Hebrews · Chapter 6
Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection; not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God,
Of the doctrine of baptisms, and of laying on of hands, and of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment.
Adam Clarke
Verse 2. Of the doctrine of baptisms] “There were two things,” says Dr. Owen, “peculiar to the Gospel, the doctrine of it and the gifts of the Holy Ghost. Doctrine is called baptism, Deuteronomy 32:2; hence the people are said to be baptized to Moses, when they were initiated into his doctrines, 1 Corinthians 10:2. The baptism of John was his doctrine, Acts 19:3; and the baptism of Christ was the doctrine of Christ, wherewith he was to sprinkle many nations, Isaiah 52:15. This is the first baptism of the Gospel, even its doctrine. The other was the communication of the gifts of the Holy Ghost, Acts 1:5; and this alone is what is intended by the laying on of hands; and then the sense will be the foundation of the Gospel baptisms, namely preaching and the gifts of the Holy Ghost.”
I am afraid, with all this great man’s learning, he has not hit the meaning of the apostle. As teaching is the means by which we are to obtain the gifts of the Holy Ghost, surely the apostle never designed to separate them, but to lead men immediately through the one to the possession of the other. Nor is the word baptism mentioned in the passage in Deuteronomy which he quotes; nor, indeed, any word properly synonymous. Neither baptismov, baptism, rantismov, sprinkling, nor any verb formed from them, is found in the Septuagint, in that place. But the other proofs are sufficiently in point, viz. that by baptism in the other places referred to, doctrine or TEACHING is meant; but to call TEACHING one baptism, and the gifts of THE HOLY GHOST another baptism, and to apply this to the explanation of the difficulty here, is very far from being satisfactory.
I am inclined to think that all the terms in this verse, as well as those in the former, belong to the Levitical law, and are to be explained on that ground.
Baptisms, or immersions of the body in water, sprinklings, and washings, were frequent as religious rites among the Hebrews, and were all emblematical of that purity which a holy God requires in his worshippers, and without which they cannot be happy here, nor glorified in heaven. Laying on of hands] Was also frequent, especially in sacrifices: the person bringing the victim laid his hands on its head, confessed his sins over it, and then gave it to the priest to be offered to God, that it might make atonement for his transgressions. This also had respect to Jesus Christ, that Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. The doctrine also of the resurrection of the dead and of eternal judgment, were both Jewish, but were only partially revealed, and then referred to the Gospel. Of the resurrection of the dead there is a fine proof in Isaiah 26:19, where it is stated to be the consequence of the death and resurrection of Christ, for so I understand the words, Thy dead shall live; with my dead body shall they arise: awake and sing, ye that dwell in the dust; for thy dew is as the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast out the dead. The valley of dry bones, Ezekiel 37:1, &c., is both an illustration and proof of it. And Daniel has taught both the resurrection and the eternal judgment, Daniel 12:2: And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake; some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.
Now the foundation of all these doctrines was laid in the Old Testament, and they were variously represented under the law, but they were all referred to the Gospel for their proof and illustration. The apostle, therefore, wishes them to consider the Gospel as holding forth these in their full spirit and power. It preaches, 1. Repentance, unto life. 2. Faith in God through Christ, by whom we receive the atonement. 3. The baptism by water, in the name of the holy Trinity; and the baptism of the Holy Ghost. 4. The imposition of hands, the true sacrificial system; and, by and through it, the communication of the various gifts of the Holy Spirit, for the instruction of mankind, and the edification of the Church. 5. The resurrection of the dead, which is both proved and illustrated by the resurrection of Christ. 6. The doctrine of the eternal or future judgment, which is to take place at the bar of Christ himself, God having committed all judgment to his Son, called here krima aiwnion, eternal or ever during judgment, because the sentences then pronounced shall be irreversible. Some understand the whole of the initiation of persons into the Church, as the candidates for admission were previously instructed in those doctrines which contained the fundamental principles of Christianity. The Hebrews had already received these; but should they Judaize, or mingle the Gospel with the law, they would thereby exclude themselves from the Christian Church, and should they be ever again admitted, they must come through the same gate, or lay a second time, palin, this foundation. But should they totally apostatize from Christ, and finally reject him, then it would be impossible to renew them again to repentance-they could no more be received into the Christian Church, nor have any right to any blessing of the Gospel dispensation; and, finally rejecting the Lord who bought them, would bring on themselves and their land swift destruction. See the 4th and following verses, and particularly the notes on verses 8 and 9. “Hebrews 6:8-9”
Joseph Benson
Verses 1, 2. Therefore — Seeing that most of you have continued so ignorant, although you have been so long favoured with the light of the gospel, and various means of edification, it is high time for you to labour for more knowledge and grace, and for me to instruct you further; leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ — That is, saying no more for the present, of those things in which those who embrace Christianity are wont to be first instructed. The original expression, ton thv archv tou Cristou logon, is, literally, the word of the beginning of Christ, as in the margin; and signifies those parts of the Christian doctrine which men were usually and properly first instructed in; and which the apostle immediately enumerates. They are the same with the first principles of the oracles of God, mentioned Hebrews 5:12. But it must be observed that the signification of the words must be limited to the present occasion; for if we consider the things here spoken of absolutely, they are never to be left, either by teachers or hearers. There is a necessity that teachers should often insist on the rudiments, or first principles, of religion; not only with respect to them who are continually to be trained up in knowledge from their infancy, but also those who have made a further progress in knowledge. And this course we find our apostle to have followed in all his epistles. Nor are any hearers so to leave these principles, as to forget them, or not duly to make use of them. Cast aside a constant regard to them, in their proper place, and no progress can be made in knowledge, no more than a building can be carried on when the foundation is taken away. Let us go on unto perfection — Unto a perfect acquaintance with the more sublime and difficult truths, and the high privileges and duties of Christianity; not laying again — What has been laid already; the foundation of repentance from dead works — That is, from the works done by those who are dead in sin, or who, through sin, are under condemnation to the second death, are alienated from the life of God, and carnally minded, which is death, Romans 8:6. See note on Ephesians 2:1, 2. Not only are known and wilful sins, which proceed from spiritual death, and if not pardoned and taken away, end in death eternal, here intended; but even all works, though apparently moral, charitable, and pious, are but dead works, before the living God, if they do not proceed from spiritual life in the soul, or from living faith, even the faith which worketh by love, (Galatians 5:6; 1 Corinthians 13:3,) as their principle, and be not directed to the glory of God as their end. And faith toward God — Looking to, and confiding in him for pardon, holiness, and eternal life, through Christ. Of the doctrine of baptisms — The apostle does not speak of the legal washings in use among the Jews, whether by immersion, ablution, or sprinkling; (for why should those who believed in Christ be instructed concerning these?) but John’s baptism and that of Christ, which were distinct from each other, and were subjects of disputation with many among the Jews, Mark 7:3, 4; John 3:22-26. John admitted the penitent to the baptism of water; and, in obedience to the command of Christ, (Matthew 28:19,) the apostles baptized all that professed to believe in him, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Or, as Whitby thinks, the apostle is here to be understood of the double baptism “of which John spake, when he said, I baptize you with water, but he that cometh after me shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire, Matthew 3:19; and of which Christ spake to Nicodemus, (John 3:5,) saying, Except a man be born again of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. For this, in order, followed the doctrine of repentance, and of faith in God and our Lord Jesus Christ.” And the laying on of hands — The imposition of hands was used by the apostles and first Christian ministers in the healing of diseases, and in setting persons apart for the work of the ministry; but neither of these were common to all Christians, nor joined with baptism; nor were they reckoned among the principles of the doctrine of Christ, or the initiatory doctrines of the Christian faith. We must therefore understand this of that imposition of the apostles’ hands which was wont to be used, after baptism, to confer upon the persons baptized the extraordinary gifts of the Holy Ghost. See Acts 8:14-17; 19:6. And this was a matter wherein the glory of the gospel and its propagation were highly concerned; indeed, next to the preaching of the word, it was the great means used by God for bringing both Jews and Gentiles over to the faith of the gospel, or for establishing them therein. And the resurrection of the dead — Namely, of the bodies of the dead; and of eternal judgment — The future and general judgment, called eternal, because the sentence then pronounced will be irreversible, and the effects of it remain for ever. In which two last-mentioned articles, the penitent and believing, that had been admitted to baptism, were more fully instructed, as being most powerful motives to engage them herein to exercise themselves to have always consciences void of offence toward God and toward all men. “Interpreters observe,” says Whitby, “that the doctrine of Origen, touching the period of the torments of the damned, is here condemned; and indeed the primitive father’s not Origen himself excepted, taught the contrary. ‘If we do not the will of Christ,’ says Clemens Romanus, ‘nothing will deliver us from eternal punishment.’ ‘The punishment of the damned,’ says Justin Martyr, ‘is endless punishment and torment in eternal fire.’ In Theophilus it is, ‘eternal punishment.’ Irenæus, in his symbol of faith, makes this one article, ‘that God would send the ungodly and unjust into everlasting fire.’ Tertullian declares, ‘that all men are appointed to torment or refreshment, both eternal.’ And ‘if any man,’ says he, ‘thinks the wicked are to be consumed and not punished, let him remember that hell-fire is styled eternal, because designed for eternal punishment; and their substance will remain for ever whose punishment doth so.’ St. Cyprian says, ‘The souls of the wicked are kept with their bodies to be grieved with endless torments.’ ‘There is no measure nor end of their torments,’ says Minutius. Lastly, Origen reckons this among the doctrines defined by the church; ‘That every soul, when it goes out of this world, shall either enjoy the inheritance of eternal life and bliss, if its deeds have rendered it fit for bliss; or be delivered up to eternal fire and punishment, if its sins have deserved that state.’”
Daniel Whedon
2. Of—Foundation is understood before this of. The doctrine, or teaching, is understood before each of the four ofs in the verse. Baptisms—Washings. The Greek word for Christian baptism is baptisma, this word is baptismos, and genetically includes all ritual lustrations, baptism included. The plural here is used, not, as some think, to indicate trine immersion, (which was not a New Testament practice;) nor to include the baptism of water and of the Spirit; nor to imply the baptizing of many individuals; but because by Jewish doctrine there were many lustrations, while by Christian doctrine there is but one, namely, baptism. Closely coupled (by a conjunctive te, which is a tighter connexion than kai, and) with baptisms is the laying on of hands. The laying on of hands was, therefore, retained as distinctively a Christian institute, taught as Christian doctrine. Under the old dispensation it was a mode of blessing and of conferring office. Numbers 8:10; 27:18, 23; Deuteronomy 34:9. By it, under the new, the Holy Ghost was imparted after baptism, and office was conferred. Acts 8:17; 19:6; Acts 6:6; 13:3; 1 Timothy 4:14; 5:22. In regard to this last purpose it seems, from the New Testament and the practice of the primitive Church, that before the polity of the Church crystallized into form under the new effusion of the Spirit, a great variety of persons exercised their various gifts, (Ephesians 4:11, 12,) but that there gradually emerged three grades of ministry. And hence the episcopal form of government; initially represented by James at Jerusalem, by Timothy, and by Titus, being divinely sanctioned but not enjoined, became early prevalent in most Churches, and before the close of the second century universal in Christendom. The laying on of hands here, closely coupled with baptism, drawn from the original manual impartation of the sensible gift of the Holy Ghost, seems to have become an established institute, symbolizing that impartation of the Spirit by which the candidate was individualized as one in the individual body of Christ. Delitzsch maintains, with good show of argument, that the institute of imposition of hands has still a rightful place in the Christian Church, as the final recognition of that ultimate incorporation into the Church of which baptism is the initial sign. The laying on of hands, in its twofold use as confirmation of the people and as ordination of the ministry, indicates the one, yet twofold, priesthood of both ministry and people, each in its own order. Hoffman, as quoted by Delitzsch, suggests that baptism is correlated to the judgment as laying on of hands to the resurrection. But the close connexion in the Greek by a te of the resurrection with the imposition indicates just the converse. Baptism more properly represents the resurrection, and so emblematizes us as the final, glorified, new creature; while the imposition symbolizes the final judgment which forever confirms us into the Church of the glorified. Resurrection of the dead—Dead, without the article, and plural, deads. It does not, therefore, positively express the universal dead. See our note on Luke 20:35; 1 Corinthians 15:12. Probably the resurrection of the righteous is really what St. Paul here intends. The resurrection of the wicked has no symbol in baptism. Judgment—Rather meaning the sentence than the process of judging; and the sentence is eternal in its force and effect, being irreversible and final. These six fundamental points of Christianity, in comparison with the Jewish foundation, are selected specimens, not an exhaustive enumeration. The Lord’s supper, based on the passover, and the Christian Lord’s day, based on the old sabbath, are omitted.
And this will we do, if God permit.
John Wesley
V. 3. And this we will do-We will go on to perfection; and so much the more diligently, because,
Adam Clarke
Verse 3. And this will we do] God being my helper, I will teach you all the sublime truths of the Gospel; and show you how all its excellences were typified by the law, and particularly by its sacrificial system.
Joseph Benson
Verses 3-5. And this we will do — We will go on to perfection; if God permit — That is, afford assistance and opportunity. And we will do this the rather, and the more diligently, because it is impossible for those who were once enlightened — With the knowledge of the truth as it is in Jesus, (Ephesians 4:21,) and have been made free thereby from the bondage of sin and Satan, John 8:31-36; and have tasted the heavenly gift — The gift of righteousness imputed to them, Romans 5:17; faith counted for righteousness; or the remission of sins through faith in Christ, sweeter than honey to the taste; and have been made partakers of the Holy Ghost — Of the witness and fruits of the Spirit of God; and have tasted the good word of God — Have had a relish for and delight in the doctrine of the gospel, have fed upon it, and been nourished by it; and the powers of the world to come — Mellontov aiwnov, of the future age, as the Christian dispensation was termed by the Jews, the Messiah being called by the LXX. in their interpretation of Isaiah 9:6, (instead of the everlasting Father, which is our translation of the clause,) pathr tou mellontov aiwnov, the Father of the age to come. If the expression be thus taken, by the powers, here spoken of, we are to understand the privileges and blessings of the gospel dispensation in general, including, at least with regard to some, the miraculous gifts conferred on many of the first Christians. But as the future state, or future world, may be meant, the expression may be understood of those earnests and anticipations of future felicity which every one tastes who has a hope full of immortality. “Every child that is naturally born, first sees the light, then receives and tastes proper nourishment, and partakes of the things of this world. In like manner the apostle, comparing spiritual with natural things, speaks of one born of the Spirit as seeing the light, tasting the sweetness, and partaking of the things of the world to come.” — Wesley.
Daniel Whedon
3. And this—The going on to perfection. Will we do—There is considerable authority for the reading, this let us do. If God permit—But why this if? Would not God, of course, permit so good a thing? Alford approves the interpretation that our apostle means here to imply that our so doing is not in our own power, but must be wrought in us by God. But for that meaning a mere permit would not be the true word, but grant grace, or empower. Delitzsch thinks that the implication is, that God may not permit, because they may be already in an irrecoverable, apostate state; but that is contradictory to ver. 9; and, besides, we cannot admit that this irrecoverability from apostasy arises from God’s non-permission of recovery. St. Paul uses the very same words in 1 Corinthians 16:7, an indication both of his being author of this epistle and of the meaning of the phrase, which is, if God in his providence permit, by continuing life, power, and opportunity to us.
For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost,
John Wesley
V. 4. It is impossible for those who were once enlightened-With the light of the glorious love of God in Christ.
And have tasted the heavenly gift-Remission of sins, sweeter than honey and the honeycomb.
And been made partakers of the Holy Ghost-Of the witness and the fruit of the Spirit.
Adam Clarke
Verse 4. For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened] Before I proceed to explain the different terms in these verses, it is necessary to give my opinion of their design and meaning: 1. I do not consider them as having any reference to any person professing Christianity. 2. They do not belong, nor are they applicable, to backsliders of any kind. 3. They belong to apostates from Christianity; to such as reject the whole Christian system, and its author, the Lord Jesus. 4. And to those of them only who join with the blaspheming Jews, call Christ an impostor, and vindicate his murderers in having crucified him as a malefactor; and thus they render their salvation impossible, by wilfully and maliciously rejecting the Lord that bought them. No man believing in the Lord Jesus as the great sacrifice for sin, and acknowledging Christianity as a Divine revelation, is here intended, though he may have unfortunately backslidden from any degree of the salvation of God.
The design of these solemn words is evidently, First, to show the Hebrews that apostasy from the highest degrees of grace was possible; and that those who were highest in the favour of God might sin against him, lose it, and perish everlastingly. Secondly, to warn them against such an awful state of perdition, that they might not be led away, by either the persuasions or persecutions of their countrymen, from the truth of the heavenly doctrine which had been delivered to them. And, Thirdly, to point out the destruction which was shortly to come upon the Jewish nation. Once enlightened-Thoroughly instructed in the nature and design of the Christian religion, having received the knowledge of the truth, Hebrews 10:32; and being convinced of sin, righteousness, and judgment, and led to Jesus the Saviour of sinners.
Tasted of the heavenly gift] Having received the knowledge of salvation by the remission of sins, through the Day Spring which from on high had visited them; such having received Christ, the heavenly gift of God’s infinite love, John 3:16; the living bread that came down from heaven, John 6:51; and thus tasting that the Lord is gracious; 1 Peter 2:3, and witnessing the full effects of the Christian religion. Partakers of the Holy Ghost] The Spirit himself witnessing with their spirits that they were the children of God, and thus assuring them of God’s mercy towards them, and of the efficacy of the atonement through which they had received such blessings.
Joseph Benson
Verses 3-5. And this we will do — We will go on to perfection; if God permit — That is, afford assistance and opportunity. And we will do this the rather, and the more diligently, because it is impossible for those who were once enlightened — With the knowledge of the truth as it is in Jesus, (Ephesians 4:21,) and have been made free thereby from the bondage of sin and Satan, John 8:31-36; and have tasted the heavenly gift — The gift of righteousness imputed to them, Romans 5:17; faith counted for righteousness; or the remission of sins through faith in Christ, sweeter than honey to the taste; and have been made partakers of the Holy Ghost — Of the witness and fruits of the Spirit of God; and have tasted the good word of God — Have had a relish for and delight in the doctrine of the gospel, have fed upon it, and been nourished by it; and the powers of the world to come — Mellontov aiwnov, of the future age, as the Christian dispensation was termed by the Jews, the Messiah being called by the LXX. in their interpretation of Isaiah 9:6, (instead of the everlasting Father, which is our translation of the clause,) pathr tou mellontov aiwnov, the Father of the age to come. If the expression be thus taken, by the powers, here spoken of, we are to understand the privileges and blessings of the gospel dispensation in general, including, at least with regard to some, the miraculous gifts conferred on many of the first Christians. But as the future state, or future world, may be meant, the expression may be understood of those earnests and anticipations of future felicity which every one tastes who has a hope full of immortality. “Every child that is naturally born, first sees the light, then receives and tastes proper nourishment, and partakes of the things of this world. In like manner the apostle, comparing spiritual with natural things, speaks of one born of the Spirit as seeing the light, tasting the sweetness, and partaking of the things of the world to come.” — Wesley.
Joseph Sutcliffe
Ver. 4-6. For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, by a course of religious instruction. Adunatov is not always understood in an absolute sense, but as designating a thing very hard and difficult to be done. So the LXX translate Deuteronomy 17:8. If there arise a matter too hard for thee in judgment. Thus also some of the old German versions read, A thing that can hardly be. They had tasted of the good word, sweeter than honey, or the honey comb; and felt the powers of the world to come. On this subject the rabbins laboured under much darkness. They do not allow that any happy spirit can attain the beatific vision till after the final judgment. By the falling away we do not understand homicide, adultery, or idolatry, for those sinners, after penance, might be restored to the peace of the church; but an abjuration of Christ, and accounting him accursed, as the jews do: this doubles the difficulty, by rejecting the remedy.
Daniel Whedon
4. For—What is the connexion? Does it mean we will press on, for to stand still will produce apostasy, and apostasy is irrecoverable? One would suppose that so essential an intermediate thought as this—that standing still begets apostasy—would have been expressed. Yet this seems to be the only alternative, unless we admit that an apostatizing resumption of Judaism is expressed in the re-laying of the foundation, as noted on verse 1.
This much-debated passage, being the central point in the extended discussion of these “Hebrews’” apostasy, in this epistle, we will endeavor to render to the English reader as literally as possible, thus: For those that were once enlightened (Greek aorist participle) and tasted of the heavenly gift, and that became partakers of the Holy Spirit, and tasted both the good word of God and powers of the incoming dispensation, and that fell away, it is impossible again to renew unto repentance, re-crucifying (as they are now doing, present participle here instead of aorist) unto themselves the Son of God, and setting him forth as a public exhibition. It is obvious on the face of an exact translation that the passage is describing an existent class of cases. The aorist, or historic tenses, show what experiences these cases have passed through; the present tense shows what they are now doing; and so persistently and flagrantly doing, that it is found impossible to renew them again unto repentance. It was, probably, the known occurrence of a notable desperate defection from Christianity at Jerusalem which awakened our apostle’s fear for these Hebrew converts to whom he writes, and which he now portrays before their eyes to warn them of a like catastrophe and consequent obduracy. And this view is strengthened by the cheery persuasion expressed in verse 9, that his readers do not belong to that set of backsliders. The meaning, then, we take to be: Do not be re-laying the old Jewish platform, for you see how impossible it is to reclaim those who have thus Judaized. It is impossible—We cheerfully affirm, after Alford and Delitzsch, that there must be no lowering the legitimate meaning of the word impossible. But we just as positively affirm that there must be no overstraining the word above, or out of, its legitimate forces. There are, legitimately, various grades of impossibility, absolute and relative. A mathematical or arithmetical impossibility, and the impossibility for a contradiction to be true, are absolute; not to be overcome even by omnipotent force. And there is in the natural world such an impossibility as that the course of nature should change itself, which is intrinsically impossible, but possible to God. No one, we presume, would include such an impossibility in the present text. Then there are what are usually, but not very properly, styled moral impossibilities, namely, such as are found in the wills and conduct of free-agents. Such is the impossibility stated by our Saviour of a rich man’s being saved. Delitzsch very inconsiderately says, in regard to that, “Even the explanation that what is altogether impossible with men may be effected by a special operation of divine power, is inadmissible here; for it is God himself who works through the preaching of the word.” And is it not as truly God who works in the salvation of an apostate as of a rich man? The two cases are perfectly parallel. Christ affirms an impossibility, for the rich man to be saved; that is, on the human plane of possibilities; but it is possible with God. So, humanly speaking, there is also an impossibility for an apostate to be reclaimed; and yet that does not deny that it is divinely possible. Joseph of Arimathea was a rich man, and did enter the kingdom of God, so that the human impossibility was overcome. Nay, so have the tempers of men been in time worked upon, that we may believe that myriads and millions of rich men have entered the kingdom of God, that is, the impossible has become normally possible. Apostates whom it is impossible to recover, are, alas! matters of constant experience. Such have resisted and overcome the highest spiritual influences and forces; nothing more effective, normally, can be brought to bear upon them; and, therefore, in the normal order of things, they cannot be reached. Men who are not apostates, also, there are, all around us, whom it is humanly impossible to save. They have made up their minds, they scout all approaches of argument or conviction, they cannot be affected. God could by absolute power overrule them, but it is not best he should. They have freely placed themselves in that condition, and are themselves to blame. Now, as we have above said, the class of apostates at Jerusalem above portrayed was, probably, known to our author and his readers. Both knew how incorrigible and bitter they were, and that it was impossible to recover them. Nay, though it is not so strongly stated, many of these apostates may have so intrenched themselves in fixed determinations, self-interests, hostile arguments, and hatreds, as to have become themselves unable to break through those self-formed intrenchments; and thus it may have become volitionally impossible for them to choose return. Recovery may have become beyond the power of their own will. Just so, many rich and proudly intellectual men intrench themselves in fortifications against truth which they become unable to overthrow. And that inability is no excuse, because it is self-superinduced. They might as well be given up, and their case be used, as by our apostle, to warn others from falling into a similar obduracy. But it must be specially noted that it is not said of these Jerusalemite apostates that it was volitionally impossible for them, as free agents, to return to repentance. The declared impossibility is in the normal means to reclaim, not in the man’s own subjective ability to repent. Such ability may in some, or all, cases have been lost, but it is not so said. And even if the Jerusalemite apostates were impossible to reclaim, this does not prove that all other apostates become impossible of recovery, any more than our Saviour’s words prove it universally and forever impossible for a rich man to be saved. Once enlightened—The writer heaps clause upon clause, as Alford truly says, not only to show that the class he describes were truly regenerate, but to show what accumulated forces they must have had to neutralize in order to reach apostasy; forces than which none stronger can be normally used to bring them to recovery.
And so their recovery is impossible. These forces are now described in five clauses; two couplets with a single clause between. And the five clauses following portray the successive stages of Christian life. First couplet is a divine enlightenment and the heavenly boon of pardon and salvation; next, single clause, a permanent holiness of life; last couplet, the aggressive word and powers of Christian progress and triumph. Once— Not once for all, as Alford, but once, as correlative to again, in verse 6. Enlightened—By the blended power of truth and the Spirit producing conviction and conversion. So Ephesians 1:18, “the eyes of your understanding being enlightened.” After ye are illuminated, Hebrews 10:32, where the same Greek word is used. This enlightenment at conversion was held by the earlier Christians to be so associated with baptism, as that photisma, the enlightenment, became a term for baptism. Yet the word so used did not assume that the enlightenment and the mere physical act of baptism were identical. So Chrysostom says, “The heretics have a baptisma, but not a photisma; they are baptized, indeed, in body, but are not enlightened in soul; just as Simon Magus was baptized, but not enlightened.” The pretence that the word, as well as the entire five clauses, does not imply true conversion, is entirely inadmissible. And have tasted of the heavenly gift—Closely coupled by a te with the former clause. And, evidently, the heavenly gift, immediately consequent upon conversion, is salvation. Heavenly, because from heaven, redolent of heaven, and tending to heaven. The tasted implies the sweet enjoyment of the assurance of that salvation by the witness of the Spirit. Of—The Greek genitive (not used after tasted verse 5) implies the true universality of the gift, but of which the new convert tastes only his individual and initial share. Partakers of the Holy Ghost—A permanent sanctification in the Christian life following conversion. This forms the single clause between the couplets. The Holy Ghost is the general sanctifying gift of all saints; and of this gift these Hebrews had their share, and were made partakers.
And have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come,
John Wesley
V. 5. And have tasted the good word of God-Have had a relish for, and a delight in it.
And the powers of the world to come-Which every one tastes, who has an hope full of immortality. Every child that is naturally born, first sees the light, then receives and tastes proper nourishment, and partakes of the things of this world. In like manner, the apostle, comparing spiritual with natural things, speaks of one born of the Spirit, as seeing the light, tasting the sweetness, and partaking of the things "of the world to come."
Adam Clarke
Verse 5. And have tasted the good word of God] Have had this proof of the excellence of the promise of God in sending the Gospel, the Gospel being itself the good word of a good God, the reading and preaching of which they find sweet to the taste of their souls. Genuine believers have an appetite for the word of God; they taste it, and then their relish for it is the more abundantly increased. The more they get, the more they wish to have. The powers of the world to come] dunameiv te mellontov aiwnov. These words are understood two ways: 1. The powers of the world to come may refer to the stupendous miracles wrought in confirmation of the Gospel, the Gospel dispensation being the world to come in the Jewish phraseology, as we have often seen; and that dunamiv is often taken for a mighty work or miracle, is plain from various parts of the gospels. The prophets had declared that the Messiah, when he came, should work many miracles, and should be as mighty in word and deed as was Moses; see Deuteronomy 18:15-19. And they particularly specify the giving sight to the blind, hearing to the deaf, strength to the lame, and speech to the dumb; Isaiah 35:5, 6. All these miracles Jesus Christ did in the sight of this very people; and thus they had the highest evidence they could have that Jesus was this promised Messiah, and could have no pretence to doubt his mission, or apostatize from the Christian faith which they had received; and hence it is no wonder that the apostle denounces the most awful judgments of God against those who had apostatized from the faith, which they had seen thus confirmed.
2. The words have been supposed to apply to those communications and foretastes of eternal blessedness, or of the joys of the world to come, which they who are justified through the blood of the covenant, and walk faithfully with their God, experience; and to this sense the word geusamenouv have tasted, is thought more properly to apply. But geuomai, to taste, signifies to experience or have full proof of a thing. Thus, to taste death, Matthew 16:28, is to die, to come under the power of death, fully to experience its destructive nature as far as the body is concerned. See also Luke 9:27; John 8:52. And it is used in the same sense in Hebrews 2:9 of this epistle, where Christ is said to taste death for every man; for notwithstanding the metaphor, which the reader will see explained in the note on the above place, the word necessarily means that he did actually die, that he fully experienced death; and had the fullest proof of it and of its malignity he could have, independently of the corruption of his flesh; for over this death could have no power. And to taste that the Lord is gracious, 1 Peter 2:3, is to experience God’s graciousness thoroughly, in being made living stones, built up into a spiritual house, constituted holy priests to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God; see 1 Peter 2:5. And in this sense it is used by the purest Greek writers. See several examples in Schleusner. It seems, therefore, that the first opinion is the best founded.
Joseph Benson
Verses 3-5. And this we will do — We will go on to perfection; if God permit — That is, afford assistance and opportunity. And we will do this the rather, and the more diligently, because it is impossible for those who were once enlightened — With the knowledge of the truth as it is in Jesus, (Ephesians 4:21,) and have been made free thereby from the bondage of sin and Satan, John 8:31-36; and have tasted the heavenly gift — The gift of righteousness imputed to them, Romans 5:17; faith counted for righteousness; or the remission of sins through faith in Christ, sweeter than honey to the taste; and have been made partakers of the Holy Ghost — Of the witness and fruits of the Spirit of God; and have tasted the good word of God — Have had a relish for and delight in the doctrine of the gospel, have fed upon it, and been nourished by it; and the powers of the world to come — Mellontov aiwnov, of the future age, as the Christian dispensation was termed by the Jews, the Messiah being called by the LXX. in their interpretation of Isaiah 9:6, (instead of the everlasting Father, which is our translation of the clause,) pathr tou mellontov aiwnov, the Father of the age to come. If the expression be thus taken, by the powers, here spoken of, we are to understand the privileges and blessings of the gospel dispensation in general, including, at least with regard to some, the miraculous gifts conferred on many of the first Christians. But as the future state, or future world, may be meant, the expression may be understood of those earnests and anticipations of future felicity which every one tastes who has a hope full of immortality. “Every child that is naturally born, first sees the light, then receives and tastes proper nourishment, and partakes of the things of this world. In like manner the apostle, comparing spiritual with natural things, speaks of one born of the Spirit as seeing the light, tasting the sweetness, and partaking of the things of the world to come.” — Wesley.
Joseph Sutcliffe
Ver. 4-6. For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, by a course of religious instruction. Adunatov is not always understood in an absolute sense, but as designating a thing very hard and difficult to be done. So the LXX translate Deuteronomy 17:8. If there arise a matter too hard for thee in judgment. Thus also some of the old German versions read, A thing that can hardly be. They had tasted of the good word, sweeter than honey, or the honey comb; and felt the powers of the world to come. On this subject the rabbins laboured under much darkness. They do not allow that any happy spirit can attain the beatific vision till after the final judgment. By the falling away we do not understand homicide, adultery, or idolatry, for those sinners, after penance, might be restored to the peace of the church; but an abjuration of Christ, and accounting him accursed, as the jews do: this doubles the difficulty, by rejecting the remedy.
Daniel Whedon
5. The last couplet connecting the word and the powers. Tasted— Implying again the rich enjoyment; and here without the of, because this now grown Christian may taste and enjoy not a part but the whole good word. Excellent is Whitby’s note on this good word: “So the promise of bringing the children of Israel into the land of Canaan is styled dbdh µdh, rhma kalon, a good word, [English unliteral translation “thing,”] Joshua 21:45; 23:15. The word of God for bringing his people out of captivity is styled, bwch ydbd, my good word. Jeremiah 29:10. The words of consolation which the angel spake to Jerusalem are, rhmata kala, good words. Zechariah 1:13. The promise made to God’s people of remission of sins, and peace and truth in the days of the Messiah, is a good word. And the prophet, speaking of the Messiah, saith, My heart meditateth a good word. Psalm 45:1.” The good word of our apostle here is, then, the evangelium, the good message, of the New Testament. A word, as spoken by the incarnate Son, (Hebrews 2:1, 2;) good, as revealing a heavenly Canaan, “glory, and honor, and immortality—eternal life.” This blessed word this class had tasted—enjoyed its rich flavor in its full entirety. Powers of the world to come—Closely coupled with the good word of the New Testament are the powers of the new dispensation. Note on 2:5. The word and the powers go together. These Hebrews had witnessed and enjoyed these powers. For the word powers (dunameiv) is often, in the Greek, put for miracles and mighty supernatural works. Matthew 7:22; 11:20, 21, 23; 13:54, 58; 14:2; Mark 6:2, 5, 14; 9:39; Luke 10:13; 19:37; Acts 2:22; 8:13; 19:11; 1 Corinthians 12:10; 2 Corinthians 12:12; Galatians 3:5. An examination of these texts would show that the word is more frequently used for the supernaturalisms of Christ and the early Church in the upbuilding of Christianity than the English reader would imagine. Here it is used generically for every form of aggressive supernatural energy in the new dispensation. Of those in the apostolic age we seem to have a pretty full enumeration in 1 Corinthians 12:10. As these sensible powers disappeared there still remained the normal spiritual powers blended with the good word, the ordinary aggressive forces of Christianity. These are the energies of the Spirit in quickening the soul, in the active conversion of men, in the building of the kingdom of Christ, and the gathering of the world within its dominion.
If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame.
John Wesley
V. 6. And have fallen away-Here is not a supposition, but a plain relation of fact. The apostle here describes the case of those who have cast away both the power and the form of godliness; who have lost both their faith, hope, and love, Hebrews 6:10, &c., and that wilfully, Hebrews 10:26. Of these wilful total apostates he declares, it is impossible to renew them again to repentance. (though they were renewed once,) either to the foundation, or anything built thereon.
Seeing they crucify the Son of God afresh-They use him with the utmost indignity.
And put him to an open shame-Causing his glorious name to be blasphemed.
Adam Clarke
Verse 6. If they shall fall away] kai parapesontav And having fallen away. I can express my own mind on this translation nearly in the words of Dr. Macknight: “The participles fwtisqentav, who were enlightened, geusamenouv, have tasted, and genhqentav, were made partakers, being aorists, are properly rendered by our translators in the past time; wherefore, parapesontav, being an aorist, ought likewise to have been translated in the past time, HAVE fallen away. Nevertheless, our translators, following Beza, who without any authority from ancient MSS. has inserted in his version the word si, if, have rendered this clause, IF they fall away, that this text might not appear to contradict the doctrine of the perseverance of the saints. But as no translator should take upon him to add to or alter the Scriptures, for the sake of any favourite doctrine, I have translated parapesontav in the past time, have fallen away, according to the true import of the word, as standing in connection with the other aorists in the preceding verses.”
Dr. Macknight was a Calvinist, and he was a thorough scholar and an honest man; but, professing to give a translation of the epistle, he consulted not his creed but his candour. Had our translators, who were excellent and learned men, leaned less to their own peculiar creed in the present authorized version, the Church of Christ in this country would not have been agitated and torn as it has been with polemical divinity. It appears from this, whatever sentiment may gain or lose by it, that there is a fearful possibility of falling away from the grace of God; and if this scripture did not say so, there are many that do say so. And were there no scripture express on this subject, the nature of the present state of man, which is a state of probation or trial, must necessarily imply it. Let him who most assuredly standeth, take heed lest he fall.
To renew them again unto repentance] As repentance is the first step that a sinner must take in order to return to God, and as sorrow for sin must be useless in itself unless there be a proper sacrificial offering, these having rejected the only available sacrifice, their repentance for sin, had they any, would be nugatory, and their salvation impossible on this simple account; and this is the very reason which the apostle immediately subjoins:—
Seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God] They reject him on the ground that he was an impostor, and justly put to death. And thus they are said to crucify him to themselves-to do that in their present apostasy which the Jews did; and they show thereby that, had they been present when he was crucified, they would have joined with his murderers. And put him to an open shame.] paradeigmatizontav. And have made him a public example; or, crucifying unto themselves and making the Son of God a public example. That is, they show openly that they judge Jesus Christ to have been worthy of the death which he suffered, and was justly made a public example by being crucified. This shows that it is final apostasy, by the total rejection of the Gospel, and blasphemy of the Saviour of men, that the apostle has in view. See the note on “Hebrews 6:4”.
Joseph Benson
Verse 6. If they fall away — Literally, and have fallen away. The preceding participles, fwtisqentav, geusamenouv, and genhqentav, being aorists, says Macknight, “are rightly rendered by our translators in the past time; who were enlightened, have tasted, were made partakers; wherefore parapesontav, being also an aorist, ought to have been translated in the past time, have fallen away. Nevertheless our translators, (following Beza, who, without any authority from ancient MSS., has inserted in his version the word si, if,) have rendered this clause, if they fall away; that this text might not appear to contradict the doctrine of the perseverance of the saints. But as no translator should take upon him to add to, or alter the Scriptures, for the sake of any favourite doctrine, I have translated the word in the past time, have fallen away, according to its true import, as standing in connection with the other aorists in the preceding verses.” “Two things,” says Pierce, “are here to be observed: 1st, That he speaks of such only as fell away from the very profession of Christianity. This appears from what he presently adds, to set forth the aggravations of their guilt, that they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to open shame” — That is, show themselves to be of the same mind with those that did crucify him, and would do it again were it in their power; and do all they can to make him contemptible and despised. “It is therefore very unreasonable for persons to give way to despair themselves, or to drive others to it, by applying to other sins this text, which only relates to total apostacy. 2d, As the same thing is spoken of again, Hebrews 10:26, &c., it cannot be improper to compare the two places together, in order to our fully understanding his design. And therefore, from the other place, I would explain this, If they shall, ekousiwv, wilfully, fall away. But it may be inquired why our author speaks so severely of the condition of such apostates. Now the reason of this may be taken partly from the nature of the evidence which they rejected. The fullest and clearest evidence which God ever designed to give of the truth of Christianity, was these miraculous operations of the Spirit; and when men were not only eye-witnesses of these miracles, but were likewise themselves (probably) empowered by the Spirit to work them, and yet after all rejected this evidence, they could have no further or higher evidence whereby they should be convinced; so that their case must, in that respect, appear desperate. This may be partly owing to their putting themselves out of the way of conviction. If they could not see enough to settle them in the Christian religion, while they made a profession of it, much less were they like to meet with any thing new to convince and reclaim them, when they had taken up an opposite profession, and joined themselves with the inveterate enemies of Christianity. And finally, this may be resolved into the righteous judgment of God against such men for the heinous and aggravated wickedness of which they are guilty.”
Joseph Sutcliffe
Ver. 4-6. For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, by a course of religious instruction. Adunatov is not always understood in an absolute sense, but as designating a thing very hard and difficult to be done. So the LXX translate Deuteronomy 17:8. If there arise a matter too hard for thee in judgment. Thus also some of the old German versions read, A thing that can hardly be. They had tasted of the good word, sweeter than honey, or the honey comb; and felt the powers of the world to come. On this subject the rabbins laboured under much darkness. They do not allow that any happy spirit can attain the beatific vision till after the final judgment. By the falling away we do not understand homicide, adultery, or idolatry, for those sinners, after penance, might be restored to the peace of the church; but an abjuration of Christ, and accounting him accursed, as the jews do: this doubles the difficulty, by rejecting the remedy.
Daniel Whedon
6. If they shall fall away—A sad mistranslation. There is no if in the original, and no future tense, and no contingent supposition. It is the “historic tense,” and describes a fall that has already taken place, as our translation above indicates. Fall away—Of course they could not fall if they did not once stand. And that stand was a state of salvation in which, did they stand and not fall, they would have been safe. “Let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.” Away, means from the previous state of renewal in which the warning requires them to stand. It was not a fall from a state of condemnation, but from a state of salvation. And this fall away is the central thought of the whole epistle. To warn his readers by the fatal example of others is its entire purpose. See notes on Hebrews 3:7-4:13. Renew them—Bring them back to their once renewed, unfallen state. Again—Correlative with once, in verse 4. They were once renewed, but it is impossible to renew them again. There was a blessed once to which they can never be reclaimed again. And this very word again means they were once renewed. Repentance—The great, sure condition of salvation. Seeing they—Words not in the Greek, and which should not be in the English. See our translation on p. 78. Crucify afresh—Re-crucify, repeat the crucifixion. Their apostasy, as we have repeatedly intimated, arose from a disgust at the humiliation of the Messiah. Hence, “the hanged man” was the Jewish epithet for Jesus. Hence the apostatizing He brews were induced to represent Jesus to themselves in conception as a real impostor and malefactor. They approved his crucifixion, and thereby, in thought, recrucified him. The phrase to themselves, is, then, by no means, pleonastic, as it is often, as in the phrase “away with yourself.” The conceptual re-crucifixion within the imagination and heart has its outward antithesis in the open shame, the public exhibition. The Greek single word translated, put him to an open shame, paradeigmatizw, is used in the Septuagint, Numbers 25:4: “Take all the heads of the people, and hang them up before the Lord against the sun.” As counterpart to the subjective conceptual, crucifying to themselves, this word here seems to indicate some public exposure. This probability is strikingly illustrated in a chalked caricature belonging to the first century, lately discovered at Rome, in which the figure of a man with the head of an ass is suspended on a cross, with a reverent worshipper before him, and an inscription underneath, “Alexamenos worshipping his god.” Perhaps the public exhibition by these apostates consisted in offering a public temple sacrifice, with open profession that it was an act of rejection of the true Sacrifice. It is true, the Pentecostal Church continued to attend the ordinary sacrifices in the temple, but there seems full indication (xiii, 10) that before this epistle was written a separation between the temple and the Church had now taken place. And such open self-commitment, with the attendant temper, self-interest, and exclusive association likely to follow, may account for the impossible of their being renewed unto repentance.
Those, however, who take the extreme view of this impossibility of recovery do not thereby weaken the argument of the possibility of apostasy. They only maintain a very fearful view of the nature of this apostasy. Note on 10:26. And even if this particular set of apostates had apostatized irrecoverably, that irrecoverabillty is predicated of that set alone. Irrecoverability is not laid down as a universal law of apostasy.
For the earth which drinketh in the rain that cometh oft upon it, and bringeth forth herbs meet for them by whom it is dressed, receiveth blessing from God:
Adam Clarke
Verse 7. For the earth which drinketh in the rain] As much as if he had said: In giving up such apostates as utterly incurable, we act as men do in cultivating their fields; for as the ground, which drinketh in the rain by which the providence of God waters it, brings forth fruit to compensate the toil of the tiller, and continues to be cultivated, God granting his blessing to the labours of the husbandman; so,
Joseph Benson
Verses 7, 8. For the earth which drinketh in the rain, &c. — Thus they to whom the gospel is preached, and who believe and embrace it, bring forth the fruits of repentance, faith, and new obedience, and are accepted and blessed by God with further measures of grace, according to Matthew 13:12; 25:29, where see the notes. But that which beareth thorns and briers — Only or chiefly; is rejected — No more labour is bestowed upon it; and is nigh unto cursing — As in the blessing mentioned in the former verse, there is an allusion to the primitive blessing, whereby the earth was rendered fruitful, Genesis 1:11; so in the curse, here mentioned, there is an allusion to the curse pronounced on the earth after the fall, Genesis 3:17. Whose end is to be burned — A principal part of the eastern agriculture consists in leading rills of water from ponds, fountains, and brooks to render the fields fruitful. When this is neglected, the land is scorched by the heat and drought of the climate, and so, being burned up, is altogether sterile. Or, he may refer to the custom of husbandmen’s burning up the thorns and briers produced by barren ground. The apostle’s meaning is, that as land, which is unfruitful under every method of culture, will at length be deserted by the husbandmen, and burned up with drought; so those that enjoy the means of grace, and yet bring forth nothing but evil tempers, words, and works, must expect to be deprived of the means they enjoy, and exposed to utter ruin. And the apostle particularly referred in these words to the Jewish nation, the generality of whom rejected the gospel, while many others, who had received it, apostatized from it; and who therefore, in a peculiar sense, were exposed to the divine malediction, as was signified by Christ’s cursing the barren fig-tree, mentioned Mark 11:13, 20. The consequence of which was the burning of their city and temple, and the slaughter of many hundreds of thousands of them shortly after this epistle was written, together with the awful state of spiritual barrenness in which the remnant of them have long lain.
Joseph Sutcliffe
Ver. 7, 8. For the earth, the well-cultivated farm, here adduced to exemplify the glory and beauty of the faithful in the church, that drinketh in the rain, and is revived by the warmer suns, matures the harvest and the vintage, for the faithful under the smiles and blessing of God, shame by contrast the state of apostasy under the figure of land bringing forth briars and thorns, and is nigh unto cursing, to be stubbed up and burned. Our Saviour gives us a similar idea of the barren branches of the vine, which are gathered and cast into the fire. John 15:6.
Daniel Whedon
7. The contrast between the persevering soul and the apostate is now pictured by two opposite soils. Which drinketh—Past tense, drank, as bringeth forth is present. The present fertility springs up from the past watering. Drinketh recognises the live character of the soil as figuring a living soul, a soul that drinketh in the water of life. Cometh oft—For often does the refreshing shower come upon the soul that readily drinketh it in. Herbs—Grass, corn, or any grain for man or beast. By whom— Rather, for or on account of whom; namely, the proprietors of the soil. But whom, then, do the labourers represent? Doubtless the teachers and rulers of the Church; as the proprietors are, as we may say, the owners of the soil, the soul. Blessing—The antithesis to cursing in verse 8; and in both sides of the double picture the words are delicately so selected as to apply both to the symbolizing soil and to the symbolized soul. Blessing on the fertile soil suggests the divine smile, shedding additional fertility, until it blooms into a paradise. And the beautiful colourings of the picture are easily transferred to the fertile soul.
But that which beareth thorns and briers is rejected, and is nigh unto cursing; whose end is to be burned.
John Wesley
V. 8. That which beareth thorns and briers-Only or chiefly. Is rejected-No more labour is bestowed upon it. Whose end is to be burned-As Jerusalem was shortly after.
Adam Clarke
Verse 8. That which beareth thorns and briers is rejected] That is: The land which, notwithstanding the most careful cultivation, receiving also in due times the early and latter rain, produces nothing but thorns and briers, or noxious weeds of different kinds, is rejected, adokimov, is given up as unimprovable; its briers, thorns, and brushwood burnt down; and then left to be pastured on by the beasts of the field. This seems to be the custom in husbandry to which the apostle alludes. The nature of the case prevents us from supposing that he alludes to the custom of pushing and burning, in order to farther fertilization. This practice has been common from very early times:-
Sæpe etiam steriles incendere profuit agros;
Atque levem stipulam crepitantibus urere flammis.
VIRG. Geor. i., v. 84.
Long practice has a sure improvement found,
With kindled fires to burn the barren ground;
When the light stubble to the flames resign’d,
Is driven along, and crackles in the wind.
DRYDEN.
But this, I say the circumstances of the case prevent us from supposing to be intended.
Is nigh unto cursing] It is acknowledged, almost on all hands, that this epistle was written before the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans. This verse is in my opinion a proof of it, and here I suppose the apostle refers to that approaching destruction; and perhaps he has this all along in view, but speaks of it covertly, that he might not give offence. There is a good sense in which all these things may be applied to the Jews at large, who were favoured by our Lord’s ministry and miracles. They were enlightened by his preaching; tasted of the benefits of the heavenly gift-the Christian religion established among them; saw many of their children and relatives made partakers of the Holy Ghost; tasted the good word of God, by the fulfilment of the promise made to Abraham; and saw the almighty power of God exerted, in working a great variety of miracles. Yet, after being convinced that never man spake as this man, and that none could do those miracles which he did, except God were with him; after having followed him in thousands, for three years, while he preached to them the Gospel of the kingdom of God; they fell away from all this, crucified him who, even in his sufferings as well as his resurrection, was demonstrated by miracles to be the Son of God; and then to vindicate their unparalleled wickedness, endeavoured to make him a public example, by reproaches and blasphemies. Therefore their state, which had received much moral cultivation from Moses, the prophets, Christ, and his apostles; and now bore nothing but the most vicious fruits, pride, unbelief, hardness of heart, contempt of God’s word and ordinances, blasphemy, and rebellion; was rejected-reprobated, of God; was nigh unto cursing-about to be cast off from the Divine protection; and their city and temple were shortly to be burnt up by the Roman armies. Thus the apostle, under the case of individuals, points out the destruction that was to come upon this people in general, and which actually took place about seven years after the writing of this epistle! And this appears to be the very subject which the apostle has in view in the parallel solemn passages, Hebrews 10:26-31; and, viewed in this light, much of their obscurity and difficulty vanishes away.
Joseph Benson
Verses 7, 8. For the earth which drinketh in the rain, &c. — Thus they to whom the gospel is preached, and who believe and embrace it, bring forth the fruits of repentance, faith, and new obedience, and are accepted and blessed by God with further measures of grace, according to Matthew 13:12; 25:29, where see the notes. But that which beareth thorns and briers — Only or chiefly; is rejected — No more labour is bestowed upon it; and is nigh unto cursing — As in the blessing mentioned in the former verse, there is an allusion to the primitive blessing, whereby the earth was rendered fruitful, Genesis 1:11; so in the curse, here mentioned, there is an allusion to the curse pronounced on the earth after the fall, Genesis 3:17. Whose end is to be burned — A principal part of the eastern agriculture consists in leading rills of water from ponds, fountains, and brooks to render the fields fruitful. When this is neglected, the land is scorched by the heat and drought of the climate, and so, being burned up, is altogether sterile. Or, he may refer to the custom of husbandmen’s burning up the thorns and briers produced by barren ground. The apostle’s meaning is, that as land, which is unfruitful under every method of culture, will at length be deserted by the husbandmen, and burned up with drought; so those that enjoy the means of grace, and yet bring forth nothing but evil tempers, words, and works, must expect to be deprived of the means they enjoy, and exposed to utter ruin. And the apostle particularly referred in these words to the Jewish nation, the generality of whom rejected the gospel, while many others, who had received it, apostatized from it; and who therefore, in a peculiar sense, were exposed to the divine malediction, as was signified by Christ’s cursing the barren fig-tree, mentioned Mark 11:13, 20. The consequence of which was the burning of their city and temple, and the slaughter of many hundreds of thousands of them shortly after this epistle was written, together with the awful state of spiritual barrenness in which the remnant of them have long lain.
Joseph Sutcliffe
Ver. 7, 8. For the earth, the well-cultivated farm, here adduced to exemplify the glory and beauty of the faithful in the church, that drinketh in the rain, and is revived by the warmer suns, matures the harvest and the vintage, for the faithful under the smiles and blessing of God, shame by contrast the state of apostasy under the figure of land bringing forth briars and thorns, and is nigh unto cursing, to be stubbed up and burned. Our Saviour gives us a similar idea of the barren branches of the vine, which are gathered and cast into the fire. John 15:6.
Daniel Whedon
8. Beareth thorns—Now, whatever it once bore. Rejected—Reprobate; the word again doubly applicable to soil and soul; reprobate, not by an eternal previous decree, but in consequence of its perverse products. Nigh unto cursing—Not sure of being restored again because it was once fertile. In both the blessing and cursing there seems allusion to the opposite terms in Genesis, 1:12, contrasting our primeval earth before and after the fall; “God saw that it was good;” and in Hebrews 3:17, “Cursed is the ground… thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth.” Nigh unto cursing shows the downward course of the apostatizing soul, and its nearness to the fatal result. End—The finality of his earthly career. To be burned—Literally, unto burning; that is, after the career is closed. The terms are again skilfully double-sided, applying alike to soil and soul. Note that it is not the thorns and briers that are burned, for that would improve the soil, but the soil itself. There seems to be an allusion to Deuteronomy 29:23: “The whole land thereof is brimstone, and salt, and burning… like the overthrow of Sodom.” And here is a closing period to the strain of most severe rebuke and solemn warning commencing at Hebrews 5:11.
But, beloved, we are persuaded better things of you, and things that accompany salvation, though we thus speak.
John Wesley
V. 9. But, beloved-in this one place he calls them so. He never uses this appellation, but in exhorting.
We are persuaded of you things that accompany salvation-We are persuaded you are now saved from your sins; and that ye have that faith, love, and holiness, which lead to final salvation. Though we thus speak-To warn you, lest you should fall from your present steadfastness.
Adam Clarke
Verse 9. But, beloved] Here he softens what he had before said; having given them the most solemn warning against apostasy, he now encourages them to persevere, commends the good that is in them, and excites them to watchfulness and activity.
Better things of you] Than that you shall resemble that unfruitful ground that can be improved by no tillage, and is thrown into waste, and is fit only for the beasts of the forests to roam in.
Things that accompany salvation] ta ecomena swthriav. Things that are suitable to a state of salvation; you give proofs still that you have not, whatever others have done, departed from the living God. Several of your brethren have already apostatized, and the whole nation is in a state of rebellion against God; and, in consequence of their final rejection of Christ and his Gospel, are about to be finally rejected by God. They must meet with destruction; they have the things that are suitable to, and indicative of, a state of reprobation; the wrath of God will come upon them to the uttermost; but, while they meet with destruction, you shall meet with salvation. It is worthy of remark, that no genuine Christian perished in the destruction of Jerusalem; they all, previously to the siege by Titus, escaped to Pella, in Cœlosyria; and it is as remarkable that not one Jew escaped! all either fell by the sword, perished by famine, or were led into captivity! According to their own imprecation, His blood be upon us and our children, God visited and avenged the innocent blood of Christ upon them and upon their posterity; and they continue to be monuments of his displeasure to the present day.
Joseph Benson
Verses 9-11. But, beloved — In this one place he calls them so. He never uses this appellation but in exhorting; we are persuaded better things of you — Than those intimated verges 4-6. This is exactly in St. Paul’s manner of softening the harsh things he found himself obliged to write. See Ephesians 4:20; 2 Thessalonians 2:13. And things that accompany salvation — Which argue you to be in a state of salvation, and will in the end, if you persevere, bring you to eternal salvation; namely, sincere faith in Christ and his gospel, love to God and one another, and obedience to his will; though we thus speak — Declare the danger of apostacy to warn you, lest you should fall from your present steadfastness. For God is not unrighteous to forget, &c. — You give plain proof of your faith and love, which the righteous God will surely reward; and, or rather, but, we desire that every one of you do continue to show the same diligence — Which you have used hitherto; and therefore we thus speak; to the full assurance of hope — That you may be fully confirmed in your hope of eternal felicity; unto the end — As long as you live; which you cannot expect if you abate of your diligence. “The full assurance of faith relates to present pardon, the full assurance of hope to future glory. The former is the highest degree of divine evidence that God is reconciled to us in the Son of his love: the latter is the same degree of divine evidence (wrought in the soul by the same immediate inspiration of the Holy Ghost) of persevering grace, and of eternal glory. So much, and no more, as faith every moment beholds with open face, so much does hope see, to all eternity. But this assurance of faith and hope is not an opinion, not a bare construction of Scripture, but is given immediately by the power of the Holy Ghost; and what none can have for another, but for himself only.” — Wesley.
Joseph Sutcliffe
Ver. 9, 10. But, beloved, though we thus speak of some few who have denied the faith, we are persuaded better things of you, and things that accompany salvation; and that your incessant persecutions shall not be able to separate you from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. The love ye have showed towards his name, in that ye have ministered to the saints, demonstrate the charity that dwells in your hearts; and the issues attendant on this divine principle are eternal salvation. — What words of healing, after the severity of excision from the church of God.
Daniel Whedon
9. But—Passing to commendation and encouragement. At this point commences a gradual return, and, we might say, cheering ascent to Melchizedek, (verse 20,) from whom we abruptly parted at Hebrews 5:10. You is here emphatic. Though there is a class of apostates, (as 4-8,) you are not embraced within it. Better things—Rather, the better of the two things contrasted in verses 7 and 8; namely, the perseverers and the apostates. Thus speak—In terms of almost contempt, in Hebrews 5:1-6:2, and in terrible warnings, in 3-8. This rebuke and this warning are not the result of malign feeling, but of solicitude for those I love, and earnest hope that they will persevere to the end. But this is no assurance that others are not apostates, nor an infallible assurance that Paul’s readers will not become so.
For God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labor of love, which ye have shewed toward his name, in that ye have ministered to the saints, and do minister.
John Wesley
V. 10. For-Ye give plain proof of your faith and love, which the righteous God will surely reward.
Adam Clarke
Verse 10. God is not unrighteous] God is only bound to men by his own promise: this promise he is not obliged to make; but, when once made, his righteousness or justice requires him to keep it; therefore, whatever he has promised he will certainly perform. But he has promised to reward every good work and labour of love, and he will surely reward yours; God’s promise is God’s debt.
Every good work must spring from faith in the name, being, and goodness of God; and every work that is truly good must have love for its motive, as it has God for its end.
The word tou kopou, labour, prefixed to love, is wanting in almost every MS. and version of importance. Griesbach has left it out of the text. Ministered to the saints] Have contributed to the support and comfort of the poor Christians who were suffering persecution in Judea. As they had thus ministered, and were still ministering, they gave full proof that they had a common cause with the others; and this was one of the things that proved them to be in a state of salvation.
Joseph Benson
Verses 9-11. But, beloved — In this one place he calls them so. He never uses this appellation but in exhorting; we are persuaded better things of you — Than those intimated verges 4-6. This is exactly in St. Paul’s manner of softening the harsh things he found himself obliged to write. See Ephesians 4:20; 2 Thessalonians 2:13. And things that accompany salvation — Which argue you to be in a state of salvation, and will in the end, if you persevere, bring you to eternal salvation; namely, sincere faith in Christ and his gospel, love to God and one another, and obedience to his will; though we thus speak — Declare the danger of apostacy to warn you, lest you should fall from your present steadfastness. For God is not unrighteous to forget, &c. — You give plain proof of your faith and love, which the righteous God will surely reward; and, or rather, but, we desire that every one of you do continue to show the same diligence — Which you have used hitherto; and therefore we thus speak; to the full assurance of hope — That you may be fully confirmed in your hope of eternal felicity; unto the end — As long as you live; which you cannot expect if you abate of your diligence. “The full assurance of faith relates to present pardon, the full assurance of hope to future glory. The former is the highest degree of divine evidence that God is reconciled to us in the Son of his love: the latter is the same degree of divine evidence (wrought in the soul by the same immediate inspiration of the Holy Ghost) of persevering grace, and of eternal glory. So much, and no more, as faith every moment beholds with open face, so much does hope see, to all eternity. But this assurance of faith and hope is not an opinion, not a bare construction of Scripture, but is given immediately by the power of the Holy Ghost; and what none can have for another, but for himself only.” — Wesley.
Joseph Sutcliffe
Ver. 9, 10. But, beloved, though we thus speak of some few who have denied the faith, we are persuaded better things of you, and things that accompany salvation; and that your incessant persecutions shall not be able to separate you from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. The love ye have showed towards his name, in that ye have ministered to the saints, demonstrate the charity that dwells in your hearts; and the issues attendant on this divine principle are eternal salvation. — What words of healing, after the severity of excision from the church of God.
Daniel Whedon
10. For—Grounds of this favourable hope. You have in some points done so well that God will afford you abundant enabling grace to persevere, if you use it. Unrighteous—The word must not, with Stuart, be softened to unkind. God holds himself righteously bound to grant more grace for grace well used. The man who does a measure of sincere duty may lay hold of God’s righteousness as pledged to aid him, in accordance and without measure. And the writer goes on to show that God is pledged by both word and oath. Forget—Not to be forgetful, but to consign to oblivion by an instant act. Work… love—More authoritative reading, labour and love. Their labour was not dead works, (ver. 1,) but was animated with love. His name—For God holds your labour as done to himself. The name of God often stands, reverently, for God himself. Romans 15:9; Acts 19:17; Matthew 12:21. Ministered to the saints—Either to their own poor in Jerusalem, or to Christians visiting and sojourning there. Jerusalem was the Christian as well as Jewish metropolis, and crowds of Christians would visit it, especially on great festival days, needing hospitality. This rendered it desirable that the “poor saints” at Jerusalem should be aided by other churches. Note on Acts 2:5. Do minister— You still persevere; and, while you do so, there is strong ground of hope. Your real danger is, that the popular contempt of Christ will shake your faith.
And we desire that every one of you do shew the same diligence to the full assurance of hope unto the end:
John Wesley
V. 11. But we desire you may show the same diligence unto the end-And therefore we thus speak.
To the full assurance of hope-Which you cannot expect, if you abate your diligence. The full assurance of faith relates to present pardon; the full assurance of hope, to future glory. The former is the highest degree of divine evidence that God is reconciled to me in the Son of his love; the latter is the same degree of divine evidence (wrought in the soul by the same immediate inspiration of the Holy Ghost) of persevering grace, and of eternal glory. So much, and no more, as faith every moment "beholds with open face," so much does hope see to all eternity. But this assurance of faith and hope is not an opinion, not a bare construction of scripture, but is given immediately by the power of the Holy Ghost; and what none can have for another, but for himself only.
Adam Clarke
Verse 11. We desire] epiqumoumen, We earnestly wish, that each person among you may continue endeiknusqai, to manifest, exhibit to full view, the same diligence. There might be reason to suspect that some, through fear of man, might not wish the good they did to be seen, lest they also should suffer persecution. This would not comport with the generous, noble spirit of the Gospel; the man who is afraid to let his decided attachment to God be known, is not far from backsliding. He who is more afraid of man than he is of God Almighty, can have very little religion. As the Church of Christ required all those who in these times embraced the Gospel to be publicly baptized, those who submitted to this rite gave full proof that they were thoroughly convinced of the truths of Christianity; and they gave this as a public pledge that they would be faithful. The same diligence] They had an active faith and a labouring love, and the apostle wishes them to persevere in both. They were diligent, very diligent, and he desires them to continue so.
To the full assurance of hope, prov thn plhroforian thv elpidov. “The full assurance of faith,” says Mr. Wesley, “relates to present pardon; the full assurance of hope, to future glory: the former is the highest degree of Divine evidence that God is reconciled to me in the Son of his love; the latter is the same degree of Divine evidence, wrought in the soul by the same immediate inspiration of the Holy Ghost, of persevering grace, and of eternal glory. So much as faith every moment beholds with open face, so much, and no more, does hope see to all eternity. But this assurance of faith and hope is not an opinion, not a bare construction of Scripture, but is given immediately by the power of the Holy Ghost, and what none can have for another, but for himself only.”
We must not misapprehend these excellent sayings of this eminent man. 1. The person who has this full assurance of hope is he who not only knows and feels that his sins are forgiven through Christ Jesus, but also that his heart is purified from all unrighteousness, that the whole body of sin and death is destroyed, and that he is fully made a partaker of the Divine nature. As without holiness, complete, entire holiness, no man can see God: so, without this, none can scripturally or rationally hope for eternal glory; it being a contradiction to profess to have the full assurance of hope to enjoy a state and place for which the soul is conscious it is not prepared.
2. All that is said here must be understood as still implying the absolute necessity of continuing in the same degree of grace from which this full assurance of hope is derived. This full assurance, therefore, does not imply that the man will absolutely persevere to the end; but that, if he do persevere in this same grace, he shall infallibly have an eternal glory. There is no unconditional perseverance in the Scripture, nor can there be such in a state of probation.
Joseph Benson
Verses 9-11. But, beloved — In this one place he calls them so. He never uses this appellation but in exhorting; we are persuaded better things of you — Than those intimated verges 4-6. This is exactly in St. Paul’s manner of softening the harsh things he found himself obliged to write. See Ephesians 4:20; 2 Thessalonians 2:13. And things that accompany salvation — Which argue you to be in a state of salvation, and will in the end, if you persevere, bring you to eternal salvation; namely, sincere faith in Christ and his gospel, love to God and one another, and obedience to his will; though we thus speak — Declare the danger of apostacy to warn you, lest you should fall from your present steadfastness. For God is not unrighteous to forget, &c. — You give plain proof of your faith and love, which the righteous God will surely reward; and, or rather, but, we desire that every one of you do continue to show the same diligence — Which you have used hitherto; and therefore we thus speak; to the full assurance of hope — That you may be fully confirmed in your hope of eternal felicity; unto the end — As long as you live; which you cannot expect if you abate of your diligence. “The full assurance of faith relates to present pardon, the full assurance of hope to future glory. The former is the highest degree of divine evidence that God is reconciled to us in the Son of his love: the latter is the same degree of divine evidence (wrought in the soul by the same immediate inspiration of the Holy Ghost) of persevering grace, and of eternal glory. So much, and no more, as faith every moment beholds with open face, so much does hope see, to all eternity. But this assurance of faith and hope is not an opinion, not a bare construction of Scripture, but is given immediately by the power of the Holy Ghost; and what none can have for another, but for himself only.” — Wesley.
Joseph Sutcliffe
Ver. 11, 12. The full assurance of hope. The completion, the plenitude, the consummation, the persuasion, and the full persuasion of hope. The Greek, plerophoria, implies the certain knowledge of a thing. These are the principal readings in versions of authority. The word is rendered to the same effect in Colossians 2:2. 1 Thessalonians 1:5. 2 Timothy 4:5, 17. Faith regards the promise, but hope goes farther, having attained the seal and earnest of our future inheritance. This is the highest and happiest state we can attain on earth, and the best guardian against all apostasy and relapse. Be not then like those base souls who draw back, but be followers of all the faithful, who through faith and patience wait for the advent of Christ, who shall give them the kingdom.
Daniel Whedon
11. We desire—As God faithfully does his part, do you perseveringly do your part. Every one—It is a deeply individual matter. Each man must stand for himself or fall for himself. Same diligence touching assurance of hope that you have in ministering to saints. Assurance of hope—A glad hope of a glorious reward, with a full assurance in it. The writer has warned them by fear of fall, (4-6;) he now cheers them with a lofty view of the glory of perseverance. Thus, by the double action of fear, driving them from apostasy, and of hope, cheering them on to perseverance, he would incite them to the better things of ver. 9. Unto the end—For it is the end, the close of our career, that decides our case for eternity. All past righteousnesses (Ezekiel 33:13) will not avail if the end finds us in an apostate condition. Alford whimsically tells us the end means the second advent, which they expected would take place in their own day. See note, Matthew 24:13.
That ye be not slothful, but followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises.
John Wesley
V. 12. Inherited the promises-The promised rest; paradise.
Adam Clarke
Verse 12. That ye be not slothful] This shows how the full assurance of hope is to be regulated and maintained. They must be diligent; slothfulness will deprive them both of hope and faith. That faith which worketh by love will maintain hope in its full and due exercise.
Followers of them] mimhtai de-----klhronomountwn tav epaggeliav. That ye be mimics or imitators of them who are inheriting the promises. And they inherited these promises by faith in him who is invisible, and who, they knew, could not lie; and they patiently endured, through difficulties and adversities of every kind, and persevered unto death. “The promises made to Abraham and to his seed were, 1. That Abraham should have a numerous seed by faith as well as by natural descent. 2. That God would be a God to him and to his seed in their generations, by being the object of their worship and their protector. 3. That he would give them the possession of Canaan. 4. That he would bless all the nations of the earth in him. 5. That he would thus bless the nations through Christ, Abraham’s seed. 6. That through Christ, likewise, he would bless the nations with the Gospel revelation. Four of these promises the believing Gentiles were inheriting at the time the apostle wrote this letter. 1. They were become Abraham’s seed by faith. 2. God was become the object of their worship and their protector. 3. They were enjoying the knowledge of God in the Gospel Church, and the gifts of the Spirit. Gal. 3: 4. All these blessings were bestowed upon them through Christ. By observing that the believing Gentiles were actually inheriting the promises; i.e. the four promised blessings above mentioned, the apostle appealed to an undeniable fact, in proof that the believing Gentiles, equally with the believing Jews, were heirs of the promises made to Abraham and his seed.” See Dr. Macknight. The promises may be considered as referring to the rest of faith here, and the rest of glory hereafter.
Joseph Benson
Verse 12. That ye be not slothful — Nwqroi, careless and negligent, or dull, sluggish, and indolent, namely, in the use of the means of grace, or in those works of piety and virtue which are the proper fruits of faith and love; but followers — mimhtai, imitators; of them who through faith — In God, and in the truths and promises of his holy word; and patience — Or, long-suffering, as Makroqumiav rather signifies, enduring long in the constant exercise of faith, hope, and love, notwithstanding any or all opposition, and the bearing all trials and troubles, of whatever kind, with composure of mind and resignation to the divine will; inherit the promises — Dr. Whitby would render it, inherited the promises, supposing that the expression refers to the promises made to Abraham and the other patriarchs respecting the multiplication of their seed, their being put in possession of Canaan, and the various other promises made to them, the accomplishment of which they afterward received. But the participle, klhronomountwn, being in the present tense, will hardly bear to be so rendered, signifying literally, are inheriting, namely, the promises. Pierce and Macknight, therefore, understand it of the believing Gentiles, who at the time when the apostle wrote were inheriting those promises made to Abraham concerning all nations of the earth being blessed in him and his seed. But, as Dr. Doddridge observes, if this were intended as a hint to stir up the Jews to emulation, as is supposed, “it was indeed a very obscure one; for, comparatively, it is a low sense in which Christians, in this imperfect state, can be said to inherit the promises. It seems rather to refer to all good men, who were departed out of our world, whether in former or latter days, and under whatever dispensation they died. Taking it in this view, it is a conclusive argument against the soul’s continuing in a state of sleep during the intermediate period between death and the resurrection.” This certainly seems the most natural interpretation of the verse, namely, that “the apostle meant to lead his readers to meditate on the happiness of Abraham, Moses, Joshua, Job, and all those who had on earth lived by faith in the promises of God, especially the great promise of a Saviour, and eternal salvation by him; and had patiently waited, laboured, and suffered in the obedience of faith; and in consequence were at the time, when the apostle wrote this, inheriting the promises of God, of eternal blessings, through Christ, to all believers.” — Scott.
Joseph Sutcliffe
Ver. 11, 12. The full assurance of hope. The completion, the plenitude, the consummation, the persuasion, and the full persuasion of hope. The Greek, plerophoria, implies the certain knowledge of a thing. These are the principal readings in versions of authority. The word is rendered to the same effect in Colossians 2:2. 1 Thessalonians 1:5. 2 Timothy 4:5, 17. Faith regards the promise, but hope goes farther, having attained the seal and earnest of our future inheritance. This is the highest and happiest state we can attain on earth, and the best guardian against all apostasy and relapse. Be not then like those base souls who draw back, but be followers of all the faithful, who through faith and patience wait for the advent of Christ, who shall give them the kingdom.
Daniel Whedon
12. Not slothful in perseverance as they had been dull (same Greek word, Hebrews 5:11) of hearing. Followers—Literally, imitators; “a favourite word of Paul’s,” says Alford. Through faith and patience— Equally persevering on their part as God is faithful on his part. Who… inherit—Universally, all who are faithful and thereby are heirs. For in this persevering faith we are imitators of the entire Church militant, and with it marching forward to join the Church triumphant. The promises—What promises? The entire volume of all the promises of grace and glory, to persevering faith made with increasing clearness through the advancing dispensations.
For when God made promise to Abraham, because he could swear by no greater, he swear by himself,
John Wesley
V. 13. For-Ye have abundant encouragement, seeing no stronger promise could be made than that great promise which God made to Abraham, and in him to us.
Adam Clarke
Verse 13. When God made promise to Abraham] The promise referred to is that made to Abraham when he had offered his son Isaac on the altar, Genesis 22:16-18: “By myself have I sworn, saith the Lord; for because thou hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thy only son; that in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the seashore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies; and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed.” Of this promise the apostle only quotes a part, as is generally the case, because he knew that his readers were well acquainted with the Scriptures of the Old Testament, and particularly with the law.
He sware by himself] He pledged his eternal power and Godhead for the fulfilment of the promise; there was no being superior to himself to whom he could make appeal, or by whom he could be bound, therefore he appeals to and pledges his immutable truth and Godhead.
Joseph Benson
Verses 13-15. For when God made promise, &c. — As if he had said, And it appears that this is the way to partake of mercies promised, because Abraham was obliged to exercise faith and long-suffering before he obtained the accomplishment of the promise made to him. The promise here referred to, is that which God made to Abraham after he had laid Isaac on the altar, Genesis 22:16, 17. For on no other occasion did God confirm any promise to Abraham with an oath. To Abraham — Whose spiritual as well as natural seed you believing Hebrews are, and therefore shall partake of the same promises and blessings which were ensured to him. Because he could swear by no greater person, he sware by himself — By his own sacred and divine name; saying, Surely blessing I will bless thee — And all believers in thee; and multiplying I will multiply thee — Both thy natural and thy spiritual seed. The apostle quotes only the first words of the oath; but his reasoning is founded on the whole; and particularly on the promise, (Genesis 22:18,) And in thy seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed. They shall be blessed by having their faith counted to them for righteousness, through thy seed, Christ. And so after he had patiently endured — Makroqumhsav, after he had waited, or suffered long: he waited about thirty years before Isaac was born, after he was promised; he obtained the promise — Here, by a usual figure of speech, the promise is put for the thing promised. “In the birth of Isaac, Abraham obtained the beginning of the accomplishment of God’s promise concerning his numerous natural progeny. Moreover, as the birth of Isaac was brought about supernaturally by the divine power, it was both a proof and a pledge of the accomplishment of the promise concerning the birth of his numerous spiritual seed. Wherefore, in the birth of Isaac, Abraham may truly be said to have obtained the accomplishment of the promise concerning his numerous spiritual seed likewise. In any other sense, Abraham did not obtain the accomplishment of that promise.”
Joseph Sutcliffe
Ver. 13-18. When God made promise to Abraham, in the land of Mesopotamia, before he left Haran, it was that he would bless him and give him a son. But when Abraham had patiently endured twenty five years, to the birth of Isaac, and when Isaac was grown, that he could carry a burden of wood sufficient for the altar on which he was to be offered up, then God, willing to show to the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, that he would surely immolate his Son on Calvary, confirmed it by an oath. Genesis 22:16. That by two immutable seals of the covenant, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold on the hope set before us. The Lord is not as man, that he should lie, and this is the rock on which we build our hope.
Daniel Whedon
13. Promise to Abraham—To illustrate that infinite promise of God to faith which insures to the militant Church its eternal triumph, our author, as in the Epistle to the Romans, goes back to the first great recorded exemplar in the patriarchal age, Abraham. Could swear by no greater— In a proper oath we men call a higher Being to witness our words and to be ready to punish our perjury. The true oath is a solemn calling of God himself to be that witness and avenger. But, by whom shall God swear? Only by himself. So God has to take upon himself a twofoldness. He himself must be both the promiser and witness. So the solemn words, Genesis 22:16, “By myself have I sworn, saith Jehovah, that in blessing I will bless thee,” etc. And, Numbers 14:21, “As truly as I live.”
Saying, Surely blessing I will bless thee, and multiplying I will multiply thee.
Adam Clarke
Verse 14. Saying, Surely blessing I will bless thee] I will continue to bless thee.
Multiplying I will multiply thee.] I will continue to increase thy posterity. In the most literal manner God continues to fulfil this promise; genuine Christians are Abraham’s seed, and God is increasing their number daily. See the notes on Genesis 22:12-18; and Genesis 23:1.
Joseph Benson
Verses 13-15. For when God made promise, &c. — As if he had said, And it appears that this is the way to partake of mercies promised, because Abraham was obliged to exercise faith and long-suffering before he obtained the accomplishment of the promise made to him. The promise here referred to, is that which God made to Abraham after he had laid Isaac on the altar, Genesis 22:16, 17. For on no other occasion did God confirm any promise to Abraham with an oath. To Abraham — Whose spiritual as well as natural seed you believing Hebrews are, and therefore shall partake of the same promises and blessings which were ensured to him. Because he could swear by no greater person, he sware by himself — By his own sacred and divine name; saying, Surely blessing I will bless thee — And all believers in thee; and multiplying I will multiply thee — Both thy natural and thy spiritual seed. The apostle quotes only the first words of the oath; but his reasoning is founded on the whole; and particularly on the promise, (Genesis 22:18,) And in thy seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed. They shall be blessed by having their faith counted to them for righteousness, through thy seed, Christ. And so after he had patiently endured — Makroqumhsav, after he had waited, or suffered long: he waited about thirty years before Isaac was born, after he was promised; he obtained the promise — Here, by a usual figure of speech, the promise is put for the thing promised. “In the birth of Isaac, Abraham obtained the beginning of the accomplishment of God’s promise concerning his numerous natural progeny. Moreover, as the birth of Isaac was brought about supernaturally by the divine power, it was both a proof and a pledge of the accomplishment of the promise concerning the birth of his numerous spiritual seed. Wherefore, in the birth of Isaac, Abraham may truly be said to have obtained the accomplishment of the promise concerning his numerous spiritual seed likewise. In any other sense, Abraham did not obtain the accomplishment of that promise.”
Joseph Sutcliffe
Ver. 13-18. When God made promise to Abraham, in the land of Mesopotamia, before he left Haran, it was that he would bless him and give him a son. But when Abraham had patiently endured twenty five years, to the birth of Isaac, and when Isaac was grown, that he could carry a burden of wood sufficient for the altar on which he was to be offered up, then God, willing to show to the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, that he would surely immolate his Son on Calvary, confirmed it by an oath. Genesis 22:16. That by two immutable seals of the covenant, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold on the hope set before us. The Lord is not as man, that he should lie, and this is the rock on which we build our hope.
Daniel Whedon
14. Multiplying I will multiply thee—By this promise Abraham is to be father of the Messianic race, including the Messiah, with all the blessing in the Messiah included, temporal and eternal. Says Stuart, “When Abraham was called by God out of Haran, and a promise of a numerous posterity made to him, he was seventy-five years old, Genesis 12:1-4. Twenty-four years elapsed after this, while he was a sojourner in a strange land without any fixed place of abode, before the manner in which this promise would be fulfilled was revealed to him. Genesis 17:1-16. It was only when he was a hundred years old that the promised blessing of a son, from whom should spring a great nation, was obtained, Genesis 21:1-5. The preternatural birth of such a son was deemed by Abraham a sufficient pledge, on the part of God, that all which he had promised respecting him would be fulfilled. Genesis 22:15-18; Hebrews 11:8-12, 17-19; Romans 4:17-22.”
And so, after he had patiently endured, he obtained the promise.
John Wesley
V. 15. After he had waited-Thirty years.
He obtained the promise-Isaac, the pledge of all the promises.
Adam Clarke
Verse 15. He obtained the promise.] Isaac was supernaturally born; and in his birth God began to fulfil the promise: while he lived, he saw a provision made for the multiplication of his seed; and, having continued steadfast in the faith, he received the end of all the promises in the enjoyment of an eternal glory. And the inference from this is: If we believe and prove faithful unto death, we shall also inherit the promises; and this is what is implied in the apostle’s exhortation, Hebrews 6:12: Be not slothful, but followers of them, &c.
Joseph Benson
Verses 13-15. For when God made promise, &c. — As if he had said, And it appears that this is the way to partake of mercies promised, because Abraham was obliged to exercise faith and long-suffering before he obtained the accomplishment of the promise made to him. The promise here referred to, is that which God made to Abraham after he had laid Isaac on the altar, Genesis 22:16, 17. For on no other occasion did God confirm any promise to Abraham with an oath. To Abraham — Whose spiritual as well as natural seed you believing Hebrews are, and therefore shall partake of the same promises and blessings which were ensured to him. Because he could swear by no greater person, he sware by himself — By his own sacred and divine name; saying, Surely blessing I will bless thee — And all believers in thee; and multiplying I will multiply thee — Both thy natural and thy spiritual seed. The apostle quotes only the first words of the oath; but his reasoning is founded on the whole; and particularly on the promise, (Genesis 22:18,) And in thy seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed. They shall be blessed by having their faith counted to them for righteousness, through thy seed, Christ. And so after he had patiently endured — Makroqumhsav, after he had waited, or suffered long: he waited about thirty years before Isaac was born, after he was promised; he obtained the promise — Here, by a usual figure of speech, the promise is put for the thing promised. “In the birth of Isaac, Abraham obtained the beginning of the accomplishment of God’s promise concerning his numerous natural progeny. Moreover, as the birth of Isaac was brought about supernaturally by the divine power, it was both a proof and a pledge of the accomplishment of the promise concerning the birth of his numerous spiritual seed. Wherefore, in the birth of Isaac, Abraham may truly be said to have obtained the accomplishment of the promise concerning his numerous spiritual seed likewise. In any other sense, Abraham did not obtain the accomplishment of that promise.”
Joseph Sutcliffe
Ver. 13-18. When God made promise to Abraham, in the land of Mesopotamia, before he left Haran, it was that he would bless him and give him a son. But when Abraham had patiently endured twenty five years, to the birth of Isaac, and when Isaac was grown, that he could carry a burden of wood sufficient for the altar on which he was to be offered up, then God, willing to show to the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, that he would surely immolate his Son on Calvary, confirmed it by an oath. Genesis 22:16. That by two immutable seals of the covenant, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold on the hope set before us. The Lord is not as man, that he should lie, and this is the rock on which we build our hope.
Daniel Whedon
15. He had patiently endured—The endurance was from him, the assurance of reward from God. Obtained the (fulfilment of the) promise—Namely, in the birth of Isaac. In Isaac, the Messiah and all the blessings the Messiah includes, were respectively embodied, as the oak in the acorn.
For men verily swear by the greater: and an oath for confirmation is to them an end of all strife.
John Wesley
V. 16. Men generally swear by him who is infinitely greater than themselves, and an oath for confirmation, to confirm what is promised or asserted, usually puts an end to all contradiction. This shows that an oath taken in a religious manner is lawful even under the gospel: otherwise the apostle would never have mentioned it with so much honour, as a proper means to confirm the truth.
Adam Clarke
Verse 16. Men verily swear by the greater] One who has greater authority; who can take cognizance of the obligation, and punish the breach of it.
An oath for confirmation] “This observation teaches us,” says Dr. Macknight, “that both promissory oaths concerning things lawful and in our power, and oaths for the confirmation of things doubtful, when required by proper authority, and taken religiously, are allowable under the Gospel.”
Joseph Benson
Verses 16, 17. For men verily swear by the greater — By persons greater than themselves, whose vengeance they imprecate if they swear falsely; and particularly by Him who is infinitely greater than themselves; and an oath for confirmation — To confirm what is promised or asserted; is to them an end of all strife — Pashv antilogiav perav, usually puts an end to all contradiction. This shows that an oath taken in a religious manner, is lawful, even under the gospel: otherwise the apostle would never have mentioned it with so much honour, as a proper means to confirm the truth. Wherein — In which business of confirming his promise; God, willing more abundantly — Beyond what was absolutely necessary, and out of his superabundant love to and care for us; to show unto the heirs of promise — To Abraham’s spiritual seed, whose faith is counted for righteousness, and who partake of the blessings promised; the immutability of his counsel — Of his purpose, which is accompanied with infinite wisdom; confirmed it — Greek, emesiteusen, interposed, or came between the making of the promise and its accomplishment. The expression, says Macknight, “literally signifies, he mediatored it with an oath: he made an oath, the mediator, surety, or ratifier of his counsel.” This sense of the word merits attention, because it suggests a fine interpretation of Hebrews 9:15, where see the note. What amazing condescension was this of God! He, who is greatest of all, acts as if he were a middle person; as if, while he swears, he were less than himself, by whom he swears.
Joseph Sutcliffe
Ver. 13-18. When God made promise to Abraham, in the land of Mesopotamia, before he left Haran, it was that he would bless him and give him a son. But when Abraham had patiently endured twenty five years, to the birth of Isaac, and when Isaac was grown, that he could carry a burden of wood sufficient for the altar on which he was to be offered up, then God, willing to show to the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, that he would surely immolate his Son on Calvary, confirmed it by an oath. Genesis 22:16. That by two immutable seals of the covenant, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold on the hope set before us. The Lord is not as man, that he should lie, and this is the rock on which we build our hope.
Daniel Whedon
16. An oath—Greek, the oath; that is, the (institution of the) oath. The oath is a divine institution, the colloquial abuse of which is forbidden by Christ as profanity. So far is this from abolishing the true oath, which is an end of all strife, the Lord’s purpose was to forbid its colloquial desecration in order to secure its solemn sanctity. So Philo says, “By an oath doubtful things are decided, infirm things are confirmed, and the untrusted receive trust.” The ancient proverb is, “The man is the surety of the oath, not the oath of the man.” So Philo says, “Men, when mistrusted, have recourse to the oath to gain credence for themselves; but God, when simply speaking, is worthy of belief, so that his word is no way different from an oath.” And a sublime passage in the Talmud (quoted by Delitzsch) says, “Moses spoke before the Holy One: (blessed be He:) Lord of the world, hadst thou sworn to them by heaven and earth, I should have thought that as heaven and earth pass away, so, also, thine oath would pass away; but thou hast sworn to them by Thy great Name. It is so, then, that as Thy great Name liveth and endureth forever, Thine oath endureth forever also.”
Wherein God, willing more abundantly to shew unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath:
John Wesley
V. 17. God interposed by an oath-Amazing condescension! He who is greatest of all acts as if he were a middle person; as if while he swears, he were less than himself, by whom he swears! Thou that hearest the promise, dost thou not yet believe?
Adam Clarke
Verse 17. The heirs of promise] All the believing posterity of Abraham, and the nations of the earth or Gentiles in general.
The immutability of his counsel] His unchangeable purpose, to call the Gentiles to salvation by Jesus Christ; to justify every penitent by faith; to accept faith in Christ for justification in place of personal righteousness; and finally to bring every persevering believer, whether Jew or Gentile, to eternal glory.
Joseph Benson
Verses 16, 17. For men verily swear by the greater — By persons greater than themselves, whose vengeance they imprecate if they swear falsely; and particularly by Him who is infinitely greater than themselves; and an oath for confirmation — To confirm what is promised or asserted; is to them an end of all strife — Pashv antilogiav perav, usually puts an end to all contradiction. This shows that an oath taken in a religious manner, is lawful, even under the gospel: otherwise the apostle would never have mentioned it with so much honour, as a proper means to confirm the truth. Wherein — In which business of confirming his promise; God, willing more abundantly — Beyond what was absolutely necessary, and out of his superabundant love to and care for us; to show unto the heirs of promise — To Abraham’s spiritual seed, whose faith is counted for righteousness, and who partake of the blessings promised; the immutability of his counsel — Of his purpose, which is accompanied with infinite wisdom; confirmed it — Greek, emesiteusen, interposed, or came between the making of the promise and its accomplishment. The expression, says Macknight, “literally signifies, he mediatored it with an oath: he made an oath, the mediator, surety, or ratifier of his counsel.” This sense of the word merits attention, because it suggests a fine interpretation of Hebrews 9:15, where see the note. What amazing condescension was this of God! He, who is greatest of all, acts as if he were a middle person; as if, while he swears, he were less than himself, by whom he swears.
Joseph Sutcliffe
Ver. 13-18. When God made promise to Abraham, in the land of Mesopotamia, before he left Haran, it was that he would bless him and give him a son. But when Abraham had patiently endured twenty five years, to the birth of Isaac, and when Isaac was grown, that he could carry a burden of wood sufficient for the altar on which he was to be offered up, then God, willing to show to the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, that he would surely immolate his Son on Calvary, confirmed it by an oath. Genesis 22:16. That by two immutable seals of the covenant, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold on the hope set before us. The Lord is not as man, that he should lie, and this is the rock on which we build our hope.
Daniel Whedon
17. Wherein—In which transaction; namely, with Abraham. Confirmed it—Greek, mediated, or interposed as a mediator in taking the oath. For the person sworn by is a middle man, a third intermediate person, between the parties. He is a high arbitrator solemnly called in between the two empowered to witness and punish the perjurer. God, then, performs a double part; he is swearer and sworn by, party and mediator.
That by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us:
John Wesley
V. 18. That by two unchangeable things-His promise and his oath, in either, much more in both of which, it was impossible for God to lie, we might have strong consolation-Swallowing up all doubt and fear. Who have fled-After having been tossed by many storms. To lay hold on the hope set before us-On Christ, the object of our hope, and the glory we hope for through him.
Adam Clarke
Verse 18. That by two immutable things] The promise and oath of God: the promise pledged his faithfulness and justice; the oath, all the infinite perfections of his Godhead, for he sware by himself. There is a good saying in Beracoth on Exodus 32:13, fol. 32: Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, thy servants, to whom thou swarest by thine own self. “What is the meaning of by thine own self? Rab. Eleazar answered, Thus said Moses to the holy blessed God, Lord of all the world. If thou hadst sworn to them by the heavens and the earth, then I should have said, As the heavens and the earth shall pass away, so may thy oath pass away. But now thou hast sworn unto them by thy great name, which liveth, and which endureth for ever, and for ever and ever; therefore thy oath shall endure for ever, and for ever and ever.”
This is a good thought; if God had sworn by any thing finite, that thing might fail, and then the obligation would be at an end, but he has sworn by what is infinite, and cannot fail; therefore his oath is of eternal obligation. We might have a strong consolation] There appears to be an allusion here to the cities of refuge, and to the persons who fled to them for safety. As the person who killed his neighbour unawares was sure if he gained the city of refuge he should be safe, and had strong consolation in the hope that he should reach it, this hope animated him in his race to the city; he ran, he fled, knowing that, though in danger the most imminent of losing his life, yet, as he was now acting according to an ordinance of God, he was certain of safety provided he got to the place.
It is easy to apply this to the case of a truly penitent sinner. Thou hast sinned against God and against thy own life! The avenger of blood is at thy heels! Jesus hath shed his blood for thee, he is thy intercessor before the throne; flee to him! Lay hold on the hope of eternal life which is offered unto thee in the Gospel! Delay not one moment! Thou art never safe till thou hast redemption in his blood! God invites thee! Jesus spreads his hands to receive thee! God hath sworn that he willeth not the death of a sinner; then he cannot will thy death: take God’s oath, take his promise; credit what he hath spoken and sworn! Take encouragement! Believe on the Son of God, and thou shalt not perish, but have everlasting life!
Joseph Benson
Verses 18, 19. That by two immutable things in either, much more in both, of which it was impossible for God to lie — To alter his purpose and disappoint our expectation; we might have a strong consolation — A powerful argument to believe the promise with a confidence excluding all doubt and fear, and might receive a great comfort thereby; who have fled for refuge — Who, under a consciousness of our sinfulness and guilt, depravity, weakness, and wretchedness, have betaken ourselves for safety from deserved wrath; to lay hold on the hope — The promise (so confirmed by an oath) which is the ground of our hope; set before us in Christ — Through whom alone we can have salvation, present and eternal; which hope — In and through Christ, our righteousness and sanctification; we have as an anchor of the soul — The apostle here alludes to an anchor, which when cast, both preserves the vessel from losing the ground she has gained, and keeps her steady amid the winds and waves, when the art and skill of the mariners are overcome, and they cannot steer the ship in its right course, nor could otherwise preserve it from rocks, shelves, or sand-banks; both sure — Asfalh, safe, that will not fail, or may with confidence be trusted to, the matter of which it is formed being solid, and the proportion of it suited to the burden of the ship; and steadfast — Bebaian, firm against all opposition, which no violence of winds or storms can either break or move from its hold; and which entereth into that within the veil — He alludes to the veil which divided the holy place of the Jewish tabernacle or temple from the most holy: and thus he slides back to the priesthood of Christ. But he does not speak of that which was within the veil, namely, the ark and mercy-seat, the tables of stone, and cherubim, the work of men’s hands, but of the things signified by them; God himself on a throne of grace, and the Lord Christ, as the high-priest of the church, at his right hand: or the Father as the author, the Lord Jesus as the purchaser, and the covenant as the conveyer of all grace; which were all typically represented by the things within the veil. And the apostle makes use of this allusion to instruct the Hebrews in the nature and use of the old tabernacle institutions; and from thence in the true nature of the priesthood of Christ, to which he is now returning. The meaning is, that the believer’s hope lays hold on God himself, on a throne of grace and on Christ as the High-Priest of the church, who is in heaven itself, the place of God’s presence, typified by the holy of holies.
Joseph Sutcliffe
Ver. 13-18. When God made promise to Abraham, in the land of Mesopotamia, before he left Haran, it was that he would bless him and give him a son. But when Abraham had patiently endured twenty five years, to the birth of Isaac, and when Isaac was grown, that he could carry a burden of wood sufficient for the altar on which he was to be offered up, then God, willing to show to the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, that he would surely immolate his Son on Calvary, confirmed it by an oath. Genesis 22:16. That by two immutable seals of the covenant, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold on the hope set before us. The Lord is not as man, that he should lie, and this is the rock on which we build our hope.
Daniel Whedon
18. Two immutable things—His partyship and his mediatorship; his position as promiser and as juror. Impossible for God to lie—The whole foundation of the persevering believer’s hope of glory is the absolutely bound veracity of God. We… who have fled for refuge—Greek, we refugees.
Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast, and which entereth into that within the veil;
John Wesley
V. 19. Which hope in Christ we have as an anchor of the soul-Entering into heaven itself, and fixed there.
Within the veil-Thus he slides back to the priesthood of Christ.
Adam Clarke
Verse 19. Which hope we have as an anchor] The apostle here changes the allusion; he represents the state of the followers of God in this lower world as resembling that of a vessel striving to perform her voyage through a troublesome, tempestuous, dangerous sea. At last she gets near the port; but the tempest continues, the water is shallow, broken, and dangerous, and she cannot get in: in order to prevent her being driven to sea again she heaves out her sheet anchor, which she has been able to get within the pier head by means of her boat, though she could not herself get in; then, swinging at the length of her cable, she rides out the storm in confidence, knowing that her anchor is sound, the ground good in which it is fastened, and the cable strong. Though agitated, she is safe; though buffeted by wind and tide, she does not drive; by and by the storm ceases, the tide flows in, her sailors take to the capstan, wear the ship against the anchor, which still keeps its bite or hold, and she gets safely into port. See on “Hebrews 6:20”.
The comparison of hope to an anchor is frequent among the ancient heathen writers, who supposed it to be as necessary to the support of a man in adversity, as the anchor is to the safety of the ship when about to be driven on a lee shore by a storm. “To ground hope on a false supposition,” says Socrates, “is like trusting to a weak anchor.” He said farther, oute naun ex enov agkuriou, oute bion ek miav elpidov ormisteon. a ship ought not to trust to one anchor, nor life to one hope. Stob., Serm. 109.
The hope of eternal life is here represented as the soul’s anchor; the world is the boisterous, dangerous sea; the Christian course, the voyage; the port, everlasting felicity; and the veil or inner road, the royal dock in which that anchor was cast. The storms of life continue but a short time; the anchor, hope, if fixed by faith in the eternal world, will infallibly prevent all shipwreck; the soul may be strongly tossed by various temptations, but will not drive, because the anchor is in sure ground, and itself is steadfast; it does not drag, and it does not break; faith, like the cable, is the connecting medium between the ship and the anchor, or the soul and its hope of heaven; faith sees the haven, hope desires and anticipates the rest; faith works, and hope holds fast; and, shortly, the soul enters into the haven of eternal repose.
Joseph Benson
Verses 18, 19. That by two immutable things in either, much more in both, of which it was impossible for God to lie — To alter his purpose and disappoint our expectation; we might have a strong consolation — A powerful argument to believe the promise with a confidence excluding all doubt and fear, and might receive a great comfort thereby; who have fled for refuge — Who, under a consciousness of our sinfulness and guilt, depravity, weakness, and wretchedness, have betaken ourselves for safety from deserved wrath; to lay hold on the hope — The promise (so confirmed by an oath) which is the ground of our hope; set before us in Christ — Through whom alone we can have salvation, present and eternal; which hope — In and through Christ, our righteousness and sanctification; we have as an anchor of the soul — The apostle here alludes to an anchor, which when cast, both preserves the vessel from losing the ground she has gained, and keeps her steady amid the winds and waves, when the art and skill of the mariners are overcome, and they cannot steer the ship in its right course, nor could otherwise preserve it from rocks, shelves, or sand-banks; both sure — Asfalh, safe, that will not fail, or may with confidence be trusted to, the matter of which it is formed being solid, and the proportion of it suited to the burden of the ship; and steadfast — Bebaian, firm against all opposition, which no violence of winds or storms can either break or move from its hold; and which entereth into that within the veil — He alludes to the veil which divided the holy place of the Jewish tabernacle or temple from the most holy: and thus he slides back to the priesthood of Christ. But he does not speak of that which was within the veil, namely, the ark and mercy-seat, the tables of stone, and cherubim, the work of men’s hands, but of the things signified by them; God himself on a throne of grace, and the Lord Christ, as the high-priest of the church, at his right hand: or the Father as the author, the Lord Jesus as the purchaser, and the covenant as the conveyer of all grace; which were all typically represented by the things within the veil. And the apostle makes use of this allusion to instruct the Hebrews in the nature and use of the old tabernacle institutions; and from thence in the true nature of the priesthood of Christ, to which he is now returning. The meaning is, that the believer’s hope lays hold on God himself, on a throne of grace and on Christ as the High-Priest of the church, who is in heaven itself, the place of God’s presence, typified by the holy of holies.
Joseph Sutcliffe
Ver. 19. Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, which entereth into that within the veil. The promise, the oath, and the love of God, are to the soul what an anchor is to the ship. Our faith stops not at the vestibule, but penetrates within the veil; and as the ship, safely moored, holding by her single anchor, is regardless of rocks and shoals, tides and tempests, so in the storms of life the vessel of the church rests secure on the love and truth of God. And though our anchor, like that of the ship, be not visible, we ride safely in the current, being supported by the arms of everlasting love.
Daniel Whedon
19. Anchor… entereth—Usually an anchor cast forth from a ship descends to the bottom, and there fastening, holds the ship firm. But of this ship of Christian faith the cable stretches upward; and the anchor fastens, not into the mud of the sea-bottom, but it enters within the veil that hides eternity from the earth, and firmly fastens itself upon the veracity of Jehovah. The veil—An allusion to the temple veil, behind which is the Holy of Holies; typifying the firmament, beyond which is the Presence of God. Note on 2 Corinthians 12:2.
Whither the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus, made an high priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec.
John Wesley
V. 20. A forerunner uses to be less in dignity than those that are to follow him. But it is not so here; for Christ who is gone before us is infinitely superior to us. What an honour is it to believers, to have so glorious a forerunner, now appearing in the presence of God for them.
Adam Clarke
Verse 20. Whither the forerunner] The word prodromov, prodromos, does not merely signify one that goes or runs before another, but also one who shows the way, he who first does a particular thing; also the first fruits. So in the Septuagint, Isaiah 28:4, prodromov sukou signifies the first fruits of the fig tree, or the first ripe figs. To this meaning of the word Pliny refers, Hist. Nat., lib. xvi., c. 26: Ficus et præcoces habet, quas Athenis PRODROMOS (prodromov,) vocant. “The fig tree produces some figs which are ripe before the rest, and these are called by the Athenians prodromos, forerunner.” The word is interpreted in the same way by Hesychius; it occurs in no other part of the New Testament, but may be found in Ecclus. 12:8, and in Isaiah 28:4, quoted above from the Septuagint. From this we may at once perceive the meaning of the phrase: Jesus is the first fruits of human nature that has entered into the heavenly kingdom; the first human body that was ripe for glory, and ripe long before the rest of the children who are partakers of flesh and blood. And he is entered for us, as the first fruits of all who have found redemption in his blood. Compare John 14:2; 1 Corinthians 15:20, 23; and the notes there.
The metaphorical allusion is to the person who carries the anchor within the pier head, because there is not yet water sufficient to carry the ship in; and to this I have already referred.
After the order of Melchisedec.] After a long digression the apostle resumes his explanation of Psalm 110:4, which he had produced, Hebrews 5:6, 10, in order to prove the permanency of the high priesthood of Christ.
1. WE have in this chapter a very solemn warning against backsliding and apostasy, and that negligence and sloth which are their forerunners. A man cannot be careless about God and heaven, till he has lost his relish for sacred things; and this relish he cannot lose while he is diligent and faithful. The slightest departure from truth and purity may ultimately lead to a denying, and even reviling, of the Lord who bought him.
2. Every obedient believer in Christ Jesus has both the oath and promise of God that he will make all grace abound towards him, for in blessing God will bless him; he may be greatly agitated and distressed, but, while he continues in the obedience of faith, he will ride out the storm. His anchor is within the veil while his heart is right with God. Jesus is gone before to prepare a place for him; and where the first fruits are, there will soon be the whole lump. He who perseveres unto death shall as surely see God as Jesus Christ now does. God’s oath and promise cannot fail.
HEBREWS
Joseph Benson
Verse 20. Whither the forerunner — Prodromov, a forerunner, is one who goes before to do some service for another who is to follow: in which sense also the Latin word ante-cursor is used. A forerunner uses to be less in dignity than those that are to follow him: but it is not so here; for Christ, who is gone before us, is infinitely superior to us; is for us entered — Namely, for our good. 1st, To prepare a place for us, John 14:2. 2d, To make continual intercession for us. 3d, To make us partakers of his own glory, John 17:24; Revelation 3:21. 4th, To take possession of heaven for us, John 14:3. What an honour is it to believers to have so glorious a forerunner now appearing in the presence of God for them! Made a High-Priest for ever — Christ ascended to heaven, 1st, To open it to us by the sacrifice of himself, and to plant our hope of eternal life there as an anchor of the soul. 2d, Because having opened heaven, he remains there as the High-Priest of that holy place, to introduce all believers into the presence of God. This shows in what sense Jesus is a High-Priest for ever. He is so, not by offering sacrifice for ever in behalf of his people, but by interceding for them always, Romans 8:34; and by introducing them into the presence of God by the merit of the one sacrifice of himself, which he offered to God without spot.
Daniel Whedon
20. Through the firmamental veil Jesus has penetrated even to the right-hand of God. Thither he has ascended as our forerunner, our pioneer, our goer-before; opening an ascending pathway through which we are to follow him. For us—In our behalf; assuring us that as he has entered so we shall enter. Melchizedek—Coming around from ch. 5:10 again to Melchizedek, who forms now the future subject.
John Wesley
V. 1. Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ-That is, saying no more of them for the present.
Let us go on to perfection; not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works-From open sins, the very first thing to be insisted on.
And faith in God-The very next point. So St. Paul in his very first sermon at Lystra, Acts 14:15, "Turn from those vanities unto the living God." And when they believed, they were to be baptized with the baptism, not of the Jews, or of John, but of Christ. The next thing was, to lay hands upon them, that they might receive the Holy Ghost: after which they were more fully instructed, touching the resurrection, and the general judgment; called eternal, because the sentence then pronounced is irreversible, and the effects of it remain for ever.
Adam Clarke
Verse 1. Therefore] Because ye have been so indolent, slow of heart, and have still so many advantages.
Leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ] Ceasing to continue in the state of babes, who must be fed with milk-with the lowest doctrines of the Gospel, when ye should be capable of understanding the highest. Let us go on unto perfection] Let us never rest till we are adult Christians-till we are saved from all sin, and are filled with the spirit and power of Christ.
The words ton thv archv. tou cristou logon might be translated, The discourse of the beginning of Christ, as in the margin; that is, the account of his incarnation, and the different types and ceremonies in the law by which his advent, nature, office, and miracles were pointed out. The whole law of Moses pointed out Christ, as may be seen at large in my comment on the Pentateuch; and therefore the words of the apostle may be understood thus: Leave the law, and come to the Gospel. Cease from Moses, and come to the Messiah.
Let us go on unto perfection.-The original is very emphatic: epi thn teleiothta ferwmeqa. Let us be carried on to this perfection. God is ever ready by the power of his Spirit, to carry us forward to every degree of light, life, and love, necessary to prepare us for an eternal weight of glory. There can be little difficulty in attaining the end of our faith, the salvation of our souls from all sin, if God carry us forward to it; and this he will do if we submit to be saved in his own way, and on his own terms. Many make a violent outcry against the doctrine of perfection, i.e. against the heart being cleansed from all sin in this life, and filled with love to God and man, because they judge it to be impossible! Is it too much to say of these that they know neither the Scripture nor the power of God? Surely the Scripture promises the thing; and the power of God can carry us on to the possession of it.
Laying again the foundation of repentance] The phrase nekra erga, dead works, occurs but once more in the sacred writings, and that is in Hebrews 9:14 of this epistle; and in both places it seems to signify such works as deserve death-works of those who were dead in trespasses, and dead in sins; and dead by sentence of the law, because they had by these works broken the law. Repentance may be properly called the foundation of the work of God in the soul of man, because by it we forsake sin, and turn to God to find mercy.
Faith toward God] Is also a foundation, or fundamental principle, without which it is impossible to please God, and without which we cannot be saved. By repentance we feel the need of God’s mercy, by faith we find that mercy.
But it is very likely that the apostle refers here to the Levitical law, which, in its painful observances, and awful denunciations of Divine wrath against every breach of that law, was well calculated to produce repentance, and make it a grievous and bitter thing to sin against God. And as to faith in God, that was essentially necessary, in order to see the end of the commandment; for without faith in him who was to come, all that repentance was unavailable, and all ritual observances without profit.
Joseph Benson
Verses 1, 2. Therefore — Seeing that most of you have continued so ignorant, although you have been so long favoured with the light of the gospel, and various means of edification, it is high time for you to labour for more knowledge and grace, and for me to instruct you further; leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ — That is, saying no more for the present, of those things in which those who embrace Christianity are wont to be first instructed. The original expression, ton thv archv tou Cristou logon, is, literally, the word of the beginning of Christ, as in the margin; and signifies those parts of the Christian doctrine which men were usually and properly first instructed in; and which the apostle immediately enumerates. They are the same with the first principles of the oracles of God, mentioned Hebrews 5:12. But it must be observed that the signification of the words must be limited to the present occasion; for if we consider the things here spoken of absolutely, they are never to be left, either by teachers or hearers. There is a necessity that teachers should often insist on the rudiments, or first principles, of religion; not only with respect to them who are continually to be trained up in knowledge from their infancy, but also those who have made a further progress in knowledge. And this course we find our apostle to have followed in all his epistles. Nor are any hearers so to leave these principles, as to forget them, or not duly to make use of them. Cast aside a constant regard to them, in their proper place, and no progress can be made in knowledge, no more than a building can be carried on when the foundation is taken away. Let us go on unto perfection — Unto a perfect acquaintance with the more sublime and difficult truths, and the high privileges and duties of Christianity; not laying again — What has been laid already; the foundation of repentance from dead works — That is, from the works done by those who are dead in sin, or who, through sin, are under condemnation to the second death, are alienated from the life of God, and carnally minded, which is death, Romans 8:6. See note on Ephesians 2:1, 2. Not only are known and wilful sins, which proceed from spiritual death, and if not pardoned and taken away, end in death eternal, here intended; but even all works, though apparently moral, charitable, and pious, are but dead works, before the living God, if they do not proceed from spiritual life in the soul, or from living faith, even the faith which worketh by love, (Galatians 5:6; 1 Corinthians 13:3,) as their principle, and be not directed to the glory of God as their end. And faith toward God — Looking to, and confiding in him for pardon, holiness, and eternal life, through Christ. Of the doctrine of baptisms — The apostle does not speak of the legal washings in use among the Jews, whether by immersion, ablution, or sprinkling; (for why should those who believed in Christ be instructed concerning these?) but John’s baptism and that of Christ, which were distinct from each other, and were subjects of disputation with many among the Jews, Mark 7:3, 4; John 3:22-26. John admitted the penitent to the baptism of water; and, in obedience to the command of Christ, (Matthew 28:19,) the apostles baptized all that professed to believe in him, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Or, as Whitby thinks, the apostle is here to be understood of the double baptism “of which John spake, when he said, I baptize you with water, but he that cometh after me shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire, Matthew 3:19; and of which Christ spake to Nicodemus, (John 3:5,) saying, Except a man be born again of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. For this, in order, followed the doctrine of repentance, and of faith in God and our Lord Jesus Christ.” And the laying on of hands — The imposition of hands was used by the apostles and first Christian ministers in the healing of diseases, and in setting persons apart for the work of the ministry; but neither of these were common to all Christians, nor joined with baptism; nor were they reckoned among the principles of the doctrine of Christ, or the initiatory doctrines of the Christian faith. We must therefore understand this of that imposition of the apostles’ hands which was wont to be used, after baptism, to confer upon the persons baptized the extraordinary gifts of the Holy Ghost. See Acts 8:14-17; 19:6. And this was a matter wherein the glory of the gospel and its propagation were highly concerned; indeed, next to the preaching of the word, it was the great means used by God for bringing both Jews and Gentiles over to the faith of the gospel, or for establishing them therein. And the resurrection of the dead — Namely, of the bodies of the dead; and of eternal judgment — The future and general judgment, called eternal, because the sentence then pronounced will be irreversible, and the effects of it remain for ever. In which two last-mentioned articles, the penitent and believing, that had been admitted to baptism, were more fully instructed, as being most powerful motives to engage them herein to exercise themselves to have always consciences void of offence toward God and toward all men. “Interpreters observe,” says Whitby, “that the doctrine of Origen, touching the period of the torments of the damned, is here condemned; and indeed the primitive father’s not Origen himself excepted, taught the contrary. ‘If we do not the will of Christ,’ says Clemens Romanus, ‘nothing will deliver us from eternal punishment.’ ‘The punishment of the damned,’ says Justin Martyr, ‘is endless punishment and torment in eternal fire.’ In Theophilus it is, ‘eternal punishment.’ Irenæus, in his symbol of faith, makes this one article, ‘that God would send the ungodly and unjust into everlasting fire.’ Tertullian declares, ‘that all men are appointed to torment or refreshment, both eternal.’ And ‘if any man,’ says he, ‘thinks the wicked are to be consumed and not punished, let him remember that hell-fire is styled eternal, because designed for eternal punishment; and their substance will remain for ever whose punishment doth so.’ St. Cyprian says, ‘The souls of the wicked are kept with their bodies to be grieved with endless torments.’ ‘There is no measure nor end of their torments,’ says Minutius. Lastly, Origen reckons this among the doctrines defined by the church; ‘That every soul, when it goes out of this world, shall either enjoy the inheritance of eternal life and bliss, if its deeds have rendered it fit for bliss; or be delivered up to eternal fire and punishment, if its sins have deserved that state.’”
Joseph Sutcliffe
Verse 1. Therefore, leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, as a builder leaves the foundation to complete the superstructure, let us go on to perfection, which he calls here, teleióteta, perfection in knowledge and grace, a growing perfection in faith and love, progressing to the measure of the fulness of Christ, and the glorious liberty of the children of God. It is a principle constantly maintained, that our progress in grace should be associated with our knowledge of the truth. The lips of a christian should be fountains of wisdom and grace; he should not, as in the verses above, be always fed with milk, when he ought to be a teacher of others.
Daniel Whedon
1. Therefore—In view of their humble attainments portrayed in Hebrews 5:11-14. The principles—Literally, the beginning of Christ; equivalent to first principles in Hebrews 5:12. Let us go on—In the word us St. Paul identifies himself with his Hebrews, and moves for a common advance. See note on Hebrews 2:1. But, does he mean go on in this his present discourse; or go on in acquiring new accessions of Christian knowledge in addition to these first principles; or go on in increase of Christian life and power? All three. The unfolding of his grand views of the high priesthood of Christ in the future chapters, is one with the acquisition of new volumes of spiritual knowledge, and new forces of Christian character and power. It is the want of their taking this fulness of the atoning Christ into their mind and heart and life that renders them babes, Hebrews 5:13. And when this text, let us go on to perfection, is adduced as an exhortation to advancing to a perfected Christian character, it is no misquotation. Perfection is here an antithesis to the babyhood of Hebrews 5:13. It is the noun form of the Greek adjective rendered of full age, in Hebrews 5:14, and signifies adulthood. Not laying again the foundation—A non-advancement is merely re-laying the elementary foundation; it is erecting no superstructure. Our apostle now enumerates six elements of which the foundation is composed, really arranged as three couplets in order. These were, probably, the elemental points of Christian doctrine anciently taught to the catechumen at his baptism. As a foundation they are important, nay, necessary to the superstructure, but very likely to be of no value without the superstructure. The three couplets are, repentance and faith, baptism and imposition of hands, resurrection and judgment. The first two are conditions to being Christian; the second are institutes in Christianity; the third are Christian doctrines of eschatology. As the Hebrews to whom St. Paul now writes were once Jews, they were educated upon a Jewish platform of the entire six elements, which had been reconstructed into the Christian view. We are not certain (though no commentator has suggested it) but that this re-laying the foundation meant a re-establishing in their own belief of the old Jewish view, and so relapsing from Christianity to Judaism. Certainly the staying on the foundation without advance would not be a re-laying. Laying again would be laying it over again, substituting the past for the present, the old Jewish for the new Christian one. Foundation of—That is, consisting of. Repentance—A mental turning away from dead works, that is, works which have no saving life in them, whether positive sins or an unsaving ritual. The Jewish platform would acknowledge only the former sense of the words; the Christian would emphasize the latter as against Judaism. Faith toward (literally, upon) God—The second element. Between the Jewish and Christian platform, the former would make faith upon God a blank monotheism; the latter would include faith in Christ as embraced in faith upon God.