Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Hebrews 12:3

For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds.

3. consider ] Lit., “compare yourselves with.” Contrast the comparative immunity from anguish of your lot with the agony of His (Joh 15:20).

that endured ] Who hath endured at the hand of sinners such opposition.

such contradiction of sinners against himself ] The Greek word for “contradiction” has already occurred in Heb 6:16, Heb 7:7. Three uncials ( , D, E) read “against themselves.” Christ was a mark for incessant “contradiction,” “a sign which is spoken against” (Luk 2:34).

lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds ] The correction of the R. V., “ that ye wax not weary, fainting in your souls,” will be reckoned by careless and prejudiced readers among the changes which they regard as meaningless. Yet, as in hundreds of other instances, it brings out much more fully and forcibly the exact meaning of the original. “ That ye wax not weary ” is substituted for “lest ye be weary” because the Greek verb, being in the aorist, suggests a sudden or momentary break-down in endurance; on the other hand, “fainting” is in the present, and suggests the gradual relaxation of nerve and energy which culminates in the sudden relapse. Lastly the word in the original is “souls,” not “minds.” Endurance was one of the most needful Christian virtues in times of waiting and of trial (Gal 6:9).

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

For consider him – Attentively reflect on his example that you may be able to bear your trials in a proper manner.

That endured such contradiction of sinners – Such opposition. The reference is to the Jews of the time of the Saviour, who opposed his plans, perverted his sayings, and ridiculed his claims. Yet, regardless of their opposition, he persevered in the course which he had marked out, and went patiently forward in the execution of his plans. The idea is, that we are to pursue the path of duty and follow the dictates of conscience, let the world say what they will about it. In doing this we cannot find a better example than the Saviour. No opposition of sinners ever turned him from the way which he regarded as right; no ridicule ever caused him to abandon any of his plans; no argument, or expression of scorn, ever caused him for a moment to deviate from his course.

Lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds – The meaning is, that there is great danger of being disheartened and wearied out by the opposition which you meet with. But with the bright example of one who was never disheartened, and who never became weary in doing the will of God, you may persevere. The best means of leading a faithful Christian life amidst the opposition which we may encounter, is to keep the eye steadily fixed on the Saviour.

Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

Heb 12:3

Consider Him that endured such contradiction

Christs afflictions a lesson for His people:

All heaven considers or looks at Christ.

The angels look at Him with reverence and adoring wonder, as their Lord and King. All hell considers or looks at Christ. The devils look at Him with terror and alarm, as their Judge and the Author of their punishment. But neither heaven nor hell can get such precious views of Christ as can those whom Christ came to redeem. They consider Him as the Lawgiver who shows the path of duty, as the Redeemer who shows the way of life. They consider Him as the Physician who heals their spiritual diseases, as the Pattern after which they are themselves to copy. They consider Him who endured the contradiction of sinners, in order that they may be not wearied, nor faint in their minds. The flowers that bloom upon a thousand hills, in more than royal stateliness, are rich in fragrant moisture; but it is not every gaudy insect that can extract the honey they yield. So, Christ, however rich and precious He be to those who know Him, is rich and precious to them alone. The ungodly get nothing by their contemplation of Him, except, indeed, a greater aversion ever to contemplate Him again. Believers are always benefited by this exercise. They are made better, wiser, holier, happier, by it. Looking unto Jesus is the attitude of spiritual health, the posture of spiritual activity, the habit of spiritual enjoyment: it is a blessed exercise–it strengthens the soul, it animates the heart, it enlivens the whole frame of the inner man. And while it is beneficial to all who engage heartily in it, be their circumstances what they may, it is peculiarly beneficial to all those who are in distress or perplexity. The contemplation of Him who suffered the contradiction of sinners hinders the mind from becoming weary and faint.

I. LOOK AT THE PICTURE WHICH THE APOSTLE HERE EXHIBITS. It is the picture of Him who endured such contradiction of sinners. It is the picture of a mighty Being, Jesus Christ, the Son of God. It represents Him, however, as man. It represents Him as suffering contradiction, that is, animosity, hatred, and persecution. It represents Him as suffering all this from sinners. It represents the suffering as being in every respect intense, aggravated, and indescribable. Let us seek to fill our minds with a sense of what He underwent.

1. The sufferings of Christ were Divinely appointed and tremendously severe. They were not the mere natural evils which are shed upon us, all in consequence of Adams disobedience. They were singular, peculiar, and transcendental. They had no like, no parallel. They were infinite sufferings.

2. The subject of Christs suffering is deserving of consideration because, had He chosen, He could have avoided them. But He did not so choose. He did not spare Himself. He gave Himself up to death for us all.

3. Again, in estimating the contradiction of sinners endured by Christ, let us remember that He was, through out the whole of it, actuated by disinterested motives.

4. Once more, Jesus did not deserve the punishment that was inflicted upon Him.

5. Lastly, the nature of Christs endurance will be still more strikingly manifested when it is recollected that it was borne for the sake of those who inflicted it.

II. Let us now speak of THE LESSONS CONVEYED BY THE PICTURE on which we have been meditating.

1. By looking to the afflictions of Christ we derive materials for encouragement, because we could not of ourselves do what Christ has done for us. We may endure contradiction of sinners, as Christ Himself did; but ours will never be such contradiction as His.

2. Again, by looking to the tribulations of Christ we derive materials of encouragement, because we should not expect to be treated better than He Himself was.

3. By looking to the tribulations of Christ we derive materials of encouragement, because, as our great Model and Exemplar, He has exhibited to us a specimen of patient endurance and submission under the most dreadful inflictions.

4. By looking to the tribulations of Christ we derive materials of encouragement, because we find that, as our great High Priest and Redeemer, He is able to sympathise with us in all our afflictions.

5. Lastly, by looking to the tribulations of Christ we derive materials of encouragement, because, as He triumphed over all His enemies, so shall we if we be partakers of His salvation. Christians are one with their Redeemer. (Alex. Nisbet.)

The endurance of Christ

The contemplation of Christs sufferings may, or may not, be spiritually beneficial to us. It is possible to occupy our attention with the physical side of the Passion to the exclusion of the moral and spiritual, and to think almost exclusively of the sufferings and scarcely at all of the Sufferer. Such contemplation may work upon our feelings much in the same way as thrilling incidents in a powerful work of fiction, and create a spurious sympathy with the Sufferer which cannot produce the effect which the passion of our Lord ought to have upon our lives. The remedy is to be found mainly in considering Him that endured–in keeping before us the personality of the Sufferer. But we shall only rightly consider the Sufferer Himself when we keep in mind the purpose He had in His endurance. He suffers for sinners, as well as from sinners; and He suffers for the direct purpose of removing the contradiction which He endures–to take away sins. And all profitable contemplation of the sufferings of Christ ought to have in it the desire and willingness to have its purpose fulfilled in us. In considering Him we must keep in mind His faultlessness; the entire absence of any justification for the contradiction. He was not only faultless, but good. Although graced with the perfect qualities of human virtue, and rich in the beneficent works of goodness, He endured the contradiction of sinners. Remember, too, that within, and perfectly conjoined to, that holy humanity, was all the fulness of God. In every act of endurance there is the manhood which endures as human, and there is the deeper endurance of God underlying it all. The word contradiction is here used to include the whole of the opposition which our Lord experienced from sinners. The Cross was only the climax of a long and varied course of antagonism out of which it sprung, without which it would not have been reached, and by which alone it can be understood and duly estimated. The first contradiction Christ endured was in the unbelief which met Him. He was the True One and the Truth; but they affirmed Him either deceived or a deceiver–utterly untrustworthy. But this contradiction advanced to open condemnation. He was said to be a gluttonous man, &c. They said His power over evil spirits was due to a league between Himself and the prince of the devils. They charged Him with being the enemy of God and man, a blasphemer and an evildoer. Remember who it was against whom all these false and bitter things were spoken. Consider Him, and see His brave endurance. And there was an element in all this contradiction which added to its painfulness. It was not the result, in general, of a mistake, which could be excused by the Sufferer. It had its root in personal hate (Joh 15:24). And He knew the cause ofthat hate. It came out of a conscious moral antipathy. His pure, holy, humble, unselfish life made them conscious of the unreality and hollowness of their assumed excellence. And He endured this hate–He who combined in His own person all that is gracious in God and lovable in man. This antagonism and hate could not fail to proceed to acts of violence if occasion should arise. They took up stones to stone Him; and, think you, was it not as if He felt the blows of hardness of heart hurled at Him as He preserved Himself from this attempt upon His life? To Christ the spiritual was not less real than the physical; and in every infliction of suffering and wrong upon Him by the hands of wicked men He felt the spirit of the acts–the sin of the world–going right down deep into His soul. Yes, thepainful pressure of the crown of thorns, the piercing of nails and the anguish of the body, were means through which He bore in Himself the contradiction of sinners and of sin. One point more: This endurance of the contradiction of sinners was out of consideration to them. He might have saved Himself, and have made them to feel His contradiction against themselves. But He suffered Himself, instead of making them to suffer. His consideration for them was grounded in love–love to them and to us. In love He endured seeing them the opposite of that which He could love; endured receiving from them the reverse of what He had a right to expect, the opposite of that which His coming had made possible. If He could have hated and despised those who contradicted Him, it would have been less painful to His spirit to endure the contradiction. But the more He loved us, the more bitter became every experience, the more pointed and painful every act of wrong. Consider Him who endured, etc., and consider Him, with this fact in mind, that in thus enduring He was exhibiting and putting forth His gracious power to save us from sinning against Him. The purpose of His Cross is to reconcile us and all things to Himself; to bring us to harmony of mind and life with Him; to destroy our contradiction by enduring it. (R. Vaughan, M. A.)

The great source of courage:

Consider Him. Learn to look up. It is an exercise in which we have to be trained and drilled until we have mastered it. Unbelief gives a man a crick in the neck so that he cannot look up. But faith, like the eagle, sets her eyes on the sun and soars away until earth is lost in the mists below, and she lights on the highest mount of God. If we would have a life of singing and triumphant courage, we must get into this habit–the heavenly habit of considering Jesus. Consider Him. This is everything. In the Christian life Christ Himself is the Source and Strength of all. A man is a Christian exactly as he receives Christ into his thought, and heart, and life. And this is the order, through the thought into the heart and thence into the life. Therefore consider Christ–gather the thoughts in from other things, and set them upon Christ. In everything that we would get hold of thoroughly we must give our minds to it, as we say. And this means give your mind to Christ. Christ is to us what we will let Him be. If I will let Him into my life, He will fill it with light and blessedness, as the sun fills the heavens. Consider Him–not the truth about Him. Lectures on botany are poor things to put in place of flowers. Sermons and teachings about Christ are poor things indeed to put in place of Him. It is more than ever needful in times like these, when life is such a rush and whirl, that we make room and leisure in our lives to cultivate this art of considering Christ. Alas! what hurried and passing glimpses of out great Master do content us! There is a bit of the country–than which, I think, there is nothing more lovely in all England–that I have often passed through in the railway carriage; eagerly I have looked out of the window, over the deep valleys, woods overhanging woods, going down to misty depths, and away to the moorland, stretching up to the rugged heights; then suddenly a bank of earth has blotted it all out; a narrow cutting has hemmed us in–and then the tunnel darkness. Out again and across some viaduct; looking down on the clear stream amidst the boulders below, another glance of the hills, and then a new obstruction. And some people call that seeing the country. How much can one consider it amid such vexatious glimpses? But some fine day I have left the railway station and stepped out on to the moor, and in a few moments have stood amidst its stillness, the great unbroken stretch of earth and sky, the music of some little brook and the plovers call not breaking the silence, only heightening it. Then I have gone up on to the granite height, and there under the blue heaven I have looked away, away on every side, over the miles of country, catching here and there the faint, silvery line of the sea. Then and then only I saw it–thus I could consider it. We must get away alone up into the mount of the Lord if we would consider Him. The busier you are the more you need it: this thinking about Him until He comes to reveal Himself. With many bow would half an hour of such considering transform the life I He, my Lord and Captain, my Friend and Helper, my Deliverer and my God. (M. G. Pearse.)

Suffering and glory:

No pain, no palm; no thorn, no throne; no gall, no glory; no cross, no crown. (Wm. Penn.)

Consider Him:

Our troubles are but as the slivers and chips of His Cross. (J. Trapp.)

Christ with us in trial:

One thing which contributed to make Caesars soldiers invincible was their seeing him always take his share in danger, and never desire any exemption from labour and fatigue. We have a far higher incentive in the war for truth and goodness when we consider Him wire endured such contradiction of sinners against Himself. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

Considering Christ in persecution

Li Cha Mi, a Chinese preacher, was nearly killed by robbers during the excitement against foreigners, in 1872. At a subsequent conference, he said; You have all heard of my sufferings during the past few months. I wish to say that these sufferings were very slight. It was easy to endure pain when I could feel that I bore it for Christ. It is wonderful–I cannot explain it. When attacked by the robbers, and beaten almost to death, I felt no pain. Their blows did not seem to hurt me at all. Everything was bright and glorious. Heaven seemed to open, and I thought I saw Jesus waiting to receive me. It was beautiful. I have no words to describe it. Since that time I seem to be a new man. I now know what it is to love not the world. My affections are set on things above. Persecutions trouble me not. I forget all my sorrows when I think of Jesus.
I call nothing on earth my own. I find that times of trial are best for me. When all is quiet and prosperous, I grow careless and yield to temptation, but when persecutions come, then I fly to Christ. The fiercer the trial, the better it is for my soul. (The Christian.)

Lest ye be wearied

Spiritual weariness

I. THERE IS A CONFLICT WHICH STILL DEMANDS OUR FAITH AND PATIENCE, The great purpose of life should be to attain the highest excellent of which our nature is susceptible. This involves difficulties.

II. WE ARE IN DANGER OF LOSING HEART, AND GROWING WEARY IN THIS CONFLICT. Perhaps we may hardly wonder at this, if we think of the nature of the conflict itself, its continuousness, its unintermittent character. This result ensues, too, from the providential trials under which we are sometimes called to carry on the conflict. This danger also arises from the perpetual vigilance and resistance which are required to be exercised against custom, against kindness, against the slumbrous atmosphere in which we live.

III. THIS WEARINESS AND FAILURE OF SPIRITUAL DETERMINATION IS AN EVIL WHICH OUGHT TO BE STRENUOUSLY RESISTED. Weariness and exhaustion are fatal to real enjoyment. They are equally fatal to work. When worn down by fatigue, you have neither strength nor spirit for work. Moreover, there must be much danger in this state of weariness and exhaustion.

IV. THE REST MEANS OF AVOIDING THIS WEARINESS AND SPIRITUAL EXHAUSTION IS STEADILY TO CONTEMPLATE JESUS. Look upon Him in such a way as to call out comparison with),ourselves, and it will encourage you, and enable you to rise above this exhaustion and fear.

1. The greatness and nobleness of the Sufferer!

2. Consider the poignancy and the severity of His suffering.

3. Consider the innocency of the Sufferer.

4. Consider the spirit in which Jesus suffered. (J. C. Harrison.)

Discouragements in the Christian life

I. MANY PERSONS ARE DISCOURAGED AT THE GREAT DIFFERENCE WHICH THEY EXPERIENCE IN THEIR FEELINGS, WHEN THEY RECEIVE INSTRUCTION FROM THE MINISTRATION OF OTHER PEOPLES MINDS, AND WHEN THEY ARE OBLIGED TO FURNISH THEMSELVES WITH THE TRUTH WHICH IS REQUIRED FOR THEIR DAILY CHRISTIAN LIFE.

II. MANY ARE LIABLE TO BECOME WEARIED AND FAINT FROM POSITIVE REACTION, FROM DEPRESSION ARISING FROM EXHAUSTION.

III. PERSONS OF A TIMID NATURE, WHOSE RELIGIOUS LIFE HAS, EITHER BY EDUCATION OR FROM SOMETHING IN THEMSELVES, TURNED UPON CONSCIENCE, OR IN WHOM THEIR RELIGIOUS LIFE IS OF THE TYPE OF CONSCIENCE RATHER THAN OF LOVE, OR TRUST, OR HOPE, ARE PECULIARLY LIABLE TO DISCOURAGEMENT AND WEARINESS.

IV. GREAT DISCOURAGEMENT BEFALLS MEN WHO HAVE A RELIGION WITHOUT ANY SOCIAL ELEMENT TO CORROBORATE IT.

V. MANY PERSONS ARE BROUGHT INTO GREAT DISCOURAGEMENT AND UNCERTAINTY AS TO WHAT THEY SHALL DO, BECAUSE THEY HAVE MISTAKEN THE FULL PURPORT OF RELIGION.

VI. THE NEGLECT TO CONSOLIDATE RELIGIOUS FEELINGS INTO HABITS IS FREQUENTLY AN OCCASION OF DISCOURAGEMENT, BECAUSE IT LEAVES MEN SUBJECT TO ALL THE FLUCTUATIONS OF FEELING.

VII. MANY ARE CONVICTED OF SIN LESS DEEPLY AT THE BEGINNING OF THEIR CHRISTIAN LIFE THAN LONG AFTER CONVERSION; AND THIS NOT ONLY ALARMS, BUT SERIOUSLY DISCOURAGES THEM. (H. W. Beecher.)

Spiritual weariness and its antidote

I. THE LIABILITY OF CHRISTIANS TO SPIRITUAL WEARINESS. Arising from

1. The little advancement we seem to make in spiritual excellence.

2. The little good we seem to accomplish in all our efforts to serve our fellows.

3. The little difference which Providence in its dispensation makes between us and those who are the enemies of Christ.

4. The little influence which our best efforts seem to have in correcting the evils of our age.

II. THE ANTIDOTE OF CHRISTIANS TO SPIRITUAL WEARINESS. Reflection on Christ will renew our energies, reinvigorate the soul.

1. Consider what He endured. The contradiction of sinners.

2. Consider how He endured (1Pe 2:23).

3. Consider why He endured. For His enemies. (Homilist.)

Liability of saints to faint-heartedness

It was stated some time ago, that a man had discovered an invention for making a form of crystallised carbon, which to all intents and purposes was a diamond; but his invention was useless, because of the difficulty and expense in getting any vessel strong enough to bear the intense heat to which it must be subjected during the process. And so with some of Gods saints, they faint beneath the trial, and the saintly virtue is not formed within their characters, because they have lost the power of endurance. (Canon Newbolt.)

Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell

Verse 3. For consider him] – , – Attentively observe and analyze every part of his conduct, enter into his spirit, examine his motives and object, and remember that, as he acted, ye are called to act; he will furnish you with the same Spirit, and will support you with the same strength. He bore a continual opposition of sinners against himself; but he conquered by meekness, patience, and perseverance: he has left you an example that ye should follow his steps. If ye trust in him, ye shall receive strength; therefore, howsoever great your opposition may be, ye shall not be weary: if ye confide in and attentively look to him, ye shall have continual courage to go on, and never faint in your minds.

Here is a continued allusion to the contenders in the Grecian games, who, when exhausted in bodily strength and courage, yielded the palm to their opponents, and were said , to be weary or exhausted; , to be dissolved, disheartened, or to have lost all bravery and courage.

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

For consider him; the connection is rational, that they ought to regard this example, for that there were greater sufferings behind than any yet they had endured, which would enforce it, as Heb 12:4; signifieth the use of it proportionable consideration, thinking on or reasoning about this example within a mans self, such as may make the considerer bear a proportion to the subject considered.

That endured such contradiction of sinners against himself; this Jesus spoken of before, who most patiently submitted to, and perseveringly bore up under, such opposition and contradiction by the words and works of the most wicked and vilest men against himself, who was the most innocent and best of men, always going about doing good to them, so as their sin and his patience were without parallel: none was ever so scorned, taunted, reviled, blasphemed, spit on, and ignominiously treated like him; and never any so invincibly endured it, Rom 15:3.

Lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds; the reason of this consideration is, lest faintness, languishing, or deficiency of soul, that is, of vigour, strength, and activity of heart in grace, should befall them; and so they should lie down and cease to run the Christian race, which the devil designed to oblige them to, as he would Christ, by the multitude and soreness of the contradictions they should suffer from sinners in it, so greatly as would not end but by broaching their life-blood, as they did Christs, and these must expect from them.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

3. Forjustifying hisexhortation, “Looking unto Jesus.”

considerby way ofcomparison with yourselves, so the Greek.

contradictionunbelief,and every kind of opposition (Ac28:19).

sinnersSinassails us. Not sin, but sinners, contradicted Christ[BENGEL].

be wearied and faintGreek,“lest ye weary fainting.” Compare Isa 49:4;Isa 49:5, as a specimen of Jesusnot being wearied out by the contradiction and strangeunbelief of those among whom He labored, preaching as neverman did, and exhibiting miracles wrought by His inherent power, asnone else could do.

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

For consider him,…. In the greatness of his person, as God, the Son of God, the heir of all things; and in his offices of prophet, priest, and King, as the Saviour of lost sinners, the Leader and Commander of the people, as the apostle and high priest of our profession: consider him in his human nature, his conversation on earth, and what he did and suffered for men; how that in his nature he was pure and holy, in his conversation harmless and innocent, in his deportment meek and lowly; who went about doing good to the souls of men, and at last suffered and died, and is now glorified: consider the analogy between him and us, and how great is the disproportion; and therefore if he was ill treated, no wonder we should consider him under all his reproaches and sufferings:

that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself; against his person, they denying his deity, and speaking against his sonship, and against his offices; mocking him as a King, deriding him as a prophet, and treating him with the utmost contempt as a priest and Saviour; and against his actions, his works of mercy to the bodies of men, when done on the sabbath day; his conversing with sinners for the good of their souls, as if he was an encourager of them in sin, and a partner with them; his miracles, as if they were done by the help of the devil; and against the whole series of his life, as if it was criminal. Now we should analogize this contradiction, and see what proportion there is between this, and what is endured by us: we should consider the aggravations of it, that it was “against himself”; sometimes it was against his disciples, and him through them, as it is now against his members, and him in them; but here it was immediately and directly against himself: and this he endured “from sinners”; some more secret, as the Scribes, Sadducees, and Pharisees; some more open, as the common people; some of them the vilest of sinners, the most abandoned of creatures, as the Roman soldiers, and Herod’s men of war: and this should be considered, that we cannot be contradicted by viler or meaner persons; and it is worthy of notice, with what courage and bravery of mind, with what patience and invincible constancy he endured it: this should be recollected for imitation and encouragement,

lest ye be wearied, and faint in your minds; contradiction is apt to make persons weary and faint, as Rebekah was, because of the daughters of Heth, and as Jeremiah was, because of the derision of the Jews, Ge 27:46 but a consideration of Jesus, and of what he has endured, tends to relieve the saints in such a condition; See Mt 10:25.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

Consider (). First aorist middle imperative of , old word to reckon up, to compare, to weigh, only here in the N.T. See in 3:1. Understanding Jesus is the key to the whole problem, the cure for doubt and hesitation.

Endured (). Perfect active participle of the same verb used in verse 2.

Gainsaying (). Old word from (from ), already in Heb 6:16; Heb 7:7.

Of sinners ( ). “By sinners.”

Against themselves ( ). Against their better selves if a genuine reading. But (against himself), against Christ, is far more likely correct.

That ye wax not weary ( ). Negative final clause with and the second aorist active subjunctive of , old verb to be weary as here or sick as in Jas 5:15.

Fainting in your souls ( ). Present passive participle of , old verb to loosen out, to set free, and in passive to be enfeebled, to be tired out (here in soul with locative case), as in verse 5. The rest of the Epistle drives home the argument.

Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament

For consider [ ] . Gar for introduces the reason for the exhortation to look unto Jesus. Look unto him, for a comparison with him will show you how much more he had to endure than you have. Analogizesqai N. T. o. Comp. 3 Macc. 7 7. It means to reckon up; to consider in the way of comparison.

Contradiction of sinners [ ] .

Contradiction or gainsaying. See on ch. Heb 6:16, and comp. ch. Heb 7:7. See on gainsaying, Jude 1:11. Of sinners, uJpo by, at the hands of.

Against himself [ ] . According to this text we should render “against themselves.” Comp. Num 16:38. The explanation will then be that Christ endured the gainsaying of sinners, who, in opposing him, were enemies of their own souls. The reading eJautouv however, is doubtful, and both Tischendorf and Weiss read eJauton himself, which I prefer. Lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds [ ] . Rend. “that ye be not weary, fainting in your minds.” ‘Ekluein is to loosen, hence, to relax, exhaust. So often in LXX See Deu 20:3; Jud 8:15; 1Sa 14:28. Comp. Mt 14:32; Mr 8:3; Gal 6:9.

Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament

The Father’s Chastening

1) “For consider him that endured such contradiction,” (analogisthe gar ton toiauten antilogian hupomemenekota) “For you all consider the one who (is) having endured (undergone) such contradiction,” consider, by way of comparison, so as to judge the value of our Lord’s having endured testings and sufferings, all his life, even far beyond that endured by heroes and heroines of the faith of ancient times, for he endured such being without sin, not being guilty of frequent sins, Heb 7:26.

2) “Of sinners against himself,” (hupo ton hamartolon eis heautou) “By sinners against himself; of such Simeon prophesied, Luk 2:34; While they of Israel claimed to be looking for the redeemer who came and fulfilled every detailed prophecy regarding his first coming from his virgin birth to his victorious death, yet he was rejected by sinners of his own people, Joh 5:43; Joh 1:11-12; Joh 8:24.

3) “Lest ye be wearied,” (hina me kamete) “in order that you all may not grow weary,” or wax weary in going on in the faith of the Christian life, Joh 15:20; Mat 10:25; Gal 6:9; 1Co 15:58. The more God’s children pray in faith the less weary they grow.

4) “And faint in your minds,” (tais pouchais humon eklouomenoi) “Fainting in your souls; or grow despondent in your souls, be discouraged, 2Th 3:13; Luk 18:1 indicates that praying strengthens God’s children to keep them from fainting when trials confront them, 2Co 4:1; 2Co 4:16.

Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary

3. For consider him, etc. He enforces his exhortation by comparing Christ with us; for if the Son of God, whom it behaves all to adore, willingly underwent such severe conflicts, who of us should dare to refuse to submit with him to the same? For this one thought alone ought to be sufficient to conquer all temptations, that is, when we know that we are companions or associates of the Son of God, and that he, who was so far above us, willingly came down to our condition, in order that he might animate us by his own example; yea, it is thus that we gather courage, which would otherwise melt away, and turn as it were into despair.

Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary

CRITICAL AND EXEGETICAL NOTES

Heb. 12:3. Consider.Place your sufferings in comparison with His. Against Himself.R.V. renders against themselves, which is a well-supported reading. Wearied.R.V. renders that ye wax not weary, fainting in your souls. Stuart renders, lest, becoming discouraged in your minds, ye grow weary.

Heb. 12:4. Unto blood.The last extremity; the surrender of life. Implying that Christ had so resisted. From this we infer that there had been no actual martyrs among the Christian Jews addressed by the writer.

Heb. 12:5.Better read as a question, Have ye forgotten?

Heb. 12:8. Bastards., illegitimate children, who cannot be properly thought of as Gods spiritual children.

MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.Heb. 12:3-8

The Strain of Maintaining Christian Profession.These verses indicate three sources whence strain cannot fail to come, and they suggest considerations which may help the professor successfully to endure the strain, whencesoever it may come.

I. One source is the contradiction of sinners.They that would live godly will, in every age, suffer some form of outward persecution. The persecution need not always take coarse and violent forms; in our times it takes refined and subtle forms, which are often harder to bear. Let any man to-day try to live a really spiritual life, and teach men really spiritual truth, lifting off material coverings, and bringing to view spiritual realities, he will be sure to meet with persecutions at the hands of those who are zealous for the literality and materiality of religion. Our Lord embodied an ever-acting principle when He said to His disciples, Ye are not of the world; therefore the world hateth you. Put the earnest young Christian into the worldly-toned house of business to-day, and he will get the contradiction of sinners against himself, as certainly as did the Christian men and women in the old Pagan days. The peril of persecution from without, on account of our religious opinions, or our religious life, must be duly estimated. What can bring us strength to endure? Consider Him. It is enough for the disciple that he be as his Master. We need not wonder that we should be misrepresented and misunderstood, for so was He. We need not wonder even that our words should be resolutely turned against us, for so were His. We need not wonder even if we are the victims of hostile schemes and combinations, for so was He. But He triumphed over all; and, in spite of all, lived through His godly, righteous, and sober life: and so may we. The principles on which He triumphed may be ours. The spirit in which He triumphed may be ours. We need not faint.

II. Another source of strain is the weakness of self.There is such an easily reached limit to our power of resistance. We can try a little; but if we do not immediately succeed, we give up trying. Our striving against sin is at best but a poor thing; there is seldom anything heroic about it. Cranmer may be weak enough to yield when the stake is right in view, but we weakly shrink back long before we reach any such extremities. To us it can be said, with a most pointed application, Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin. We are far enough away from the martyr spirit. What shall so inspire us as to lift us into moral strength for enduring? To some extent the story of the martyr ages; but chiefly the thought of Him who did resist unto bloodwho did wrestle with sin, and yielded His life in the struggle, but yielded it only when the victory was won. We must never wonder if the demand upon our moral strength is such a demand as was made upon Christs. It is inspiration to us to look and see how He resisted unto blood.

III. Another source of strain is the discipline of God.We wish that to be saved was to be saved once for all. And it is not. It is to be put into the school of God for discipline, involving chastisements, with a view to full sanctifying. Gods discipline is as that of a father with his sons.

1. There is love at the heart of it.
2. There is wisdom in the arranging of it.
3. But there is no hesitation in putting all needful severities into it. The Christian can no more expect to understand the discipline of God than the son can expect to understand the corrections and restraints of his father. The son endures through the trustfulness of his love. And the Christian endures in the same way. No noble human character ever yet existed that had not come out of a school of discipline; and no saintly character ever yet was found among us which had not come out of the disciplinary school of God. What shall help us to bear this form of strain? Looking unto Jesus, who, though He were a Son, learned obedience by the things which He suffered, while in Gods earthly school of discipline.

SUGGESTIVE NOTES AND SERMON SKETCHES

Heb. 12:3. Christs Enduring Contradiction.

I. What forms of contradiction Christ was subjected to.

1. His design in founding a spiritual kingdom was contradicted.
2. His spirit and character were misunderstood both by His own disciples and by His enemies. He was often hindered, as at Capernaum and Gadara, and above all at Jerusalem. And at last He was turned out and crucified.

II. In what forms, and on what principles, did Christ overcome the contradiction?

1. An amazing patience was shown by Him. He proved the power that lies in patient continuance in well-doing.
2. The consciousness of His Divine mission sustained Him. A man can always be strong if in his soul is the cherished conviction that he has a work to do. A man is immortal until his work is done.

3. His faith in the abiding presence of God with Him constantly sustained Him. St. Paul in this sense of Gods presence comes a long way behind our Divine Lord, and yet he could say, I can do all things through Him who strengtheneth me.

III. How does Christs overcoming contradiction become an encouragement and a help to us?None of us can ever have so extreme a conflict as He had. But none can ever have any conflict that will be really different to His.

1. His was a conquest on our behalf. It was really our foe He disabled. And it is a weakened, humbled foe that is left to us to fight.

2. He presented the example which may guide us to wise methods in our conflict.
3. His triumph has brought Him a trust of grace which He now dispenses to all who follow Him in the same holy war, and are subject now to a similar contradiction of sinners. Whatever then may be the precise form which our difficulties take, as we endeavour practically to live the Christian life amid depressing and opposing circumstances, we are distinctly called to endure, in Christs strength, for Christs sake, and after the pattern of Christs example.

Heb. 12:4. War with Sin to the Death.Read only with the imperfect human vision, the great cloud of witnesses are but men, who sustained human relationships, fulfilled human duty, and suffered human sorrows. Read with the illuminations of the Divine Spirit, they are more than men; they are spiritual men, carrying on a spiritual warfare, gaining spiritual triumphs, and looking for the eternal rewards of righteousness. And such as they were we are or may be. Looking down on our lives, they may seem to be wholly human things, full of human cares, human toils, and human associations. But learn to, look aright, and then, though our world-sphere may seem to be insignificant, we are really occupying the places of the old heroes, and doing the work of the old giants. We are spiritual men, wrestling with human circumstances, and forcing them to yield us spiritual strength, spiritual riches.

I. Christian life, in all its aspects, presents to us sin as a fact.St. Paul says, as an unfolding of private and personal experience that somewhat surprises us: For that which I do I know not: for not what I would, that do I practise; but what I hate, that I do. I find then the law, that, to me who would do good, evil is present. For I delight in the law of God after the inward man: but I see a different law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity under the law of sin which is in my members (Rom. 7:15; Rom. 7:21-23). We can sympathise with him. It is the fact, that conscious evil is intimately connected with all the expressions and associations of the Christian life.

1. The field of Christian thought. The conceptions, imaginations, desires, of Christian thinking. Who can say, I have made my heart clean, I am pure from my sin? There is no side of the Christian life in which the subtlety of sin is so painful and oppressive. Even in the house of God we cannot keep our thoughts free from that which is unsuitable and disturbing.
2. The Christians bodily nature. Desires, dispositions, passions, tempers, lusts, are closely related to bodily conditions, and the sincere man is conscious that they are not always kept under hand, subject to authority. There are indulgences of bodily evil which do not come forth to public view, or bring us into the condemnation of even social law. In even the outer relations of life evil is always near, in forms of omission or of commission. There are falterings in honesty, in truth, in long-suffering, in faithfulness, in speech, and in duty. He must be a very bold man, and withal a very foolish one, who thinks he can read his life in the light of the spiritual and holy laws of God, and can say, All these have I kept from my youth up. Sin is not only an existing thing; it exists in activity; it is ever moving and working as an opposing force. The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; in it is a world of undeveloped evil capacity. Out of the heart proceedeth all kinds of evil. It is not properly sin that all these evil things should be in our hearts. Sin is really something done, something wrong cherished, something bad that is sought after. The sadness of sin lies in thisthat it exists in activity; the evils in our hearts are always proceeding forth, coming out. St. Paul speaks of the motions of sins in our members. It would have mattered little if they had kept still. It was imperilling, it was humiliating, that, serpent-like, they writhed and twisted, and strove to lift up the head and thrust forth a deadly sting. He speaks of evil as warring within him. He had not cared, if it had only sheathed sword, and lain still; but it was perpetually harnessed, sallying forth, and watching for every opportunity of striking a deadly blow. We need to face this factthe evil in us is evil in activity, in an activity of opposition to the work of grace in our souls. It is a masked thief, actively engaged in stealing our peace; a masked slanderer, trying to make us think ill of our God; a masked serpent, watching to thrust out a sting, and fill our natures with the poison of hell; and a masked murderer, who would, if he could, destroy both body and soul.

II. The Christian life in us is a Divine force, also existing in activity, and conflicting with sin up to the measure of blood.St. Paul says, I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me. That gives the true idea of Christian life. It is Christ living in us. It is the power of God dwelling in us, so as to be the main-spring, the motive-power, the controlling principle, of our life. As truly as the soul possesses the body and uses its faculties, so truly does God possess the soul and express Himself in all the powers and workings of the soul. Evil is near to us, closely associated with every aspect of the religious life; but this new thing, this vital force, this power of the Divine, is nearer, is in closer relations, is truly ours. However the evil may get in to us, it is still an outside thing. It is a parasite on the outside of the tree: this Divine life is the very sap which flows in the tree itself. The parasite may cling very closely, it may even pierce the bark, but it can never be more than an outside thing; while every duct and vessel of the tree is filled with this flowing life of God. Being the Divine Spirit, it must be active. We cannot think of God otherwise than as ever working. And it is active, we may be sure, to mould character, to settle right dispositions, to influence and tone human relationships, to recover from human failings, to battle with spiritual foes. The activity of the Christ-life will be seen in opposition to that evil which comes so close, puts on so many forms, and stands in such constant antagonism to everything that is good and God-like. Wherever there is active evil there is an opposing active good. Wherever there are microbes there are also phagocytes. Every mans life is the scene of a twofold conflict. Each of these represents the other. In the physical sphere there is a perpetual struggle between disease and health, death and life. Every breath of air we breathe, every measure of food we eat, has poisonous matter with it, and may breed disease. Our vital force is constantly trying to eliminate the poison. So in the sphere of morals. In our spirit is present, active evil, only kept down by the unceasing activity of the new life in Christ. Our text gives the measure up to which God expects this conflict to go. Resisting unto blood. There must be this striving against sin, even at the peril of expending life itself in the striving. As the martyr stands for the truth, and resists evil, up to the very sacrifice of his life, so must every Christian man expect, and even desire, to stand for purity, for truth, for God, resisting all the forms of evil that may assail him, even up to the measure of the sacrifice of life itself. In the old days of chivalry, when tournaments were held, and knights, clad in armour, met within the lists to prove their prowess, and young squires fought to win their knightly spurs, the struggle was not usually for life: whoever was unhorsed was reckoned to be vanquished. But if there was family feud, and deadly hatred filled the mind of the combatant, he would go up and touch his foemans shield with the point of his lance. That meant war to the death. In that case there must be resisting unto bloodthe life of one or the other of those combatants must stream forth upon those lists. Such is the conflict of evil and good within the Christian. It is an irreconcilable feud; no play of blunted spears. When a man becomes a Christian, he virtually goes up to strike with the lance-point the shield of his foe, and there must be no putting spear in rest, no sheathing of the sword, until the foe is vanquished, and the victory of righteousness is won. This is the standard of the Christian conflict; but in us the conflict too often falls below the standard. God, indeed, does not often call for the extreme self-sacrifice. Within this limit, how real is our battle with sin? How much has it cost us to resist sin, taking form as

(1) weaknesses of Christian character;
(2) neglect of Christian duties;
(3) besetting sins;
(4) social and business errors and failings? Unto blood? So far from our life-struggle reaching unto blood, there is a much smaller test which we cannot bear to have applied to us. It has not reached to the imperilling of a limb. What passion, like a hand, has been resolutely cut off, and cast away? What sinful appetite, like a right eye, has been determinedly plucked out, and cast away? What questionable business habit which brought money in, what comfortableness which led to the neglect of Christian ordinances, has, like a foot, been cut off, and cast away? Would we gain the full victory? Then must we keep looking unto Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith.

Heb. 12:5. Mens Persecutions as Gods Chastenings.The chastening of the Lord. This expression might seem to be especially suited to the distresses that come by disease, calamity, failure; pain, bereavementthings in which mans action is not evident, but Gods providential workings are very manifest. It is, however, singular and suggestive that the writer has so distinctly in mind the persecutions which the Jewish Christians were then suffering, and the strain which those persecutions were putting on their loyalty to Christ. Even those persecutions he would have them think of as Gods chastisementsthings which God was graciously using for the carrying out of His disciplinary work. Illustration may be taken from the nation of Israel. They were subject to oppression and persecution from many outside foesAssyrian, Egyptian, Babylonian, Syrian, Roman; but those foes could never be other than instruments in the hands of Jehovah, for the disciplinary work needed by His people. The manifest human element in outward persecutions makes it difficult to realise the Divine element in them. If God is in them, and working His work by means of them, then of these things we may be sure:

1. They are held within strict limitations.
2. The schemes of men in arranging them have no security of being carried out.
3. We are not left alone in the enduring of them.
4. Instead of injuring us, they can only do us the good God has assigned for them to do.

Heb. 12:7-8. The Fatherliness of the Heavenly Father.We are permitted to use our earthly paternal relations in the endeavour to understand the paternal relations of God. But this is often a difficulty to devout souls, who hesitate to compare the heavenly Father with imperfect earthly fathers. It may be helpful, therefore, to present and to illustrate this point. There is a perfect fatherliness conceivable. If we could put together the many forms of fatherliness which have been presented by unusually good fathers, we should have a satisfactory apprehension of it. That fatherliness can but be incompletely represented in any one human father; but that fatherlinessideal fatherlinessis found in the relations of God with us.

Heb. 12:7. Life an Education.Gods purpose in placing us in this world is not chiefly that He may put us to the proof, but that He may educe and train our faculties and gifts, and make the best of us, whatever our natural virtues or failures. This is the proof of Scripture, and of the teachings of experience. Life is an education.

I. God educates us by means of our physical needs.We alone, of all Gods creatures, are sent into this world unprovided with any of those things which are necessary to the support of physical life. God has not made our task easy. He does not mean that work shall be mechanical, but that it shall tax our ingenuity, and bring out our mental powers to the uttermost. Relatively, too, we are one of the weakest of living beings. We must work. That is the law of life. It strengthens the mind, produces patience, endurance, forethought, courage. Thus is God educating us.

II. God educates us by means of our mental needs.He has implanted in nature that which awakens our curiosity, and He has implanted in us a hunger and thirst after knowledge and truth, and the result is education. There is in us all a love of the beautiful. Our hearts go out after these things in nature. They have a strange power to make us think.

III. God educates us by the sorrows and trials of life.The lower animals are almost exempt from suffering. Life to them is a maximum of enjoyment, with the minimum of suffering. Man is born to trouble. All life is leavened with pain, forebodings, vain regrets, unsatisfied longings. Why? Because God dealeth with you as with sons. Mystery of pain. The saintliest of men are those who have suffered the most. It behoved even the great Captain of our salvation to be made perfect through suffering.

IV. God educates us by our spiritual needs.Our greatest want is to know God. All feel the need of propitiation and reconciliation. Just as nature satisfies mind, so the Bible satisfies spiritual needs.

1. The text throws light on the mystery of the present. We are often puzzled by the question, What will become of the heathen? If life is only a probation, I can show no light; but if life is an education, then this earth is only the lowest room in Gods school; and in other spheres and at other times the education which circumstances thwarted and hindered here can be carried on under happier circumstances.

2. It throws light on the mystery of the future. Here is a powerful argument for a future life. Our education here is at best but in its initial stage when death removes us. Our education here is only the learning of the alphabet. In our Fathers house are many mansions, and in one of these our education will be continued.Angus M. Mackay, B.A.

ILLUSTRATIONS TO CHAPTER 12

Heb. 12:6. The Uses of Affliction.Note the difference between summer storms and winter ones, the latter rushing over the earth with all their violence; and if any poor remnants of foliage or flowers have lingered behind, these are swept along at one gust, leaving nothing but desolation; while the former make all things to rise as it were with renewed beauty,the types of the difference between the storms of affliction as coming upon the Christian and the sinner.Guesses at Truth.

Perfect through Suffering.Stars shine brightest in the darkest night; torches are better for beating; grapes come not to the proof till they come to the press; spices smell best when bruised; young trees root faster for shaking; gold looks brighter for scouring; juniper smells sweetest in the fire; the palm tree proves the better for pressing. Such is the condition of Gods people; they are most triumphant when most tempted, most glorious when most afflicted.Bogatsky.

Heb. 12:7. Gods Dealing with Us.Visiting a person who was in deep affliction and sorrow, Gotthold was told by the family that he was in the garden. Thither he followed, and found him employed in clearing a vine of its superfluous leaves. After a friendly salute, he inquired what he was doing. I find, was the reply, that, owing to the abundant rain, this vine is overgrown with wood and leaves, which prevent the sun from reaching and ripening the grapes; I am, therefore, pruning part of them away, that it may bring its fruit to maturity. Gotthold rejoined, And do you find that in this operation the vine resists and opposes you? If not, why are you displeased that a gracious God should do to you what your vine must not be displeased that you do to it?

The Estimate of Things lost.

For so it falls out,

That what we have we prize not to the worth,
Whiles we enjoy it; but being lacked and lost,
Why then we rack the value; then we find
The virtue, that possession would not show us
Whiles it was ours.Shakespeare.

Like birds, whose beauties languish, half concealed,
Till, mounted on the wing, their glossy plumes
Expanded, shine with azure, green, and gold;
How blessings brighten as they take their flight!Young.

Farewell I did not know thy worth,

But thou art gone, and now tis prized:

So angels walked unknown on earth,

But when they flew were recognised.

Thomas Hood.

Tis only when they spring to heaven that angels
Reveal themselves to you; they sit all day
Beside you, and lie down at night by you,
Who care not for their presence, muse or sleep;
And all at once they leave you, and you know them.Robert Browning.

Not to understand a treasures worth
Till time has stolen away the slighted good,
Is cause of half the poverty we feel,
And makes the world the wilderness it is.

Cowper.

Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell

(3) The figure of the race is still continued, For unless ye thus look unto Jesus ye will grow weary.

Consider.Literally, compare; place your sufferings by the side of His.

Him that endured such contradiction.Rather, Him that hath endured such gainsaying from sinners against themselves. The word gainsaying, (Heb. 6:16; Heb. 7:7) is so frequently used in the LXX. for the rebelliousness of the people of Israel, that we need not here limit it to contradiction in words. The change of Himself into themselves (the reading of the oldest MSS.) is important, but it is not easy to say with what the last two words should be joined; for the meaning may be either sinners against themselves (comp. Num. 16:38), or gainsaying against themselves, In either case the force of the words will be that the sin or the opposition manifested against Him was really against themselves, since it was for their salvation that He came upon earth. To all His other sorrows were added the pain of their ingratitude and His grief over their aggravated guilt.

And faint.Rather, fainting in your souls.

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

3. ADMONITORY. Review your past history as of cheerful and hopeful, yet fearful, endurance, Heb 12:3-17.

3. For consider him Our author pauses to hold the suffering phase of the victorious Exemplar before their mind’s eye steadily. Think of his old-time endurances, and that will explain and lighten your own. His Father, permissively, exposed him to trials; so then realize that your trials are the dealings of a Father.

We may lose the connexion here by not keeping in mind that the chastisements of 4-13 all refer primarily to the persecutions the Hebrews had to endure from their unbelieving adversaries. Not that the specific acts of persecution were preordained of God; but the endurance of trials is part of our probation, and it is a cheering explanation to interpret every infliction as a divine discipline.

Endured such contradiction Contradiction, a pregnant term, including all that the sinners referred to inflicted.

Lest ye be wearied In order that ye may not falter and apostatize.

Faint Exhausted by the wearing contest; forgetting your Exemplar, and losing sight of the final exaltation.

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

‘For consider him who has endured such gainsaying of sinners against themselves (or ‘against himself’ – see note below), that you wax not weary, fainting in your souls. You have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin.’

Indeed we must firstly constantly fix our minds on Him both as He was in His manhood, and as He now is as our great High Priest Who makes intercession for us (Heb 2:17-18; Heb 4:14-16; Heb 5:9; Heb 7:25; Heb 7:27; Heb 9:14; Heb 9:24; Heb 10:13-14). We must remember how He suffered. We must follow in His steps.

We must consider how He was constantly beset around, how He was constantly attacked and criticised, how He was constantly accused of inconstancy, of how He was constantly faulted for not being religious enough, of how He was charged with failing in His duty, with blaspheming God, with failing to accept the latest findings of modern thought, even though, unlike Him, those who spoke against Him were sinners themselves. For this last fact did not cause them to withhold anything from the attack. Indeed the more they gained the uneasy feeling that they might be wrong, the more fierce their attacks on Him became.

And we must consider His perseverance and constancy even in the face of His last days when all Hell was thrown at Him, when His suffering and humiliation was such as no man had ever known or could know (for we must remember to Whom it happened). And we must remember all this lest we become weary and faint in our inner hearts because of the pressures that will come upon us too, lest we begin to grow faint within the depths of our very being. Remembering what He suffered and was willing to suffer, yes, voluntarily came to suffer, will help us to remain constant there too.

For we must recognise that most of us have as yet, unlike many of those heroes of the past, and unlike Jesus Himself, not had to face the ultimate sacrifice. We have not yet had to ‘resist unto blood’, facing torture and severe beatings and death, in our striving against the sinfulness of the world, and against our own sin. We have still not had to pay the ultimate price. We have therefore, in view of our light afflictions (2Co 4:17), no real excuse for not going on.

Some, however, see ‘resisted unto blood’ as simply meaning ‘resisted hard’, and see it as a rebuke for half-heartedness. There may here be a reference to boxing at the games, where boxers wore studded leather on arms and hands which resulted in plenty of blood and gore and where to carry on fighting required extremes of effort and courage. But whichever way it is they are being reminded how much more others have suffered than they have.

‘Against Himself.’ This rendering fits the context, and firmly plants the ‘contra-speaking of sinners’ as being against Him. However, in spite of this, ‘against themselves’ is almost certainly the correct reading. The idea then is that in opposing Jesus and speaking against Him they were acting in all their folly against themselves and unconsciously doing themselves great harm (see Mar 3:22-30). Compare where the idea is used at a critical time in Israel’s history in Num 16:38 LXX (in LXX see Num 17:3) where those who sinned against themselves by their own actions are spoken of. Thus by their very opposition to Christ they were destroying themselves.

Note On ‘Against Himself (or ‘themselves’).’

The strongest manuscript evidence is in fact undoubtedly for ‘against themselves’. This is supported by p13, p46, Aleph, D2, Alephc, and 33, with B being a non-witness as not containing this section of Hebrews. These are both widespread and ancient witnesses, coming mainly from around 3rd and 4th century AD. Indeed of the most ancient and valued manuscripts only A (5th century AD) and D2c support ‘against Himself’, the latter a correction.

Admittedly the readings are slightly varied, either eautous (Aleph, D2) or autous (p13, p46, Alephc, 33). But this must be seen as strong evidence and it is certainly the more difficult reading (and therefore more likely to be original). And the variations are slight and may simply reflect style. ‘Against Himself’ (eauton/auton) is found in A D2c P K L. Apart from A (fifth century AD) and possibly D2correction these are lesser manuscripts. They just do not compare. And it is interesting that they follow both the variations in the earlier manuscripts, with them having become singular. Furthermore it is hard to see how at least two scribes could have altered ‘Himself’ to ‘themselves’, producing the more difficult reading, whereas it is easy to see why two such scribes should have removed a difficulty, and honoured Jesus at the same time, by altering from ‘themselves’ to ‘Himself’. On those two criteria, therefore, ‘themselves’ wins hands down.

RV, consistently with the principles of textual criticism, translates ‘themselves’, with ‘Himself’ in the margin, but ASV and RSV (which surprisingly in my copy shows no alternative rendering in spite of the powerful evidence) opt for ‘Himself’, undoubtedly because it fits the context so much better, even though there is no manuscript evidence for it before 5th century AD.

End of Note.

Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett

Heb 12:3. Consider him The original word is very emphatical: it is a metaphor taken from arithmetical and geometrical propositions; so that it signifies the great accuracy and exactness, with which they should consider the Author and Finisher of their faith, and especially the analogy between his case and their o

Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke

Heb 12:3 . ] is here, on account of the imperative, the corroborative: Yea! (comp. Winer, Gramm. , 7 Aufl. p. 415 f.); and , in the N. T. a , denotes the comparing or reflecting contemplation . Bengel: Comparatione instituta cogitate: Dominus tanta tulit; quanto magis servi ferant aliquid?

, however, denotes nothing else than contradiction ; and what is meant is, the contending against Christ’s divine Sonship and Messianic dignity. The notion of opposition and ill-usage in act , which is ordinarily assigned to it (still also by Bhme, Bleek, de Wette, Tholuck, Bloomfield, Delitzsch, Alford, and Maier) along with that of contradiction , this word never has. Even , to which appeal is made, has nowhere the sense of a hostile resistance manifesting itself in outward actions. See Meyer on Luk 2:34 ; Joh 19:12 ; Rom 10:21 .

] such , i.e. one so great, sc . that He was compelled to undergo the ignominious death of the cross (Heb 12:2 ), in comparison with which your sufferings are something insignificant.

. . .] that ye may not grow weary, desponding in your souls . is to be conjoined with (Beza, Er. Schmid, Hammond, Kuinoel, Bleek, de Wette, Ebrard, Bisping, Delitzsch, Alford, Maier, Moll, Kurtz, Hofmann, al .), not with (Luther, Bengel, Chr. Fr. Schmid, Storr, Schulz, Bhme, and others), since otherwise something of a dragging character would be imparted to the participle.

Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary

DISCOURSE: 2335
CHRISTS PATIENCE UNDER SUFFERINGS

Heb 12:3. Consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds.

THINGS are good or evil in this life chiefly by comparison: the happiest of men is unhappy in comparison of Adam in Paradise; and the most miserable of men is happy in comparison of those who are in hell. This reflection will be of great service to us in estimating our own state. It is not indeed expedient that we should compare ourselves with those who appear in a more prosperous condition than ourselves (unless for the purposes of humiliation and self-abasement), lest we should be led to envy them, and to repine at our own lot: but it will be highly advantageous to us frequently to view the wants and sufferings of others, in order to extirpate every murmuring thought, and to stimulate our own souls to gratitude and thanksgiving. A sight of the Lord Jesus in particular cannot fail to produce in us the best effects; since all that we are called to endure for his sake, is as nothing in comparison of what he patiently and willingly endured for us
In the text we have this very direction given us, and for this express purpose. The Apostle, in what he wrote for the comfort of the afflicted Hebrews, reminds us,

I.

That the soul is apt to faint under heavy trials

The people of God are taught to expect trials from an ungodly world; and to make their sufferings an occasion of joy and glorying. But,
Even the most eminent saints have fainted under their trials
[In the Scriptures we have the weaknesses of Gods people as faithfully recorded as their virtues. And there is scarcely a saint who has not on some occasions shewn himself weak as other men. Jacob, in despondency, cried, All these things are against me [Note: Gen 42:36.]. Moses, by his intemperate and hasty expressions, provoked God to exclude him from the earthly Canaan [Note: Num 20:10-12.]. Job cursed the day of his birth, and accused even God himself of cruelty and oppression [Note: Job 3:3; Job 10:3; Job 16:12-14.]. David said it was in vain to serve God; and called all who had ever testified to the contrary, by the name of liars [Note: Psa 73:13-14; Psa 77:4; Psa 77:7-9; Psa 116:10-11.]. Elijah, through the dread of Jezebel, begged of God to put an end to his life [Note: 1Ki 19:4.]. Jeremiah lamented that he had ever been born; and complained that God himself was to him as a liar, and as waters that fail [Note: Jer 15:10; Jer 15:18.]. All of these were very distinguished characters, and yet, in circumstances of peculiar trial, lost that composure of mind which it was their duty, and their privilege, to possess.]

And who amongst us has not on many occasions betrayed the same weakness?
[We have borne up with fortitude perhaps against some trials, which have been light and transient; but how have we sustained those which were heavy, complicated, and of long continuance? When our troubles have arisen from those who were our avowed enemies, we have endured them manfully: but when they have come from a quarter that we did not expect, or from a quarter from whence we had reason to expect nothing but support and consolation, how have we endured them then? If some near relative, or a friend that was as our own soul, have been the immediate cause of our affliction, and our enemies have been those of our own household, have we not given way to complaint and murmuring? Yea, have not our very spirits failed by reason of vexation, insomuch that we could find scarce any comfort in life. If we have not been turned from the faith, like those who were afraid to confess Christ [Note: Joh 12:42.], have we not been diverted from the path of duty, and been led to manifest a vindictive spirit instead of overcoming evil with good? Let this then suffice to shew us how weak we are, and how much we need the supports and consolations of the Gospel.]

But in the text the Apostle informs us,

II.

That a view of Christs patience under his sufferings will afford us most effectual relief

Many are the consolations which the Gospel administers, by pointing out to us the author and the intent of our trials, together with the benefits resulting from them. But there is no source of comfort so great as that which the consideration of Christs sufferings opens to us.
The contradiction of sinners which Christ endured was wonderful indeed
[Consider the unreasonableness with which he was opposed, when, notwithstanding the myriads of miracles that he wrought, his enemies were continually demanding more signs, and pretending a want of evidence as the ground of their unbelief. Consider the obstinacy with which he was rejected, when his victory over the devils was ascribed to a confederacy with them; and Lazarus himself was made an object of murderous resentment, because his restoration from the grave was the means of converting some who were more open to conviction. Consider the malice with which he was persecuted. Incessantly did his enemies labour to ensnare him, and seek to take away his life. And, when they had a prospect of effecting their purpose, there was no method, however infamous, which they did not use to accomplish their wishes. With what inveteracy did they suborn false witnesses; and, on the failure of that device, compel the judge by clamours and menaces, to give sentence against him! Consider the cruelty with which he was put to death. They might, one would have thought, have been satisfied with seeing his back torn, and even ploughed up, with scourges: but their cruelty was insatiable; for, even when he was nailed to the accursed tree, they ceased not to mock and insult him, and to add by their indignities a tenfold poignancy to all his anguish.

Yet, notwithstanding the contradiction of sinners against him was so great and unparalleled, he endured it all with patience, never fainting, never wearied, till he expired under the accumulated load.]
A due consideration of this will keep us from fainting under our sorrows
[What are our sorrows in comparison of his? The utmost we have met with is a little contempt and ridicule, or perhaps the loss of some worldly interests or prospects. We have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin [Note: ver. 4.]; and any thing short of that should be deemed unworthy of our notice. How slight are the aggravations of our sufferings in comparison of his! If we do not deserve such treatment from man, have we not merited infinitely worse from God? But he was altogether spotless; nor could either men or devils lay any thing to his charge. Perhaps we have endeavoured to do some good to those who now hate and revile us: but he came from heaven for the salvation of them that hated him; yea, and subjected himself to the power of his enemies, on purpose that he might effect their reconciliation with God. If then he patiently endured such things for us, should we faint when called to endure some light afflictions for him? Surely we should rather rejoice that an opportunity is afforded us of testifying our love to him, and of approving ourselves faithful to his interests.]

We may improve this subject,
1.

For our humiliation

[How should we be ashamed of our readiness to shrink from the cross, and to complain when it is laid upon us! What if we should be called to lay down our lives for Christ, as thousands have been before us? How should we endure that trial? If we have run with the footmen and they wearied us, how shall we contend with horses? if we be wearied in a land of peace, how shall we do in the swelling of Jordan [Note: Jer 12:5.]? Let us remember, that he who hateth not his own life, (when it stands in competition with his duty) cannot be Christs disciple. Let us then never fear the face of man [Note: Isa 51:7-8; Isa 51:12-13.]; but whenever we are tempted to betray the cause of Christ, let us reflect on the example he has set us, and arm ourselves likewise with the same mind [Note: 1Pe 4:1.].]

2.

For our encouragement

[Some variation in our frames we must expect: but we must never suffer a desponding thought to lodge within us. Be it so; our sufferings are very great: then we are the more conformed to the example of our blessed Lord. And shall not this thought console us? And if we walk in his steps shall we not soon be with him where he is? Let us then be content to fill up the measure of his sufferings, and to follow him in his appointed way. Thus shall we, like him, be made perfect through sufferings; and, having suffered with him for a little while, be also glorified with him to all eternity [Note: Rom 8:17.].]

Fuente: Charles Simeon’s Horae Homileticae (Old and New Testaments)

(3) For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds. (4) Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin. (5) And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him: (6) For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. (7) If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not? (8) But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons. (9) Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live? (10) For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure; but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness. (11) Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby. (12) Wherefore lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees; (13) And make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way; but let it rather be healed.

There is somewhat truly blessed in what is here said of the Lord Jesus. What joy could be set before him, which could increase his own joy, in the glories of his own essential power and Godhead? And if it be meant, the joy of giving everlasting happiness to millions, in giving them a Being in himself, and a blessedness of being in himself abstracted from all personal interest, what a view doth it give of the love of Christ? Moreover, when we are enjoined by the Holy Ghost to consider Him, in order to prevent our becoming faint under exercises, what an argument ariseth here – from, to give confidence to the soul, in the consideration, that as he was, so are we in this world. And the argument runs thus: If Jesus, for our sakes, endured such things against himself, what ought we to endure, if needful, for ourselves. Oh! who shall count the contumacy, reproach, and scorn, which the Son of God sustained, in his Person, Offices, and characters, when he became man for our salvation? How sweetly the Apostle argues from it in the next Chapter, to go forth without the camp, bearing his reproach? Heb 13:13 . And how sweetly he adds to this argument another; in that, though some of them might, and would be called to suffering, yet hitherto they had not. Reader! there is nothing so truly accommodating, to bring a child of God into a blessed frame of mind, when at any time exercised with sufferings, as the consciousness of Christ’s sorrows. The path is made sacred, which we are called upon to walk in, when we behold the footsteps in it of the Lord Jesus, and those footsteps marked with blood.

There is somewhat very affectionate and endearing in the application of that passage from Pro 3:11 , to the cases of the Lord’s suffering family. The character of a father, in the tenderness of one, is happily chosen, to represent the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort. And the contrast, to the case of bastards, who are disregarded by their father, as being ashamed to own children un-lawfully begotten, is as striking, to set forth the vast difference, between the children of the bond-woman, and the children of the free. Reader! it is astonishing to observe, what a decided, and marked attention, is uniformly observed through all the Bible, by way of showing the Church, the delight the Lord takes to mark the precious from the vile; and to instruct the Church, how to know him that serveth God, from him that serveth him not.

Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

3 For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds.

Ver. 3. For consider him ] Gr. , comparationem instituite. Make the comparison betwixt Christ and yourselves, betwixt his sufferings and yours, and then you will see a difference. Our troubles are but as the slivers and chips of his cross. I am heartily angry (saith Luther) with those that speak of my sufferings, which if compared with that which Christ suffered for me, are not once to be mentioned in the same day.

Lest ye be wearied and faint ] Gr. , loosened, as the nerves are in a swoon or palsy; or, let go, as water spilt upon the ground. This to prevent keep your eye upon your Captain and that cloud before mentioned. There were in Greece certain fields called Palaestrae, where young men exercised themselves in wrestling, running, &c. In these were set up statues of various valiant champions, that the young men that ran or wrestled, might fix their eye upon them. and be encouraged. When Jerome had read the life and death of Hilarion, he folded up the book, and said, Well, Hilarion shall he the champion that I will follow.

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

3 .] For (q. d. and there is reason in what I say; &c., for He like yourselves had much and continual conflict with the sinners of His day. is not as Lnem., “ Yea ,” merely strengthening the imperative: I heartily concur with the dictum of Hermann, cited here by Delitzsch: “ semper reddit rationem antecedentis sententi vel express vel intellect”) compare (with yourselves. is very difficult to express in English. It is as Bengel, “comparatione instituta cogitare,” “to think on, by way of comparison.” So Plato, Thet. p. 186 A, ( comparing ): Diod. Sic. xx. 8, , ( reputantes , bethinking themselves of, comparing with their power to cross it). So here it is, consider Him as set in comparison with yourselves. If the word to ‘ ponder ’ had any trace left of its primitive meaning, it might serve; but it has now become equivalent to ‘ meditate ’) Him who hath endured (perf. part. again, to set before them Christ as not merely a character of the past, but one ever present) such contradiction ( need not be confined to words : see note on ch. Heb 6:16 , and cf. ref. John, . c. says, , , , , . And so Chrys. and Thl. Lnemann in vain denies this sense of and : see reff., and Bleek’s and Delitzsch’s notes) by the sinners against Himself (i. e. by those who sinned against Him. Whether or be read, the sense will be the same. Beware of Ebrard’s strange interpretation, given below on : “All mankind would be opposed to Christ as the sinners (the class of sinners); but the enemies of the gospel could not be opposed to the readers of the Epistle as the sinners , seeing that those readers themselves were sinners.” All such notions of arise from wrongly connecting , which follows and not . So Luk 15:18 ; Luk 15:21 . See also Luk 17:4 ; Act 25:8 ), that ye weary not (reff.), fainting in your souls ( . may be joined either with or with . In ref. Job, we have : and is found in Polyb. ref., and xx. 4. 7, , . So also in Diod. Sic. xx. 1, . And this latter is preferable, on account of the rhythm, and the improbability of the participle standing thus alone at the end of the sentence).

Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament

Heb 12:3 . . The reason for fixing the gaze on Jesus is given. That reason being found in the . This so great contumely and opposition endured by Jesus the Hebrews are to consider, “to bring into analogy, think of by comparing” with their own and so renew their hopeful endurance. , “Him who has endured at the hands of sinners such contradiction against Himself.” The desire on the part of several interpreters to put a stronger meaning into although quite unsupported by usage reveals a feeling that verbal abuse or contradiction was a much less severe trial than such as are enumerated in chap. 11. But not only was it this which brought Christ to the cross and formed the of it, but it was the repudiation of His claims throughout His life which formed the chief element in His trial. It was predicted (Luk 2:34 ) that He would be a , full of significance misinterpreted, full of God rejected. It was precisely this general rejection and contempt from which the Hebrews were themselves suffering. They were finding how hard it was to maintain a solitary faith contradicted and scorned by public sentiment. Think then, says this writer, of Him who has endured at the hands of sinners so much more painful contradiction “against Himself”. “that ye wax not weary, fainting in your souls”. may be construed either with or with ; better with the latter. [Polybius, xx. 4, 7, speaking of the demoralisation of the Boeotians says that giving themselves up to eating and drinking, .]

Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson

NASB (UPDATED TEXT: Heb 12:3-11

3For consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. 4You have not yet resisted to the point of shedding blood in your striving against sin; 5and you have forgotten the exhortation which is addressed to you as sons,

“My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord,

Nor faint when you are reproved by Him;

6For those whom the Lord loves He disciplines,

And He scourges every son whom He receives.”

7It is for discipline that you endure; God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom his father does not discipline? 8But if you are without discipline, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. 9Furthermore, we had earthly fathers to discipline us, and we respected them; shall we not much rather be subject to the Father of spirits, and live? 10For they disciplined us for a short time as seemed best to them, but He disciplines us for our good, so that we may share His holiness. 11All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness.

Heb 12:3 “For consider” This is an aorist middle (deponent) imperative. It literally means “add it up” and is used to emphasize the careful analysis of something. The ancients added numbers upwards and drew a line at the top for the total.

“Him who has endured” This is a perfect active participle. As Jesus endured such shameful treatment for believers’ salvation, they need to live for Him and other believers (cf. 1Jn 3:16).

“against Himself” The singular pronoun is found in all modern translations. However, the majority of the ancient Greek manuscripts, versions, and Patristic quotes support a plural. Although it is a commonly accepted tenet of textual criticism (i.e., see Appendix Two) that the most unusual, most difficult text is probably original, this plural does not fit this context at all. The subject is obviously Jesus. This must be an ancient scribal error from the first one to two hundred years before the majority of the papyri texts were written.

“so that you will not grow weary and lose heart” These are athletic terms for runners panting and collapsing after a hard run race. Our author is encouraging these Jewish believers to continue even though it may be difficult. This warning is continued in Heb 12:15; Heb 12:25-29.

Heb 12:4 “you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding blood” The original readers had suffered persecution, but not yet death (cf. Heb 10:32 ff). Jesus had suffered death for them, they must be willing to live or die for Him.

“in your striving against sin” This is another athletic term as was used in Heb 12:1. It is transliterated in English as “agony.” The “sin” in context of the whole book refers to

1. the sin of unbelief related to the group of unbelieving Jews

2. the sin of apostasy (“shrinking back” Heb 10:38) relating to the group of believing Jews

Heb 12:5 “you have forgotten” This is a perfect middle (deponent) indicative. This term is used only here in the NT. It denotes

1. a complete forgetting (i.e., emphasis on tense)

2. a deliberate forgetting (i.e., emphasis on voice)

“do not regard lightly. . .nor faint when you are reproved by him” This is a quote from the Septuagint of Pro 3:11-12. These both are present imperatives with a negative particle, which usually means to stop an act already in process.

“the discipline of the Lord” This term refers to “child training.” There is a play on this term in Heb 12:5-11. This is another familial metaphor. As earthly parents discipline their children, so too, God disciplines His (cf. 1Co 11:32; Rev 3:19).

Heb 12:6 “For those whom the lord loves he disciplines” This is one reason why believers are involved in suffering for the faith (cf. Mat 5:10-12; Act 8:1 b, Act 8:4; Act 14:22; 2Th 1:4-10).

“and he scourges every son whom he receives” This is the continuing quote from the Septuagint of Pro 3:11-12. This is so important! Jesus has been called “a son” several times, while the OT characters have been called “servants.” Now NT believers are called “sons” (cf. Heb 12:7-8). Fathers discipline sons

1. for the father’s purpose

2. for the son’s benefit

3. for the benefit of the whole family

Heb 12:7 “that you endure” This is a present active indicative or present active imperative (same Greek morphology). Since Heb 12:5 has two present imperatives, this is probably also an imperative. The word means “voluntary, steadfast endurance” (cf. Heb 12:1-3; Heb 10:32; Heb 10:36). This testing will result in stronger faith!

“God deals with you as sons” This theme of God as a disciplining parent may be an allusion to Deu 8:5 as is Hos 11:1-4.

The verb is a present passive indicative of a term that means “to bring something to Jesus or God, often by means of a sacrifice; but here the passive voice denotes God’s willingness to be approached by sinful humans, by implication through Christ’s sacrifice.

Heb 12:8 “if” This is a first class conditional sentence, which is assumed to be true for the author’s purposes. All of God’s children have experienced discipline (perfect active indicative).

Heb 12:9 “Father of spirits” This has nothing to do with theories of the origin of the “soul.” It is used in the sense of the true source of all life. God is being contrasted with earthly fathers (cf. Heb 12:9-10).

“and live” The Father’s discipline brings true life, not death.

Heb 12:10 “but He disciplines us for our good so that we may share His holiness” Every believer is sanctified at salvation (positional) and is called to holiness (see Special Topic at Heb 2:11). This is God’s purpose for every believer (cf. Mat 5:48; Rom 8:28-30; 2Co 3:18; 2Co 7:1; Gal 4:19; Eph 4:13; 1Th 3:13; 1Th 4:3; 1Th 4:7; 1Pe 1:15). Believers are predestined to holiness (cf. Eph 1:4). It often occurs only in a disciplinary setting (cf. Heb 5:8 and Rom 8:17).

Heb 12:11 “it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness” The Christian life is from faith to faith, from affirmation (profession of faith) to character (life of faith, cf. Rom 5:3-5; Jas 1:2-4).

For a word study on “Righteousness” see Special Topic at Heb 1:9.

Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley

consider. Greek. analogizomai. Only here.

That = That hath.

contradiction. Greek. antilogia. See Heb 6:16. Compare Luk 2:34, where the verb antilego occurs.

of = by. Greek. hupo. App-104.

lest = in order that (Greek. hina) not (Greek. me).

be wearied. Greek. kamno. Only here, Jam 5:15. Rev 2:3.

and faint = fainting. Greek. ekluo. See Gal 1:6, Gal 1:9.

minds = souls. App-110.

Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics

3.] For (q. d. and there is reason in what I say; &c., for He like yourselves had much and continual conflict with the sinners of His day. is not as Lnem., Yea, merely strengthening the imperative: I heartily concur with the dictum of Hermann, cited here by Delitzsch: semper reddit rationem antecedentis sententi vel express vel intellect) compare (with yourselves. is very difficult to express in English. It is as Bengel, comparatione instituta cogitare, to think on, by way of comparison. So Plato, Thet. p. 186 A, (comparing): Diod. Sic. xx. 8, , (reputantes, bethinking themselves of, comparing with their power to cross it). So here it is, consider Him as set in comparison with yourselves. If the word to ponder had any trace left of its primitive meaning, it might serve; but it has now become equivalent to meditate) Him who hath endured (perf. part. again, to set before them Christ as not merely a character of the past, but one ever present) such contradiction ( need not be confined to words: see note on ch. Heb 6:16, and cf. ref. John, . c. says, , , , , . And so Chrys. and Thl. Lnemann in vain denies this sense of and : see reff., and Bleeks and Delitzschs notes) by the sinners against Himself (i. e. by those who sinned against Him. Whether or be read, the sense will be the same. Beware of Ebrards strange interpretation, given below on : All mankind would be opposed to Christ as the sinners (the class of sinners); but the enemies of the gospel could not be opposed to the readers of the Epistle as the sinners, seeing that those readers themselves were sinners. All such notions of arise from wrongly connecting , which follows and not . So Luk 15:18; Luk 15:21. See also Luk 17:4; Act 25:8), that ye weary not (reff.), fainting in your souls ( . may be joined either with or with . In ref. Job, we have : and is found in Polyb. ref., and xx. 4. 7, , . So also in Diod. Sic. xx. 1, . And this latter is preferable, on account of the rhythm, and the improbability of the participle standing thus alone at the end of the sentence).

Fuente: The Greek Testament

Heb 12:3. ) consider, by instituting a comparison. The Lord has suffered so much; how much more should His servants encounter some suffering? It is, so to speak, a modal expression (an appeal to their feeling); for it very rarely happens that is added to the imperative;-it is the same as if he had said: for the Lord has endured so great contradiction, and you ought to remember it. The force of the tiology (assigning of the reason by ) falls upon the other verb, which is put beside it; comp. , here, and also , Heb 12:2.- , by sinners) It is said of us, against sin, Heb 12:4 : comp. Heb 12:1. Sin itself, by which others are led away and we are tempted, assails us; not sin, but sinners, contradicted Christ.-) LXX. for , Psa 80:7 : for , often. Contradiction involves striving against, Joh 19:12; Act 28:19, and mostly denotes the natural disposition of infidelity or unbelief, as confession follows faith.- ) LXX. , Job 10:1. For in other places refers to the body; but is put absolutely, as Heb 12:5.-) Heb 12:5. He who , actually fails or faints, is habitually wearied out.

Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament

And the apostle carries on the same argument, with respect unto an especial improvement, of it in this verse.

Heb 12:3. , , .

. Syr., , see, behold. Vulg., recogitate. Rhem., think diligently on; not unfitly. Beza, reputate quis ille sit, counting, reckoning, judging who he is; referring it to the person of Christ.

. Vulg., enim. Syr., , therefore; for in some copies of the Greek it is : but when is a note of inference from what was said, and not redditive of the reason of what was said, it is better rendered in Latin by nam than enim, and includes the force of , therefore.

. Syr., quantum or quanta, how great things; referring unto the sufferings of Christ. And indeed signifies not only a contradiction in words, but an opposition in things also, or else the translator quite left out this word, rendering by . Vulg., talem contradictionem, such contradiction.

. Syr., , from those wicked ones; referring it to them by whom he was crucified.

, adversus semet ipsum, against himself. The Syriac here departs from the original, , who were enemies or adversaries unto their own souls; intimating the ruin that the persecutors of him brought on themselves.

. Syr., , that ye be not weary, that it be not irksome unto you. Vulg. Lat., ut ne fatigemini. Rhem., that ye be not wearied, in a passive sense: fatiscatis, faint not.

, deficientes, fracti, remissi; faint, be broken in your minds. We read the words, lest ye be wearied, and faint in your minds; but and is not in the original, and the introduction of it leads from the sense of the words: for that which is exhorted against is expressed in , to be wearied, or faint; and the other words express the cause of it, which is the sinking of our spirits, or the breaking of our resolution, or fainting in our minds.

Heb 12:3. For consider him [call things to account concerning him] that endured such [so great] contradiction of sinners against himself, that ye be not wearied through fainting in your minds.

The introduction of the close of this exhortation from the looking unto Jesus, is by . This renders not a reason of what was spoken before, but directs unto an especial motive unto the duty exhorted unto. Some copies read , therefore, in a progressive exhortation.

The peculiar manner of the respect of faith unto Christ is expressed by , which we render consider. So we are directed to consider him, Heb 3:1. But there in the original it is , a word of another form, used again Heb 10:24. So we also render , Heb 7:4. This word is nowhere else used in the New Testament. , from whence it is taken, is so once only, Rom 12:6; where we render it proportion, the proportion of faith: and so is the word used in mathematical sciences, whereunto it doth belong; the due proportion of one thing unto another; so that the verb is to compare things by their due proportion one to another. Whether it respects the person of Christ, or his sufferings, we shall see immediately.

The object of this consideration is, him that endured. Of this enduring we spake in the verse foregoing. But whereas mention is made of him who endured, and of what he endured, we must inquire where the emphasis lies that determines the object of the computation by proportion whereunto we are directed, though neither of them be excluded.

In the first way, the force of the apostles exhortation is taken from the person of Christ; in the latter, from his sufferings. As,

1. Consider him; qualis sit; make a just estimate between him and us. If he suffered, if he endured such things, why should not we do so also? For he is the Son of God, the author and finisher of our faith. He had all glory and power in his own hand.And, 2. As to the event of his sufferings, he is set down at the right hand of God.Compute thus with yourselves, that if he, being so great, so excellent, so infinitely exalted above us, yet endured such contradiction of sinners, ought we not so to do, if we are called thereunto?

In the latter way, supposing the proposal of his person unto us in the foregoing verse, he calls us unto the consideration of what he suffered in particular, as unto the contradiction of sinners; such, so great contradiction. And the word is applied unto all manner of oppositions, and not to contradiction only, and so may include all the sufferings of Christ. These he calls us to consider, by comparing our own with them. And this sense the following words incline unto, For ye have not yet resisted unto blood, as he did.

But although these things are thus distinguished, yet are they not to be divided. Both the person of Christ, and what he suffered, are proposed unto our diligent consideration and computation of them, with respect unto us and our sufferings.

There is in this verse,

1. A caution against, or a dehortation from, an evil that is contrary to the duty exhorted unto, and destructive of it; that ye be not wearied.

2. The way whereby we may fall into this evil; and that is by fainting in our minds.

3. The means to prevent it, and to keep us up unto our duty; which is the diligent consideration of the Lord Christ, whom we are to look unto: and that,

(1.) As unto the excellency of his person; and,

(2.) As unto his sufferings in one peculiar way, of enduring the contradiction of sinners.

(3.) As unto the greatness of that contradiction, such contradiction, or so great.

4. The force of this consideration unto that end is to be explained.

1. That which we are cautioned about is, that we be not wearied. is to labor so as to bring on weariness; and to be sick, which is accompanied with weariness, Jas 5:15, , Shall save the sick; and to be spent with labor, so as to give over: so here, and Rev 2:3; in which places alone the word is used. , in war and games for victory, are opposed to , those that are courageous and successful; signifying such as despond, faint, and give over. Lucian in Hermot. cap. 40: , It is no small good fortune of a champion, when he that is bold and courageous, falls in contention with faint-hearted persons. And the apostle treating before of a race, and our conflict therein, may easily be supposed to have respect unto such as fainted through weariness in those contests. But the sense of the word is fully explained in that other place, where it is used in the same case, Rev 2:3,

Thou hast borne, and hast patience, and for my names sake, hast labored, and hast not fainted.

To abide and persevere in suffering and labor for the name of Christ, is, not to faint or be wearied. Wherefore, to be wearied in this case, is to be so pressed and discouraged with the greatness or length of difficulties and trials as to draw back, to give over partially or totally from the profession of the gospel. For there is such a weariness, as whereon men do not absolutely give over the work or labor wherein they are engaged, but it grows very uneasy and tedious unto them, that they are even ready so to give over. And this I judge to be the frame of mind here cautioned against by the apostle, name]y, the want of life, vigor, and cheerfulness in profession, tending unto a relinquishment of it. And it is hence evident,

Obs. 1. That such things may befall us, in the way of our profession of the gospel, as are in themselves apt to weary and burden us, so as to solicit our minds unto a relinquishment of it. Such, in particular, are the mentioned reproaches and contradictions of men, making way unto further sufferings.

Obs. 2. When we begin to be heartless, desponding, and weary of our sufferings, it is a dangerous disposition of mind, towards a defection from the gospel. So it hath been with many, who at first vigorously engaged in profession, but have been wrought over unto a conformity with the world, by weariness of their trials. And,

Obs. 3. We ought to watch against nothing more diligently than the insensible, gradual prevailing of such a frame in us, if we intend to be faithful unto the end.

2. There is the way whereby we fall into this dangerous condition, in the last words of the verse; it is by fainting in our minds. For so I take the mind of the apostle to be. , is animo defici et concidere; to have the strength and vigor of the mind dissolved, so as to faint and fall; to be like a dying man, to whom solvuntur frigore membra, by a dissolution of all bodily strength. And wherein this doth consist we must inquire.

There is a spiritual vigor and strength required unto perseverance in profession in the time of persecution. Hence our duty herein is prescribed unto us under all the names and terms of preparation for a severe fight or battle. We are commanded to arm ourselves with the same mind that was in Christ, 1Pe 4:1; to take to ourselves the whole armor of God, that we may be able to resist and stand, Eph 6:13; to watch, to stand fast in the faith, to quit ourselves like men, to be strong, 1Co 16:13. And it is the constant, vigorous acting of faith that is required in all these things. Wherefore this fainting in our minds, consists in a remission of the due acting of faith by all graces, and in all duties. It is faith that stirs up and engageth spiritual courage, resolution, patience, perseverance, prayer, all preserving graces and duties. If it fail herein, and our minds are left to conflict with our difficulties in their own natural strength, we shall quickly grow weary of a persecuted profession. Here lies the beginning of all spiritual declensions, namely, in the want of a due exercise of faith in all these graces and duties. Hereon our spiritual strength is dissolved, and we wax weary. And,

Obs. 4. If we design perseverance in a time of trouble and persecution, it is both our wisdom and our duty to keep up faith unto a vigorous exercise; the want whereof is the fainting in our minds. This is like the hands of Moses in the battle against Amalek.

3. The third thing in the words is that which is laid down in the beginning of the verse; which is, the way and means of our preservation from this evil frame, and danger thereon. And this is, the diligent consideration of the person of Christ and his sufferings, or of his person in his sufferings.

The meaning of the words hath been before spoken unto. The duty itself enjoined is built on the direction in the foregoing verse, to look unto him. So look unto him, as to consider diligently both who he is, and what he suffered; and so consider it as to make application of what we find in him and it unto our own case. Are we called to suffer? let us weigh seriously who went before us herein.

The excellency of his person, with respect unto his sufferings, is in the first place to be called unto an account, and adjusted as unto our sufferings. This our apostle fully proposeth unto us, Php 2:5-11.

And as unto his sufferings, he proposeth the consideration of them in one especial instance, and therein every word is emphatical:

(1.) It was contradiction he underwent.

(2.) It was such, or so great, as is not easy to be apprehended.

(3.) It was the contradiction of sinners.

(4.) It was against himself immediately.

(1.) He endured contradiction. The word, as was observed, is used for any kind of opposition, in things as well as words, and so may include the whole suffering of Christ from men, both in the cross and in the shame thereof; but no doubt the apostle hath peculiar respect unto the revilings and reproaches which he underwent, the opposition made unto his doctrine and ministry, proclaiming himself to be a deceiver, and his doctrine to be a fable. And yet more especially, regard may be had to their triumphing over him when he was crucified: Let the King of Israel come down from the cross, and we will believe. He saved others, himself he cannot save. Thus was it with him. And,

(2.) The apostle intimates the severity and cruelty of those contradictions; and herein he refers us unto the whole story of what passed at his death. Such contradiction, so bitter, so severe, so cruel: whatever the malicious wits of men, or suggestions of Satan could invent or broach, that was venomous and evil, was cast upon him.

(3.) It was the contradiction of sinners; that is, such as gave no bounds to their wrath and malice. But withal, the apostle seems to reflect on them as unto their state and condition. For it was the priests, the scribes, and Pharisees, who from first to last managed this contradiction; and these all boasted themselves to be just and righteous, yea, that they alone were so, all others in comparison with them being sinners. Herewith they pleased themselves, in the height of their contradiction to Jesus Christ. And so it hath been and is with all their successors in the persecution of the church. But they did deceive themselves; they were sinners, the worst of sinners, and had the end of sinners.

(4.) It was an aggravation of his suffering, that this contradiction against him was immediate, and as it were unto his face. There is an emphasis in that expression, , against himself in person: so they told him openly to his face that he had a devil, that he was a seducer, etc.

All this he patiently endured, as the sense of the word was declared on the foregoing verse.

4. Lastly, The consideration hereof, namely, of the Lord Christs patient enduring these contradictions against himself, is proposed as the means to preserve us from being weary and fainting in our minds.

It is so,

(1.) By the way of motive; for if he, who in himself and in his own person was infinitely above all opposition of sinners, as the apostle states the case, Php 2:5-8, yet for our sakes would undergo and conflict with them all, it is all the reason in the world that for his sake we should submit unto our portion in them.

(2.) By the way of precedent and example, as it is urged by Peter, 1Pe 2:21-22.

(3.) By the way of deriving power from him; for the due consideration of him herein will work a conformity in our minds and souls unto him in his sufferings, which will assuredly preserve us from fainting. And we may observe,

Obs. 5. That the malicious contradiction of wicked priests, scribes, and Pharisees, against the truth, and those that profess it, on the account thereof, is suited to make them faint, if not opposed by the vigorous acting of faith on Christ, and a due consideration of his sufferings in the same kind.

Obs. 6. Whoever they are, who by their contradictions unto the truth, and them that do profess it, do stir up persecution against them, let them pretend what they will of righteousness, they are sinners, and that in such a degree as to be obnoxious unto eternal death.

Obs. 7. If our minds grow weak, through a remission of the vigorous acting of faith, in a time of great contradiction unto our profession, they will quickly grow weary, so as to give over, if not timely recovered.

Obs. 8. The constant consideration of Christ in his sufferings is the best means to keep up faith unto its due exercise in all times of trial.

Fuente: An Exposition of the Epistle to the Hebrews

Consider Him

For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds. Heb 12:3

When the Spirit of God tells us to consider Christ, he is telling us to ever remember and bear in mind who he is. Nothing more inspires faith, confidence, and a sense of security in this world like the blessed knowledge of Christ. He is the mighty God (Isa 9:6). He is the infinitely Holy God-man, our Mediator (1Ti 3:16). Our Lord Jesus Christ is both our omnipotent Savior and our sympathizing Savior, able and willing to save us (Heb 7:25).

The Spirit of God would have us constantly consider our Saviors mediatorial offices. He ever speaks of Christ and teaches all who are taught of him ever to consider Christ. He is our everlasting Surety. He is our Prophet, Priest, and King. The Lord Jesus Christ is our mighty Advocate in heaven.

We should constantly consider our Saviors mission, that for which he came into this world in human flesh. He came into this world for the singular purpose of saving his people from their sins for the glory of God (Mat 1:21; Joh 12:28). He had no other aim, no other purpose, no other motive, no other goal.

When we are called of God to endure trials and afflictions for his names sake, then we should especially remember and consider the patience with which our blessed Savior endured all that he suffered for us. What relentless contradiction, what never-ceasing opposition he suffered from sinners and for sinners! He was opposed by his own kinsmen after the flesh (Joh 7:5). He was opposed by those very sinners for whom he suffered.

When he was born at Bethlehem, there was no room for him in the inn. He was not wanted. When he was just a small baby, Herod tried to kill him. His parents were forced to flee with him into Egypt that the Scriptures might be fulfilled. Our Savior declares in Psa 88:15, I was afflicted and ready to die from my youth up: while I suffer thy terrors I am distracted!

From the commencement of his ministry until its end he endured the unbroken, relentless, contradiction of sinners against himself. He endured Satans temptations, the slanders of men, the unbelief of his own disciples, the betrayal of his friend, mockery and shame, and all the horror of Calvary in our room and stead. And in his hour of greatest sorrow he was abandoned by the very sinners he came to save, and abandoned by his Father, because he was made to be sin for us!

Our Lord Jesus Christ felt keenly that contradiction. Let us never imagine otherwise. He was the man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. He cried, Reproach hath broken my heart; and I am full of heaviness: and I looked for some to take pity, but there was none; and for comforters, but I found none (Psa 69:20).

Go to dark Gethsemane, ye that feel the tempters power;

There your Saviors conflict see, watch Him there (O bitter hour!)

Turn not from His griefs away, Learn of Jesus Christ to pray.

Follow to the judgment hall, view the Lord of Life arraigned;

O the wormwood and the gall! O the pangs His soul sustained!

Shun not suffering, shame, or loss, Learn of Him to bear the cross.

Calvarys mournful mountain climb, there, adoring at His feet,

Mark that miracle of time, Gods own sacrifice complete;

It is finished, hear Him cry, Learn of Jesus Christ to die.

Early hasten to the tomb Where they laid His breathless clay;

All is solitude and gloom. Who hath taken Him away?

Christ arisen meets our eyes, See Him seated in the skies!

James Montgomery

In the midst of all that our blessed Savior suffered any man might be expected to collapse, but the God-man set his face as a flint, until the work was finished (Luk 9:51; Isa 50:7). He would not turn back. He came here to redeem us, knowing full well the price by which we must be redeemed; and he voluntarily determined to pay it because of his great love for us. Whenever we are tempted to murmur against his providence, give up the race set before us, and find ourselves becoming weary and faint, consider him!

Fuente: Discovering Christ In Selected Books of the Bible

consider consider well, i.e. weigh so as to judge its value.

sinners Sin. (See Scofield “Rom 3:23”).

Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes

consider: Heb 12:2, Heb 3:1, 1Sa 12:24, 2Ti 2:7, 2Ti 2:8

contradiction: Mat 10:24, Mat 10:25, Mat 11:19, Mat 12:24, Mat 15:2, Mat 21:15, Mat 21:16, Mat 21:23, Mat 21:46, Mat 22:15, Luk 2:34,*Gr: Luk 4:28, Luk 4:29, Luk 5:21, Luk 11:15, Luk 11:16, Luk 11:53, Luk 11:54, Luk 13:13, Luk 13:14, Luk 14:1, Luk 15:2, Luk 16:14, Luk 19:39, Luk 19:40, Joh 5:16, Joh 7:12, Joh 8:13, Joh 8:48, Joh 8:49, Joh 8:52, Joh 8:59, Joh 9:40, Joh 10:20, Joh 10:31-39, Joh 12:9, Joh 12:10, Joh 15:18-24, Joh 18:22

lest: Heb 12:5, Deu 20:3, Pro 24:10, Isa 40:30, Isa 40:31, Isa 50:4, 1Co 15:58, 2Co 4:1, 2Co 4:16, Gal 6:9, 2Th 3:13

Reciprocal: Est 4:13 – Think not Job 4:5 – thou faintest Pro 3:11 – neither Isa 53:3 – despised Jer 12:5 – thou hast Jer 45:3 – I fainted Jon 2:7 – my soul Zep 3:16 – slack Mat 27:29 – platted Mar 2:16 – How Mar 2:24 – why Mar 8:38 – ashamed Mar 9:14 – the scribes Mar 14:37 – couldest Mar 15:19 – they smote Luk 18:1 – and not Joh 8:22 – Will Joh 14:31 – that the Rom 8:35 – shall tribulation 2Co 4:18 – we Eph 3:13 – ye 1Th 2:2 – shamefully 2Th 3:5 – the patient waiting for Christ 2Ti 2:3 – endure Heb 11:27 – endured Heb 12:12 – General Heb 13:13 – General 1Pe 2:23 – when he was 1Pe 4:1 – arm 1Pe 4:16 – let him not 1Jo 4:17 – as Rev 2:3 – hast not Rev 13:10 – Here

Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

Heb 12:3. Christians were persecuted for the sake of Jesus and often thought their sufferings were unnecessary. On this account they sought to avoid it by deserting Him and going back to Moses as their lawgiver. But Jesus also suffered for righteousness’ sake, including mistreatment from sinners who were usually contradicting His teaching. Christians should consider this example and take courage for the conflict. Faint in your minds means to be discouraged on account of trials.

Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary

Heb 12:3. For (He suffered as well as you, therefore you may well) consider (properly, compare His case with your own, and gather the lessons) him who hath endured (it is His permanent character that is described) such contradiction (not in words only, but hostility of every kind, even treason (Joh 19:12)) of sinners against themselves (i.e of those who, in thus acting, sinned against their own souls), the other reading, against Himself, has also good authority; themselves suggests a fresh reason why the Hebrew Christians should not join a gainsaying people by rejecting the Gospel.

Lest ye grow weary and faint in your souls. Still the athletes figure. As the limbs grow faint (loose) in the race, so the soul in the Christian conflict. Principle is strengthened by thoughtfulness; for want of consideration Israel perished, as well as from want of knowledge.

Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament

Heb 12:3-4. For consider him Draw the comparison and think; the Lord bore all this, and shall his servants bear nothing? If he suffered, if he endured such things, why should not we do so also? If he, though so great, so excellent, so infinitely exalted above us; yet endured such contradiction of sinners Such grievous things, both in words and deeds, from his enemies; against himself Ought not we to do so too, if called to it? Consider this; lest ye be wearied By the greatness and length of your trials and sufferings; and faint in your minds Lest your hearts should fail you, and you should draw back, partially or totally, from the profession of the gospel. Ye have not yet resisted unto blood Your sufferings are far short of those which Christ endured. He grants that they had met with many sufferings already, but their enemies had been so restrained that they had not proceeded to take their lives, or to inflict wounds and bruises upon their bodies. By which the apostle intimates two things: 1st, That those who are engaged in the profession of the gospel have no security that they shall not be called to the utmost and last sufferings, by laying down their lives on account of it; and 2d, That whatever befalls us on this side martyrdom, is to be looked on as a fruit of divine tenderness and mercy. Striving against sin Or against violent and injurious persons, and in opposing mens wicked practices, and your own sinful inclinations, lusts, and passions.

Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

Heb 12:3-13. With the example of Christ before them the readers are to show more constancy under their own sufferings. They are to think of Him whose life was so thwarted by wicked men, and thus nerve themselves to strength and patience (Heb 12:3). What is their struggle compared to that of Jesus? They have not yet been called on to venture their lives in the battle for righteousness, and under such sufferings as have been laid on them they have given way, forgetting that affliction is a chastisement which God imposes on His children with a loving purpose. Thus considered, it is a proof to us that we are really Gods children, and if we are spared it, we may well doubt whether He acknowledges us (Heb 12:4-8). We did not rebel against our earthly fathers when they disciplined us; can we not believe that through the discipline we receive from our heavenly Father we shall rise to a truer life (Heb 12:9)? Our earthly fathers could train us only for the short period of youth, and sometimes their judgment was mistaken. God, on the other hand, unfailingly seeks our highest welfare, and disciplines us all our life long that we may grow into moral likeness to Himself (Heb 12:10). Suffering while it lasts is no doubt hard to bear, but the painful process has its outcome in that righteousness which alone brings peace. Let us march on, therefore, with new energy, and let those who are strong try so to direct their steps that the weaker may not be led astray and exhausted, but may be cheered on to a more vigorous advance.

Heb 12:3. against themselves: implies that in rejecting Christ they had defeated their own welfare; but the marginal reading, against Himself, is simpler and better.

Heb 12:13 for your feet: better, with your feet. Addressing the more capable and intelligent, the writer bids them think of themselves as pioneers, making a path for their halting comrades.

Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible

Verse 3

Contradiction of sinners; opposition of sinners.

Fuente: Abbott’s Illustrated New Testament

12:3 {3} For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds.

(3) An amplification, taken from the circumstance of the person and the things themselves, which he compares between themselves: for how great is Jesus in comparison of us, and how far more grievous things did he suffer than we?

Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes

The readers should think upon Jesus so they might not grow tired of persevering and lose heart. Meditation on Jesus and the cross encourage us to continue to follow God’s will faithfully. It is natural for us to overestimate the severity of our trials, and the writer did not want us to do this.

"The clear implication for the audience is that if they were to relinquish their commitment to Christ under the pressure of persistent opposition they would express active opposition against themselves (as in Heb 6:6!), just as did Jesus’ tormentors [cf. Heb 10:38-39]." [Note: Lane, Hebrews 9-13, pp. 416-17.]

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