will and in the pride of independence, which says, ‘Who is Lord over us?’ Why should we have to depend upon Jesus Christ? And as faith is obedience and submission, so faith breeds obedience, and unbelief leads on to higher-handed rebellion. The two interlock each other, foul mother and fouler child; and with dreadful reciprocity of influence the less a man trusts the more he disobeys, the more he disobeys the less he trusts. But, then, further, note the respective influence of these two – faith and unbelief; and the other couple, obedience and disobedience, in securing entrance to the rest. Now I desire to bring into connection with this duality of representation, which, as I have said, pervades this section of our letter, our Lord’s blessed words, ‘Come unto Me all ye that labour and are heavy laden and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn’ of Me ‘and ye shall find rest.’ There again, we have the double source of rest, and by implication the double source of unrest. For the rest which is given, and the rest which is found, that which ensues from coming to Christ, and that which ensues from taking His yoke upon us and learning of Him, are not the same. But the one is the rest of faith, and the other is the rest of obedience. So, then, consider the repose that ensues from faith, the unrest that dogs unbelief. When a man comes to Christ, then, because Christ enters into him, he enters into rest. There follow the calming of the conscience and reconciliation with God, there is the beginning of the harmonising of the whole nature in one supreme and satisfying love and devotion. These things still the storm and make the incipient Christian life in a true fashion, though in a small measure, participant of the rest of God. People say that it is arbitrary to connect salvation with faith, and talk to us about the ‘injustice’ of men being saved and damned because of their creeds. We are not saved for our faith, nor condemned for our unbelief, but we are saved in our faith, and condemned in our unbelief. Suppose a man did not believe that prussic acid was a poison, and took a spoonful of it and died. You might say that his opinion killed him, but that would only be a shorthand way of saying that his opinion led him to take the thing that did kill him. Suppose a man believes that a medicine will cure him, and takes it, and gets well. Is it the drug or his opinion that cures him? If a certain mental state tends to produce certain emotions, you cannot have the emotions if you will not have the state. Suppose you do not rely upon the promised friendship and help of some one, you cannot have the joy of confidence or the gifts that you do not believe in and do not care for. And so faith is no arbitrary appointment, but the necessary condition, the only condition possible, in the nature of things, by which a man can enter into the rest of God. If we will not let Christ heal our wounds, they must keep on bleeding; if we will not let Him soothe our conscience, it must keep on pricking; if we will not have Him to bring us nigh, we must continue far off; if we will not open the door of our hearts to let Him in, He must stop without. Faith is the condition of entrance; unbelief bars the door of heaven against us, because it bars the door of our hearts against Him who is heaven. And then, in like manner, obedience and disobedience are respectively conditions of coming into contact or remaining untouched by the powers which give repose. Submission is tranquillity. What disturbs us in this world is neither work nor worry, but wills unconformed to our work, and unsubmissive to our destiny. When we can say, ‘Thy will be done,’ then some faint beginnings of peace steal over our souls, and birds of calm sit brooding even on the yet heaving deep. The ox that kicks against the pricks only makes its hocks bloody. The ox that bows its thick neck to the yoke, and willingly pulls at the burden, has a quiet life. The bird that dashes itself against the wires of its cage bruises its wings and puts its little self into a flutter. When it is content with its limits, its song comes back. Obedience is repose; disobedience is disturbance, and they who trust and submit have entered into rest. III. Now, lastly, a word about the discipline to secure the entrance.

That is a singular paradox and bringing together of opposing ideas, is it not, Let us labour to enter into rest? The paradox is not so strong in the Greek as here, but it still is there. For the word translated ‘labour’ carries with it the two ideas of earnestness and of diligence, and this is the condition on which alone we can secure the entrance, either into the full heaven above, or into the incipient heaven here. But note, if we distinctly understand what sort of toil it is that is required to secure it, that settles the nature of the diligence. The main effort of every Christian life, in view of the possibilities of repose that are open to it here and now, and yonder in their perfection, ought to be directed to this one point of deepening and strengthening faith and its consequent obedience. You can cultivate your faith, it is within your own power. You can make it strong or weak, operative through your life, or only partially, by fits and starts. And what is required is that Christian people should make a business of their godliness, and give themselves to it as carefully and as consciously and as constantly as they give themselves to their daily pursuits. The men that are diligent in the Christian life, who exercise that commonplace, prosaic, pedestrian, homely virtue of earnest effort, are sure to succeed; and there is no other way to succeed. You cannot go to heaven in silver slippers. But although it be true that heaves is a gift, and that the bread of God is given to us by His Son, the old commandment remains unrepealed, and has as direct and stringent reference to the inward Christian life as to the outward. ‘In the sweat of thy brow thou shalt eat bread,’ though it be at the same time bread that is given thee. And how are we to cultivate our faith? By contemplating the great object which kindles it. Do you do that?

By resolving, with fixed and reiterated determinations, that we will exercise it. ‘I will trust and not be afraid.’ Do you do that? By averting our eyes from the distracting competitors for our interest and attention, in so far as these might enfeeble our confidence. Do you do that? Diligence; that is the secret – a diligence which focuses our powers, and binds our vagrant wills into one strong, solid mass, and delivers us from languor and indolence, and stirs us up to seek the increase of faith as well as of hope and charity. Then, too, obedience is to be cultivated. How do you cultivate obedience? By obeying – by contemplating the great motives that should sway and melt, and sweetly subdue the will, which are all shrined in that one saying.

‘Ye are not your own; ye are bought with a price,’ and by rigidly confining our desires and wishes within the limits of God’s appointment, and religiously referring all things to His supreme will. If thus we do, we shall enter into rest. So, dear friends, the path is a plain enough one. We all know it. The goal is a clear enough one. I suppose we all believe it. What is wanted is feet that shall run with perseverance the race that is set before us. The word of my text which is translated ‘labour,’ is found in this Epistle in another connection, where the writer desires that we should show ‘the same diligence to the full assurance of hope unto the end.’ It is also caught up by one of the other apostles, who says to us, ‘Giving all diligence, add to your faith’ the manifold virtues of a practical obedience, and so ‘the entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.’ A more authoritative voice points us to the same strenuous effort, for our Lord has said, ‘Labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give unto you,’ and when the listeners asked Him what works He would have them do, He answered, bringing all down to one, which being done would produce all others, ‘This is the work of God, that ye believe on Him whom He hath sent.’ So if we labour to increase our faith, and its fruits of obedience, with a diligence inspired by our earnestness which is kindled by the thought of the sublimity of the reward, and the perils that seek to rob us of our crown, then, even in the wilderness, we shall enter into the Promised Land, and though the busy week of care and toil, of changefulness and sorrow, may disturb the surface of our souls, we shall have an inner sanctuary, where we can shut our doors about us and enjoy a foretaste of the Sabbath-keeping of the heavens, and be wrapped in the stillness of the rest of God.

Fuente: Expositions Of Holy Scripture by Alexander MacLaren

labour. Greek. spoudazo. See Gal 1:2, Gal 1:10.

lest. Greek. hina me, as Heb 3:13.

after = in. Greek. en. App-104.

example. Greek. hupodeigma. See Joh 13:15.

Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics

11-13.] Exhortation, so frequently interspersed in the midst of the argument: see on ch. Heb 3:1. Let us therefore (consequence from Heb 4:3-7; seeing that the promise is held out to us, as it was to them, and that they failed of it through disobedience) earnestly strive (not, as vulg., festinemus: see reff.) to enter into that rest (viz. that mentioned in Heb 4:10, into which Christ has entered before, cf. Heb 4:14; ch. Heb 6:20), lest any one fall into (so vulg., Luth., Beza, Corn. a-Lap., Grot., Abresch, Lnemann, Delitzsch, al., and rightly, both from usage and from the position of the verb. Had been absolute, fall, = , as Chrys, c., Thl., Calv., Schlichting, Wolf, Bengel, Bleek, De W., Thol., al., its position in the sentence certainly must have been more prominent. As it stands, it holds the most insignificant place, between the genitive in government and the word governing it. And usage abundantly justifies the idiom , for to fall into. Cf. , Pind. Isthm. iv. 39: , Isthm. viii. 14: , Pyth. ii. 75: ; Soph. El. 1475: , Eurip. Herc. Fur. 1092. The construction is simply a pregnant one- , so as to be ) the same example ( is found fault with by the Atticists: , , Thom. Mag.: and similarly Phrynichus. But Bleek shews that it is in frequent use, from Xenophon downwards. Its proper meaning is, something shewn in a light and merely suggestive manner: so in ch. Heb 8:5, . But it is oftener used, as here, to signify a pattern or example, good or bad: cf. besides reff., Jos. B. J. Heb 6:1, : and other examples in Bleek) of disobedience (not, unbelief: see on ch. Heb 3:18. It was who failed to enter in).

Fuente: The Greek Testament

Heb 4:11. , that) future, great.- ) in or after the same, as those men of former times.-, example) The same word is found at Heb 8:5, Heb 9:23. He who falls through unbelief, is an example to others, who then say, Behold, , that man, has in like manner fallen.-) fall, with the soul, not merely with the body: ch. Heb 3:17. Moses speaks without reference to the ruin of souls, when he recounts the destruction of the people in the wilderness.

Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament

Heb 4:11-13

FURTHER EXHORTATION TO STRIVE EARNESTLY TO ENTER

INTO GODS REST, IN VIEW ESPECIALLY OF THE ALL PENETRATING

AND HEART-SEARCHING CHARACTER OF GODS WORD

Heb 4:11-13

Heb 4:11 —Let us labor therefore to enter into that rest.-That is to say, since it is an established fact that there is remaining for the people of God a sabbatical rest; and since it is true that we are all invited to enter into that rest; it therefore becomes us to strive earnestly (spondasomen) to do so; lest we too, like the Israelites under Moses, fall short of it through unbelief and disobedience. For them the symbolical rest of Canaan was freely provided; and God himself was present and ready to lead them into it. But they disobeyed him, and rebelled against him; and as a consequence they perished in the wilderness, short of the promised land. And just so, says Paul, it will be with us, if we follow their example. See 1Co 10:1-12. In order to gain admission into Gods everlasting Kingdom, we must give all diligence in adding to our faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; and to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; and to godliness brotherly-kindness; and to brotherly-kindness love. (2Pe 1:5-11.)

Care must be taken, however, that in all our efforts to enter the promised rest we strive lawfully; and with constant reference to that purity of heart and perfection of character which God requires; and without which, no one will ever enjoy his presence or keep a sabbath with him. (12: 14.) It is not always the man who works most that will finally receive and enjoy most; for there are first that shall be last; and there are last that shall be first. (Mat 19:30.) It should never be forgotten that by the deeds of law no flesh is justified in the sight of God. (Rom 3:20.) There is nothing in these legal acts and observances to purify the soul and fit it for the rest of God: for Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth. (Rom 10:4.) It is only through the rich merits of his blood, the indwelling and sanctifying influence of the Holy Spirit, and the constant use of all the means which Heaven has provided for our growth in grace and progress in the Divine life, that we can be prepared for the promised rest. The whole inner man must be cleansed from every mark of sin and from every stain of iniquity, before we can have that full and perfect communion with God which the redeemed will finally enjoy, and which is in fact the consummation of all happiness. And hence he says to everyone who would enter into his rest, Become ye holy, for I am holy. (1Pe 1:16.)

And hence we see the duty of constant self-examination while we are endeavoring to work out our salvation with fear and trembling (2Co 13:5) ; for it is God that works in us (Php 2:13). His word tries us, and proves us, and searches us even to the very center of our being. This, our author very beautifully and forcibly illustrates in the two following verses.

Heb 4:12 —For the word of God is quick, and powerful,-In this verse, the Apostle gives a reason why we should all be so very earnest and particular in our endeavors to prepare and qualify ourselves, through Divine grace, for the enjoyment of the rest which remains for the people of God. A single mistake here may prove fatal. For though we keep the whole law, save that we offend only in one point, we are guilty of all. (Jas 2:10.) Though, like Naa- man, we dip ourselves seven times in the waters of the Jordan, and though our persons may seem to be all pure and holy in the eyes of men and angels, there may, nevertheless, be some secret sin cherished in our hearts, that will wholly unfit us for the fellowship of God and the society of Heaven. And if so, it will not escape the eye of him who searches the hearts of the children of men. For the judgment of God is according to truth (kata aletheian) in all cases (Rom 2:2); and his word, by which we are to be judged at the last day, is, like its Author, living and powerful.

It has long been a question with expositors, whether the word that is here spoken of is the personal Word, the Logos that became flesh and dwelt among us (Joh 1:14), or the word of hearing (4: 2), called also the word of salvation (Act 13:26). Many of the ancients and some of the moderns understand by it the personal Word; who, as they say, is living and powerful, and his judgment is sharper and more penetrating than any two-edged sword. But it is far more simple and natural, as most modern commentators concede, to understand by this the instrumental word, which, as a sharp, two-edged sword, proceeds out of the mouth of the personal Word (Rev 1:16 Rev 2:12 Rev 19:15 Rev 19:21), with which he now smites the nations; and by means of which he will finally judge all who hear it. This word is living and powerful, because it is always supported by him who is himself the fountain of life (Psa 36:9) and the source of all power (Rom 13:1). It is not a lifeless abstraction, but a living concrete embodiment of Gods will, going wherever he pleases, and doing whatever he requires. For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the Earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater: so, says Jehovah, shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth; it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it. (Isa 55:10-11.) See references.

Heb 4:12 —and sharper than any two-edged sword,-Or more cutting than any two-mouth sword. This can scarcely be predicated, with propriety, of the personal Word; but it applies well to the instrumental word, the sword of the Spirit (Eph 6:17), which goeth out of the mouth of him that sits upon the horse, and with which he smites the nations (Rev 19:15).

Heb 4:12 —piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, etc. -This passage has given rise to an almost endless number and variety of queries and explanations; the consideration of many of which would be of but little service to the reader. I will therefore confine my remarks on it to such matters as seem necessary in order to a fair understanding of the mind of the Spirit. And (1) What is the meaning of soul and spirit in this connection? From the days of Pythagoras (500 B.C.), and more especially from the time of Plato (350 B.C.), the doctrine of a trinity in human nature became somewhat prevalent. These philosophers both taught, in substance, that man consists of a material body (soma), an animal soul (psuche), and an immortal spirit (tineuma). The soul was by them regarded as the seat of animal life, together with its several instincts, passions, and appetites; and the spirit was supposed to be the seat of the higher intellectual and moral faculties. In this sense, Paul manifestly uses these terms both in our text and also in 1Th 5:23. But whether he aims here to speak of man as he really is, or merely to use by way of accommodation the current phraseology of the Greeks, is not so clear. In either case he would equally accomplish his main purpose, which is simply to indicate to his readers by the use of these terms the whole incorporeal nature of man. (2) What does our author mean by the joints (harmoi) and the marrows (mueloi) ? Does he use these words in a literal sense to denote the inner and more concealed parts of the body ? or does he use them metaphorically to denote the most secret and recondite recesses of the soul and the spirit? The critics are much divided on this point; and it must be confessed that it is not an easy matter to arrive with absolute certainty at the exact meaning of the passage. But after a careful examination of both the text and the context, I am constrained to think with Bengel, Bleek, DeWette, Tholuck, Liinemann, Moll, Alford, and others, that these words are used figuratively to denote the inmost essence of mans spiritual nature. This view of the matter is favored (a) by the use of the single conjunction and (kai) between the words soul and spirit, and the compound conjunction both and (te kai) between the words joints and marrows; thus indicating that these two sets of words are not coordinate, but that the latter phrase is subordinate to the former.

Literally rendered, the passage reads as follows : piercing through even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, both of joints and marrows; and is a discerner of the thoughts and purposes of the heart. The phrase, joints and marrows, seems to be a proverbial expression, indicative of the inmost parts of anything; and it is used here to denote the extreme thoroughness of the dividing process effected in the soul and in the spirit by means of the word of God. (b) This view is also most in harmony with the ascending climax at which the writer evidently aims in the construction of this sentence. The word of God is, first, living; then it is full of power and energy; then it divides and lays bare the soul and the spirit even to the extent of their joints and their marrows; and then rising above the essence of mans nature, it enters inquisitively and judicially into the realms of his ideas, affections, and desires, and passes judgment on the thoughts and purposes of his heart. Nor does our author stop even here; but passing now from the word of God to God himself as its author, he caps the climax by representing all created things as being naked and fully exposed to the eyes of him to whom we are responsible, and to whom we shall have to render a final account. This is all very beautiful and in perfect harmony with the highly rhetorical character of the Epistle. But who does not feel the inconsistency of passing, in the course of this climax, from the soul and spirit of man to even the most concealed parts of his physical organization ?

If the view taken of this passage is correct, then it follows that the once prevalent notion of a separation of the soul from the spirit, and of the joints from the marrows, is incorrect. The separation takes place within the region of the soul and the region of the spirit; not between them. The living word cleaves and lays bare all parts of the soul and all parts of the spirit, even to the extent of their joints and their marrows; so that all the perfections and imperfections of mans spiritual nature are made perfectly manifest. And not only so, but even the thoughts and purposes of his heart are, by this infallible Judge, fully analyzed and perfectly classified.

Heb 4:13 —Neither is there any creature, etc.-There is here a manifest transition from the word of God, as his efficient and soul-penetrating instrument, to God himself, in whose presence all things are naked (gumna), presenting themselves as they really are, without any kind of covering; and opened (tetrachelimena), with their heads thrown back, and their faces and necks exposed to full view. This is the proper meaning of the word; but from what is the metaphor taken? Some say, from the ancient custom of offering sacrifice. The victim was first slain; then it was flayed, cut open, and exposed to the eye of the priest for inspection. Others think that the Apostle refers here to the Roman custom of bending back the necks of criminals, so as to expose their faces more fully to the eyes of the public. To this Pliny refers in his panegyric on the emperor Trajan. Speaking of the emperors endeavors to promote virtue and suppress vice, he says, There is nothing, however, in this age, that affects us more pleasingly and deservedly than to see from above the supine faces and reverted necks of the informers. We thus know them, and are pleased when, as expiating victims of public disquietude, they are led away to lingering punishments and sufferings more terrible than even the blood of the guilty. (Panegyr. xxxiv. 3.) Others again suppose that there is an allusion here to the custom of wrestlers who were wont to seize their antagonists by their throats, and bend back their heads and necks for the purpose of more easily effecting their overthrow. On the whole, it seems most probable that the expression had reference primarily to the exposure of criminals; and that Paul used it in its then current sense to denote simply that all creatures stand before God with their necks, as it were, bent backward, and their faces fully exposed to the all-seeing eyes of him with whom we have to do.

REFLECTIONS

Christians are all of one holy brotherhood. (3:1.) It matters not how much they may differ from one another in wealth, talents, learning, and social advantages, they are nevertheless all one in Christ Jesus. The rich should not therefore despise the poor, nor should the poor envy the rich. But all should strive to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace; and to promote each others good, as heirs of the grace of life and joint heirs of the eternal inheritance.

To think much about Christ as the Apostle and High Priest of our confession, will be of great service to us in many ways (verse 1). It will serve, for instance, to increase our faith in him and our confidence in the perfection and efficacy of the gospel plan of salvation through him. It will increase our love for God, who has so tenderly loved us as to send his own Son to redeem us. It will correct and restrain our selfishness, and make us more zealous for the glory of God and the salvation of the world. And, in a word, it will make us all more humble, more prayerful, and more earnest in our endeavors to live soberly, and righteously, and godly.

How much, how very much may depend on the fidelity of Gods ministers (verse 5). Had the servants of Christ all acted as did Moses, and observed faithfully the more full and encouraging instructions of the Holy Spirit that are given to us in the New Testament, how very different would be both the Church and the world today. How many that are now idolaters would be Christians; and how many of those that are now eternally lost, might today be rejoicing among the spirits of the just made perfect.

God still dwells with his people (verse 6). The Church of God is the house of God, as it is written, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. (2Co 6:16.) Why, then, do we not draw nigh to him who has come so very near to us? Why not, like Enoch and Moses, walk with him, as seeing him who is invisible? Why not avoid everything that is offensive in his sight, such as the lusts of the flesh, the lusts of the eye, and the pride of life ? And why not, like Christ, humbly endeavor to do the will of God in all things? Surely this is but our highest happiness, as it is also our most reasonable service.

Fidelity to the end of life is essential in order to the final enjoyment of the great salvation (verses 6, 14). With such warnings and admonitions before us as those which are given in this section, it is all folly to rely for happiness on the imaginary unconditional decrees of God; or on the once prevalent doctrine of final perseverance. He that endures to the end shall be saved. (Mat 10:22.) Without this actual perseverance on our part, through the abounding grace of God, nothing can save us from the torments of the damned. It is not enough that God has sent his Son into the world to save it; and that Christ has sent the Holy Spirit to convince mankind of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment. It is not enough that we have confessed Christ, and that we have been actually washed from our past sins in his blood. We must also continue to persevere in well-doing, seeking for honor, and glory, and immortality, if we would enjoy eternal life. (Rom 2:7.) For if we sin willfully, after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more [a] sacrifice for sins. (10: 26.) Let him [then] that thinketh he standeth, take heed lest he fall. (1Co 10:12.)

Let no one, then trifle with the commands of God, and with the promptings of an enlightened conscience; no, not even for a day or an hour (verses 7, 13). To-day, if ye hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as at Meribah, as on the day of Massah in the wilderness. All unnecessary delay is dangerous, because it is sinful and serves to harden the hearts of those who yield to its seductive influence. And hence the law of the Kingdom of Heaven is (1) to hear; (2) to believe; and (3) to obey from the heart that form of doctrine which is delivered to us in the Gospel. The primitive Christians did this; and then went on their way rejoicing. See Acts passim.

But the power of sin over the human heart is very great (verse 13). The unregenerate are slaves to its influence. See Rom 6:6-7 Rom 6:17 Rom 6:20 Rom 7:13-23. And even the Christian, enlightened and assisted as he is by the Holy Spirit, has need to be constantly on his guard, lest he too be ensnared and hardened through its deceitfulness. (1Co 9:27.) And hence the great importance and necessity of that mutual exhortation and encouragement which our author so earnestly recommends. Exhort one another daily, he says, while it is called To-day, lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. And again he says to the Galatian brethren, Bear ye one anothers burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. (Gal 6:2.) God has made us all fellow-helpers one of another, by committing to us the word of reconciliation and exhortation.

Why, then, are we so very unfaithful to the trust which God has committed to us in this particular? Why do we not exhort one another daily? Why are we so prone to talk about anything and everything else rather than about the one thing needful? When we meet with our brethren, we are all wont to ask for their welfare. We inquire very particularly about their prosperity in business, and also about their physical health, comforts, and enjoyments. But how many of us are in the habit of inquiring after the state and condition of their souls? How many mutual inquiries are made about one anothers progress in the Divine life; and about the peculiar trials, difficulties, and dangers that beset us, and against which we have to contend in our feeble efforts to reach the heavenly rest? That there is a great want of fidelity among Christians in this respect, admits, I think, of no doubt. But why is it so? Has it ceased to be true that Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh ? Or does this habit of worldly conversation about secular matters, indicate an alarming want of spirituality in our own poor unbelieving hearts? That public sentiment is a great barrier in the way of religious conversation in the social circle, I freely admit. It is really amazing to what an extent the Devil has succeeded in persuading the people, that it is impolite to speak of God, or of Christ, or of Heaven, in the parlor or on the public highway. And the fear of giving offense, no doubt, often constrains many a Christian to withhold his lips from speaking good, even when the fire of Gods grace is burning in his soul. (Psa 39:1-3.) But after making all due allowance for the binding obligations of public sentiment within proper limits, it must, I fear, be conceded that this general delinquency on the part of Christians is fearfully indicative of our own want of faith in God and in the word of his grace. Christ, it is true, never cast pearls before swine; and in some cases he refrained from working miracles on account of the extreme wickedness and infidelity of the people. See Mat 13:58, and Mar 6:5-6. But still, the main burden of his conversation, wherever he went, was the Kingdom of God and his righteousness. May God grant us all grace to walk in his footsteps.

Our greatest want has always been a want of faith in God and in the word of his grace (verses 18, 19). It was this that first brought sin into the world. (Gen 3:6.) It was this that filled the antediluvian earth with violence, and brought in a flood of waters on the ungodly. It was this that caused the dispersion from Babel, and that soon after filled the world with idolatry. It was this that brought down fire and brimstone from Heaven on Sodom and Gomorrah, and made these cities of the plain a monument of Gods hatred of sin. It was this that so often brought down Gods judgments on even his own chosen people in the wilderness and in Canaan, and that has made their descendants a proverb and a byword in every nation under Heaven. It was this that divided the Church of God, and that filled the dwelling-place of the Most High with all manner of Jewish and Gentile abominations. And it is this that now deprives us all of a thousand spiritual enjoyments, and that will hereafter shut the gates of Heaven against millions who, like the rebellious Israelites, will seek to enter into Gods rest when it is too late. (Luk 13:24-30.) No wonder, then, that our blessed Savior so often sums up all sin under the head of unbelief. When he [the Comforter] is come, says Christ, he will convict the world of sin, because they believe not on me. (Joh 16:9.) See also Joh 3:18-21 Joh 5:39-47 Joh 8:24 Joh 15:22-25, etc. Let us, then, all beware, lest there be also in any of us an evil heart of unbelief in apostatizing from the living God.

The main business of life is to labor to enter into Gods rest. (4: 11.) Here we are all but strangers and pilgrims, traveling, like the Israelites in the wilderness, to the promised inheritance. What folly it is, then, to build costly mansions and monuments on these sandy foundations in the desert over which we are now passing so rapidly on our way to the everlasting Zion! What folly it is to call our lands by our own names. (Psa 49:11), and to lay up treasures here on Earth, where moth and rust are constantly corroding and corrupting. Let us all look rather to the end of our pilgrimage; and labor to enter into the everlasting rest which is now in reserve for every child of God. And let us rejoice, as did Paul, that it is better to depart and to be with Christ in those heavenly mansions.

How utterly vain are all the hopes and deceits of the hypocrite ; and with what shame and confusion of face he will stand finally before God, naked and exposed to the all-penetrating eye of him with whom we have to do (verses 11-13). Then, every refuge of lies in which he trusted will be swept away; and all the deep, dark, and hidden recesses of his whole spiritual being will be made manifest in the light of Gods countenance, by means of the living energies of that word which pierces through to the dividing asunder of the soul and of the spirit, even to the extent of their joints and their marrows! May God save us all from such an ordeal on the day of his final reckoning.

Commentary on Heb 4:11-13 by Donald E. Boatman

Heb 4:11 –Let its therefore give diligence to enter into that rest

Here is an exhortation to labor:

a. Exertion of mind and body is a requirement of salvation.

b. This is a lawful work, in a world where men try other methods.

1. 2Ti 2:5 : -strive lawfully.

2. Joh 10:1; Some will be like thieves and robbers.

There is no room for predestination here, but there is an appeal to work.

Heb 4:11 –that no man fall after the same example of disobedience

This does not sound like the position of some who say men are saved, not in spite of apostasy but from apostasy:

a. A person may make shipwreck of his faith, for God leaves man free to choose.

b. We are no different from the Israelites.

c. There are some who put people on probation for church membership, but refuse God the privilege of allowing man to prove his worthiness for eternal life.

The example of disobedience is recorded in Num 26:65.

Heb 4:12 –for the Word of God is living

Living is also translated quick:

Some dispute whether the word is referring to Christ or the scripture:

a. It is not the Old Testament law. See 2Co 3:7. It was a ministration of death. Rom 4:15 : -worketh wrath.

b. The word is probably not the personal word, but the word of the Person-the Gospel.

The Word of God does not beat the air with emptiness:

a. It leads some to triumph: 2Co 2:14 : But thanks be to God Who always leadeth us in triumph in Christ.

b. It has the power of binding and loosing. Mat 18:18 :

1. Some, it draws to salvation; others, are driven to ruin.

2. It promises salvation to some, but pronounces vengeance on others.

c. It has the power of God in it. Rom 1:16.

It is a living Word because it is backed by a living God and a living Christ.

Heb 4:12 –and active

It is also translated powerful:

a. Rom 1:16-the power of God is the Gospel:

1. A person uses dynamite to move obstacles. The Word is Gods means of action.

2. It is Gods way to move man today.

b. No power or action is equal to it.

God deals with men not by mere influences, but through His Word, whether written or preached.

Heb 4:12 –and sharper than any two-edged sword

The sword is a metaphorical word, military expression used to illustrate the character of the Word:

a. It is a part of the Christians armor. Eph 6:17.

b. It goes out of the mouth of the Rider, with which He smites the nations. Rev 19:15.

Two-edged sword:

a. It does double duty with one preaching or writing the Word.

b. This is simply to say that it is tremendously sharp.

Heb 4:12 –and piercing

The meaning is that it examines a man thoroughly:

a. It searches his thoughts and scrutinizes his will, with all of its desires.

b. Calvin insists that its character is to he confined to the faithful only, as they alone are thus searched to the quick.

It is piercing for all, Christian and non-Christian:

Tit 1:9 : -to convict the gainsayers.

Jud 1:15 : -to convict all that are ungodly.

Joh 16:8 : He will convict the world.

Heb 4:12 –even to the dividing of soul and spirit

Some claim only the Christian has a spirit, hence the word only deals with them.

The Word is for all, and is active toward all:

a. Joh 16:8 : -when the Spirit is come He shall reprove the world of sin.

b. Rom 1:16 : Jew and Gentile.

What is the difference between the soul and spirit? Views differ.

a. Soul means all the affection; spirit, the intellectual faculty, according to Calvin, He quotes two passages to prove it:

1. 1Th 5:23 : May your soul, body and spirit be preserved.

2. Isa 26:9 : My soul desired Thee in the night; I sought Thee with my spirit.

b. Soul is life, and spirit is personality, say others:

1. We do not know whether Paul was speaking of man as he really was or using a current phraseology, says Milligan.

2. The inner man is emphasized to show how discerning the word is.

c. Greek words involved:

Body-physical.

Soul-animal soul or life.

Spirit-immortal.

Heb 4:12 –of both joints and marrow

Indicating that there is nothing so hard or strong in man that it can be hidden. With a sword, man is content to pierce the heart, but Gods word can delve into the inner man.

a. A sword can glance off the bone of an enemy, but nothing can resist the power of Gods word.

b. Milligan thinks this is a proverbial saying indicative of the inmost parts of a person.

Heb 4:12 –and quick to discern the thoughts

In the thick darkness of unbelief and hypocrisy is a horrible blindness, but God scatters this away. Vices hidden under the false appearances of virtue are known by God:

a. Men may have good reputations, yet harbor evil thoughts, and God knows it.

b. God is all-wise, so we have no secrets.

Heb 4:12 –and intents of the heart

Some people are evil, but lack the courage to act:

a. Many embryo Hitlers exist in the world, but they lack his initiative. Some people have evil intents, but appear to work from good motives:

1. Rom 16:18 : -by fair speech deceive.

2. Gal 6:12 : -make fair show in the flesh.

3. 2Pe 2:13 : -sporting while they feast.

Heb 4:13 –And there is no creature that is not manifest in His sight

No creature can escape God:

a. Some have tried:

1. Adam and Eve hid.

2. Cain said he wasnt his brothers keeper.

3. Jonah ran away, but he wasnt away from God.

b. Some will try again, says Rev 6:16, when they want rocks and mountains to hide them from Gods wrath.

God knows us as we really are.

Manifest in His sight means to be made known:

a. Evil is manifested. Gal 5:19 : Works of the flesh are manifest.

b. Good is manifested. 1Ti 5:25 : The good words of some are manifest. 1Jn 3:10 : Children of God are manifest.

Heb 4:13 –but all things are naked

There is no covering, camouflaging, or deceit before God.

This may refer to a sacrificial term, says Clarke:

a. An animal prepared for sacrifice was slain, then cut open so that its intestines were exposed to view.

b. It was carefully examined for imperfections.

c. It was divided exactly in two, so that the spinal marrow was cloven down the center.

Adam and Eve were told by the serpent that when they ate of the tree they would be as God. Gen 3:5 :

a. Note that when they ate they saw their nakedness.

b. God has tried to cover mans sin since that time.

Heb 4:13 –laid open before the eyes

It may mean as a criminal has his neck bent back so as to expose the face to full view so that every feature might be seen.

Heb 4:13 –of Him with Whom we have to do

All men must give an account of themselves:

a. The wicked cannot die and go without judgment.

Heb 9:27; Rom 2:6 : Render to every man according to his deeds.

b. Death does not end all; the skeptic cannot get by. We have to face God:

1. Vengeance is His. Rom 12:19; Nah 1:2.

2. Judgment is His. Heb 10:27-31.

3. We must someday confess His Son. Php 2:10-11.

Study Questions

613. What is meant by give diligence?

614. If man is saved regardless of what he does, would this exhortation to diligence be in order?

615. Compare the idea of diligence with 2Ti 2:15.

616. Does this eliminate the doctrine of predestination?

617. Is man saved in spite of his apostasy according to this verse?

618. Why should Baptists put people on probation if they believe once saved, always saved? Is it consistent?

619. If they can put people on probation, why not extend God the same right?

620. What example of disobedience is referred to in Heb 4:11? Cf. Num 26:65.

621. Heb 4:12 speaks of the Word of God as living. Is this a reference to Christ living?

622. Is the word referred to here an Old Testament word, or the Word of Christ?

623. What scripture would teach that it is not the Old Testament word? Cf. 2Co 3:7; Rom 4:15.

624. If it is not Christ, then how can it be spoken of as living?

625. Quote a verse that shows that the word makes alive.

626. How can the Word be spoken of as being active? What other word could be used? Cf. Rom 1:16.

627. On what does it act?

628. Explain the significance of the expression, sharper than any two-edged sword.

629. Who wields this sword? Is it active without people to wield it?

630. Is it a part of a Christians armor? Cf. Eph 6:17.

631. Compare Rev 19:15 for its use as judgment.

632. What other words could describe the idea of piercing?

633. How can the word of God be considered piercing? Cf. Tit 1:9; Jud 1:15; Joh 16:8.

634. Is the piercing of the spirit limited to the believers only, according to Jud 1:15; Joh 16:8?

635. Explain the expression, dividing of soul and spirit.

636. Are soul and spirit different, or is this just a current phraseology of Pauls day?

637. Could the word dividing refer to a practice of the altar in dissecting the animals?

638. How can the word enter joints and marrow?

639. Is a real sword of man likely to pierce joints and marrow?

640. If not, what is meant?

641. How can the Bible discern mans thoughts and intents?

642. Does man always know his own intents?

643. Do we know the intent of others?

644. Do we ever misjudge intents?

645. Are there embryo Hitlers who lack the initiative to be tyrants?

646. Do false teachers have evil intents? Cf. Rom 16:18; Gal 6:2-4; 2Pe 2:1.

647. What is meant by no creature that is not manifest in His sight? What is meant by manifest?

648. Have some tried to escape His sight? Who?

649. Will they try it again, according to Rev 6:16?

650. Does this word, creature, include animals?

651. What is meant by, all things are naked?

652. Could this refer to the sacrifice being examined for flaws?

653. Who felt naked in Gods presence because of sin?

654. Laid open would refer to what?

655. Who is the person with Whom we have to do-God-Christ? Cf. Heb 9:24; Rom 2:6; Rom 12:19; Heb 10:27-31.

Commentary on Heb 4:11-13 by Burton Coffman

Heb 4:11 –Let us therefore give diligence to enter into that rest, that no man fall after the same example of disobedience.

Do people actually enter that rest during the present life? The answer appears to be affirmative, but only in a sense of receiving earnest of it, or in the sense of receiving it as an inheritance to be possessed now but actually entered only in the eternal world. Bruce outlined a similar opinion thus: “It is evidently an experience they do not enjoy in their present mortal state, although it belongs to them as a heritage, and by faith they may live in the good of it here and now.”[6] Disobedience, as in Heb 3:18 (which see), is the great enemy of that final possession of the rest of God; and the ever-present possibility of disobedience and temptations that woo people to disobedience are factors that contravene the complete enjoyment of that rest in this life.

That no man fall prompted this comment by Clark:

(It means) lest he fall off from the grace of God, from the gospel and its blessings, and perish everlastingly. This is the meaning of the apostle, who never supposed that a man might not make final shipwreck of faith and of good conscience, as long as he was in a state of probation.[7]

Note the injunction to “give diligence” as in the English Revised Version (1885), or to “labor” as in the KJV, which stresses the work to be done by the believer. Without in any sense attributing to one’s own efforts any eternal merit, and without supposing such labors to place God under any obligation whatsoever, it is nevertheless one of the conditions of salvation that men labor, work, and strive to enter the narrow way. Many New Testament passages support this thought, such as Luk 13:34; Act 2:40; Php 2:12; Rev 20:12, etc.

[6] J. Barmby, The Pulpit Commentary (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1962), Vol. 21, Hebrews, p. 109.

[7] F. F. Bruce, op. cit., p. 78.

Heb 4:12 –For the word of God is living, and active and sharper than any two edged sword, and piercing even to the dividing of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and quick to discern the thoughts and intents of the heart.

The word of God is to be understood as the Bible, God’s revelation of His truth to people, especially in the sense of his commandments; and, although the passage suggests Joh 1:1, it would not appear that any such personalization of the word is intended here. That the word of God is “living” is corroborated by other New Testament writers such as Luke (Act 7:38), Peter (1Pe 1:23), and others. The word “active” shows that the word does not lie inert and dead but at all times carries within itself the mighty power of its divine author. Rather than trying to find subtle differences in the meaning of such words as “soul” and “spirit,” it is perhaps just as well to view this verse as a heaping together of powerful terms for the purpose of showing the utmost ability of the word of God to penetrate the complex inward nature of man, to convict him of sin, to expose his hidden motives, and to judge the very nature of life itself. Davidson, as quoted by Bruce, said that this verse is a “rhetorical accumulation of terms to express the whole mental nature of man on all sides.”[8] The passage presents God’s word as totally different from the word of men, making it infinite in power, all-seeing in discernment, and able to pierce or penetrate any human subterfuge.

ENDNOTE:

[8] Adam Clarke, Commentary (New York: Carlton and Porter, 1829), p. 711.

Heb 4:13 –And there is no creature that is not manifest in his sight; but all things are naked and laid open before the eyes of him with whom we have to do.

Macknight sees in the words here a reference:

to the state in which the sacrifices called burnt offerings were laid on the altar. They were stripped of their skins, their breasts were ripped open, their bowels were taken out, and their backbone was cleft. This is the import of the original word. Then they were divided into quarters; so that outwardly and inwardly they were fully exposed to the eye of the priest, in order to a thorough examination (Lev 1:5-6); and, being found without blemish, they were laid in their natural order upon the altar and burnt.[9]

Here then is the explanation of the image in the author’s mind that caused him to mention such things as joints and marrow, the significant warning to Christians lying in the fact that the word of God is able to discover blemishes or taints of character by means of the most thorough and accurate discernment of the entire man, such being the spiritual equivalent of the priest’s minute examination of the ancient sacrifices. Not one little sin shall ever be able to crawl by the eyes of the Eternal God without receiving its just condemnation and punishment; and that is the overwhelming reason why every man should fly to Christ for refuge and forgiveness. These words of Heb 4:13 conclude the second great admonition of the Book of Hebrews.

ENDNOTE:

[9] A. B. Davidson, The Epistle to the Hebrews (Edinburgh, Scotland, 1882), p. 96.

Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary

In this verse we have a return made unto, and an improvement of the principal exhortation which the apostle had before proposed. In the first verse he laid it down in these words, Let us fear, lest, a promise being left of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it. Here he declares how that fear there recommended is to act itself, or how it is to be improved and exercised. It appears, therefore, hence, what we observed before, namely, that it was not a fear of dread, terror, or doubting, that might weaken, discourage, or dishearten them, which he enjoined them; but such a reverential respect unto the promises and threatenings of God as might quicken and stir them up unto all diligence in seeking to inherit the one and avoid the other. Here, therefore, the same exhortation is resumed and carried on, and that on sundry suppositions, which he had laid down, explained, and confirmed in his preceding discourse, being all of them effectual enforcements of it. Now these are,

1. That there is a rest promised unto us, and yet remaining for us, which is foretold and described in the 95th Psalm; for he hath showed that the rest mentioned therein was not a rest that was past, or enjoyed by any that went before us in any state of the church from the foundation of the world, but it is that which is now declared and proposed in the gospel.

2. That others had a rest typical hereof proposed unto them, seeing God never ordained his church in any state without a rest, and a day of rest as a token thereof.

3. That some by sin, or unbelief and disobedience, fell short of the rest proposed to them, and did not enter into it, but were destroyed in the just indignation of God against them.

4. That in their sin and Gods displeasure, with the event of the one and effects of the other, there was an example set forth of what would be the event with them, and Gods dealings towards them, who through unbelief should neglect the rest now declared and proposed unto them. Unto all these propositions he subjoins a description of this new rest, in the cause, original, and nature of it, with that day of rest wherein it is expressed. Having, therefore, proved and confirmed these things in his expositions and discourses upon the 95th Psalm, he lays them down as the foundation of his exhorting the Hebrews to faith and perseverance, keeping himself unto the notion of a rest, and of entering into it, which the testimony he had chosen to insist upon led him unto.

Heb 4:11. .

. Vulg. Lat., festinemus; and the Rhemists, let us hasten, that is, . The words are both from the same original; but is never used for to hasten; nor is , for a rash, precipitate haste, such as is condemned by the prophet in the things of God: Isa 28:16, He that believeth shall not make haste; that is,with such a kind of haste as causeth men to miscarry in what they undertake, and gives them disappointment and shame. Hence the apostle renders these words, , He that believeth shall not make haste, by , Rom 9:33, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed, expressing the cause by the effect. Syr., , enitamur, operam demus, let us endeavor it do our endeavor. Ours, let us labor; Bez., studeamus, properly, let us study, or studiously endeavor, sedulously apply our minds.

. These words have been all opened before; nor do translators vary in the rendering of them.

. Vulg. Lat., ut ne in id ipsum quis incidat incredulitatis exemplum. Rhem., that no man fall into the same example of incredulity; somewhat ambiguously Beza, ne quis in idem incidat contumacies exemplum; that no man fall into the same example of stubborn disobedience, that is, into the like sin. Erasm., ne quis concidat eodem incredulitatis exemplo; to the same purpose: as ours also, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief. Syr., that we fall not after the manner of them who believed not, , ad similitudinem, like unto them. And in all these translations it is left somewhat ambiguous whether it be the sin of the people or their punishment that is proposed to consideration. or , lest any; and of what is therein included we have spoken before. , cadat, that is, into sin; incidat, into punishment; concidat, do fall.

. is sometimes as much as , an exemplary punishment; or an example instructive by the evil which befalls others. Of the sense of the words afterwards.

Heb 4:11. Let us labor therefore [or, diligently endeavor] to enter into that rest; lest any should fall in the same example of unbelief.

In the words three things may be observed: First, The illative particle , therefore; denoting an inference from and dependence upon what was before discoursed. The things he now introduceth arise from the consideration of what was before alleged and proved, with an especial respect unto that part of the example insisted on which consisted in the sin and punishment of the people of old; therefore. Secondly, An exhortation unto duty ensues. Thirdly, A motive thereunto is proposed. In the exhortation there is the duty itself exhorted unto, which is, to enter into that rest; and the manner of its performance, it is to be done with labor and diligence, Let us labor to enter into that rest.

First, The duty exhorted unto is expressed in terms whose use is taken from the example before insisted on, entering into rest, The things intended may be considered two ways, as to the act of the duty, or the duty itself and the effect of it, both included in the words. The duty itself intended is faith and obedience unto the gospel; these were represented of old by the peoples applying themselves to enter into the promised land of Canaan. Here, therefore, he exhorts them unto their present duty under these terms. And the effect of this duty, which is a participation of the rest of God, is also included.

And indeed glorious advantages are comprised in all gospel duties. To know God in Christ is life eternal, Joh 17:3; to believe, is to enter into the rest of God. Again, for the further explication of these words, we may observe that the apostle changeth his expression from what it was in the preceding verse. He tells us, verse 9, that there remaineth (a sabbatism) for the people of God; but here he doth not exhort them to enter , (into that sabbatism,) but changeth it into , that is, , as the other is . And the reason is, because by that word, sabbatism, he intended to express the rest of the gospel not absolutely, but with respect unto the pledge of it in the day of rest, which is given and determined unto them that believe, for the worship of God and other ends before recounted: but the apostle here returns to exhort the Hebrews to endeavor after an interest in and participation of the whole rest of God in the gospel, with all the privileges and advantages contained in it; and therefore resumes the word whereby he had before expressed the rest of God in general.

Secondly, For the manner of the performance of this duty, the word doth declare it. Let us diligently study, endeavor, or labor to this purpose. If we suppose labor in our language to be the most proper word (though I had rather use endeavor), such a laboring is to be understood as wherein the mind and whole soul is very intently exercised, and that upon the account of the difficulties which in the performance of this duty we shall meet withal. For the apostle, expressing our faith and gospel obedience, with the end of them, by entering into the rest of God, a phrase of speech taken from the peoples entering into the land of Canaan of old, he minds us of the great opposition which in and unto them we shall be sure to meet withal It is known what difficulties, storms, and contrary winds, the people met with in their wilderness peregrinations. So great were they, that the discouragements which arose from them were the principal occasions of their acting that unbelief which proved their ruin. Sometimes their want of water and food, sometimes the weariness and tediousness of the way, sometimes the reports they had of giants and walled towns, stirred up their unbelief to murmurings, and hastened their destruction. That we shall meet with the like opposition in our faith and profession the apostle instructs us, by his using this phrase of speech with respect unto the occasion of it, entering into the rest of God. And we may observe hence,

Obs. 1. That great oppositions will and do arise against men in the work of entering into Gods rest; that is, as unto gospel faith and obedience.

First, The very first lessons of the gospel discourage many from looking any farther. So when our Savior entertained the young man that came to him for instruction with the lesson of self-denial, he had no mind to hear any more, but went away sorrowful, Mat 19:22. And the reasons hereof may be taken partly from the nature of the gospel itself, and partly from our own natures to whom the gospel is proposed. I shall but instance in that general consideration, which alone would bear the weight of this assertion; and this is, that in the gospel there is proposed unto us a new way of entering into the rest of God, of acceptation with him, of righteousness and salvation, which is contrary to our natural principle of self-righteousness, and seeking after it as it were by the works of the law; for this fills our hearts naturally with an enmity unto it and contempt of it, making us esteem it foolish and weak, no way able to effect what it proposeth and promiseth. But this would be too large a field to enter into at present, and I shall therefore insist only on some particular instances, giving evidence to the proposition as laid down These I shall take from among the precepts of the gospel, some whereof are very difficult unto our nature as it is weak, and all of them contrary unto it as it is corrupt.

1. Some gospel precepts are exceeding difficult unto our nature as it is weak. This our Savior takes notice of when exhorting his disciples to watchfulness and prayer in an hour of temptation; he tells them that the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak, Mat 26:41; where by the flesh he intendeth not that corrupt principle which is in us, that is often called by that name, but our nature in its whole composition with respect unto that weakness whence it is apt to succumb and sink under difficult duties. To fix on one instance among many, of this nature is self-denial, so indispensably required of all in the gospel. The denial of our lusts and corrupt inclinations falls under another consideration, and must on other accounts have violence offered unto them, as afterwards; but in the first place we may weigh this precept as it extends itself unto things in themselves lawful, and which have an exceeding suitableness unto our natures as weak and infirm. We are but dust, and God knows that we are but dust, Psa 103:14. And he hath in his providence provided many things, and allowed us the use of them, which are fitted and suited to our refreshment and relief in our pilgrimage. Such are houses, lands, possessions, the comfort of relations and friends, which he hath given us a right unto and an interest in. And as we are persuaded that, through the weakness and frailty of our natures, we do greatly stand in need of these things, so it is known how our hearts are apt to cleave unto them. But here this gospel precept of self-denial interposeth itself, and requireth two things of us:

(1.) It requires an undervaluation of them, or at least introduceth a new affection over them and above them, which shall put the heart into a continual readiness and preparedness to part with them at the call and upon the occasions of the gospel, Mat 10:37. Our acceptance of Christ on gospel terms is like a mans entrance into a marriage relation. It introduceth a new affection, that goes above and regulates all former affections; for a man must forsake both father and mother, and cleave unto his wife. All others are to be steered and regulated hereby. And he that by his acceptance of Christ would enter into rest, must subordinate all former affections to lawful things unto this new one, which will not abide in any heart but where it is supreme.

(2.) On sundry occasions which the profession of the gospel will present us withal, actually to relinquish and forego them, and to trust our persons, with all their weaknesses and frailties, to the provision that Christ will make for them, Mar 8:34-37. This is difficult unto our nature, because of its weakness. It is apt to say, Let me be spared in this or that, to make an intercession for a Zoar. What shall become of me when all is lost and gone? What shall I do for rest, for ease, for liberty, for society, yea for food and raiment?Yet are all these to be conquered by faith, if we intend to enter into the rest of God. We condemn them of old who were afraid of giants and walled towns, which made them murmur and withdraw from their duty. These are our giants and fenced cities; and, alas! how many are hindered by them from inheriting the promise! The like may be said of that particular branch of the great duty of self-denial, in taking up the cross, or willingness to undergo all sorts of persecutions for the sake of Jesus Christ. Many of these are exceeding dreadful and terrible to our nature as mortal weak, and infirm. Peter knew how it is with us in all our natural principles, when he advised his Lord and Master to spare himself, as he was foretelling of his own sufferings. Here the weakness of our nature would betake itself to a thousand pretences to be spared; but the gospel requires severely that they be all discarded, and the cross cheerfully taken up, whenever by the rule of it we are called thereunto. And they do but deceive themselves who engage into a profession of it without a readiness and preparation for these things. It is true, God may spare whom he pleaseth and when he pleaseth, as to the bitterness of them; and some, in his tenderness and compassion, are little, it may be, exercised with them all their days; but this is by especial dispensation and extraordinary indulgence. The rule is plain, we must be all ready in the school of Christ to say this lesson, and he may call forth whom he pleaseth unto its repetition. We are, it may be, loath to come forth, loath to be brought to the trial; but we must stand to it, or expect to be turned out of doors, and to be denied by the great Master at the last day. We are, for the most part, grown tender and delicate, and unwilling to come (so much as in our minds) to a resolved conversation with these things. Various hopes and contrivances shall relieve our thoughts from them. But the precept is universal, absolute, indispensable, and such as our entrance into the rest of God doth depend on its due observance. By the dread hereof are multitudes kept in the wilderness of the world, wandering up and down between Egypt and Canaan, and at length fall finally under the power of unbelief. These and the like things are very difficult unto our nature as it is weak.

2. All the commands of the gospel are opposite and contrary to our nature as it is corrupt. And this hath so large an interest in all men, as to make those things very difficult unto them which are wholly opposite thereunto. A sense hereof hath made some endeavor a composition between the gospel and their lusts, so turning the grace of God into lasciviousness, by seeking countenance from thence unto their sins, which have no design but to destroy them. From the corruption of our nature it is that the things which the gospel in its precepts requires us severely to cast off and destroy have a treble interest in us, that it is not easy to overcome, an interest of love, an interest of usefulness, and an interest of power.

(1.) An interest of love. Hence we are commanded to pull out right eyes, if they offend us, Mat 5:29, things that are as dear unto us as our eye, as our right eye. And it is a proverbial expression to set out the high valuation and dear esteem we have of any thing, to say that it is unto us as our eye; as God himself, to express his tender care over his people, says, he that toucheth them toucheth the apple of his eye, Deu 32:10, Zec 2:8. And such are the lusts of the flesh naturally to men; whence the precept of the gospel, If thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee, immediately subjoined to that doctrine of purity and chastity, Whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her, hath committed adultery with her already in his heart, Mat 5:28. Now there cannot but be great difficulty in cutting off and casting away from us such things as have so great an interest of love in us, as these lusts have in corrupted nature. Every one is unwilling to part with what he loves; and the more he loves it the less willing is he to part With it, the longer and the more earnestly will he hold it. And there is nothing that men naturally love more than their carnal lusts. They will part with their names, their estates, and venture their lives, all to satisfy them.

(2.) An interest of usefulness. Nature, as corrupt, would persuade a man that he cannot live nor subsist in this world without the help and advantage of some of those things which the gospel forbids to all them that will enter into the rest of God. Hence is the command to cut off the right hand, if it offend, Mat 5:30; that is, things apprehended as useful unto us as a right hand is to the common services of life. Of this kind is that inordinate love of the world, and all the ways whereby it is pursued, which the gospel doth so condemn. These things are to many what Micahs gods were unto him, who cried out upon the loss of them, when they were stolen by the Danites, Ye have taken away my gods, and what have I more? Take away from men their love of this world, and the inordinate pursuit of it, and they think they have no more; they will scarce think it worth while to live in the world any longer. And this interest also is to be overcome, which it cannot be without great difficulty; and a cleaving unto it is that which hinders multitudes from entering into the rest of God.

(3.) An interest of power. Hence sin is said to have strongholds in us, which are not easily cast down. But hereof I have treated in a peculiar discourse.

Secondly, Another reason of the difficulty of this work ariseth from the combined opposition that is made unto it; for as the Egyptians, the Canaanites, and the Amorites, did all of them their utmost to hinder the Israelites from entering into Canaan, and what they could not effect really by their opposition, they did morally, by occasioning the peoples unbelief through their fighting against them, which proved their ruin, so do our spiritual adversaries deal in this matter. If the work of the gospel go on, if men endeavor by it to enter into Gods rest, Satan must lose his subjects, and the world its friends, and sin its life. And there is not one instance wherein they will not try their utmost to retain their interest. All these endeavor to hinder us from entering into the rest of God; which renders it a great and difficult work.

It will be said, That if there be all these difficulties lying before us, they must needs be so many discouragements, and turn men aside from attempting of it.I answer,

1. Of old, indeed, they did so. The difficulties and discouragements that lay in the way of the people quite took off their hearts and minds from endeavoring an entrance into the promised land. But what was the event? The apostle declares at large that on this account the indignation of God came upon them, and their carcasses fell in the wilderness. And no otherwise will it be with them who are afraid to engage in those spiritual difficulties we have now to conflict withal. They will die and perish under the wrath of God, and that unto eternity. He that shall tell men that their entering into the rest of Christ is plain, easy, suited to nature as it is weak or corrupt, will but delude and deceive them. To mortify sin, subdue our bodies, and keep them in subjection, to deny ourselves, not only in the crucifying of lusts that have the secretest tendency unto things unlawful, but also in the use of things lawful, and our affections to them, pulling out right eyes, cutting off right hands, taking up the cross in all sorts of afflictions and persecutions, are required of us in this matter: and they are not at present joyous, but grievous; not easy and pleasant, but difficult, and attended with many hardships, To lull men asleep with hopes of a rest in Christ, and in their lusts, in the world, in their earthly accommodations, is to deceive them and ruin them We must not represent the duties of gospel faith and obedience as the Jesuits preached Christ to the Indians, never letting them know that he was crucified, lest they should be offended at it. But we must tell men the plain truth as it is, and let them know what they are to expect from within and from without, if they intend to enter into rest.

2. Notwithstanding all these difficulties, the promise of God, being mixed with faith, will carry us safely through them all. After the unbelieving generation was destroyed in the wilderness the hardships and difficulties still remained; yet their children, believing the promise, passed through them and entered into rest. The power of God, and his faithfulness amongst them and unto them, conquered them all. And it will be so with them infallibly that shall mix the promise with faith in reference unto this spiritual rest. God will both supply them with strength and subdue their enemies, so as that they shall not fail of rest. Whatever, therefore, may be pretended, it is nothing but unbelief that can cause us to come short of rest; and this will do it effectually. Faith in the promise will engage the power of Christ unto our assistance; and where he will work none shall let him. To this end we might consider the various ways whereby he will make mountains become plains, dry up rivers, yea, seas of opposition, and make all those things light and easy unto us which seem so grievous and insupportable unto our nature, either as weak and frail, or as corrupt and sinful. But we must not too far digress into these things, And I say, thirdly, which is a second observation from the words,

Obs. 2. That as the utmost of our labors and endeavors are required to our obtaining an entrance into the rest of Christ, so it doth very well deserve that they should be laid out therein.

Let us,saith the apostle, endeavor this matter with all diligence,as the word imports. Men are content to lay out themselves unto the utmost for other things, and to spend their strength for the bread that perisheth, yea, for that which is not bread. Every one may see how busy and industrious the world is in the pursuit of perishing things; and men are so foolish as to think that they deserve their whole time and strength; and more they would expend in the same way, if they were intrusted with it. This their way is their folly. But how easy a thing were it to demonstrate, from the nature of it, its procurement and end, with our eternal concernment in it, that this rest deserves the utmost of our diligence and endeavors. To convince men hereof is one of the chief ends of the preaching of the gospel in general, and so needs not here to be insisted on.

Obs. 3. Again, there is a present excellency in and a present reward attending gospel faith and obedience.

They are an entrance into the rest of Christ, or they give us a present interest therein. They are not only a present means of entering into future eternal rest with God, but they give us a present participation of the rest of Christ; which wherein it doth consist hath been before declared.

Thirdly, The latter part of this verse yet remaineth to be explained and applied. Therein unto the precedent exhortation a motive is subjoined: Lest any fall after the same example of unbelief. These words, as was in part before intimated, do express either the sin to be avoided, or the punishment whereby we should be deterred from it.

The word, to fall, is ambiguous, and may be applied to either sense; for men may fall into sin, and they may fall into the punishment due to their sin, when that word is used in a moral sense. Mat 15:14, The blind lead the blind, , both shall fall into the ditch, of sin or trouble. See Rom 11:22, Jas 5:12. For the prime use of the word is in things natural, and is only metaphorically translated to express things moral. And is most commonly a teaching example. So is to teach, or to instruct by showing: Mat 3:7, O generation of vipers, , who hath warned (taught, instructed) you. Thence is documentum. These are instructions for Polydamnes, about the things that are to be provided for. But it is also often used as , an exemplary punishment; as Making him an example to the multitude; that is, in his punishment. And so among the Latins, exemplum is often put absolutely for punishment, and that of the highest nature. Now, if in this place be taken merely for a document or instruction, which is undoubtedly the most proper and usual signification of the word, then the sense may be, Lest any of you should fall into that unbelief whereof, and of its pernicious consequents, you have an instructive example in them that went before, proposed on purpose unto you, that you might be stirred tap to avoid it.If it be taken for , as sometimes it is, and so include in its signification an exemplary punishment, then the meaning of the word is, Lest any of you, through your unbelief, fall into that punishment, which hath been made exemplary in the ruin of those other unbelievers who went before you. And this I take to be the meaning of the words: You have the gospel, and the rest of Christ therein, preached and proposed unto you. Some of you have already taken upon you the profession of it, as the people did of old at mount Sinai, when they said, All that the LORD our God shall command, that we will do. Your condition is now like unto theirs, and was represented therein. Consider, therefore, how things fell out with them, and what was the event of their sin and Gods dealing with them. They believed not, they made not good their engagement, they persisted not in their profession, but were disobedient and stubborn; and God destroyed them. They fell in the wilderness, and perished, not entering into Gods rest, as hath been declared. If now you, or any amongst you, shall be found guilty of their sin, or the like answering unto it, do not think or hope that you shall avoid the like punishment. An example of Gods severity is set before you in their destruction. If you would not fall into it, or fall under it, labor by faith and obedience to enter into the rest of Christ.And this I take to be the true sense and importance of the words, answering in their coherence and relation unto them that go before; for these words, Let us labor to enter into that rest, are no more but, Let us sincerely believe and obey; wherein we shall find, through Jesus Christ, rest to our souls.Hereunto this clause of the verse is a motive: Lest any of you fall in the same example of unbelief. Now, if their sense should be, Lest any of you, after their example, should fall into unbelief;then that of the whole must be,

Let us labor to believe, that we fall not into unbelief, which is a mere battology, and remote from our divine author. Hence observe,

Obs. 4. Precedent judgments on others are monitory ordinances unto us.

They are so in general in all things that fall out in the providence of God in that kind, whereof we may judge by a certain rule. This is the use that we are to make of Gods judgments, without a censorious reflection on them in particular who fall under them; as our Savior teacheth us in the instances of the Galileans, whose blood Pilate mingled with their sacrifices, and those men on whom the tower in Siloam fell But there are many things peculiar in the examples of this kind given us in the Scripture; for,

1. We have an infallible rule therein to judge both of the sins of men and the respect that the judgments of God had unto them; besides,

2. They are designed instances of the love and care of God towards us, as our apostle declares, 1Co 10:11.

God suffered their sins to fall out, and recorded his own judgments against them in his word, on purpose for our instruction; so that as he declared his severity in them towards others, he makes known by them his love and care towards us. This gives them the nature of ordinances, which all proceed from love. To this end, and with a sense hereof, are we to undertake the consideration of them. So are they exceedingly instructive; to which purpose we have treated somewhat on the third chapter, whither we refer the reader. Again,

Obs. 5. It is better to have an example than to be made an example of divine displeasure; yet this will befall us if we neglect the former: for,

Obs. 6. We ought to have no expectation of escaping vengeance under the guilt of those sins which others, in a like manner guilty of, have not escaped.

We are apt to flatter ourselves, that however it fared with others, it will go well with us; like him who blesseth himself, and says he shall have peace, when he hears the words of the curse. This self-pleasing and security variously insinuates itself into our minds, and tenaciously cleaves unto us; but as we have any care of our eternal welfare, we are to look upon it as our greatest enemy. There is no more certain rule for us to judge of our own condition, than the examples of Gods dealings with others in the same. They are all effects of eternal and invariable righteousness; and with God there is no respect of persons. I might here insist on the ways and means whereby this self-flattery imposeth false hopes and expectations on men; as also on the duties required of us for to obviate and prevent its actings, but must not too often digress from our main purpose and design.

Fuente: An Exposition of the Epistle to the Hebrews

Entered by Faith and Prayer

Heb 4:11-16

There is no escape for disobedience and unbelief, because we have to do with the omniscience of God. The conception of Heb 4:12-13 is of a victim appointed for sacrifice and thrown upon its back, that the keen edge of the knife may do its work more readily. The divine scrutiny is still sharper. There is so much of the soul in what we do, that is, of our opinions and activities. God distinguishes between these and those promptings of His Spirit which are really important and influential. Only what is born of the Spirit will stand the test of eternity!

Shall we not fail in that scrutiny? Will he not detect in us that evil heart of unbelief? We need not fear; because our High Priest has passed the veil that hides the invisible and eternal and has entered the divine presence. Mercy and grace to help in time of need! These will meet our supreme needs-mercy for our sins, grace for our helplessness and frailty.

Fuente: F.B. Meyer’s Through the Bible Commentary

Labor To Rest

Self-righteousness is the horrid inclination of our proud flesh. We all want to be saved by something we do. Most all religious people talk about grace, and love to sing, Amazing grace! How sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me. But no sinner will naturally give up his own righteousness and trust Christ alone for salvation.

Strive to Enter

If we would rest in Christ alone and be saved by the grace of God that is in him, we must lay aside the sin (self-righteousness) which doth so easily beset us. We must strive to enter in at the strait gate, because we all want to walk in the broad way.

If we would be saved, we must labor to quit working. We must labor to enter into that great, eternal rest of glory with Christ in heaven. Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest.

There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God. There is a great, eternal sabbath to be obtained. In heavens glory we will enjoy an eternal remembrance of redemption, an endless, perfect consecration to Christ, and everlasting rest. This is the hope set before us.

Some Must Enter

Some have already entered into that rest. For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his. I have already shown you how this applies to Christ. But the text applies to Christs people, too. It speaks of the rest into which Gods elect enter by faith here, and in heavenly glory hereafter.

Many could not enter in because of unbelief. Those who have entered in have ceased from their own works. They have quit trusting in themselves. They have quit trying to do something to win Gods favor. There are some who must enter therein. There is a great multitude, chosen in eternity and redeemed at Calvary, who must and shall enter into this rest.

Rest or Death

Let us therefore labor (strive) to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief! This is what Paul speaks of in Php 3:7-14. The penalty for not keeping the sabbath is still death. We will either rest in Christ or die under the wrath of God (Joh 3:36).

Fuente: Discovering Christ In Selected Books of the Bible

Let: Heb 4:1, Heb 6:11, Mat 7:13, Mat 11:12, Mat 11:28-30, Luk 13:24, Luk 16:16, Joh 6:27, Phi 2:12, 2Pe 1:10, 2Pe 1:11

lest: Heb 3:12, Heb 3:18, Heb 3:19

unbelief: or, disobedience, Act 26:19, Rom 11:30-32, Eph 2:2, Eph 5:6, Col 3:6, Tit 1:16, Tit 3:3,*Gr.

Reciprocal: Lev 23:32 – a sabbath Jos 7:3 – about two Job 3:17 – at rest Mat 18:9 – to enter Luk 9:41 – O faithless Joh 9:18 – General Act 24:25 – when Rom 11:20 – because 1Co 10:6 – these 2Co 5:9 – we labour 1Th 1:3 – your 2Th 1:7 – who 2Ti 2:15 – Study Heb 2:3 – How Heb 3:6 – if Heb 12:15 – Looking Heb 13:22 – suffer 1Pe 2:7 – which be

Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

LABOUR TO REST

Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest.

Heb 4:11

It would be hard to say whether labour or rest is most the key-note of the Christian religion. And the two are essentially united, for all rest presupposes labour. You cannot work for God till you rest in God. And yet to rest in God is perhaps the highest and severest exercise of the soul of man.

There are four rests mentioned or implied in this passage to the Hebrews.

I. The first is Gods rest from His work on the Seventh day.For he spake in a certain place of the Seventh day on this wise, And God did rest the Seventh day from all His works. And here are given us the pledge and the first-fruit of all the rest which should ever be in earth or heaven.

II. The second rest is the rest of Canaan, which the writer introduces as the illustration of the rest of faith. For he reasonsWhy did not all Israel enter into Canaan? Because of unbelief. Therefore he says, Take heed lest you fail of your promised rest from the same cause; for it was nothing else which kept them out of Canaan.

III. Thirdly, we come to the rest of faith; and that is seen in the rest of Canaan.The rest of faith is clear, as the writer argues. Thus, five hundred years after the rest of Canaan, he defines another day emphatically, and says, by David, To-day if ye will hear His voice, harden not your hearts in unbelief. To-day, after so long a time, to-day, if ye will hear His voice, harden not your hearts. For if Jesus (that is Joshua)if Jesus had given them that restif that rest of Joshuas were all the rest God meantHe would notafter five hundred yearshave spoken of another day. What then? Beyond the rest of Eden, beyond the rest of Canaan, there remaineththere was then, and there was to come, and there is nowthere remaineth a rest to the people of God.

IV. The fourth rest is the rest of heaven.Whether, indeed, when the writer says, There remaineth a rest, a Sabbatism for the people of God, he meant that beyond the rest of Eden and beyond the rest of Canaan there remains that other rest of faith of which I have been speaking; or whether he means that now again to those who have already found the rest of faith in Christ there still remains the higher rest of another life in the world to come, it is not quite certain. I incline to think that he rather intends the first. But we need scarcely make the distinction, for they are both one. The first is heaven in us, and the second is we in heaven; only, in the first, it is the rest of the assurance of victory in a battle that is going on in a hostile field; in the second, it is that victory won in a world of love and union.

Rev. James Vaughan.

Illustration

It will be a blessed rest when we get to heaven! It will well repay all the toil. We had rested before from the dominion of sin; but then we shall rest from its power. We had rested before from its victory; but then we shall rest from its conflict. We had rested before from its burden; but then we shall rest from its presence. We had rested before in Christ, for Christ; but then with Christ. It was rest before, but in a restless world, with a half-resting mind; but then it will be the quietness of the calm repose of a satisfied love, which breathes nothing else but the atmosphere of the stillness of heaven! But that kingdom suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force. Therefore, up, and be doing, for we go to a world where rest and labour will be one word.

Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary

Heb 4:11. Verse 9 (Heb 4:9) states the grand conclusion upon the line of reasoning the apostle has been giving. The present verse states the exhortion that would logically be given upon such a conclusive background. Since the term rest implies a preceding one of labor, the apostle makes his exhortation upon that basis. Disciples who are not willing to labor for the Lord, should not expect to share in His rest. If they at last “come short of it,” the cause will be attributed to their disobedience or unbelief.

Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary

Heb 4:11. Let us therefore begins the practical exhortation based on Heb 4:6, of which it is the completion.

Labour, give diligence (as in 2Pe 1:10), seek earnestly, strive to enter into that rest, lest any man fall and form part of the same example of disobedience or unbelief; lest through unbelief like theirs we like them come short of the promise. The earnest striving, the eager seeking of which the writer speaks, is well described by St. Paul in Php 3:7-14, and in 2Pe 1:5-12. In one sense faith is ceasing to work and beginning to trust; in another sense it is the most difficult of all works, requiring the energy of the whole nature, and the help of the blessed God besides. It is at once a gift and a duty, the easiest and the hardest way of life.

Lest they fall into and so become another example of unbeliefa pregnant construction. Whether fall has its lighter meaning, as Luther and Delitzsch hold, or is used absolutely,fall away and perish (as Calvin, Bengel, and Bleek hold),we need not discuss here. The word is probably suggested by the doom of the Israelites who fell in the wilderness and perished (Heb 3:17); and it is used in the same deep sense in Rom 11:11. The fact that the Hebrews are cautioned lest they should fall through a disbelief that proved ruinous to those who yielded to it before, shows that the word has probably its deeper meaning; it is the opposite state of entering into rest. Of course it is true also that in proportion as they fall, whether in degree or duration, they miss peace and swell the number of those who are warnings to all who witness them. But here the warning seems permanent, and the fall, therefore, complete.

Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament

As if our apostle had said, “Seeing there is such and eternal glorious rest prepared for, and promised to believers then it is the duty, and ought to be the endeavour of everyone of us to secure our title to it, and our interest in it, by a stedfast faith, and persevering obedience, lest, following the example of our forefathers in the wilderness, we fall and perish as they did.”

Learn hence, 1. That there is a rest promised to us uder the gospel, as there was to the Jews of old under the dispensation of the law.

Learn, 2. That the Jews heretofore, by sin in general, by unbelief and disobedience in particular, did fall short of the rest proposed to them, and never entered into it, but were destroyed by the just indignation of God.

Learn, 3. That in the Israelites’ sin and God’s displeasure, in the event of the one, and in the effects of the other, there was an example set forth, of what would be our own lot and portion if through unbelief we fall short of the rest which the gospel proposed to us: Let us labour to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief. It is our duty to improve examples, lest we be made examples of divine displeasure.

Learn, 4. That we cannot rationally have tha least expectation of escaping vengeance under the guilt of those sins, which others, in like manner, being guilty of, having not escaped; for with God there is no respect of persons. Did the Israelites miss of the earthly Canaan? So shall we of the heavenly, through unbelief.

Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament

Heb 4:11. Let us labour therefore, &c. That is, since the Israelites were so severely punished for their unbelief, let us labour Greek, , let us be in earnest, use diligence, and make haste, (all which particulars are included in the word,) to enter into that rest By sincerely believing and steadfastly obeying the gospel, aspiring after and striving to attain every branch of holiness, internal and external; lest any man fall Into sin and eternal perdition; after the same example of unbelief By reason of such unbelief as the Israelites gave an example of. The unbelief against which we are here cautioned, as being the cause of mens falling under the wrath of God, is chiefly that kind of it which respects the immortality of the soul, the resurrection of the body, the reality and greatness of the joys of heaven, and the miseries of hell; the redemption of the world by our Lord Jesus Christ, mens sinfulness and guilt, depravity and weakness, and their need of the salvation of the gospel in all its branches, the ability and willingness of Christ to save them from their sins here, and conduct them to the heavenly country hereafter, together with his authority to judge the world, and power to dispense rewards to the righteous, and inflict punishments on the wicked. The unbelief of these great truths, revealed to us in the gospel, being the source of that wickedness which prevails among those called Christians, as well as among Mohammedans and heathen, we ought carefully to cherish a firm and steady belief of these things, lest by the want of a lively sense of them, we be led to live after the manner of the ungodly, and God he provoked to destroy us by the severity of his judgments.

Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

Verse 11

The same example; the example of the ancient Israelites, (Hebrews 3:16-19.)

Fuente: Abbott’s Illustrated New Testament

4:11 {3} Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest {d} any man fall after the same example of unbelief.

(3) He returns to an exhortation.

(d) Lest any man become a similar example of infidelity.

Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes

In the meantime we need to follow Jesus and Moses’ examples of faithfulness to God. We need to carry out the work He has given us to do (i.e., to continue to trust and obey rather than turning from Him; Heb 3:2; Heb 3:6; Heb 3:14). Note again that the writer said he faced the same danger as his readers: "Let us" (cf. Heb 4:16).

"We enter into rest only when we persevere in faith to the end of life. When we do this, we will obtain a share in the inheritance, the millennial land of Canaan, and will rule with Christ as one of His metochoi [partners] there. Rest is not just the land itself; it also includes the state or condition of ’finished work,’ of final perseverance, into which the faithful Christian will enter. God has not set aside His promises to Israel. The promise of the inheritance, the land, is eternally valid, and those Christians who remain faithful to their Lord to the end of life will share in that inheritance along with the Old Testament saints." [Note: Dillow, p. 109.]

Christians need to be diligent to enter that rest. If the rest were just heaven, we would not have to exercise diligence because God has promised that all believers will go to heaven (Joh 10:27-28; Rom 8:30; Php 1:6; et al.). If the rest were just the rest we presently enjoy because God has forgiven our sins, we would not have to be diligent to enter it either because we already have entered into that rest.

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)

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