Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Hebrews 3:8
Harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness:
8. harden not your hearts ] Comp. Act 19:9. Usually God is said to harden man’s heart (Exo 7:3, &c.; Isa 63:17; Rom 9:18) an anthropomorphic way of expressing the inevitable results of neglect and of evil habit. But that this is man’s own doing and choice is always recognised (Deu 10:16; 2Ki 17:14, &c.).
as in the provocation ] Lit., “in the embitterment.” The LXX. here seem to have read Marah (which means “bitter” and which they render by in Exo 15:23) for Meribah which, in Exo 17:1-7, they render by Loidoresis “reproach.” This is not however certain, for though the substantive does not occur again, the verb “I embitter” is frequently used of provoking God to anger. For the story of Meribah, see Num 20:7-13.
in the day of temptation ] Rather, “of the temptation,” i.e. at Massah; Exo 17:7; Deu 6:16, though the allusion might also be to Numbers 14.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Harden not your hearts – Do not render the heart insensible to the divine voice and admonition. A hard heart is that where the conscience is seared and insensible; where truth makes no impression; where no religious effect is produced by afflictions; where preaching is listened to without interest; and where the mind is unaffected by the appeals of friends. The idea here is, that a refusal to listen to the voice of God is connected with a hardening of the heart. It is in two ways:
- The very refusal to do this tends to harden it. And,
(2)In order to resist the appeals of God, people must resort to the means of voluntarily hardening the heart. This they do by setting themselves against the truth; by the excuses which they offer for not becoming Christians: by plunging into sin in order to avoid serious impressions; and by direct resistance of the Holy Spirit. No inconsiderable part of the efforts of sinners consists in endeavoring to produce insensibility in their minds to the truth and the appeals of God.
As in the provocation – Literally, in the embittering – en to parapikrasmo. Then it means what embitters or provokes the mind – as disobedience. Here it refers to what they did to embitter the mind of God against them; that is to the course of conduct which was adopted to provoke him to wrath.
In the day of temptation – In the time of temptation – the word day being used here, as it is often, to denote an indefinite period, or time in general. The word temptation here refers to the various provocations by which they tried the patience of God. They rebelled against him; they did what put the divine patience and forbearance to a trial. It does not mean that they tempted God to do evil, but that his long-suffering was tried by their sins.
In the wilderness – The desert through which they passed. The word wilderness in the Scriptures commonly means a desert; see the notes at Mat 3:1. One provocation was in demanding bread at Sin; a second for want of water at Massah or Meribah; a third time at Sinai with the golden calf; a fourth time at Taberah for want of flesh; a fifth time at Kadesh when they refused to go up into Canaan, and the oath came that they should die in the wilderness. A like refusal may prevent us from entering into rest. – Dr. John P. Wilson, Manuscript Notes.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 8. Harden not your hearts] Which ye will infallibly do, if ye will not hear his voice.
Provocation] . From , signifying intensity, and , to make bitter; the exasperation, or bitter provocation. “The Israelites provoked God first in the wilderness of Sin, (Pelusium,) when they murmured for want of bread, and had the manna given them, Ex 16:4. From the wilderness of Sin they journeyed to Rephidim, where they provoked God a second time for want of water, and insolently saying, Is the Lord God among us or not? Ex 17:2-9, on which account the place was called Massah and Meribah. See “1Co 10:4“, note 1. From Rephidim they went into the wilderness of Sinai, where they received the law, in the beginning of the third year from their coming out of Egypt. Here they provoked God again, by making the golden calf, Ex 32:10. After the law was given they were commanded to go directly to Canaan, and take possession of the promised land, De 1:6; De 1:7: God spake unto us in Horeb, saying, Ye have dwelt long enough in this mount: turn you, and take your journey, and go to the mount of the Amorites, and unto all the places nigh thereunto, in the plain, in the hills, and in the vales, and in the south, and by the seaside, to the land if the Canaanites, and unto Lebanon, and unto the great river, the river Euphrates. The Israelites, having received this order, departed from Horeb, and went forward three days’ journey, Nu 10:33, till they came to Taberah, Nu 11:3, where they provoked God the fourth time, by murmuring for want of flesh to eat; and for that sin were smitten with a very great plague, Nu 11:33; this place was called Kibroth-hattaavah, because there they buried the people who lusted. From Kibroth-hattaavah they went to Hazeroth, Nu 11:35, and from thence into the wilderness of Paran, Nu 12:16, to a place called Kadesh, Nu 13:26. Their journey from Horeb to Kadesh is thus described by Moses, De 1:19-21: And when we departed from Horeb, we went through all that great and terrible wilderness, which you saw by the way of the mountain of the Amorites, as the Lord our God commanded us; and, we came to Kadesh-barnea. And I said unto you, Ye are come unto the mountain of the Amorites, which the Lord our God doth give unto us. Behold, the Lord thy God hath set the land before thee; go up and possess it. But the people proposed to Moses to send spies, to bring them an account of the land, and of its inhabitants, De 1:22. These after forty days returned to Kadesh; and, except Caleb and Joshua, they all agreed in bringing an evil report of the land, Nu 13:25-32; whereby the people were so discouraged that they refused to go up, and proposed to make a captain, and return into Egypt, Nu 14:4. Wherefore, having thus shown an absolute disbelief of God’s promises, and an utter distrust of his power, he sware that not one of that generation should enter Canaan, except Caleb and Joshua, but should all die in the wilderness, Nu 14:20; De 1:34; De 1:35; and ordered them to turn, and get into the wilderness, by the way of the Red Sea. In that wilderness the Israelites, as Moses informs us, sojourned thirty-eight years, De 2:14: And the space in which we came from Kadesh-barnea, until we were come over the brook Zereb, was thirty and eight years; until all the generation of the men of war were wasted out from among the host, as the Lord sware unto them. Wherefore, although the Israelites provoked God to wrath in the wilderness, from the day they came out of the land of Egypt until their arrival in Canaan, as Moses told them, De 9:7, their greatest provocation, the provocation in which they showed the greatest degree of evil disposition, undoubtedly was their refusing to go into Canaan from Kadesh. It was therefore very properly termed the bitter provocation and the day of temptation, by way of eminence; and justly brought on them the oath of God, excluding them from his rest in Canaan. To distinguish this from the provocation at Rephidim, it is called Meribah-Kadesh,” De 32:51. See Dr. Macknight.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Harden not your hearts: to help in the former duty the Spirit subjoins this negative counsel. That is styled hard, which will not yield to any impression: make not your heart a stone, so as not to understand, believe, or obey Gods voice to it, Deu 15:17; 1Sa 6:6; for God requires them to be fleshy tables, to write his will on, 2Co 3:3. The hardening of this part is the hardening of the whole person, and when hardened by themselves, is provoking Gods judicial hardening of them to their destruction.
As in the provocation; en tw parapikrasmw, in the bitter contention, comprehending in it both work, season, and place; called Meribah, Num 20:13,14; names of places and persons by words of the same signification, though not of the same sound.
In the day of temptation in the wilderness; in the day of Massah, when Israel in the wilderness did murmur, and strive against, and vexed God, (after he had divided the sea for them), for their want of water, Exo 17:2,7; Deu 6:16; 33:8; that bitter contest of unbelief after the sight of so many miracles, when they cried out: Is the Lord among us? Psa 95:8. It may also refer to the whole forty years time of their murmuring and tempting him in the wilderness.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
8. Harden not your heartsThisphrase here only is used of man’s own act; usually of God’sact (Ro 9:18). When man isspoken of as the agent in hardening, the phrase usually is, “hardenhis neck,” or “back” (Ne9:17).
provocation . . .temptation“Massah-meribah,” translated in Margin“tentation . . . chiding,” or “strife” (Ex17:1-7). Both names seem to refer to that one event, themurmuring of the people against the Lord at Rephidim for want ofwater. The first offense especially ought to be guarded against, andis the most severely reproved, as it is apt to produce many more.Num 20:1-13; Deu 33:8mention a second similar occasion in the wilderness of Sin, nearKadesh, also called Meribah.
in the dayGreek,“according to the day of.”
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Harden not you hearts,…. There is a natural hardness of the heart; the heart of man is like a stone, destitute of spiritual life, motion, and activity; it is senseless, stupid, impenitent, stubborn, and inflexible, on which no impressions can be made, but by powerful grace: and there is an acquired, habitual, and voluntary hardness of heart, to which men arrive by various steps; as entertaining pleasing thoughts of sin; an actual commission of it, with frequency, till it becomes customary, and so habitual; an extenuation or justification of it, and so they become hardened against all reproofs and sermons, and to all afflictions and judgments; are insensible and past feeling, and openly declare for sin, and glory in it: and there is a hardness which God’s people are liable to, and should guard against; and which is brought on by a neglect of private and public worship, and by keeping bad company, and through the ill examples of others, and by giving way to lesser sins; for all sin is of an hardening nature:
as in the provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness; the Jews provoked God in the wilderness by their unbelief, murmurings, ingratitude, and idolatry; and they tempted him there by distrusting his power and goodness; hence one of the places in which they murmured against him was called Massah and Meribah, Ex 17:7 and it is an aggravation of their sin, that it was in the wilderness, after they had been just brought out of bondage into liberty, and had lately had such an instance of the power and goodness of God, in bringing them through the Red sea; and where they could have no human supplies, and therefore should have been entirely dependent on God, and trust in him.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Harden not ( ). Prohibition with and first aorist (ingressive) active subjunctive of , late verb from (dried up, stiff, hard) as in Acts 19:9; Rom 9:18.
As in the provocation ( ). Late compound from , late verb to embitter (, ), found only in LXX and here and verse 15. It means embitterment, exasperation. For the simple verb , to make bitter, see Col 3:19. The reference is to Meribah (Ex. 17:1-7).
Like as in the day ( ). “According to the day” as in Acts 12:1; Acts 19:23.
Of the temptation ( ). The reference is to Massah which took place at Rephidim.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
Harden not [ ] . In N. T. mostly in this epistle. Comp. Act 19:9; Rom 9:18, see note. The group of kindred words consists of sklhrov hard (see on Matthew 25; 24; Jude 1:14); sklyrothv hardness (Rom 2:5); sklhrunein to harden (Act 19:9; Rom 9:18); and the compounds sklhrokardia hardness of heart (Mt 19:8; Mr 10:5), and sklhrotrachlov stiff – necked (Acts 7; 5). All occur in LXX, with the addition of sklhrwv hardly, painfully (not in N. T.). In the provocation [ ] . Only here and ver. 15. In LXX only Psa 94:8. The verb parapikraineinto provoke, only in ver. 16. Often in LXX The simple verb pikrainein to make bitter, Col 3:19; Rev 8:11; Rev 10:9, 10. From pikrov bitter, pungent : hence to stir up to bitterness, to irritate. Comp. LXX Eze 2:4. In the day (kata thn hJmeran). Kata in a temporal sense, as Act 12:1; Act 19:23; Act 27:27. Comp. kat’ ajrcav in the beginning, ch. 1 10. Of temptation [ ] . Rend. “of the temptation,” referring to a definite event, the murmuring against Moses at Rephidim on account of the lack of water, Exo 17:1 – 7. In that passage the LXX gives for the two proper names Massah and Meribah, peirasmov temptation, which is correct, and loidorhsiv railing or reviling, which is loose, since Meribah signifies strife. 181 In Psalm 94, LXX renders Meribah parapikrasmov provocation, which is inexact, and Massah peirasmov temptation, which is correct.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
1) “Harden not your hearts,” (me skilerunete tas kardias humon) “Harden ye not your hearts,” or do not suffer, harden your affections against the Holy Ghost’s appeal, plea. This is a warning formerly given, frequently repeated, in days of old, even as today, Pro 1:23-30; Pro 27:11; Pro 29:1. Men may harden their own hearts, affections by resisting the Holy Spirit or rejecting his call, Act 7:51; Act 9:5.
2) “As in the provocation,” (hos en parapikrasmo) “As (your fathers did) in the provocation,” questioning God’s judgement, love, goodness, wisdom, and power in bringing them out of Egypt, Psa 95:7-11.
3) “In the day of temptation in the wilderness,” (kata ten hemeran tou periasmou en te eremo) “In the day (period of time) of the temptation (testing) in the wilderness or desert travels,” from or during the journey from Egypt to the Holy Land, when Israel repeatedly resisted the voice of the Holy Spirit of God’s bidding; 1) – at Meribah, Exo 17:1-7; Exodus 2) – At the sending of the twelve spies, Num 14:11-23; Numbers 3) -Warned at the crossing of Jordan, Deu 9:7-8; These experiences of the house of Israel are object-lesson warnings to the New Covenant house of God – the church, today, 1Co 10:6; 1Co 10:11; 1Ti 3:14-15. One clay the Master of the House shall return and require an accounting of all his house, Mar 13:34-37.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
8. Then follows, Harden not your hearts By which words is intimated that our rebellion against God flows from no other fountain than willful wickedness, by which we obstruct the entrance of his grace, We have indeed by nature a heart of stone, and there is in all an innate hardness from the womb, which God alone can mollify and amend. That we, however, reject the voice of God, it happens through a spontaneous obstinacy, not through an external impulse, a fact of which every one is a witness to himself. Rightly, then, does the Spirit accuse all the unbelieving that they resist God, and that they are the teachers and authors of their own perverseness, so that they can throw the blame on none else. It is hence, however, absurdly concluded that we have, on the other hand, a free power to form the heart for God’s service; nay rather, it must ever be the case with men, that they harden their heart until another be given them from heaven; for as we are bent towards wickedness, we shall never cease to resist God until we shall be tamed and subdued by his hand.
As in the provocation, etc. It was for two reasons necessary for them to be reminded of the disobedience of their fathers; for as they were foolishly inflated on account of the glory of their race, they often imitated the vices of their fathers as though they were virtues, and defended themselves by their examples; and further, when they heard that their fathers were so disobedient to God, they were thus more fully taught that this admonition was not superfluous. As both these reasons existed even in the Apostle’s time, he readily accommodated to his own purpose what had been formerly said by David, in order that those whom he addressed might not imitate their fathers too much.
And hence may be learnt a general truth, that we are not to defer too much to the authority of the fathers lest it should draw us away from God; for if any fathers have ever been worthy of honor, no doubt the Jews possessed that preeminence; and yet David distinctly commanded their children to beware of being like them.
And I have no doubt but that he referred to the history recorded in Exo 17:1 : for David uses here the two names which Moses relates were given to a certain place, מרבה Meribah, which means strife or provocation, and מסה Massah, which means temptation. They tempted God by denying that he was in the midst of them, because they were distressed for want of water; and they also provoked him by contending with Moses. Though indeed they gave many examples of unbelief, yet David selected this in an especial manner, because it was more memorable then any other, and also, because in order of time it followed for the most part the rest, as it evidently appears from the fourth book of Moses, where from chap. 10 to 20 a series of many temptations is described; but this narrative is given in the twentieth chapter. This circumstance increased not a little the atrocity of their wickedness; for they had often experienced the power of God, and yet they perversely contended with him, and renounced all confidence in him: how great was their ingratitude! He then mentioned one particular instance instead of many.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(8) In the day of temptation.Better, like the day of the temptation. As in the LXX., so here, two words which in the Hebrew are proper names (as at Meribah, and as in the day of Massah) are translated according to their intrinsic meaning. (For the former see Exo. 17:7; Num. 20:13; and for the latter Exo. 17:7.) We may believe that these places are here chosen for reference partly on account of their significant names; but it is noteworthy that the rebellions recorded in the names belonged to the beginning and to the close of the years of wandering.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
8. Provocation temptation In Exo 17:7, at the smiting of the rock to bring water for the murmuring people, it is said that Moses “called the name of the place Massah, [ temptation, ] and Meribah, [ bitterness, ] because of the chiding of the children of Israel, and because they tempted the Lord, saying, Is the Lord among us or not.” The word provocation, here, is the Septuagint translation of Meribah, and temptation of Massah.
Wilderness Of Zin.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Heb 3:8 . Harden not your hearts, as in the provocation (contumacy), on the day of temptation in the wilderness . In the original, and are proper names (“as at Meribah, as on the day of Massah in the wilderness” [ ]), which, however, are understood by the author in the appellative sense (comp. Heb 3:16 ), in that he takes as an epexegetical note of time to . On the history, comp. Exo 17:1-7 ; Num 20:1-13 .
] in the active sense: the tempting of God by contumacious behaviour, comp. Heb 3:9 .
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
XXIX
EXHORTATIONS AND SPECIAL PASSAGES
All New Testament exhortation is based on antecedent statement of doctrine. In Hebrews the whole letter is a succession of doctrines and exhortations first a doctrine, then its application. In some respects, then, is it a model in homiletics.
1. It shows the relation between dogma and morals. There can be no morals apart from dogma. To leave out dogma undermines morality.
2. Dogma, as a mere theory, is valueless. Its power lies in its application to practical life, governing thought, emotion, imagination, words, and deeds in all of life’s relations to God home, country, and the universe.
The present-day ministry has deteriorated in the power of exhortation based on vivid conceptions of great and definitive doctrines concerning God, law, sin, salvation, heaven, and hell.
The first exhortation in this letter is an exhortation to earnest attention: “Therefore, we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things that were heard, lest haply we drift away from them. For if the word spoken through angels proved stedfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompense of reward, how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation, which having at the first been spoken through the Lord, was confirmed unto us by them that heard?” (Heb 2:1-3 ). The doctrinal basis of this exhortation is all chapter I, setting forth our Lord’s threefold sonship, by eternal subsistence, by his incarnation, by his resurrection, and his threefold superiority over the universe, over the angels, and over the prophets. The precise tendency against which this exhortation warns is to “drift away” from great truths. Any steady lateral pressure which insidiously swerves a floating object from a given direction, and causes drifting, as a prevalent wind, an ocean current or undertow, rapids in a river leading to a fall, or the suction of a whirlpool. Inherited depravity, the course of this world, the temptations of Satan, the increasing power of evil habits until they become second nature in a word, the world, the flesh, and the devil constitute the drifting power, or trend away from salvation. The danger of neglecting this exhortation is that we are carried away unwittingly until there is no escape forever. The great majority of life’s irreparable disasters are brought about by “drifting away” through “heedlessness” and “neglect.”
The element of the greatness in this salvation is deliverance of the entire man, soul and body, forever, from the guilt, defilement, love, and dominion of sin, into an eternal and most blessed state of reconciliation and companionship with God. The historical argument against any hope of escape if this salvation be neglected is that from Sinai to Christ’s advent every word of the law disposed by angels proved steadfast, and every transgression was justly punished. The historical instances of this penalty of the law and of the prophets are numerous. The applied logic of this history is as follows:
By so much as Christ is greater than angels or prophets; by so much as his revelation is more complete and the light of his gospel brighter; by so much as it is better accredited; by so much as it is final where theirs was transitional and educational by that much is its penalty surer and severer. The second exhortation (Heb 3:8 ) is against “hardening the heart.” There is a relation between “drifting” and “hardening:” “Drifting” precedes and tends toward “hardening,” which is a more dangerous state. By “hardening” is meant a blunting of the moral perceptions, a growing callousness to spiritual sensations, tending to the condition of “past feel- ing.” According to the context “an evil heart of unbelief” operating through the “deceitfulness of sin” causes hardening. This deceitfulness consists in misconstruing the grace of delay in punishment as immunity altogether, as saith the prophet: “Because sentence against an evil deed is not speedily executed, the heart of the sinner is fully set in him to do evil.”
The third exhortation is found in Heb 4:11 thus: “Let us labor therefore to enter into the rest.” The doctrinal basis of this exhortation is that as God rested from creation, commemorating it by a sabbath day, so Jesus rested after the greater work of redemption, commemorating it by appointing a new day for sabbath-keeping.
The fourth exhortation (Heb 4:14 ) is this: “To hold fast to our confession.” The doctrinal basis is the fact that Jesus, our High Priest, has entered into the heavenly holy of holies to make atonement and intercession for us.
The fifth exhortation (Heb 4:16 ) is to come boldly to the throne of grace for mercy and help in every time of need. The doctrinal basis of this exhortation is the fact that our High Priest is touched with a feeling of our infirmities, having been in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.
The occasion for the sixth exhortation is that they were in a state of arrested development, remaining “babes in Christ” when they ought to have been teachers, and so not only unprepared to receive the higher grades of Christian knowledge, but they were unable to discern between good and evil because their spiritual senses had not been exercised; hence they were continually tempted to try to rub out and make a new start from the very beginning (see Heb 5:11-14 ). This reminds us of the three classes into which our Lord divided his flock: (1) Lambs, Greek: arnia , i.e., new converts; (2) Sheep, Greek probata i.e., mature Christians; (3) Little sheep, Greek (best manuscript): ” probatia ,” i.e., Christians stunted in growth (see Joh 21:15-19 ). These Hebrews were “little sheep.”
The phrase “by reason of use” is illustrated by the senses or faculties, or muscles which increase in power by use, or go into bankruptcy by disuse. Certain Chinese families, training the sense of touch for generations, can tell colors of cloth fabrics in the dark by feeling. It is said also that certain Japanese dentists, by long training of the muscles of thumb and forefinger, extract teeth, using the hand alone as forceps. Again, the prophet, referring to the second nature of long continued evil habits, says “As the Ethiopian cannot change his skin nor a leopard his spots so one accustomed to do evil cannot learn to do well.”
This sixth exhortation is to leave the first principles, not attempting the relaying of foundations, but go on to maturity, (Heb 6:1 ). The first principles of Christian oracles are the foundation of repentance and faith, the teaching of baptisms, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead and eternal judgment (Heb 6:2 ).
Repentance and faith are called a foundation because without them one can neither be a Christian nor be saved. Therefore the folly of attempting to relay this foundation, since it is never laid but once, which Paul hypothetically states thus: “For as touching those who were once enlightened and tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Spirit, and tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the age to come, and then fell away, it is impossible to renew them again unto repentance” (Heb 6:4-6 ).
This passage has several interpretations as follows:
1. John Bunyan held that the “enlightening,” “tasting,” and “partaking” of this passage refer to illumination and conviction by the Holy Spirit which did not eventuate in regeneration. This view the author rejects because the passage also supposes genuine repentance as well as “illumination” and “conviction,” else why say it is impossible to renew them again unto repentance? Moreover, he disconnects the force of “being made partakers of the Holy Spirit” and “tasting of the powers of the world to come.”
2. Dr. Wilkes, a Methodist preacher, as the author heard him say, held that the passage certainly taught two things: (1) A genuine Christian may lose regeneration; and (2) if he does he can never be converted again.
3. The author holds that “the enlightening,” “tasting,” and “partaking” are equivalent to regeneration, and that the passage does teach that if regeneration were once lost it could never be regained, because, having exhausted the benefits of Christ’s crucifixion in the direction of regeneration, another regeneration would call for another crucifixion, but Christ, as a sin offering, dies but once; he is offered once for all. So the passage teaches “‘Seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh and put him to an open shame.” It would be an open shame to Christ if a beneficiary of his salvation should lose it and thus vitiate the certainty of the Father’s promise to him and covenant with him. But that the statement is hypothetic appears from the apostle’s added words: “But, beloved, we are persuaded better things of you, and things that accompany salvation, though we thus speak”; “But we are not of them that shrink back unto perdition; but of them that have faith unto the saving of the soul.” The object of the exhortation is so to influence the Christian to move on and not spend a lifetime as the foundation, for in any event this is folly.
To illustrate: Being present, as a visitor, at a Methodist meeting, I was invited to talk to some of the mourners. I approached a man who seemed to be weeping in great distress, and asked what was his trouble. His reply was, substantially: “I have been converted several times, but I always lose it.” I assured him he was mistaken on one or the other of two points either he was never genuinely converted, or he had never lost it both could not be true. He replied: “I know I was converted, and I know I lost it.” Then said I: “Why are you wasting time here; why shedding fruitless tears? If you are right on both points, then you are forever lost. You have exhausted the plan of salvation. Your only chance is for Christ to come and die again and send the Holy Spirit again, of which there is no promise, and even in that case there is no certainty for you unless he and the Holy Spirit should do more efficient work next time. I don’t desire to shake your positive, infallible knowledge that you have been regenerated and that you have lost it, but merely point out that in such case you are forever lost, just as certainly as if you were in hell now. Here, look at Heb 6:4-6 , and see that I can do you no good, and so will pass on to cases not hopeless.” “Don’t leave me,” he said, “maybe I am mistaken on one of those points.”
“Baptism” here is in the plural and there is a reference here, (1) To baptism in water (Mat 28:19 ); (2) to baptism in fire, or eternal punishment (Mat 3:10-12 ); (3) to baptism in the Holy Spirit (Act 1:5 ); (4) to baptism in suffering (Mar 10:39 ).
“The teaching of laying on of hands” refers: (1) To conferring of miraculous power by the laying on of hands of the apostles (Act 8:17 ; Act 19:6 ), which, accrediting of the apostles passed away with the apostles; (2) to the abiding requirement of laying on of hands in the ordination (1) for deacons (Act 6:6 ), (2) for evangelists (Act 13:3 ; 1Ti 4:14 ); and (3) for other preachers (1Ti 5:22 ).
From a peculiar interpretation of Heb 6:1-2 there arose a sect known as the “Six-Principle Baptists” who practiced laying hands on those who were baptized as an essential part of the form of the ordinance.
QUESTIONS
1. What the New Testament method of exhortation?
2. In what respects, then, is it a model in homiletics?
3. Wherein has the present-day ministry deteriorated?
4. What is the first exhortation in this letter, and what is its doctrinal basis?
5. What is the precise tendency against which this exhortation warns?
6. What are the causes of drifting?
7. What, in plain terms, constitute the drifting power, or trend away from salvation?
8. What is the danger of neglecting this exhortation?
9. What is your estimate of the relative proportion of life’s irreparable disasters brought about by “drifting away” through “heedlessness” and “neglect”?
10. What the element of greatness in this salvation?
11. What is the historical argument against any hope of escape if we neglect this salvation?
12. Cite historical instances of this penalty (1) of the law and (2) of the prophets.
13. What is the applied logic of this history?
14. Against what is the exhortation in Heb 3:8 ?
15. What is the relation between “drifting” and “hardening?”
16. What do you understand by “hardening?”
17. What do we find in the context as a cause of “hardening?”
18. In what does deceitfulness consist?
19. What is the exhortation relative to rest, and what its doctrinal basis?
20. What is the exhortation relative to confession, and what its doctrinal basis?
21. What is the exhortation relative to our need, and what the doctrinal basis?
22. What is the occasion of the exhortation relative to perfection?
23. Into what three classes did our Lord divide his flock, and of which class were these Hebrews?
24. Ex-pound the phrase “by reason of use.”
25. What, then, is the exhortation relative to perfection?
26. What are the first principles of Christian oracles?
27. Why are repentance and faith called a foundation?
28. What is the folly of trying to relay this foundation, and what the doctrine involved?
29. How does Paul hypothetically state this?
30. What are the several interpretations of this passage?
31. Give an incident of the use of this passage by the author.
32. What is the meaning of “baptisms” used in this passage?
33. What is the meaning of “laying on of hands?”
34. What sect of Baptists arose from a peculiar interpretation of Heb 6:1-2 , and what their construction of “laying on of hands?”
XXX
EXHORTATIONS AND SPECIAL PASSAGES (CONTINUED)
The seventh exhortation in this book is as follows: “Let us draw near with a true heart in fulness of faith let us hold fast the confession of our hope that it waver not let us consider one another to provoke unto love and good works, not forsaking our own assembling together, exhorting one another” (Heb 10:22-25 ). The doctrines that underlie this manifold exhortation are, (1) Christ has rent the veil hiding the holy of holies by his death, and dedicated for us a new and living way. (2) We have a great High Priest over the house of God. (3) The day of his final coming is rapidly approaching (Heb 10:19-21 ).
Here a question arises, Does “having our bodies washed with pure water” (Heb 10:22 ) refer to water baptism, and if so, what the bearing of the teaching? It is not clear that it has such reference. But if it does, it strongly supports the Baptist teaching, to wit: Our souls are cleansed by the application of Christ’s blood by the Holy Spirit in regeneration. Baptism in water only washes the body, and hence can only externally symbolize the internal cleansing. In this way Paul, internally cleansed, could arise and wash away his sins symbolically in baptism (Act 22:16 ), or as Peter puts it: “Water, even baptism, after a true likeness doth now save us, not putting away the filth of the flesh [i.e., the carnal nature] but the answer of a good conscience toward God, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ” (1Pe 3:21 ). In other words, it is a figurative salvation, and the figure or likeness is that of a resurrection (see Rom 6:4-5 ). Paul’s reason for the seventh exhortation is expressed in the famous passage (Heb 10:26-29 ), the whole of which is an explanation of the eternal, unpardonable sin against the Holy Spirit, very different from the gradual, unconscious sins of “drifting” and “hardening.” Its conditions and characteristics are:
1. There has been great spiritual light and knowledge, thoroughly convincing the judgment of the truth of the gospel, and strongly impressing the mind to accept it.
2. It is a distinct and wilful rejection of the well-known light and monition of the Holy Spirit.
3. It is a culmination of sin against every person of the Trinity. (1) It is a sin against the Father in deliberately trampling under foot the Son of his love. (2) It is a sin against the Son in counting the blood of his expiation an unholy thing. (3) It is the sin against the Holy Spirit in doing despite to his grace who has furnished complete proof to the rejector’s conscience that it is God’s Son who is trampled under foot, and that the blood of his vicarious sacrifice alone can save.
4. Once committed, the soul is there and then forever lost, having never forgiveness in time or eternity, and knows that for him there is no more sacrifice for sin, and expects nothing but judgment and fiery wrath which shall devour the adversaries.
5. Let the reader particularly note that this sin cannot be committed except in an atmosphere, not merely of light and knowledge, but of spiritual light, knowledge and power, and that it is one wilful, malicious act arising from hate hating the more because of the abundance and power of the light. The eighth exhortation is, “Cast not away your boldness” (Heb 10:35 ). The exhortation is based on appeal to their remembrance of the triumphs of their past experience. They had patiently endured a great conflict of suffering just after their conversion; they had been made a gazing stock both by reproaches and afflictions cast on them and by their sharing in the afflictions of their leaders. This is evident from the history of Paul’s labors among men. There was nothing in their present afflictions severer than those they triumphantly endured in their earlier experience.
The ninth exhortation is, “Therefore, let us also, seeing that we are compassed about by so great a cloud of witnesses, lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising shame, and hath sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider him that hath endured such gainsaying of sinners against himself, that ye wax not weary, fainting in your souls” (Heb 12:1-3 ). The imagery here is that of a foot race, such as these people had often witnessed in the Isthmian Games at Corinth, or in the great amphitheater at Ephesus. “The race set before us” the great example upon whom the runner must fix his eye is Jesus, the author (or captain) and perfecter of our faith.
The force of the example of Jesus in Heb 12:2 is this:
He is set before us as the one perfect model or standard. A joy was set before him as a recompense of reward that when attained would make him the gladdest man in the universe. For this he voluntarily became the saddest man in the universe. Thus “the Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief” was “anointed with the oil of gladness above his fellows;” “He saw of the travail of his soul and was satisfied.” Here we are confronted with this double question: Does the phrase, “author and perfecter of our faith,” mean that Jesus first inspires and then completes our individual faith i.e., what he begins he consummates or that he is the captain and completer of the faith in the sense that his completed victory is both cause and earnest of our own victory, as in Heb 2:10 ? The latter best accords with the import of the Greek word, archegos , used both here and in Heb 2:10 , and with the whole context.
The word “witnesses” in Heb 12:1 means martyrs whose examples should excite our emulation, and accords with the meaning and usage of the Greek word marturos , which makes them witnesses to the truth and not spectators of what other people may do. Moreover, the biblical evidence is scant, if there be any at all, that departed souls are allowed to sympathetically intervene in the struggle of those left behind. Yet, by rhetorical license, in the exercise of the imagination, a poet, orator or writer may summon the dead to appear before the living for dramatic effect. But we go far when we seek to construct doctrine on rhetorical license. What is the “besetting sin” in Heb 12:1 ? It may not be the same in all cases. It is the sin to which one most easily yields whether pride, lust, covetousness, anger, vanity, or any other.
The tenth exhortation (Heb 12:4-13 ,) is, “Regard not lightly the chastening of the Lord, because (1) chastening is an evidence of sonship. (2) If we have borne arbitrary chastening from earthly parents, much more we will bear disciplinary chastening from our Heavenly Father. (3) While grievous at first, it yieldeth afterward peaceable fruit or righteousness, if rightly received.
Here come up the Creationist theory of the origin of human spirits and the Traducian theory. The Creationist theory is that the spirit of every human being born into the world is a direct creation of God, and only the body is derived from the earthly parent. The Traducian theory is that every child, in his entirety, spirit and body, is derived from his earthly parents, begotten in the likeness not only of bodily features but in spiritual state, otherwise man could not propogate his species, and every child would, in his inner nature, be born holy, not subject to inherited depravity and not needing regeneration until he became an actual transgressor hence needing only proper environment and training to grow up in holiness.
The passage in question is not decisive for either theory. God is the Father of spirits in that originally the spirit of man was not a formation from inert matter, but a special creation (see Gen 2:7 ). Thus the whole race, body and spirit, was potentially in the first man, died body and spirit in him when he fell, and after his fall he “begat children in his likeness” body and spirit.
In Heb 12:12-13 , “hands hanging down,” “palsied knees,” and “crooked paths” refer to the physical effects of spiritual depression or terror, the inner man acting on the outer. See case of Belshazzar (Dan 5:6 ), and recall cases coming under your own observation in which discouragements or despondency of the spirit enfeeble the body. Some men, morally brave, are physically timid. A famous French marshal always trembled at the beginning of battle. On one occasion his officers rallied him on his shaking legs. He answered, “If my legs only knew into what dangers I will take them today, they would shake more than they do.”
The eleventh exhortation (Heb 12:14 ff) is, “Follow after peace with all men, and the sanctification without which no man shall see the Lord.” There are two hazards attending obedience to this exhortation, against which there are special cautions, as follows: (1) The springing up of a root of bitterness to defile many. (2) The spirit of profanity, or the despising of sacred things.
In our own experience or observation, cases arise of a single root of bitterness disturbing the peace of communities and retarding the sanctification of hundreds.
Profanity here means, not so much swearing as it does a spirit of irreverence in speaking of sacred things, and, sometimes interested lost souls are completely sidetracked by the levity and foolish jestings, and the questionable anecdotes of preachers in their hours of relaxation.
The author having often, in his early ministry, witnessed the wounding and shocking of sober-minded Christians and the loss of interest in awakened sinners caused by the foolish jestings in the preacher’s tent concerning sacred things, and sometimes by obscene anecdotes, entered into a solemn covenant with Dr. Riddle, the moderator of the Waco Association, never to tell nor willingly hear a doubtful anecdote. This covenant was made while camping out one night on the prairie in the light of the stars.
The twelfth exhortation and its doctrinal basis are found in Heb 12:28-29 : “Wherefore, receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us have grace, whereby we may offer service well-pleasing to God with reverence and awe: for our God is a consuming fire.
I will group in classes the exhortation of Heb 13 as follows:
1. Love to brethren, strangers, and those in bonds.
2. Honor the sanctity of marriage.
3. Eschew the covetous spirit.
4. Hold in kind remembrance your leaders that have passed away.
5. Bear the reproach of Christ, even if it ostracises from worldly society.
6. Offer spiritual sacrifices of praise, confession, contribution, and prayer.
In closing this exposition there are two things worthy of note: First, The bearing of Heb 13:8 on the preceding verse, which means that preachers may come and go, but Jesus is ever the same. Second, The controversy arose over Heb 13:10 , a controversy as to what is the Christian altar. Was it the cross on which Jesus was crucified? Then how can the altar be greater than the gift on the altar, as Christ taught? Was it Christ’s divinity on which his humanity was sacrificed? This controversy was a refinement of foolishness, because the altar under consideration is not supporting the expiating sin offering of which the priests were never allowed to have a part, but the altar to which non-expiatory offerings were brought, such as meat offerings, thank offerings, tithes etc. Of these the priests and Levites might partake. The meaning is simply this that Christianity provides in its way for the support of its laborers through the voluntary offerings to Christ’s cause (see 1Co 9:13-14 ).
QUESTIONS
1. What is the exhortation in this book relative to faith, hope, and love?
2. What doctrines underlie this manifold exhortation?
3. Does “having our bodies washed with pure water” (Heb 10:22 ) refer to water baptism, and if so, what the bearing of the teaching?
4. How do you interpret Paul’s reason for this exhortation as expressed in Heb 10:26-29 , which refers to the eternal sin?
5. What is the exhortation relative to boldness, and on what is it predicated?
6. What is the exhortation relative to weights, sins, etc., what its imagery, and what its elements?
7. What is the force of the example of Jesus in Heb 12:2 ?
8. What does the phrase “author and perfector of our faith” mean?
9. What is the meaning and import of “witnesses” in Heb 12:1 ?
10. What is the “besetting sin” in Heb 12:1 ?
11. What is the exhortation relative to chastening, and what its reasons?
12. What are the theories relative to the origin of human spirits, and what the bearing of this passage on the subject?
13. What is the meaning and force of “hand hanging down,” “palsied knees,” and “crooked paths?”
14. What is the exhortation relative to peace and sanctification?
15. What two hazards attending obedience to this exhortation?
16. Do you know of a case of a single “root of bitterness” disturbing communities and hindering sanctification?
17. What is the meaning of profanity here, and what illustration of the effect of such profanity given?
18. In what did Esau’s profanity consist?
19. What is the meaning of Heb 12:17 ? So, What the exhortation relative to grace, and what its doctrinal basis?
21. Group in classes the exhortations of Heb 13 .
22. What is the bearing of Heb 13:8 on the preceding verse?
23. What controversy arose over Heb 13:10 ?
24. Why was this controversy a refinement of foolishness?
Fuente: B.H. Carroll’s An Interpretation of the English Bible
8 Harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness:
Ver. 8. Harden not your hearts ] Some hearts are so hard that neither ministry, nor misery, nor miracle, nor mercy can possibly mollify them. Such a heart is in some respects worse than hell. And if God broke David’s bones for his adultery, and the angels’ backs for their pride, the Lord, if ever he save any, will break his heart too. As when he marks out a man for eternal misery, he denies him his grace; and then the sinner hardens his own heart by his own inward depravity. Like as when an owner denies to prop up or repair a ruinous reeling house, the house falls by its own ponderousness.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Heb 3:8 . , the prohibitory subjunctive, v . Burton, p. 162. “The figure is from the stiffening by cold or disease, of what ought to be supple and pliable” (Vaughan). [The verb occurs first in Hippocrates, cf. Anz . 342.] It is ascribed to (Deu 10:16 ), (2Ki 17:14 ), (Exo 4:21 ), (Deu 2:30 ). Sometimes the hardening is referred to the man, sometimes it is God who inflicts the hardening as a punishment. Here the possible hardening is spoken of as if the human subject could prevent it. , the whole inner man. . This stands in the psalm as the translation of the Hebrew which might be rendered: [“Harden not your hearts] as at Meribah , as on the day of Massah in the wilderness,” Meribah being represented by and Massah by . The tempting of God by Israel in the wilderness is recorded in Exo 17:1-7 , where the place is called “Massah and Meribah”. This occurred in the first year of the wanderings. is found only in this psalm (although is frequent) its place being taken by in Exo 17:7 and by in Num 20:12 . It means “embitterment,” “exacerbation,” “exasperation”, is rendered by the Vulgate “secundum diem,” rightly. It means “after the manner of the day”. Westcott, however, prefers the temporal sense.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
Harden. Greek. skleruno. See Act 19:9.
provocation. Greek. parapikrasmos. Only here and Heb 3:15. Used in the Septuagint in Psa 95:8, from which this is quoted. Compare Heb 3:16.
in = according to. Greek. kata. App-104.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Heb 3:8. -, in the provocation-in the temptation) By Chiasmus, in Heb 3:9, as compared with Heb 3:8, temptation is first treated, then provocation; , as Franc. Junius says, when he observed the same figure occurring several times in this epistle. Both refer to the History, Exo 17:7, as the first offence; comp. below Heb 3:16, they that came (went) out. The first offence ought to be guarded against; for more very easily spring up from it, and the first is wont to be most severely reproved.-, according to) that is, as in the day. So the Hebrew text.- , in the wilderness) the theatre of very great events.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
Harden: Heb 3:12, Heb 3:13, Exo 8:15, 1Sa 6:6, 2Ki 17:14, 2Ch 30:8, 2Ch 36:13, Neh 9:16, Job 9:4, Pro 28:14, Pro 29:1, Jer 7:26, Eze 3:7-9, Dan 5:20, Zec 7:11, Zec 7:12, Mat 13:15, Act 19:9, Rom 2:5, Rom 2:6
as: Num 14:11, Num 14:22, Num 14:23, Deu 9:22-24, Psa 78:56
of: Exo 17:7, Deu 6:16, Psa 78:18, Psa 106:14, 1Co 10:9
Reciprocal: Gen 19:15 – hastened Exo 7:13 – General Num 32:10 – General Deu 1:34 – and sware Deu 2:14 – until all the generation Jos 4:10 – hasted 2Sa 23:2 – General Job 8:5 – thou wouldest Psa 78:41 – Yea Psa 95:8 – in the Psa 106:25 – hearkened Isa 44:1 – now Hos 13:13 – for he Mic 6:1 – ye Mar 12:36 – by Mar 16:14 – unbelief Luk 4:12 – Thou Luk 8:6 – General Luk 9:35 – hear Luk 13:25 – once Joh 12:35 – Yet Act 1:16 – which the Act 17:32 – We will Act 24:25 – when Eph 4:21 – heard Heb 3:15 – To day Heb 4:7 – saying
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Heb 3:8. Harden not your hearts is a warning not to set their minds against the teaching of Christ. As in the provocation refers to the disobedi-ence of ancient Israel by which they provoked God into punishing them. Paul specifies the circumstance to which he refers by mention of the days they were going through the wilderness.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Heb 3:8. As in the day of provocation; like as in the day of temptation in the wilderness. These clauses probably refer to two distinct occasions. The two words which are here translated provocation and temptation are in the Hebrew proper names, Meribah (strife) and Massah (temptation). On the first occasion (Exo 17:1-7) the place is said to have been called Massah and Meribah, which the LXX. renders temptation and provocation. The second similar temptation occurred towards the close of the forty years, and is recorded in Num 20:1-13. Their wanderings began and ended in tempting and proving God; forty years long did their unbelief last. Not for single acts were they finally condemned, but for settled habits and a fixed character.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
3:8 Harden not your hearts, as in the {g} provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness:
(g) In the day that they troubled the Lord, or struggled with him.