Text -- Hebrews 3:1-5 (NET)

Jesus and Moses

3:1 Therefore, holy brothers and sisters, partners in a heavenly calling, take note of Jesus, the apostle and high priest whom we confess, 3:2 who is faithful to the one who appointed him, as Moses was also in God’s house. 3:3 For he has come to deserve greater glory than Moses, just as the builder of a house deserves greater honor than the house itself! 3:4 For every house is built by someone, but the builder of all things is God. 3:5 Now Moses was faithful in all God’s house as a servant, to testify to the things that would be spoken.

Commentary -- Word/Phrase Notes (per phrase)

Robertson: Heb 3:1

Holy brethren ( adelphoi hagioi ).

Only here in N.T., for hagiois in 1Th 5:27 only in late MSS. See Heb 2:11 for same idea. First time the author makes direct appeal to the readers, though first person in Heb 2:1.

Robertson: Heb 3:1

Partakers ( metochoi ).

See Luk 5:7 for "partners"in the fishing, elsewhere in N.T. only in Hebrews (Heb 1:9; Heb 6:4; Heb 12:8) in N.T.

Robertson: Heb 3:1

Of a heavenly calling ( klēseōs epouraniou ).

Only here in the N.T., though same idea in Heb 9:15. See hē anō klēsis in Phi 3:14 (the upward calling). The call comes from heaven and is to heaven in its appeal.

Robertson: Heb 3:1

Consider ( katanoēsate ).

First aorist active imperative of katanoeō , old compound verb (kata ,nous ), to put the mind down on a thing, to fix the mind on as in Mat 7:3; Luk 12:24.

Robertson: Heb 3:1

Even Jesus ( Iēsoun ).

No "even"in the Greek, just like the idiom in Heb 2:9, the human name held up with pride.

Robertson: Heb 3:1

The Apostle and High Priest of our confession ( ton apostolon kai archierea tēs homologias hēmōn ).

In descriptive apposition with Iēsoun and note the single article ton . This is the only time in the N.T. that Jesus is called apostolos , though he often used apostellō of God’ s sending him forth as in Joh 17:3 (apesteilas ). This verb is used of Moses as sent by God (Exo 3:10). Moffatt notes that apostolos is Ionic for presbeutēs , "not a mere envoy, but an ambassador or representative sent with powers."The author has already termed Jesus high priest (Heb 2:17). For homologia (confession) see 2Co 9:13; 1Ti 6:12. These Hebrew Christians had confessed Jesus as their Apostle and High Priest. They do not begin to understand what Jesus is and means if they are tempted to give him up. The word runs through Hebrews with an urgent note for fidelity (Heb 4:14; Heb 10:23). See homologeō (homon , same, legō , say), to say the same thing, to agree, to confess, to profess.

Robertson: Heb 3:2

Who was faithful ( piston onta ).

Present active participle with predicate accusative agreeing with Iēsoun , "as being faithful."

Robertson: Heb 3:2

That appointed him ( tōi poiēsanti auton ).

See 1Sa 12:6. Dative case of the articular participle (aorist active) of poieō and the reference is to God. Note pistos as in Heb 2:17.

Robertson: Heb 3:2

As also was Moses ( hōs kai Mōusēs ).

The author makes no depreciatory remarks about Moses as he did not about the prophets and the angels. He cheerfully admits that Moses was faithful "in all his house"(en holōi tōi oikōi autou ), an allusion to Num 12:7 (ean holōi tōi oikōi mou ) about Moses. The "his"is God’ s. The use of oikos for the people (family) of God, not the building, but the group (1Ti 3:15) in which God is the Father. But wherein is Jesus superior to Moses? The argument is keen and skillful.

Robertson: Heb 3:3

Hath been counted worthy of more glory than Moses ( pleionos doxēs para Mōusēn ēxiōtai ).

Perfect passive indicative of axioō , to deem worthy, permanent situation described with definite claim of Christ’ s superiority to Moses. Doxēs in genitive case after ēxiōtai . For para after the comparative pleionos see Heb 1:4, Heb 1:9; Heb 2:7.

Robertson: Heb 3:3

By so much as ( kath' hoson ).

A proportionate measurement (common use of kata and the quantitative relative hosos ).

Robertson: Heb 3:3

Than the house ( tou oikou ).

Ablative case of comparison after pleiona . The architect is superior to the house just as Sir Christopher Wren is superior to St. Paul’ s Cathedral. The point in the argument calls for Jesus as the builder (ho kataskeuasas , first aorist active participle of kataskeuazō , to found or build). But it is God’ s house as autou means (Heb 3:2, Heb 3:5) and hou in Heb 3:6. This house of God existed before Moses (Heb 11:2, Heb 11:25). Jesus as God’ s Son founded and supervised this house of God.

Robertson: Heb 3:4

Is God ( theos ).

God is the Creator of all things and so of his "house"which his Son, Jesus Christ, founded and supervises.

Robertson: Heb 3:5

And Moses ( kai Mōusēs men ).

"Now Moses indeed on his part"(men contrasted with de ).

Robertson: Heb 3:5

In ( en ).

Moses was in "God’ s house""as a servant"(hōs therapōn ). Old word, in lxx, only here in N.T. and quoted from Num 12:7. Kin to the verb therapeuō , to serve, to heal, and therapeia , service (Luk 9:11) and a group of servants (Luk 12:42).

Robertson: Heb 3:5

For a testimony of those things which were afterward to be spoken ( eis marturion tōn lalēthēsomenōn ).

Objective genitive of the articular future passive participle of laleō . It is not certain what it means whether the "testimony"(marturion ) is to Moses or to God and whether it points on to Christ. In Heb 9:9 see parabolē applied to the old dispensation as a symbol pointing to Christ and Christianity.

Robertson: Heb 3:5

But Christ ( Christos de ).

In contrast with Moses (men in Heb 3:5).

Robertson: Heb 3:5

As a son ( hōs huios ).

Instead of a therapōn (servant).

Robertson: Heb 3:5

Over his house ( epi ton oikon autou ).

The difference between epi and en added to that between huios and therapōn . It is very neat and quite conclusive, especially when we recall the high place occupied by Moses in Jewish thought. In Act 7:11 the Jews accused Stephen of speaking "blasphemous words against Moses and God"(putting Moses on a par with God).

Vincent: Heb 3:1

The leading ideas of the preceding section are echoed in this verse: brethren , of whom Christ made himself the brother: holy , in virtue of the work of the sanctifier.

Wherefore ( ὅθεν )

Drawing a conclusion from Heb 2:9-18.

Vincent: Heb 3:1

Holy brethren ( ἀδελφοὶ ἅγιοι )

The phrase N.T.o . Ἀδελφοί brethren , in address, is not found in the Gospels. In Acts mostly ἄνδρες ἀδελφοὶ brother men . In Paul, ἀδ. ἀγαπητοί brethren beloved , or ἀδ. ἀγαπ. καὶ ἐπιπόθητοι brethren beloved and longed for (once, Phi 4:1), ἀδ. ἠγαπημένοι ὐπὸ τοῦ θεοῦ and τοῦ κυρίου brethren beloved of God or of the Lord , and ἀδ. μου my brethren . In James mostly ἀδ. μου. In Hebrews, except here, ἀδελφοὶ simply. Holy brethren (see Heb 2:11) are worshippers of God, taking the place of God's O.T. people, as called and consecrated to ethical and spiritual service according to the Christian ideal.

Vincent: Heb 3:1

Partakers of a heavenly calling ( κλήσεως ἐπουρανίου μέτοχοι )

Μέτοχοι partakers only in Hebrews except Luk 5:7. See on μετέσχεν took part , Heb 2:14. The phrase heavenly calling N.T.o . Comp. τῆς ἄσω κλήσεως the upward calling , Phi 3:14. The expression points to the lordship of the world to be (Heb 2:5); and the world to be is the abiding world, the place of realities as contrasted with types and shadows. The calling comes from that world and is to that world. See Heb 13:14.

Vincent: Heb 3:1

Consider ( κατανοήσατε )

Attentively, thoughtfully (κατὰ ). See on Jam 1:23. The writer's habit is to use the communicative we or us identifying himself with his readers.

Vincent: Heb 3:1

The apostle and high priest ( τὸν ἀπόστολον καὶ ἀρχιερέα )

In calling Jesus apostle , the writer is thinking of Moses as one sent by God to lead Israel to Canaan. Comp. lxx, where ἀποστέλλειν to send is often used of Moses. See Exodus 3-7. Often of Jesus, as Luk 10:16; Joh 3:17; Joh 5:36; Joh 6:29.

Vincent: Heb 3:1

Of our profession ( τῆς ὁμολογίας ἡμῶν )

Rend. confession for profession . The apostle and high priest whom we confess. Comp. 1Ti 6:12.

Vincent: Heb 3:2

Who was faithful ( πιστὸν ὄντα )

Rend. " is faithful." A general designation of inherent character. He is faithful as he ever was .

Vincent: Heb 3:2

To him that appointed him ( τῷ ποιήσαντι αὐτὸν )

Constituted him apostle and high priest. Some render created , referring to Christ's humanity or to his eternal generation. So the Old Latin, creatori suo ; but this does not suit the context. Ποιεῖν often in Class. in the sense of institute , as sacrifices, funerals, assemblies, etc., and in the middle voice of adoption as a son. See 1Sa 12:6; Mar 3:14; Act 2:36.

Vincent: Heb 3:2

As also Moses ( ὡς καὶ Μωυσῆς )

The highest example of human fidelity known to the readers.

Vincent: Heb 3:2

In all his house ( ἐν ὅλῳ τῷ οἴκῳ αὐτοῦ )

Const. with was faithful . Jesus was faithful even as Moses was faithful.

The subject of the high-priesthood of Christ, introduced in this verse, is not carried out in detail by showing the superiority of Jesus to earthly high priests. This is reserved for chs. 5-7. Instead, the writer proceeds to show that Christ is superior to Moses, as he has already shown his superiority to angels. He will thus have shown Christ's superiority to both the agencies by which the old covenant was mediated. The subject is a delicate one to treat for Jewish readers to whom Moses was the object of the deepest veneration; but the treatment displays tact by placing Moses in the foreground beside Christ as an example of fidelity to his commission. Justice is thus done to the familiar historical record, and to God's own testimony, Num 12:7. The general sense of the comparison is that Moses was as faithful as any servant in a house can be, while Christ was not a servant in the house, but a son, and displayed his fidelity in that capacity.

Vincent: Heb 3:3

Was counted worthy ( ἠξίωται )

Used both of reward which is due (1Ti 5:17) and of punishment (Heb 10:29).

Vincent: Heb 3:3

Of more glory ( πλείονος δόξης )

Comp. Heb 2:8, Heb 2:9.

Vincent: Heb 3:3

Inasmuch as ( καθ ' ὅσον )

Rend. by so much as . The argument is based on the general principle that the founder of a house is entitled to more honor than the house and its individual servants. There is an apparent confusion in the working out, since both God and Christ appear as builders , and Moses figures both as the house and as a servant in the house. The point of the whole, however, is that Moses was a part of the O.T. system - a servant in the house; while Christ, as one with God who established all things, was the founder and establisher of both the Old and the New Testament economies.

Vincent: Heb 3:4

He that built all things is God ( ὁ πάντα κατασκευάσας θεός )

The verb includes not only erection , but furnishing with the entire equipment . See Heb 9:2; 1Pe 2:10. The verb o P. The application of built or established to Christ (Heb 3:3) is guarded against possible misapprehension. Christ is the establisher, but not by any independent will or agency. As the Son he is he that built , but it is as one with God who built all things . The special foundership of Christ does not contradict or exclude the general foundership of God.

Vincent: Heb 3:5

And Moses

Καὶ and introduces the further development of the thought of Heb 3:2, Heb 3:3 - fidelity , and the corresponding honor. It is not a second proof of the superiority of Christ to Moses. See Num 12:7.

Vincent: Heb 3:5

A servant ( θεράπων )

N.T.o . Comp. Rev 15:3. Often in lxx, mostly as translation of òֶáֶã , servant , slave , bondman . Also, when coupled with the name of a deity, a worshipper , devotee . Sometimes applied to angels or prophets. Of Moses, θεράπων κυρίου servant of the Lord , Wisd. 10:16. In Class. and N.T. the word emphasizes the performance of a present service, without reference to the condition of the doer, whether bond or free. An ethical character attaches to it, as to the kindred verb θεραπεύειν : service of an affectionate, hearty character, performed with care and fidelity. Hence the relation of the θεράπων is of a nobler and freer character than that of the δοῦλος or bondservant. The verb is used of a physician's tendance of the sick. Xenophon ( Mem . iv. 3, 9) uses it of the gods taking care of men, and, on the other hand, of men's worshipping the gods (ii, 1. 28). See Eurip. Iph . Taur . 1105; and on heal , Mat 8:7; Luk 10:15, and on is worshipped , Act 17:25.

Vincent: Heb 3:5

For a testimony of those things which were to be spoken ( εἰς μαρτύριον τῶν λαληθησομένων )

Ἐις for , with the whole preceding clause. Moses' faithful service in God's house was for a testimony , etc. The things which were to be spoken are the revelations afterward to be given in Christ . Others, however, explain of the things which Moses himself was afterward to speak to the people by God's command, referring to Num 12:8. According to this explanation, the fidelity hitherto exhibited by Moses ought to command respect for all that he might say in future. But (1) in the present connection that thought is insignificant. (2) It would be an exaggeration to speak of Moses's fidelity to God throughout his whole official career as a witness of the things which he was to speak to the people by God's command. (3) The future participle requires a reference to a time subsequent to Moses's ministry. The meaning is that Moses, in his entire ministry, was but a testimony to what was to be spoken in the future by another and a greater than he. Comp. Deu 18:15, explained of Christ in Act 3:22, Act 3:23.

Wesley: Heb 3:1

God calls from heaven, and to heaven, by the gospel.

Wesley: Heb 3:1

The messenger of God, who pleads the cause of God with us.

Wesley: Heb 3:1

Who pleads our cause with God. Both are contained in the one word Mediator. He compares Christ, as an Apostle, with Moses; as a Priest, with Aaron. Both these offices, which Moses and Aaron severally bore, he bears together, and far more eminently.

Wesley: Heb 3:1

The religion we profess.

Wesley: Heb 3:2

The church of Israel, then the peculiar family of God. Num 12:7.

Wesley: Heb 3:3

Than the family itself, or any member of it.

Wesley: Heb 3:4

And so infinitely greater than Moses or any creature.

Wesley: Heb 3:5

Another proof of the pre - eminence of Christ above Moses. Was faithful in all his house, as a servant, for a testimony of the things which were afterwards to be spoken - That is, which was a full confirmation of the things which he afterward spake concerning Christ.

JFB: Heb 3:1

Greek, "Whence," that is, seeing we have such a sympathizing Helper you ought to "consider attentively," "contemplate"; fix your eyes and mind on Him with a view to profiting by the contemplation (Heb 12:2). The Greek word is often used by Luke, Paul's companion (Luk 12:24, Luk 12:27).

JFB: Heb 3:1

In Christ, the common bond of union.

JFB: Heb 3:1

"of the Holy Ghost."

JFB: Heb 3:1

Coming to us from heaven, and leading us to heaven whence it comes. Phi 3:14, "the high calling"; Greek "the calling above," that is, heavenly.

JFB: Heb 3:1

There is but one Greek article to both nouns, "Him who is at once Apostle and High Priest"--Apostle, as Ambassador (a higher designation than "angel"-messenger) sent by the Father (Joh 20:21), pleading the cause of God with us; High Priest, as pleading our cause with God. Both His Apostleship and High Priesthood are comprehended in the one title, Mediator [BENGEL]. Though the title "Apostle" is nowhere else applied to Christ, it is appropriate here in addressing Hebrews, who used the term of the delegates sent by the high priest to collect the temple tribute from Jews resident in foreign countries, even as Christ was Delegate of the Father to this world far off from Him (Mat 21:37). Hence as what applies to Him, applies also to His people, the Twelve are designated His apostles, even as He is the Father's (Joh 20:21). It was desirable to avoid designating Him here "angel," in order to distinguish His nature from that of angels mentioned before, though he is "the Angel of the Covenant." The "legate of the Church" (Sheliach Tsibbur) offered up the prayers in the synagogue in the name of all, and for all. So Jesus, "the Apostle of our profession," is delegated to intercede for the Church before the Father. The words "of our profession," mark that it is not of the legal ritual, but of our Christian faith, that He is the High Priest. Paul compares Him as an Apostle to Moses; as High Priest to Aaron. He alone holds both offices combined, and in a more eminent degree than either, which those two brothers held apart.

JFB: Heb 3:1

"confession," corresponds to God having spoken to us by His Son, sent as Apostle and High Priest. What God proclaims we confess.

JFB: Heb 3:2

He first notes the feature of resemblance between Moses and Christ, in order to conciliate the Hebrew Christians whom He addressed, and who still entertained a very high opinion of Moses; he afterwards brings forward Christ's superiority to Moses.

JFB: Heb 3:2

The Greek implies also that He still is faithful, namely, as our mediating High Priest, faithful to the trust God has assigned Him (Heb 2:17). So Moses in God's house (Num 12:7).

JFB: Heb 3:2

"made Him" HIGH PRIEST; to be supplied from the preceding context. Greek, "made"; so in Heb 5:5; 1Sa 12:6, Margin; Act 2:36; so the Greek fathers. Not as ALFORD, with AMBROSE and the Latins, "created Him," that is, as man, in His incarnation. The likeness of Moses to Messiah was foretold by Moses himself (Deu 18:15). Other prophets only explained Moses, who was in this respect superior to them; but Christ was like Moses, yet superior.

JFB: Heb 3:3

Assigning the reason why they should "consider" attentively "Christ" (Heb 3:1), highly as they regard Moses who resembled Him in faithfulness (Heb 3:2).

JFB: Heb 3:3

Greek, "has been."

JFB: Heb 3:3

By God, when He exalted Him to His own right hand. The Hebrew Christians admitted the fact (Heb 1:13).

JFB: Heb 3:3

Greek, "inasmuch as He hath more honor than the house, who prepared it," or "established it" [ALFORD]. The Greek verb is used purposely instead of "builded," in order to mark that the building meant is not a literal, but a spiritual house: the Church both of the Old Testament and New Testament; and that the building of such a house includes all the preparations of providence and grace needed to furnish it with "living stones" and fitting "servants." Thus, as Christ the Founder and Establisher (in Old Testament as well as the New Testament) is greater than the house so established, including the servants, He is greater also than Moses, who was but a "servant." Moses, as a servant, is a portion of the house, and less than the house; Christ, as the Instrumental Creator of all things, must be God, and so greater than the house of which Moses was but a part. Glory is the result of honor.

JFB: Heb 3:4

Someone must be the establisher of every house; Moses was not the establisher of the house, but a portion of it (but He who established all things, and therefore the spiritual house in question, is God). Christ, as being instrumentally the Establisher of all things, must be the Establisher of the house, and so greater than Moses.

JFB: Heb 3:5

That is in all GOD'S house (Heb 3:4).

JFB: Heb 3:5

Not here the Greek for "slave," but "a ministering attendant"; marking the high office of Moses towards God, though inferior to Christ, a kind of steward.

JFB: Heb 3:5

In order that he might in his typical institutions give "testimony" to Israel "of the things" of the Gospel "which were to be spoken afterwards" by Christ (Heb 8:5; Heb 9:8, Heb 9:23; Heb 10:1).

Clarke: Heb 3:1

Holy brethren - Persons consecrated to God, as the word literally implies, and called, in consequence, to be holy in heart, holy in life, and useful in the world. The Israelites are often called a holy people, saints, etc., because consecrated to God, and because they were bound by their profession to be holy; and yet these appellations are given to them in numberless instances where they were very unholy. The not attending to this circumstance, and the not discerning between actual positive holiness, and the call to it, as the consecration of the persons, has led many commentators and preachers into destructive mistakes. Antinomianism has had its origin here: and as it was found that many persons were called saints, who, in many respects, were miserable sinners, hence it has been inferred that they were called saints in reference to a holiness which they had in another; and hence the Antinomian imputation of Christ’ s righteousness to unholy believers, whose hearts were abominable before God, and whose lives were a scandal to the Gospel. Let, therefore, a due distinction be made between persons by their profession holy, i.e. consecrated to God; and persons who are faithful to that profession, and are both inwardly and outwardly holy. They are not all Israel who are of Israel: a man, by a literal circumcision, may be a Jew outwardly; but the circumcision of the heart by the Spirit makes a man a Jew inwardly. A man may be a Christian in profession, and not such in heart; and those who pretend that, although they are unholy in themselves, they are reputed holy in Christ, because his righteousness is imputed to them, most awfully deceive their own souls

Dr. Owen has spoken well on the necessity of personal holiness against the Antinomians of his day. "If a man be not made holy he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. It is this that makes them meet for the inheritance of the saints in light; as without it they are not meet for their duty, so are they not capable of their reward. Yea, heaven itself, in the true light and notion of it, is undesirable to an unsanctified person. Such a one neither can nor would enjoy God if he might. In a word, there is no one thing required of the sons of God that an unsanctified person can do, and no one thing promised unto them that he can enjoy

"There is surely then a woful mistake in the world. If Christ sanctify all whom he saves, many will appear to have been mistaken in their expectations at another day. It is grown amongst us almost an abhorrency to all flesh to say, the Church of God is to be holy. What! though God has promised that it should be so; that Christ has undertaken to make it so? What! if it be required to be so? What! if all the duties of it be rejected of God, if it be not so? It is all one, if men be baptized, whether they will or not, and outwardly profess the name of Christ, though not one of them be truly sanctified, yet they are, it is said, the Church of Christ. Why then let them be so; but what are they the better for it? Are their persons or their services therefore accepted with God? Are they related or united to Christ? Are they under his conduct unto glory? Are they meet for the inheritance of the saints in light? Not at all: not all nor any of these things do they obtain thereby. What is it then that they get by the furious contest which they make for the reputation of this privilege? Only this: that, satisfying their minds by it, resting if not priding themselves in it, they obtain many advantages to stifle all convictions of their condition, and so perish unavoidably. A sad success, and for ever to be bewailed! Yet is there nothing at all at this day more contended for in this world than that Christ might be thought to be a captain of salvation to them, unto whom he is not a sanctifier; that he may have an unholy Church, a dead body. These things tend neither to the glory of Christ, nor to the good of the souls of men. Let none then deceive themselves; sanctification is a qualification indispensably necessary to them who will be under the conduct of the Lord Christ unto salvation; he leads none to heaven but whom he sanctifies on earth. The holy God will not receive unholy persons. This living head will not admit of dead members, nor bring men into possession of a glory which they neither love nor like.

Clarke: Heb 3:1

Heavenly calling - The Israelites had an earthly calling; they were called out of Egypt to go into the promised land: Christians have a heavenly calling; they are invited to leave the bondage of sin, and go to the kingdom of God. These were made partakers of this calling; they had already embraced the Gospel, and were brought into a state of salvation

Clarke: Heb 3:1

Apostle and High Priest of our profession - Among the Jews the high priest was considered to be also the apostle of God; and it is in conformity to this notion that the apostle speaks. And he exhorts the Hebrews to consider Jesus Christ to be both their High Priest and Apostle; and to expect these offices to be henceforth fulfilled by him, and by him alone. This was the fullest intimation that the Mosaic economy was at an end, and the priesthood changed. By της ὁμολογιας ἡμων, our profession, or that confession of ours, the apostle undoubtedly means the Christian religion. Jesus was the Apostle of the Father, and has given to mankind the new covenant; and we are to consider the whole system of Christianity as coming immediately from him. Every system of religion must have a priest and a prophet; the one to declare the will of God, the other to minister in holy things. Moses was the apostle under the old testament, and Aaron the priest. When Moses was removed, the prophets succeeded him; and the sons of Aaron were the priests after the death of their father. This system is now annulled; and Jesus is the Prophet who declares the Father’ s will, and he is the Priest who ministers in the things pertaining to God, see Heb 2:17; as he makes atonement for the sins of the people, and is the Mediator between God and man.

Clarke: Heb 3:2

Who was faithful to him - In Num 12:7, God gives this testimony to Moses: My servant Moses - is faithful in all my house; and to this testimony the apostle alludes. House not only means the place where a family dwells, but also the family itself. The whole congregation of Israel was the house or family of God, and God is represented as dwelling among them; and Moses was his steward, and was faithful in the discharge of his office; strictly enforcing the Divine rights; zealously maintaining God’ s honor; carefully delivering the mind and will of God to the people; proclaiming his promises, and denouncing his judgments, with the most inflexible integrity, though often at the risk of his life. Jesus Christ has his house - the whole great family of mankind, for all of whom he offered his sacrificial blood to God; and the Christian Church, which is especially his own household, is composed of his own children and servants, among and in whom he lives and constantly resides. He has been faithful to the trust reposed in him as the apostle of God; he has faithfully proclaimed the will of the Most High; vindicated the Divine honor against the corrupters of God’ s worship; testified against them at the continual hazard of his life; and, at last, not only died as a victim to cancel sin, but also as a martyr to his faithfulness. Christ’ s faithfulness, says Leigh, consists in this: "That he has as fully revealed unto us the doctrine of the Gospel, as Moses did that of the law; and that he hath faithfully performed and fulfilled all the types of himself and all the things signified by Moses’ ceremonies, as Moses hath faithfully and distinctly set them down.

But there is a sense given to the word נאמן neeman , Num 12:7, which we translate faithful, by several of the Jewish writers, which is well worthy of note: it signifies, say they, "one to whom secrets are confided, with the utmost confidence of their being safely and conscientiously kept."The secret of God was with Moses, but all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge were in Christ. Life and immortality were comparatively secrets till Christ revealed and illustrated them, and even the Divine nature was but little known, and especially the Divine philanthropy, till Jesus Christ came; and it was Jesus alone who declared that God whom no man had ever seen. Moses received the secrets of God, and faithfully taught them to the people; Jesus revealed the whole will of God to mankind. Moses was thus faithful to a small part of mankind, viz. the Jewish people; but in this sense Jesus was faithful to all mankind: for he was the light to enlighten the Gentiles, and the glory of his people Israel.

Clarke: Heb 3:3

For this man was counted - As Jesus Christ, in the character of apostle and high priest, is here intended, the word apostle, or this person or personage, should have been supplied, if any, instead of man. Indeed, the pronoun οὑτος should have been translated this person, and this would have referred immediately to Jesus Christ, Heb 3:1

Clarke: Heb 3:3

More glory than Moses - We have already seen that the apostle’ s design is to prove that Jesus Christ is higher than the angels, higher than Moses, and higher than Aaron. That he is higher than the angels has been already proved; that he is higher than Moses he is now proving

Clarke: Heb 3:3

He who hath builded the house - There can be no doubt that a man who builds a house for his own accommodation is more honorable than the house itself; but the house here intended is the Church of God. This Church, here called a house or family, is built by Christ; he is the Head, Governor, Soul and Life of it; he must therefore be greater than Moses, who was only a member and officer in that Church, who never put a stone in this spiritual building but was even himself put in it by the great Architect. Moses was in this house, and faithful in this house; but the house was the house of God, and builded and governed by Christ.

Clarke: Heb 3:4

For every house is builded by some man - The literal sense is plain enough: "Every structure plainly implies an, architect, and an end for which it was formed. The architect may be employed by him for whose use the house is intended; but the efficient cause of the erection is that which is here to he regarded."The word house, here, is still taken in a metaphorical sense as above, it signifies family or Church. Now the general meaning of the words, taken in this sense, is: "Every family has an author, and a head or governor. Man may found families, civil and religious communities, and be the head of these; but God alone is the Head, Author, and Governor, of all the families of the earth; he is the Governor of the universe. But the apostle has a more restricted meaning in the words τα παντα, all these things; and as he has been treating of the Jewish and Christian Churches, so he appears to have them in view here. Who could found the Jewish and Christian Church but God? Who could support, govern, influence, and defend them, but himself? Communities or societies, whether religious or civil, may be founded by man; but God alone can build his own Church. Now as all these things could be builded only by God, so he must be God who has built all these things. But as Jesus is the Founder of the Church, and the Head of it, the word God seems here to be applied to him; and several eminent scholars and critics bring this very text as a proof of the supreme Deity of Christ: and the apostle’ s argument seems to require this; for, as he is proving that Christ is preferred before Moses because he built this house, which Moses could not do, where he to be understood as intimating that this house was built by another, viz. the Father, his whole argument would fall to the ground; and for all this, Moses might be equal, yea, superior to Christ. On this ground Dr. Owen properly concludes: "This then is that which the apostle intends to declare; namely, the ground and reason whence it is that the house was or could be, in that glorious manner, built by Christ, even because he is God, and so able to effect it; and by this effect of his power, he is manifested so to be."

Clarke: Heb 3:5

As a servant - The fidelity of Moses was the fidelity of a servant; he was not the framer of that Church or house; he was employed, under God, to arrange and order it: he was steward to the Builder and Owner

Clarke: Heb 3:5

For a testimony of those things - Every ordinance under the law was typical; every thing bore a testimony to the things which were to be spoken after; i.e. to Jesus Christ, his suffering, death, and the glory which should follow; and to his Gospel in all its parts. The faithfulness of Moses consisted in his scrupulous attention to every ordinance of God; his framing every thing according to the pattern showed him by the Lord; and his referring all to that Christ of whom he spoke as the prophet who should come after him, and should be raised up from among themselves; whom they should attentively hear and obey, on pain of being cut off from being the people of the Lord. Hence our Lord told the Jews, Joh 5:46 : If ye had believed Moses, ye would have believed me, for he wrote of me; "namely;"says Dr. Macknight, "in the figures, but especially in the prophecies, of the law, where the Gospel dispensation, the coming of its Author, and his character as Messiah, are all described with a precision which adds the greatest lustre of evidence to Jesus and to his Gospel."

Calvin: Heb 3:1

1.=== Wherefore, holy brethren, === etc. He concludes the preceding doctrine with a necessary exhortation, that the Jews should attentively consider what sort of being and how great Christ is. As he had before, by naming him a teacher and a priest, briefly compared him with Moses and Aaron, so he now includes both clauses; for he adorns him with two titles, as he sustains a twofold character in the Church of God. Moses was a prophet and a teacher, and Aaron was a priest; but the two offices belong to Christ. If then we seek rightly to know him, we must inquire what sort of being he is; yea, he must be clothed with his own power, lest we lay hold on an empty shadow and not on him. ⁵³

First, the word consider, is important, for it intimates that singular attention is required, as he cannot be disregarded with impunity, and that at the same time the true knowledge of Christ is sufficient to dissipate the darkness of all errors. And to encourage them the more to pursue this study, he reminds them of their calling; as though he had said, “God favored you with no common grace when He called you into his kingdom; ⁵⁴ it now remains that you have your eyes fixed on Christ as your leader in the way.” ⁵⁵ For the calling of the godly cannot be otherwise confirmed than by a thorough surrender of themselves to Christ. We ought not therefore to regard this as said only to the Jews, but that it is a general truth addressed to all who desire to come into the kingdom of God; they ought sedulously to attend to Christ, for he is the sole instructor of our faith, and has confirmed it by the sacrifice of himself; for confession, or profession, is to be taken here for faith, as thought he had said, that the faith we profess is vain and of no avail, unless Christ be its object. ⁵⁶

Calvin: Heb 3:2

2.Who was, or is faithful, etc. This is a commendation of the apostleship of Christ, in order that the faithful may securely acquiesce in him; and he commends it on two grounds, because the Father has set him to be over us as our teacher, and because Christ himself has faithfully performed the office committed to him. These two things are always necessary to secure authority to a doctrine; for God alone ought to be attended to, as the whole Scripture testifies; hence Christ declares, that the doctrine which he delivered was not his own, but the Father’s, (Joh 7:16;) and in another place he says, “He who received me, receiveth him who has sent me.” (Luk 9:48.) For we say of Christ, that as he is clothed with our flesh, he is the Father’s minister to execute his commands. To the calling of God is added the faithful and upright performance of duty on the part of Christ; and this is required in true ministers, in order that they may obtain credence in the Church. Since these two things are found in Christ, doubtless he cannot be disregarded without despising God in him.

===As also Moses, === etc. Omitting for a while the priesthood, he speaks here of his apostleship. For as there are two parts in God’s covenant, the promulgation of the truth, and so to speak, its real confirmation, the full perfection of the covenant would not appear in Christ, were not both parts found in him. Hence the writer of the epistle, after having mentioned both, roused attention by a brief exhortation. But he now enters on a longer discussion, and begins with the office of a teacher: he therefore now compares Christ only with Moses. The words, in all his house, may be applied to Moses; but I prefer to apply them to Christ, as he may be said to be faithful to his Father in ruling his whole house. It hence follows, that none belong to the Church of God except those who acknowledge Christ. ⁵⁷

Calvin: Heb 3:3

3.For this man (or, he) was counted worthy, etc. Lest he might appear to make Moses equal to Christ, he reminds us of his superior excellency; and this he proves by two arguments, ­Moses so ruled the Church, that he was still a part and member of it; but Christ being the builder, is superior to the whole building, — Moses while ruling others, was ruled also himself, as he was a servant; but Christ being a Son possesses supreme power.

It is a frequent and well­known metaphor used in Scripture to call the Church the house of God. (1Ti 3:15.) And as it is composed of the faithful, each of them is called a living stone. (1Pe 2:5.) They are also sometimes called the vessels with which the house is furnished. (2Ti 2:20.) There is then no one so eminent that he is not a member, and included in the universal body. God being the builder, alone is to be set above his own work; but God dwells in Christ, so that whatever is said of God is applicable to him.

If any one objects and says that Christ is also a part of the building because he is the foundation, because he is our brother, because he has a union with us and then that he is not the master­builder because he himself was formed by God: in reply to these things we say that our faith is so founded on him that he still rules over us that he is in such a way our brother that he is yet our Lord, that he was so formed by God as man that he nevertheless by his Spirit revives and restores all things as the eternal God. The Scripture employs us various metaphors to set forth Christ s grace towards us; but there is no one which derogates from his honor mentioned here by the Apostle; for what is stated here is that all ought to be brought down to their own state because they ought to be in subjection to the head and that Christ alone is exempt from this submission, because he is the head.

If it be again objected and said that Moses was no less a master­builder than Paul who gloried in this title: to this I reply that this name is applied to prophets and teachers but not with strict correctness; for they are only the instruments and indeed dead instruments, except the Lord from heaven gives efficacy to what they do; and then they so labor in building the Church, that they themselves form a part of the structure; but the case is wholly different as to Christ, for he ever builds up the Church by the power of his own Spirit. Besides, he stands far above the rest, for he is in such a way the true temple of God, that he is at the same time the God who inhabits it.

Calvin: Heb 3:4

4.=== He that built, === etc. Though these words may be extended to the creation of the whole world, yet I confine them to the present subject. We are then to understand that nothing is done in the Church which ought not to he ascribed to Gods power; for he alone has founded it by his own hand, (Psa 87:5;) and Paul says of Christ that he is the head, from whom the whole body, joined together and connected by every subservient juncture, makes an increase according to what is done proportionally by every member. (Eph 4:16.) Hence he often declares that the success of his ministry was God’s work. In a word, if we take a right view of things, it will appear that how much soever God may use the labors of men in building his Church, yet he himself performs everything — the instrument derogates nothing from the workman. ⁵⁸

Calvin: Heb 3:5

5.And Moses verily was faithful in all his house, as a servant, === etc. The second difference is, that to Moses was committed a doctrine to which he, in common with others, was to submit; but Christ, though he put on the form of a servant, is yet Master and Lord, to whom all ought to be subject; for, as we found in Heb 1:2, he is constituted heir of all things.

===For a testimony of those things which were to be spoken after, or which were afterwards to be said or declared. I explain this simply in this way, — that Moses, while a herald of that doctrine which was to be published for a time to the ancient people, did at the same time render a testimony to the Gospel, the publication of which was not as yet to be made; for it is doubtless evident, that the end and completion of the Law is that perfection of wisdom contained in the Gospel. This exposition seems to comport with the future tense of the participle. The meaning indeed is, that Moses faithfully delivered to the people what the Lord had committed to him, but that limits were prescribed to him which it was not lawful for him to pass. God formerly spoke at different times and in various ways by the prophets, but he deferred to the fullness of time the complete revelation of the Gospel.

Defender: Heb 3:1

This is the only time Christ is called an Apostle (meaning literally "one who is sent"). He was sent by the Father as the Apostle of our profession (Joh 17:18; Joh 20:21).

Defender: Heb 3:1

As an Apostle, Christ represents God to man; as our High Priest, He represents man to God."

Defender: Heb 3:4

From Heb 3:3, it is evident that Christ is the builder of the cosmic house. From this verse, therefore, it follows that Christ is God. He is the one who created all things (Col 1:16; Joh 1:3)."

TSK: Heb 3:1

holy : Col 1:22, Col 3:12; 1Th 5:27; 2Ti 1:9; 1Pe 2:9, 1Pe 3:5; 2Pe 1:3-10; Rev 18:20

partakers : Heb 3:14; Rom 11:17, Rom 15:27; 1Co 9:23, 1Co 10:17; 2Co 1:7; Eph 3:6; Col 1:12; 1Ti 6:2; 1Pe 5:1; 2Pe 1:4; 1Jo 1:3

the heavenly : Rom 1:6, Rom 1:7, Rom 8:28-30, Rom 9:24; 1Co 1:2; Eph 4:1, Eph 4:4; Phi 3:14; 1Th 2:12; 2Th 1:11, 2Th 2:14; 1Ti 6:12; 2Ti 1:9; 1Pe 5:10; 2Pe 1:10; Jud 1:1; Rev 17:14

consider : Isa 1:3, Isa 5:12, Isa 41:20; Eze 12:3, Eze 18:28; Hag 1:5, Hag 2:15; Joh 20:27; 2Ti 2:7

the apostle : Joh 20:21 *Gr: Rom 15:8

and : Heb 2:17, Heb 4:14, Heb 4:15, Heb 5:1-10, Heb 6:20, Heb 7:26, Heb 8:1-3, Heb 9:11, Heb 10:21; Psa 110:4

TSK: Heb 3:2

faithful : Heb 2:17; Joh 6:38-40, Joh 7:18, Joh 8:29, Joh 15:10, Joh 17:4

appointed : Gr. made, 1Sa 12:6

as : Heb 3:5; Num 12:7; Deu 4:5; 1Ti 1:12

all : Heb 3:6; Eph 2:22; 1Ti 3:15

TSK: Heb 3:3

this : Heb 3:6, Heb 1:2-4, Heb 2:9; Col 1:18

who : Zec 4:9, Zec 6:12, Zec 6:13; Mat 16:18; 1Co 3:9; 1Pe 2:5-7

TSK: Heb 3:4

but : Heb 3:3, Heb 1:2; Est 2:10, Est 3:9

TSK: Heb 3:5

faithful : Heb 3:2; Num 12:7; Mat 24:45, Mat 25:21; Luk 12:42, Luk 16:10-12; 1Co 4:2; 1Ti 1:12

as : Exo 14:31; Deu 3:24, Deu 34:5; Jos 1:2, Jos 1:7, Jos 1:15, Jos 8:31, Jos 8:33; Neh 9:14; Psa 105:26

for : Heb 8:5, Heb 9:8-13, Heb 9:24; Deu 18:15-19; Luk 24:27, Luk 24:44; Joh 5:39, Joh 5:46, Joh 5:47; Act 3:22, Act 3:23, Act 7:37, Act 28:23; Rom 3:21; 1Pe 1:10-12

Commentary -- Word/Phrase Notes (per Verse)

Barnes: Heb 3:1

Wherefore - That is, since Christ sustains such a character as has been stated in the previous chapter; since he is so able to succour those who need assistance; since he assumed our nature that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest, his character ought to be attentively considered, and we ought to endeavor fully to understand it.

Holy brethren - The name "brethren"is often given to Christians to denote that they are of one family. It is "possible,"also, that the apostle may have used the word here in a double sense - denoting that they were his brethren as "Christians,"and as "Jews."The word "holy"is applied to them to denote that they were set apart to God, or that they were sanctified. The Jews were often called a "holy people,"as being consecrated to God; and Christians are holy, not only as consecrated to God, but as sanctified.

Partakers of the heavenly calling - On the meaning of the word "calling,"see the notes at Eph 4:1. The "heavenly calling"denotes the calling which was given to them from heaven, or which was of a heavenly nature. It pertained to heaven, not to earth; it came from heaven, not from earth; it was a calling to the reward and happiness of heaven, and not to the pleasures and honors of the world.

Consider - Attentively ponder all that is said of the Messiah. Think of his rank; his dignity; his holiness; his sufferings; his death; his resurrection, ascension, intercession. Think of him that you may see the claims to a holy life; that you may learn to bear trials; that you may be kept from apostasy. The character and work of the Son of God are worthy of the profound and prayerful consideration of every man; and especially every Christian should reflect much on him. Of the friend that we love we think much; but what friend have we like the Lord Jesus?

The apostle - The word "apostle"is nowhere else applied to the Lord Jesus. The word means one who "is sent"- and in this sense it might be applied to the Redeemer as one "sent"by God, or as by way of eminence the one sent by him. But the connection seems to demand that; there should be some allusion here to one who sustained a similar rank among the Jews; and it is probable that the allusion is to Moses, as having been the great apostle of God to the Jewish people, and that Paul here means to say, that the Lord Jesus, under the new dispensation, filled the place of Moses and of the high priest under the old, and that the office of "apostle"and "high priest,"instead of being now separated, as it was between Moses and Aaron under the old dispensation, was now blended in the Messiah. The name "apostle"is not indeed given to Moses directly in the Old Testament, but the verb from which the Hebrew word for apostle is derived is frequently given him. Thus, in Exo 3:10, it is said, "Come now, therefore, and I will send thee unto Pharaoh."And in Heb 3:13, "The God of your fathers hath sent me unto you."So also in Heb 3:14-15, of the same chapter. From the word there used - שׁלח shaalach - "to send."The word denoting "apostle"- שׁליח shaliyach - is derived; and it is not improbable that Moses would be regarded as being by way of eminence the one "sent"by God. Further, the Jews applied the word "- שׁליח shaliyach - "apostle,"to the minister of the synagogue; to him who presided over its affairs, and who had the general charge of the services there; and in this sense it might be applied by way of eminence to Moses as being the general director and controller of the religious affairs of the nation, and as "sent"for that purpose. The object of Paul is to show that the Lord Jesus in the Christian system - as the great apostle sent from God - sustained a rank and office similar to this, but superior in dignity and authority.

And High Priest - One great object of this Epistle is to compare the Lord Jesus with the high priest of the Jews, and to show that he was in all respects superior. This was important, because the office of high priest was what eminently distinguished the Jewish religion, and because the Christian religion proposed to abolish that. It became necessary, therefore, to show that all that was dignified and valuable in that office was to be found in the Christian system. This was done by showing that in the Lord Jesus was found all the characteristics of a high priest, and that all the functions which had been performed in the Jewish ritual were performed by him, and that all which had been prefigured by the Jewish high priest was fulfilled in him. The apostle here merely alludes to him, or names him as the high priest, and then postpones the consideration of his character in that respect until after he had compared him with Moses.

Of our profession - Of our religion; of that religion which we profess. The apostle and high priest whom we confessed as ours when we embraced the Christian religion.

Barnes: Heb 3:2

Who was faithful - see the note, Heb 2:17. He performed with fidelity all the functions entrusted to him.

To him that appointed him - Margin, "made."The word "made,"however, is used in the sense of constituted, or appointed. The meaning is, that he was faithful to God. Perhaps Paul urges on them the necessity of considering "his fidelity"in order to keep "them"from the danger of apostasy. A leading object of this Epistle was to preserve those whom he had addressed from apostatizing from God amidst the temptations and trials to which they were exposed. In doing this, what could be a more powerful argument than to direct their attention to the unwavering constancy and fidelity of the Lord Jesus? The "importance"of such a virtue in the Saviour is manifest. It is seen everywhere; and all the great interests of the world depend on it. A husband should maintain inviolate fidelity toward a wife, and a wife toward her husband; a child should be faithful to a parent, a clerk and apprentice to his employer, a lawyer to his client, a physician to his patient, an ambassador to the government that commissions him.

No matter what may be the temptations in the way, in all these, and in all other relations, there should be inviolate fidelity. The welfare of the world depended on the faithfulness of the Lord Jesus. Had he failed in that, all would have been lost. His fidelity was worthy of the more attentive consideration from the numerous temptations which beset his path, and the attempts which were made to turn him aside from his devotedness to God. Amidst all the temptations of the adversary, and all the trials through which he passed, he never for a moment swerved from fidelity to the great trust which had been committed to his hands. What better example to preserve them from the temptations to apostasy could the apostle propose to the Christians whom he addressed? What, in these temptations and trials, could be more appropriate than for them to consider the example of the great apostle and high priest of their profession? What more proper for us now in the trials and temptations of our lives, than to keep that great and glorious example continually before our eyes?

As also Moses was faithful - Fidelity to God was remarkable in Moses. In all the provocations and rebellions of the Jews, he was firm and unwavering. This is affirmed of him in Num 12:7, to which place the apostle here alludes, "My servant, Moses, is not so, who is faithful in all his house."The word "house,"as applied to Moses, is used probably in the sense of "family,"as it often is, and refers to the "family"over which he presided - that is, the Jewish nation. The whole Jewish people were a "household,"or the family of God, and Moses was appointed to preside over it, and was faithful in the functions of his office there.

Barnes: Heb 3:3

For this man - The Lord Jesus. The word "man"is understood, but there can be no doubt that he is referred to.

Was counted more worthy - Was more worthy; or is more worthy. The word used here does not refer to anything that had been said of him, or to any estimate which had been made of him. It means simply that he was worthy of more honor than Moses. how he was so, Paul proceeds to show.

Of more glory - - δόξης doxē̄s . Honor, dignity, regard. He really had a higher rank, and was worthy of more respect. This was saying much for the Messiah, and that it was proper to say this, Paul proceeds to show. He did not attempt in any way to undervalue Moses and his institutions. He gave him all the honor which the Jews were themselves disposed to render him. He admitted that he had been eminently faithful in the station where God had placed him; and he then proceeds to show that the Lord Jesus was entitled to honor superior to that, and that hence the Christian religion had more to attach its friends to it than the Jewish had.

Inasmuch as he who hath builded the house - The idea here is, either that he who is the maker of a house - the architect - is worthy of more respect than the house itself; or that he who is the founder of a family is worthy of more honor than the family of which he is the founder. It seems to me that the former is the meaning - for the latter is not always true. The founder of a family may be really deserving of much less respect than some of his descendants. But it is always true that the architect is worthy of more respect than the house which he makes. He exhibits intellect and skill. The house, however splendid, has neither. The plan of the house was drawn by him; its beauty, its proportions, its ornaments, are what he made them, and but for him they would not have existed. Michelangelo was worthy of more honor than "St. Peter’ s Cathedral"at Rome; and Sir Christopher Wren worthy of more than "St. Paul’ s Cathedral"at London. Galileo is worthy of more praise than the telescope, and Fulton more than a steam-engine. All the evidence of skill and adaptedness that there is in the invention had its origin in the inventor all the beauty of the statue or the temple had its origin in the mind of him that designed it. An author is worthy of more honor than a book; and he that forms a work of art is worthy of more respect than the work itself. This is the idea here. Paul assumes that all things owed their origin to the Son of God; Heb 1:2, Heb 1:8,Heb 1:10. He was the author of the universe; the source of all wise and well-founded systems; the originator of the Jewish dispensation over which Moses presided. Whatever beauty or excellence there might have been, therefore, in that system, was to be traced to him; and whatever ability even Moses displayed was imparted by him. Christ is really the head of the family over which Moses presided, and has claims, therefore, to higher honor as such.

Barnes: Heb 3:4

For every house is builded by some man - The words in this verse are plain, and the sentiment in it clear. The only difficulty is in seeing the connection, and in understanding how it is intended to bear on what precedes, or on what follows. It is clear that every house must have a builder, and equally clear that God is the Creator of all things. But what is the meaning of this passage in this connection? What is its bearing on the argument? If the verse was entirely omitted, and the fifth verse read in connection with the third, there would be apparently nothing wanting to complete the sense of the writer, or to finish the comparison which he had commenced. Various ways have been adopted to explain the difficulty. Perhaps the following observations may remove it, and express the true sense:

(1) Every family must have a founder; every dispensation an author; every house a builder. There must be someone, therefore, over all dispensations - the old and the new - the Jewish and the Christian.

(2) Paul "assumes"that the Lord Jesus was divine. He had demonstrated this in Heb 1:1-14; and he argues as if this were so, without now stopping to prove it, or even to affirm it expressly.

(3) God must be over "all things."He is Creator of all, and he must, therefore, be over all. As the Lord Jesus, therefore, is divine, he must be over the Jewish dispensation as well as the Christian - or he must, as God, have been at the head of that - or over his own family or household.

\caps1 (4) a\caps0 s such, he must have a glory and honor which could not belong to Moses. He, in his divine character, was the Author of both the Jewish and the Christian dispensations, and he must, therefore, have a rank far superior to that of Moses - which was the point which the apostle designed to illustrate. The meaning of the whole may be thus expressed. "The Lord Jesus is worthy of more honor than Moses. He is so, as the maker of a house deserves more honor than the house. He is divine. In the beginning he laid the foundation of the earth, and was the agent in the creation of all things; Heb 1:2, Heb 1:10. He presides, therefore, over everything; and was over the Jewish and the Christian dispensations - for there must have been someone over them, or the author of them, as really as it must be true that every house is built by some person. Being, therefore, over all things, and at the head of all dispensations, he must be more exalted than Moses."This seems to me to be the argument - an argument which is based on the supposition that he is at the head of all things, and that he was the agent in the creation of all worlds. This view will make all consistent. The Lord Jesus will be seen to have a claim to a far higher honor than Moses, and Moses will be seen to have derived his honor, as a servant of the Mediator, in the economy which he had appointed.

Barnes: Heb 3:5

Moses was faithful ...as a servant - Not as the head of the dispensation; not as having originated it; but as in the employ and under the direction of its great Founder and Author - the Messiah. As such a servant he deserves all the honor for fidelity which has ever been claimed for him, but it cannot be the honor which is due to him who is at the head of the family or house. Paul "assumed"that Moses was a "servant,"and argued on that supposition, without attempting to prove it, because it was so often affirmed in the Old Testament, and must have been conceded by all the Jews. In numerous instances he is spoken of as "the servant of the Lord;"see Jos 1:1-2; Jos 9:24; 1Ch 6:49; 2Ch 24:9; Neh 10:29; Dan 9:11; Exo 14:31; 1Ki 8:56; Psa 105:26. As this point was undisputed, it was only necessary to show that the Messiah was superior to a "servant,"in order to make the argument clear.

For a testimony - To bear witness to those truths which were to be revealed; that is, he was the instrument of the divine communications to the people, or the medium by which God made his will known. He did not originate the truths himself; but he was the mere medium by which God made known his truth to his people - a servant whom He employed to make his will known. The word after here is not necessary in order to a just translation of this passage, and obscures the sense. It does not mean that he was a witness of those truths which were to be spoken "subsequently"to his time under another dispensation, nor those truths which the apostle proposed to consider in another part of the Epistle, as Doddridge supposes; but it means merely that Moses stood forth as a public witness of the truths which God designed to reveal, or which were to be spoken. God did not speak to his people "directly,"and face to face, but he spoke through Moses as an organ, or medium. The sense is, Moses was a mere servant of God to communicate his will to man.

Poole: Heb 3:1

Heb 3:1-6 Christ is showed to be more worthy than Moses.

Heb 3:7-19 We must be careful therefore not to follow the example of

the obstinate and unbelieving Israelites in the wilderness.

Several uses the Holy Ghost makes, from the beginning of this chapter to the end of chapter four, Heb 3:1-4:16of the gospel doctrine of God the Son incarnate, set by the Father in office, to deal for sinners towards God as their great Prophet. The counsel he giveth is comprehended in; Heb 3:1-6and as directing these Hebrews to their duty, so further explaining and confirming his office to them, by comparing of him with Moses, and setting him as above angels, so above him; and to be so valued, esteemed, and preferred by these Hebrews: seeing this great gospel Prophet was for a little while made lower than the angels in his humanity, and it was infinitely beneficial to us upon the account of what he suffered in it in our stead, and purchased by it for our good; therefore should those who are partakers of it, being related in the flesh to him as Hebrews, descending with them from Abraham, consider, but much more as Christians, believing and adopted in him to be God’ s children, and sanctified by his Spirit, 1Pe 1:1-5 2Pe 1:1 .

Partakers of the heavenly calling and made thus a Christian fraternity by the heavenly calling of them out of the world by the gospel; when by his Spirit he enlightened their minds, and renewed their wills, and made them obedient to it, so as for the temper of their souls they are made holy, and for their condition happy; the work of God’ s power and mercy eminently appearing in it: God therein preventing man, so as he influenceth him to hear him from heaven, walk worthy of heaven, and at last to rest in heaven for ever.

Considerkatanohsate imports not a bare single act of the mind, to think on, or understand, but a repeated one, to think again and again, expressed by that periphrasis of laying it to heart, pressing on their spirits the due effort of faith and obedience arising out of this observation, Isa 52:15 .

The Apostle God’ s Messenger, his own Son sent from heaven to be incarnate, with authority to execute in his human nature his prophetical, as all his offices, and with authority to send forth his apostles to do their part, Joh 20:21 ; which is no more than is intimated in that title, the Messenger of the covenant, Isa 42:19 Mal 3:1 ; that was, to propose it to and confirm it with them. This was he by whom Moses desired God’ s message might be sent to them, Exo 4:13 ; and whom he foretold should bring it, Deu 18:15 Act 3:22,23 .

And High Priest of our profession, Christ Jesus: the Son is the great gospel High Priest, to deal in all matters with God for them, Heb 2:17 . The offices divided among other persons in the Old Testament church were all united in his person, he doth transcend them all, being a High Priest peculiar to the called and sanctified ones of God, of which all preceding were faint resemblances and types; he, the most excellent Minister of the Christian faith and religion professed by them, being anointed unto all these offices in the flesh by the Father with the Holy Ghost, Heb 1:2 ; and being Jesus a Saviour, our Emmanuel, God on our side, saving his people from their sins, and re-uniting them to God, Mat 1:21,23Jo 17:21-23 .

Poole: Heb 3:2

The Spirit enforceth the duty counselled on them from the fidelity of that grand gospel Minister in his offices; exemplified in a parallel with Moses, whom he did exceed.

Who was faithful to him that appointed him he did most exactly perform all he was intrusted with, according to the intention and end of his commission. He did most faithfully reveal God, Joh 1:18 , and his whole saving will, to whom God sent him, Joh 3:31-34 5:34 Joh 8:28,38 ; as his great Prophet, Act 3:22 . He as faithfully discharged the office of his priesthood in sacrificing himself to atone God for sinners, and as faithfully intercedes for all with him unto this day, and will do so for ever, with all truth and fidelity discharging his trust, Heb 7:24-28 9:11,12,14,24,26 . He was faithful in fulfilling all his types, and in changing and finishing all the ceremonial constitutions, and filling them up with gospel ones, according to God’ s will revealed to him about it. He was true to his Father, who appointed and constituted him to these offices, and solemnly invested him in them; poihsanti here not signifying the making of a creature, but the making of an officer, the person existing before; he puts him into this special charge and office by anointing him for it, Act 2:36 .

As also Moses was faithful in all his house: Moses was the Jewish mediator, and brought them the law moral, judicial, and ceremonial from God; as he was highly esteemed by them, so God testifieth of his fidelity. Christ was not only like to him in fidelity, but, as to both the truth and degree of it, exceeding him. Moses kept to his pattern shown him in the mount, and Christ fulfilled entirely his Father’ s will, Joh 5:30 6:38 , and is preferred to him. Moses was so in the whole church of Israel, set out by this metaphor of a house; but Christ ill all God’ s house and family both in heaven and in earth; not the least thing that concerned the family, but Christ fulfilled; not the meanest person in it, but he careth for and saveth.

Poole: Heb 3:3

For this man was counted worthy of more glory than Moses: the Spirit proves to the Hebrews, that the gospel Prophet was not only like to, but more excellent than, their greatest prophet, and who had familiarity with God beyond others, as God testifieth, Num 12:6-8 . This he proves by an undeniable supposition, that God is better than man; such is Christ; which he demonstrates by a work of God, his making the church and all things. If he made the church, then he is better than the whole church, and worthy of more honour than Moses, who is but a member of it. For this, man is not in the original, this gospel Prophet, who was God as well as man, the apostle and High Priest of Christians, was esteemed and accounted by God the Father, the best judge of worth, and who appointed him to his offices: he treated him more honourably than Moses, as he deserved it, having real excellency and worth in himself. He was God’ s Son, Moses his servant. He lay in God’ s bosom, saw his face, was his fellow, Zec 13:7 Joh 1:14,18 ; Moses only heard his voice, and saw his back parts, Exo 33:19,20,23 34:5-7 . Moses’ s face only shined, but Christ’ s person was entirely glorious, Exo 34:29,30 2Co 3:7 : compare Mat 17:2-6 2Pe 1:17 .

Inasmuch as he who hath builded the house hath more honour than the house he is the cause, principal, efficient, and architect of this building, not a stone is laid in it without him. By this metaphor of house to which it relateth, is meant God’ s spiritual building and temple, 1Co 3:10,16,17 ; styled God’ s household or family, Eph 2:19-22 : in sum, God’ s church, built by and on Christ, of which Moses was but one living stone or member, 1Pe 2:4-8 . Therefore this builder ought to be esteemed and honoured above the church, or Moses, a member of it.

Poole: Heb 3:4

The excellency of this builder is evinced by his nature and preference beyond his building, as any man is beyond his.

For every house is builded by some man for every earthly artificial building, a material house built for habitation, though it may metaphorically and analogically be understood of a commonwealth, or political one, which is contrived, framed, and raised by some man; yet an effect cannot produce itself, nor a house raise itself; both must have a cause, both the house wherein Moses was faithful, and Christ’ s house.

But he that built all things is God but he who built his church in all ages, whether the Israelitish or Christian, and all things about it of which we speak, and all things else, Mat 16:18 Joh 1:1,3 Col 1:20 ; he is God essentially; and Christ, doing God’ s work and building all things, is not by name only, but by nature, God. The whole world is his workmanship, but the church is the most rare, curious, and excellent piece of it. Christ is not part of the house, as Moses is, but the builder of it; he is the Creator and builder both of the church and him, and so infinitely above him.

Poole: Heb 3:5

The gospel Minister doth not only excel Moses as much as a builder doth his work, but as a son doth a servant, proved in this and Heb 3:6 .

And Moses verily was faithful in all his house, as a servant your great legal prophet, in whom many of you Hebrews trust, Joh 5:45 , did truly and fully reveal and do what God charged him, in ministering his will to his church, Exo 40:16-33 ; he did not diminish from, nor add the least to, God’ s charge, yerapwn , Num 12:7 . As a minister, Moses was as faithful as any God had; not a slave or a drudge, but a free, willing, ingenuous servant, most entirely and obsequiously addicting himself in that honourable place and office of great trust, to which God called him; a stewardly servant, a prophet and a prince, inspecting and ordering all according to God’ s will; in all Christ’ s house and family, his church, he is but a servant.

For a testimony of those things which were to be spoken after: his faithfulness was evident in his bearing true witness to the church, of all God made known to him, that they might not be uncertain of the truth; even all that truth, which was more fully and clearly to be spoken by the prophets after him, and by Christ and his apostles; but which the Spirit shall speak to them further concerning Christ and his church in this Epistle, Joh 5:46 . In which is insinuated, that Christ was the truth himself witnessed to by Moses, who was a witness of an inferior degree, though in his work faithful, and conformed unto Christ.

PBC: Heb 3:1

"holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider,"

Hear below

They are not viewed diminutively by the writer but rather they are honored, they are holy brethren.  There was a brotherhood among the Jews, they could all claim Abraham as their father.  In terms of God setting the nation of Israel apart with the call of Abraham, there was indeed a holy calling to the Jews of the Old Testament, but this calling is not a matter of relationship to Abraham.  A. T. Robertson observes that by calling it a heavenly calling it refers to a call that came from heaven and a call whose authority and appeal is to heaven.  It is not an appeal from one man to another.  It is not an appeal that says, " I don’t know any more than you do but I think this would be a good idea."  It is indeed a call from God and the authority of this call is from God and the appeal is to God.  God doesn’t tend to give His commandments as kind recommendations.  He issues commands. 

275

The issue here is not that these people had an exclusive claim on the divine calling or the family of God, but rather that they were sharers of a greater family than Abraham’s.  They participated in a calling that embraced people beyond Abraham and his family.

275

"consider the Apostle and High Priest"

To "consider" Christ as here enjoined, means to thoroughly ponder who and what He is; to attentively weigh His dignity, His excellency, His authority; to think of what is due to Him. It is failure to thoroughly weigh important considerations which causes us to let them "slip" Heb 2:4. On the other hand, it is by diligently pondering things of moment and value that the understanding is enabled to better apprehend them, the memory to retain them, the heart to be impressed, and the individual to make a better use of them. To "consider" Christ means to behold Him, not simply by a passing glance or giving to Him an occasional thought, but by the heart being fully occupied with Him. "Set Me as a seal upon thine heart" Song 8:7, is His call to us. And it is our failure at this point which explains why we know so little about Him, why we love Him so feebly, why we trust Him so imperfectly.

A. W. Pink

Consider the Apostle and High Priest - settle your mind.  The word consider literally comes from two Greek words which means " to put the mind down."  He’s saying you may be unsettled about some things but here’s one thing where you need to settle your mind, put your mind down, nail it down tight, don’t go anywhere on this point, settle your mind on the Lord Jesus Christ.  Today, no less than in the first century everything about a person’s religion can be answered in how they think about the Lord Jesus Christ.  Everything!  No matter what!  Their theology, their view of salvation, their view of Christian living, their view of authority, their whole world view can be answered when you get to the bottom line of what they really think about the Lord Jesus Christ.  So, for us today, no less than in the gospels, when Jesus asks the question, " What think ye of Christ, who’s Son is He?" it is a relevant question, it lies at the heart of every issue about our faith.  Every issue! 275

Repeatedly in the gospels Jesus refers to Himself as either coming from or being sent from the Father.  It’s a similar word, but only here in the entire New Testament does inspired scripture refer to Jesus as the Apostle of our faith or profession.  The word " apostle" literally (if you will look it up in a New Testament Greek dictionary) means " one who is sent" – not one who volunteers and goes on his own but one who is sent - but implied in the word is far more, it is one who is sent as an official messenger with endued powers that accompany that message, not terribly unlike the role in our national politics of ambassador.  He is sent by our government to a foreign country with specific powers vested in that office as he functions in the interest of United States citizens who are living abroad in that country.  The Lord Jesus Christ in this role is compared to Moses.

275

Heb 3:2-19 "Who was faithful to him that appointed him, as also Moses was faithful in all his house. For this man was counted worthy of more glory than Moses, inasmuch as he who hath builded the house hath more honour than the house. For every house is builded by some man; but he that built all things is God. And Moses verily was faithful in all his house, as a servant, for a testimony of those things which were to be spoken after; But Christ as a son over his own house; whose house are we, if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end. Wherefore (as the Holy Ghost saith, To day if ye will hear his voice, Harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness: When your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my works forty years. Wherefore I was grieved with that generation, and said, They do alway err in their heart; and they have not known my ways. So I sware in my wrath, They shall not enter into my rest.) Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God. But exhort one another daily, while it is called To day; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence stedfast unto the end; While it is said, To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation. For some, when they had heard, did provoke: howbeit not all that came out of Egypt by Moses. But with whom was he grieved forty years? was it not with them that had sinned, whose carcases fell in the wilderness? And to whom sware he that they should not enter into his rest, but to them that believed not? So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief."

A Greater Than Moses Heb 3:1-19

What is the writer’s purpose in Hebrews? He is concerned to demonstrate the superior value of the Christian faith to the Jew’s religion. Under the relentless pressure of persecution, the Hebrew Christians to whom he writes are considering a return to Judaism. Such a return, the writer argues, would constitute the abandoning of the superior for the inferior, the substitution of the shadow for the substance.

The Jews greatly valued their religion because it had been given through eminent prophets like Samuel, Elijah, and Daniel and through the medium of angels. The Christian faith, however, was superior to the Jewish religion because it came directly from the Son of God, One who is superior to prophets and angels. The Jews, furthermore, highly esteemed Moses, a man who spoke "face to face with God" and was sent as God’s special messenger to the fathers. Through Moses, God delivered the people from Egypt, gave the Law, and led them through the wilderness. He was God’s "apostle" [i.e. one who is sent on a special mission], God’s "prophet," {De 18:15} and God’s mediator [the word "priest" in Heb 3:1 (pontifex) means "bridge builder" or "mediator"]. But Christianity has the advantage over the Jew’s religion because the Lord Jesus Christ is superior to Moses. In fact, He is our "Moses," our prophet and mediator, as Moses himself predicted:

"I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee, and will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak unto them all that I command him. And it shall come to pass, that whosoever will not hearken unto my words which he shall speak in my name, I will require it of him." {De 18:18-19}

Jesus is, then, the fulfillment of this prophecy. He is superior to Moses in terms of the fact that Moses was God’s servant but Jesus is God’s Son. The author of the Christian religion, then, is preferable to Moses. He is the builder of the "house of God;" Moses was merely a part of that "house." The danger of apostasy from the Christian faith, then, is more grave than the consequences of disobedience to Moses. The question inherent in these words is sobering: "Are you in God’s household? Are you a part of his dwelling place among men?" The writer answers that participation in "God’s house" is conditional on "holding fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end." {Heb 3:6}

What exactly is he saying? He is saying: "You claim that Moses is your leader? Very well, then. Moses was faithful to God. He held fast the revelation that God gave to him. That revelation pointed forward to a greater Prophet that God would raise up. Now that greater Prophet has come. His name is Jesus Christ. Just as Moses was faithful to hold fast God’s truth, Jesus Christ was faithful to the truth the Father committed to him. You have ‘professed’ {Heb 3:1} faith in Him, leaving the inferior (Moses’ law) for the superior (Christ’s gospel). But now, you are in danger of apostasy; you are ready to abandon your confession of Christ and return to the Jew’s religion. Be aware, then, that you are in danger of forfeiting God’s presence, for you are only His ‘house,’ that is, He will only dwell among you ‘if you hold fast’ your confession at the beginning until the very end. You must be faithful, like Moses and like Jesus, if you want God to acknowledge you as His special people."

In the light of this riveting argument, the writer proceeds to startle them with the second warning in the epistle- a warning against "unbelief." Don’t let your heart become hardened, he warns. Alluding to the failure of the Israelites to trust God in the wilderness, he implies that they are responding in the same way in the midst of their adversity. The Israelites murmured and complained, questioning "Is the Lord among us or not." {Ex 17:1-7} They accused Him of leading them out into the wilderness to die. Finally they conspired to appoint themselves a leader to return back to Egypt. {Nu 14:1-4} At that point, God’s patience was exhausted. He would tolerate their unbelief no longer. Since they wished to die instead of trusting Him to supply their needs and protect them each day, He granted their request. The people dropped dead, one by one, beneath the scorching Arabian sun. The story stands as an everlasting reminder of the seriousness of unbelief and the subtle danger of a gradual hardening of the heart.

"Hebrews," the writer warns, "guard your heart. Don’t repeat the mistake of your forefathers. Beware of the hardened heart of unbelief. Instead, hold fast your confidence and hope. Consider Jesus who was faithful to his task. Remember your confession of Christ at the beginning and be faithful to the very end. Don’t murmur or complain, lest you provoke the Lord to anger."

373

PBC: Heb 3:3

"holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider,"

Hear below

They are not viewed diminutively by the writer but rather they are honored, they are holy brethren.  There was a brotherhood among the Jews, they could all claim Abraham as their father.  In terms of God setting the nation of Israel apart with the call of Abraham, there was indeed a holy calling to the Jews of the Old Testament, but this calling is not a matter of relationship to Abraham.  A. T. Robertson observes that by calling it a heavenly calling it refers to a call that came from heaven and a call whose authority and appeal is to heaven.  It is not an appeal from one man to another.  It is not an appeal that says, " I don’t know any more than you do but I think this would be a good idea."  It is indeed a call from God and the authority of this call is from God and the appeal is to God.  God doesn’t tend to give His commandments as kind recommendations.  He issues commands. 

275

The issue here is not that these people had an exclusive claim on the divine calling or the family of God, but rather that they were sharers of a greater family than Abraham’s.  They participated in a calling that embraced people beyond Abraham and his family.

275

"consider the Apostle and High Priest"

To "consider" Christ as here enjoined, means to thoroughly ponder who and what He is; to attentively weigh His dignity, His excellency, His authority; to think of what is due to Him. It is failure to thoroughly weigh important considerations which causes us to let them "slip" Heb 2:4. On the other hand, it is by diligently pondering things of moment and value that the understanding is enabled to better apprehend them, the memory to retain them, the heart to be impressed, and the individual to make a better use of them. To "consider" Christ means to behold Him, not simply by a passing glance or giving to Him an occasional thought, but by the heart being fully occupied with Him. "Set Me as a seal upon thine heart" Song 8:7, is His call to us. And it is our failure at this point which explains why we know so little about Him, why we love Him so feebly, why we trust Him so imperfectly.

A. W. Pink

Consider the Apostle and High Priest - settle your mind.  The word consider literally comes from two Greek words which means " to put the mind down."  He’s saying you may be unsettled about some things but here’s one thing where you need to settle your mind, put your mind down, nail it down tight, don’t go anywhere on this point, settle your mind on the Lord Jesus Christ.  Today, no less than in the first century everything about a person’s religion can be answered in how they think about the Lord Jesus Christ.  Everything!  No matter what!  Their theology, their view of salvation, their view of Christian living, their view of authority, their whole world view can be answered when you get to the bottom line of what they really think about the Lord Jesus Christ.  So, for us today, no less than in the gospels, when Jesus asks the question, " What think ye of Christ, who’s Son is He?" it is a relevant question, it lies at the heart of every issue about our faith.  Every issue! 275

Repeatedly in the gospels Jesus refers to Himself as either coming from or being sent from the Father.  It’s a similar word, but only here in the entire New Testament does inspired scripture refer to Jesus as the Apostle of our faith or profession.  The word " apostle" literally (if you will look it up in a New Testament Greek dictionary) means " one who is sent" – not one who volunteers and goes on his own but one who is sent - but implied in the word is far more, it is one who is sent as an official messenger with endued powers that accompany that message, not terribly unlike the role in our national politics of ambassador.  He is sent by our government to a foreign country with specific powers vested in that office as he functions in the interest of United States citizens who are living abroad in that country.  The Lord Jesus Christ in this role is compared to Moses.

275

Heb 3:2-19 "Who was faithful to him that appointed him, as also Moses was faithful in all his house. For this man was counted worthy of more glory than Moses, inasmuch as he who hath builded the house hath more honour than the house. For every house is builded by some man; but he that built all things is God. And Moses verily was faithful in all his house, as a servant, for a testimony of those things which were to be spoken after; But Christ as a son over his own house; whose house are we, if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end. Wherefore (as the Holy Ghost saith, To day if ye will hear his voice, Harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness: When your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my works forty years. Wherefore I was grieved with that generation, and said, They do alway err in their heart; and they have not known my ways. So I sware in my wrath, They shall not enter into my rest.) Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God. But exhort one another daily, while it is called To day; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence stedfast unto the end; While it is said, To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation. For some, when they had heard, did provoke: howbeit not all that came out of Egypt by Moses. But with whom was he grieved forty years? was it not with them that had sinned, whose carcases fell in the wilderness? And to whom sware he that they should not enter into his rest, but to them that believed not? So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief."

A Greater Than Moses Heb 3:1-19

What is the writer’s purpose in Hebrews? He is concerned to demonstrate the superior value of the Christian faith to the Jew’s religion. Under the relentless pressure of persecution, the Hebrew Christians to whom he writes are considering a return to Judaism. Such a return, the writer argues, would constitute the abandoning of the superior for the inferior, the substitution of the shadow for the substance.

The Jews greatly valued their religion because it had been given through eminent prophets like Samuel, Elijah, and Daniel and through the medium of angels. The Christian faith, however, was superior to the Jewish religion because it came directly from the Son of God, One who is superior to prophets and angels. The Jews, furthermore, highly esteemed Moses, a man who spoke "face to face with God" and was sent as God’s special messenger to the fathers. Through Moses, God delivered the people from Egypt, gave the Law, and led them through the wilderness. He was God’s "apostle" [i.e. one who is sent on a special mission], God’s "prophet," {De 18:15} and God’s mediator [the word "priest" in Heb 3:1 (pontifex) means "bridge builder" or "mediator"]. But Christianity has the advantage over the Jew’s religion because the Lord Jesus Christ is superior to Moses. In fact, He is our "Moses," our prophet and mediator, as Moses himself predicted:

"I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee, and will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak unto them all that I command him. And it shall come to pass, that whosoever will not hearken unto my words which he shall speak in my name, I will require it of him." {De 18:18-19}

Jesus is, then, the fulfillment of this prophecy. He is superior to Moses in terms of the fact that Moses was God’s servant but Jesus is God’s Son. The author of the Christian religion, then, is preferable to Moses. He is the builder of the "house of God;" Moses was merely a part of that "house." The danger of apostasy from the Christian faith, then, is more grave than the consequences of disobedience to Moses. The question inherent in these words is sobering: "Are you in God’s household? Are you a part of his dwelling place among men?" The writer answers that participation in "God’s house" is conditional on "holding fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end." {Heb 3:6}

What exactly is he saying? He is saying: "You claim that Moses is your leader? Very well, then. Moses was faithful to God. He held fast the revelation that God gave to him. That revelation pointed forward to a greater Prophet that God would raise up. Now that greater Prophet has come. His name is Jesus Christ. Just as Moses was faithful to hold fast God’s truth, Jesus Christ was faithful to the truth the Father committed to him. You have ‘professed’ {Heb 3:1} faith in Him, leaving the inferior (Moses’ law) for the superior (Christ’s gospel). But now, you are in danger of apostasy; you are ready to abandon your confession of Christ and return to the Jew’s religion. Be aware, then, that you are in danger of forfeiting God’s presence, for you are only His ‘house,’ that is, He will only dwell among you ‘if you hold fast’ your confession at the beginning until the very end. You must be faithful, like Moses and like Jesus, if you want God to acknowledge you as His special people."

In the light of this riveting argument, the writer proceeds to startle them with the second warning in the epistle- a warning against "unbelief." Don’t let your heart become hardened, he warns. Alluding to the failure of the Israelites to trust God in the wilderness, he implies that they are responding in the same way in the midst of their adversity. The Israelites murmured and complained, questioning "Is the Lord among us or not." {Ex 17:1-7} They accused Him of leading them out into the wilderness to die. Finally they conspired to appoint themselves a leader to return back to Egypt. {Nu 14:1-4} At that point, God’s patience was exhausted. He would tolerate their unbelief no longer. Since they wished to die instead of trusting Him to supply their needs and protect them each day, He granted their request. The people dropped dead, one by one, beneath the scorching Arabian sun. The story stands as an everlasting reminder of the seriousness of unbelief and the subtle danger of a gradual hardening of the heart.

"Hebrews," the writer warns, "guard your heart. Don’t repeat the mistake of your forefathers. Beware of the hardened heart of unbelief. Instead, hold fast your confidence and hope. Consider Jesus who was faithful to his task. Remember your confession of Christ at the beginning and be faithful to the very end. Don’t murmur or complain, lest you provoke the Lord to anger."

373

PBC: Heb 3:5

Jesus as a Son over His own house!  He wasn’t a servant – it belonged to Him.  Moses was faithful in all of his house as a servant for a testimony of those things that should be spoken after, but Jesus as a Son over His own house, whose house are we if we continue in the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end.  Yes, there’s something for you to do in the hope that He has given you.  Continue to rejoice in it - He’ll dwell in your heart.  You’re His house.  You’re His dwelling place.  You’re where He is to dwell and He dwells in our hearts as we journey down the rugged road of life and all of these things that He was doing was not to stand and read the law to us but He would say to His children, " Children I know that you make mistakes.  I even know your thought afar off" and let me assure you that you have a High Priest at the right hand of God and telling you very carefully that you can reach out and touch Him by the feeling of your infirmities and One that will say unto you, " Cast all your cares on Me."  You couldn’t do that under the law.  Cast all your cares on Me – for He careth for you.

Eld. I W. Gillam

Haydock: Heb 3:1

The....high priest of our profession. That is, of the faith we confess, or profess. Christ is also here called our apostle, i.e. sent by his Father. (Witham) ---

Jesus Christ is not only our apostle, he is the doctor, the legislator or the religion we profess. He is our high priest, who offered himself in sacrifice for the sanctification of his Church, and who is now exercising at the right hand of his Father the office of the priesthood in our behalf, both in heaven and on earth. We here see our dignity: we have a God for the apostle and high priest of our religion.

Haydock: Heb 3:2

Faithful to him, &c. To be made, may apply to Christ as man; but here the sense is, who made him head over all his Church. (Witham)

Haydock: Heb 3:3

Of greater glory, &c. The apostle shews Christ to be greater than Moses several ways. 1. Christ is as much above Moses, as an architect above the hour which he has made; for Christ (who, as God, made all things) is the builder of that very house, that is, of the house of Israel, of which Moses was only a part of a member. 2. Moses was only employed in the house, as a servant, to give testimony to others, as he was ordered. (Witham)

Gill: Heb 3:1

Wherefore, holy brethren,.... The apostle calls the Hebrews "brethren", not because they were of the same natural stock and lineage, but because they were in the same spiritual relation; they all had the same Father, belonged to the same family, were the adopted sons of God, the brethren of Christ, of one another, and of the apostle; and they were "holy", not by birth, nor by their external separation from other nations, but through sanctification of the Spirit; and they were so by profession, and in the opinion of the apostle:

partakers of the heavenly calling; by which is meant not any business, or employment of life; nor a call to any office in church or state; nor a mere external call by the ministry of the word; but an internal special call of grace, to the enjoyment of the blessings of grace here, and to glory hereafter; and which is not according, to works, but according to the grace of God, and is by powerful, efficacious, and irresistible grace: and this is said to be "heavenly", because the grace by which the saints are called is from heaven, and it is to heaven they are called; and the means of their calling, the Gospel, is from heaven; and this epistle epithet is used to show the excellency of their calling, and to distinguish it from all others: and this the Hebrews are said to be "partakers of"; which shows, that God had not utterly cast off that people, and yet that they were not the only persons that enjoyed the grace of the effectual calling, they were but partners with others; and that the saints are alike sharers in this blessing, they are called in one hope of their calling; and it denotes the truth and reality of it: the duty they are exhorted to is,

to consider the apostle and high priest of our profession, Christ Jesus; the Alexandrian copy, the Vulgate Latin and Ethiopic versions, read, only "Jesus"; who is called "the apostle", because he was sent of God to preach the Gospel, work miracles, and do the will of God, particularly to obtain redemption and salvation for his people, which mission does not suppose any inequality of persons, or change of place, or any compulsion or disrespect to Christ, but love to men; and is to be understood of him as in office as Mediator, and shows his authority, and that he was no impostor. The high priest among the Jews was, on the day of atonement, considered as שליח, "an apostle", or "messenger" ^s; for so the elders of the sanhedrim address him on that day, saying,

"Lord high priest, we are the messengers of the sanhedrim, and thou art שלוחינו, "our apostle", or "messenger", and the messenger of the sanhedrim.''

And it follows here, and "the high priest of our profession"; which may be understood either objectively, whom they professed, both by words or deeds; for a profession of him should be public, visible, and sincere; or efficiently, he being the author, sum, and substance of the religion, faith, and Gospel which was professed by them: and he is to be "considered" in the greatness and dignity of his person, as the Son of God; and in his wondrous grace and love in assuming human nature, and dying for his people; and in the relations he stands in to them as a Father, husband, brother, friend; and in his several offices, as Mediator, and particularly as sent of God, to be the Saviour of sinners; and as the high priest, who has offered himself a sacrifice, and ever lives to make intercession; and all this to encourage the saints to hold fast their profession of him.

Gill: Heb 3:2

Who was faithful to him that appointed him,.... Or "made him"; Christ, as man, was made, but not as God; nor is the apostle speaking of the divine nature of Christ, but of his offices: wherefore this phrase designs the constitution and settlement of him in office; which may take in the eternal appointment of him as Mediator; the open promise of him in time; his mission, unction, and attestation from God; and his manifestation and declaration as such, at his ascension and session at God's right hand, when he was made Lord and Christ. Now, as Mediator, he had a trust reposed in him; as the persons of all God's elect, and a fulness of all grace for them; the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, and eternal life and happiness; and also the glory of God in their salvation: which trust he has faithfully discharged as an apostle, and high priest; in a declaration of the whole will of God; in acknowledging it was his Father's doctrine he brought, and in seeking not his own, but his Father's glory; in redeeming and saving the persons committed to him; in distributing his grace to them; and in bringing them safe to glory; and in taking care of things pertaining to God:

as also Moses was faithful in all his house; the passage referred to is in Num 12:7 and which seems not so much to intend the fidelity of Moses in managing the affairs of God's house, as the largeness of the trust reposed in him, the dignity and honour conferred on him, and the power and authority he was invested with, in having the whole house of Israel committed to his care and charge, in which he exceeded all other prophets; and so the faithfulness of Christ is not so much to be understood of the discharge of his trust, as of the trust itself; and the sense is, that he was trusted much by God the Father, who constituted him Mediator, even as Moses was; and this sense best agrees with Heb 3:5. And De Dieu has observed, that the Hebrew word נאמן, in Misnic writings ^t, signifies, as it does, one that is trusted, or is fit to be trusted, as Christ and Moses were; though the former is much more worthy than the latter, as follows.

Gill: Heb 3:3

For this man was counted worthy of more glory than Moses,.... Moses was counted worthy of glory and honour, and had it given him, both by God and by men; by God, as appears from the work he called him to, to deliver his people Israel, to reveal his mind and will to them, and to rule and govern them; and from the favours he showed him, as the miracles he did by him, the near converse he admitted him to, and the view he gave him of his glory, which he made to pass before him, and his regard to him at his death and burial, as well as the testimony he gave of him; and he was counted worthy of honour by men, and who gave it him, as Pharaoh and his people, and the Israelites. The Jews give very great commendations of him; they call him a father in the law, a father in wisdom, and a father in prophecy ^u; and say, that he is the father, master, head, and prince of all the prophets ^w; yea, the great prophet expected in the last days, they say, will be but next to Moses, their master ^x: they observe, that there were more miracles wrought by, and for him, than were wrought by, and for all the prophets that have been since the world began ^y; so that he not only exceeded them in the excellency and sublimity of prophecy, but in the multitude of miracles; but Christ is worthy of more glory than Moses, and has it given him by God, angels, and men: he is a greater Saviour than Moses; Moses was but a temporal saviour, but he is the author of spiritual and eternal salvation: he is a greater prophet than Moses, being the only begotten Son of God, who lay in the bosom of the Father, and has declared him, his mind and will, his Gospel, grace, and truth, as Moses never did: he is a greater King than he, being made higher than the kings of the earth: he did more miracles than Moses, and had a greater testimony from God than he had, as that he was his beloved Son, and to be heard; he was also raised, from the dead, and is set down at the right hand of God, and is appointed Judge of all; he is ministered to, and worshipped by angels, is believed on by men, who ascribe the whole glory of their salvation to him.

Inasmuch as he who hath builded the house hath more honour than the house; this "house", or "temple", as the Arabic version renders it, is the church, of which Christ is the builder; though not to the exclusion of the Father and the Spirit, who are coefficient builders with him, nor of ministers of the Gospel as instruments, nor of believers in a private capacity, who build up one another; but he has the chief concern in the building, which lies in the conversion of souls, and in the edification of them, and is carried on by his Spirit in the ministry of the word and ordinances, and from hence he has a glory; see Zec 6:12 a greater glory than Moses, seeing he was but a part of this house, at most but a pillar in it; but Christ is the builder, foundation, and cornerstone.

Gill: Heb 3:4

For every house is built by some man,.... Or by some one; for a house does not build itself: this is true of houses properly taken, or improperly, as nations, tribes, families, and kindred, of the whole church in general, of particular congregations, and of individual believers; the greatest saints, even apostles and prophets, such an one as Moses, are built by and upon Christ; their persons are built on him; they receive all their gifts for edification from him, and their success is owing to him; though they are to be esteemed of in their proper places: the apostle's design is to bring down the high esteem the Jews had of Moses, that they might rightly value Christ.

But he that built all things is God; Christ has built all things, and therefore he is God, and must be infinitely above Moses; for this is not to be understood of God and of the creation of the world, and of all things in it by him; but of Christ, and of his building the church, and of his ordering and managing of that, and all affairs relating to it; such as the constitution of it, settling the worship of God, and the ordinances in it, the redemption and salvation of the members of it, and its rule and government; all which prove him to be God, and above Moses.

Gill: Heb 3:5

And Moses verily was faithful in all his house as a servant,.... Moses was not only a servant to the Israelites, but he was also the Lord's servant, a servant of his choosing, sending, and approving; he was a servant in holy things, and served the Lord heartily, sincerely, and ingenuously, with all becoming fear and reverence, respect, and honour, and with all ready and cheerful obedience; the house in which he was a servant, was not his own, but belonged to God, even the Son of God, as appears from the following verse; he was not a servant in the world, and with respect to civil things, and the affairs of Providence, but in the church of God, and in divine things; and he was faithful here, and that in all things; he did all things exactly according to the pattern showed him in the Mount; and the apostle strongly affirms all this, as well he might, since there was full proof of it, and God himself had bore a testimony to it: and the end of his being a servant here was,

for a testimony of those things which were to be spoken after; these words may regard his faithful testification of God's will to the people of Israel, after he was fixed as a servant in God's house; or what he said afterwards concerning the Messiah, of whom he spake and wrote, and of whom he bore an honourable testimony, Deu 18:1 or they may have respect to the things spoken after Moses's time, by the prophets, Christ, and his apostles, which agreed with the testimony of Moses; or to the things afterwards spoken of in this epistle; to which may be added, that Moses in his office was typical of things to be spoken and done by the Messiah, when he came; as his deliverance of the children of Israel out of Egypt; his leading them through the Red sea and wilderness, to Canaan's land; his giving them the law from Mount Sinai; the erection of the tabernacle, with all its furniture, and the institution of sacrifices and the like.

Commentary -- Verse Notes / Footnotes

NET Notes: Heb 3:1

¹ tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 2:11.

² tn Grk “of our confession.”

NET Notes: Heb 3:2

¹ tn Grk “his”; in the translation the referent (God) has been specified for clarity.

² tc ‡ The reading adopted by the translation follows a few early mss and some versions (Ì^13,46vid B vg^ms co Ambr). The majority of mss (א A C D Ψ 0243 0278 33 1739 1881 Ï lat sy) insert “all” (“in all his house”), apparently in anticipation of Heb 3:5 which quotes directly from Num 12:7. On balance, the omission better explains the rise of ὅλῳ ({olw, “all”) than vice versa. NA²⁷ puts ὅλῳ in brackets, indicating doubts as to its authenticity.

NET Notes: Heb 3:5

¹ tn Grk “his”; in the translation the referent (God) has been specified for clarity.

² sn A quotation from Num 12:7.

Geneva Bible: Heb 3:1

Wherefore, ^{( 1 )} holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the ^{( a )} Apostle and High Priest of our ^{( b )} profession, Christ Jesus;

^{( 1 )} Having laid the foundation that is to say, declared and proved both the natures of one Christ, he gives him three offices, that is, the office of a Prophet, King and Priest, and concerning the office of teaching, and governing, compares him with Moses and Joshua from (Hebrews 3:1-4:14), and with Aaron concerning the priesthood. He proposes that which he intends to speak of, with a grave exhortation, that all our faith may be directed towards Christ, as the only everlasting teacher, governor, and High Priest.

^{( a )} The ambassador or messenger, as in (Rom 15:8) he is called the minister of circumcision.

^{( b )} Of the doctrine of the gospel which we profess.

Geneva Bible: Heb 3:2

^{( 2 )} Who was faithful to him that ^{( c )} appointed him, ^{( 3 )} as also Moses [was faithful] in all his house.

^{( 2 )} He confirms his exhortation with two reasons, first of all because Christ Jesus was appointed as such by God: secondly, because he thoroughly executed the offices that his Father commanded him.

^{( c )} Apostle and High Priest. ^{( 3 )} Now he comes to the comparison with Moses, and he makes them like one another other in this, that they were both appointed rulers over God's house, and executed faithfully their office: but he later shows that there is great dissimilarity in the same comparison.

Geneva Bible: Heb 3:3

^{( 4 )} For this [man] was counted worthy of more glory than Moses, inasmuch as he who hath builded the house hath more honour than the house.

^{( 4 )} The first comparison: The builder of the house is better than the house itself, therefore Christ is better than Moses. The reason for the conclusion is this: because the builder of the house is God, which cannot be attributed to Moses; and therefore Moses was not the builder, but a part of the house: but Christ as Lord and God, made the house.

Geneva Bible: Heb 3:5

And ^{( 5 )} Moses verily [was] faithful in all his house, as a servant, for a testimony of those things which were to be spoken after;

^{( 5 )} Another comparison: Moses was a faithful servant in this house, that is, in the Church, serving the Lord that was to come, but Christ rules and governs his house as Lord.

Commentary -- Verse Range Notes

TSK Synopsis: Heb 3:1-19

1 Christ is more worthy than Moses;

7 therefore if we believe not in him, we shall be more worthy punishment than hardhearted Israel.

Combined Bible: Heb 3:1-6

Superior to Moses.   

(Hebrews 3:1-6).   

Our present portion introduces us to the third division of the Epistle, a division which runs on to Hebrews 4:6. The first division, comprising but the three opening verses of the first chapter, evidences the superiority of Christ over the prophets. The second division, Hebrews 1:4 to the end of chapter 2, sets forth the superiority of Christ over the angels. The one we are now commencing treats of the superiority of Christ over Moses. "The contents of this section may be stated briefly thus: That the Lord Jesus Christ, the mediator of the new covenant, is high above Moses, the mediator of the old dispensation, inasmuch as Jesus is the Son of God, and Lord over the house; whereas Moses is the servant of God, who is faithful in the house. And upon this doctrinal statement is based the exhortation, that we should not harden our hearts lest we fail to enter into that rest of which the possession of the promised land was only an imperfect type. This section consists of two parts— a doctrinal statement, which forms the basis, and an exhortation resting upon it" (Saphir).  

Of all the godly characters brought before us in the Old Testament scriptures, there is not one who has higher claims on our attentive consideration than the legislator of Israel. Whether we think of his remarkable infancy and childhood, his self-sacrificing renunciation (Heb. 11:24-26), the commission he received from God and his faithfulness in executing it, his devotion to Israel (Exo. 32:32), his honored privileges (Exo. 31:18), or the important revolutions accomplished through his instrumentality; "it will be difficult to find," as another has said, "in the records either of profane or sacred history, an individual whose character is so well fitted at once to excite attachment and command veneration, and whose history is so replete at once with interest and instruction."  

The history of Moses was remarkable from beginning to end. The hand of Providence preserved him as a babe, and the hand of God dug his grave at the finish. Between those terms he passed through the strangest and most contrastive vicissitudes which, surely, any mortal has ever experienced. The honors conferred upon him by God were much greater than any bestowed upon any other man, before or since. During the most memorable portion of their history, all of God’ s dealings with Israel were transacted through him. His position of nearness to Jehovah was remarkable, awesome, unique. He was in his own person, prophet, priest and king. Through him the whole of the Levitical economy was instituted. By him the Tabernacle was built. Thus we can well understand the high esteem in which the Jews held this favored man of God— cf. John 9:28, 29.  

Yet great as was Moses, the Holy Spirit in this third section of Hebrews calls upon us to consider One who so far excelled him as the heavens are above the earth. First, Christ was the immeasurable superior of Moses in His own person: Moses was a man of God, Christ was God Himself. Moses was the fallen descendant of Adam. conceived in sin and shapen in iniquity; Christ was sinless, impeccable, holy. Again; Christ was the immeasurable superior of Moses in His Offices. Moses was a prophet, through whom God spake; Christ was Himself "the Truth," revealing perfectly the whole mind, will, and heart of God. Moses executed priestly functions (Exo. 24:6; 32:11); but Christ is the "great High Priest." Moses was "king in Jeshurun" (Deut. 33:5); Christ is "King of kings." To mention only one other comparison, Christ was the immeasurable superior of Moses in His work. Moses delivered Israel from Egypt, Christ delivers His people from the everlasting burnings. Moses built an earthly tabernacle, Christ is now preparing a place for us on High. Moses led Israel across the wilderness but not into the Canaan itself; Christ will actually bring many sons "unto glory." May the Holy Spirit impress our hearts more and more with the exalted dignity and unique excellency of our Savior.  

"Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our profession, Christ Jesus" (verse 1). There are three things in this verse which claim our attention: the exhortation given, the people addressed, the characters in which Christ is here contemplated. The exhortation is a call to "consider" Christ. The people addressed are "holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling." The characters in which the Savior is viewed are "the Apostle and High Priest."  

"Wherefore." This word gives the connecting link between the two chapters which precede and the two that follow. It is a perfect transition, for it looks both ways. In regard to that which goes before, our present verse makes known the use we are to make of it; we are to "consider" Christ, to have our hearts fixed upon Him who is "altogether lovely." In regard to that which follows, this basic exhortation lays a foundation for the succeeding admonitions: if we render obedience to this precept, then we shall be preserved from the evils which overtook Israel of old— hardening of the heart, grieving the Lord, missing our "rest."  

The exhortation given here is, "Wherefore . . . consider the Apostle and High Priest of our profession." Three questions call for answers: what is meant by "considering" Him; why we should do so; the special characters in which He is to be considered. There are no less than eleven Greek words in the New Testament all rendered "consider," four of them being simple ones; seven, compounds. The one employed by the Holy Spirit in Hebrews 3:1 signifies to thoroughly think of the matter, so as to arrive at a fuller knowledge of it. It was the word used by our Lord in His "consider the ravens, consider the lilies" (Luke 12:24, 27). It is the word which describes Peter’ s response to the vision of the sheet let down from heaven: "I considered and saw fourfooted beasts" (Acts 11:6). It is found again in Matthew 7:3, Romans 4:19, Hebrews 10:24. In Acts 7:31 "katanoeo" is rendered "to behold." In Luke 20:23 it is translated "perceived." In all, the Greek word is found fourteen times in the New Testament.  

To "consider" Christ as here enjoined, means to thoroughly ponder who and what He is; to attentively weigh His dignity, His excellency, His authority; to think of what is due to Him. It is failure to thoroughly weigh important considerations which causes us to let them "slip" (Heb. 2:1). On the other hand, it is by diligently pondering things of moment and value that the understanding is enabled to better apprehend them, the memory to retain them, the heart to be impressed, and the individual to make a better use of them. To "consider" Christ means to behold Him, not simply by a passing glance or giving to Him an occasional thought, but by the heart being fully occupied with Him. "Set Me as a seal upon thine heart" (Song 8:6), is His call to us. And it is our failure at this point which explains why we know so little about Him, why we love Him so feebly, why we trust Him so imperfectly.  

The motive presented by the Spirit here as to why we should so "consider" Christ is intimated in the opening "Wherefore." It draws a conclusion from all that precedes. Because Christ is the One through whom Deity is now fully and finally manifested, because He is the Brightness of God’ s glory and the very Impress of His substance; because, therefore, He has by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than the angels; because He, in infinite grace, became "all of one" with those that He came to redeem, having made propitiation for the sins of His people; because He is now seated at the right hand of the Majesty on High, and while there is "a merciful and faithful High Priest;" because He has Himself suffered being tempted and is able to succor them who are tempted;— therefore, He is infinitely worthy of our constant contemplation and adoration. The opening "Wherefore" is also an anticipatory inference from what follows: because Christ is worthy of more honor than Moses, therefore, "consider" Him.  

There are two special characters in which the Holy Spirit here bids us contemplate Christ. First, as "the Apostle." This has reference to the prophetical office of Christ, the title being employed because an "apostle" was the highest minister appointed in New Testament times. An apostleship had more honors conferred upon it than any other position in the church (Eph. 4:11): thus the excellency of Christ’ s prophetic office is magnified. The term apostle means one "sent forth" of God, endowed with authority as His ambassador. In John’ s Gospel Christ is frequently seen as the "Sent One," 3:34, 5:36, etc. The general function of Christ as a prophet, an apostle, a minister of the Word, was to make known the will of His Father unto His people. This He did, see John 8:26, etc. His special call to that function was immediate: "as My Father hath sent Me, so send I you" (John 20:21).  

Christ is more than an apostle, He is "the Apostle," that is why none others, not even Paul, are mentioned in this Epistle. He eclipses all others. He was the first apostle, the twelve being appointed by Him. His apostolic jurisdiction was more extensive than others; Peter was an apostle of the circumcision. Paul of the Gentiles; but Christ preached both to them that were nigh and to them that were far off (Eph. 2:17). He received the Spirit more abundantly than any other (John 3:34). With Him the Messenger was the message: He was Himself "the Truth." The miracles He wrought (the "signs of an apostle" 2 Corinthians 12:12) were mightier and more numerous than those of others. Verily, Christ is "the Apostle," for in all things He has the pre-eminence. The special duty for us arising therefrom is, "Hear ye Him" (Matt. 17:5)— cf. Deuteronomy 18:15, 18.  

The second character in which we are here bidden to "consider" Christ Jesus, is as the "High Priest of our profession." As the priesthood of Christ will come before us, D.V., in detail in the later chapters, only a few remarks thereon will now be offered. As we have already been told, the Lord Jesus is "a merciful and faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God" (Heb. 2:17). This at once gives us the principal feature which differentiates His priestly from His prophetic office. As Prophet, Christ is God’ s representative to His people; as "Priest," He is their representative before God. As the Apostle He speaks to us from God, as our High Priest He speaks for us to God. The two offices are conjoined in John 13:3, "He was from God, and went to God." Thus He fills the whole space between God and us: as Apostle He is close to me; as Priest, He is close to God.  

"Of our profession." The Greek word here is a compound and properly signifies "a consent." In the New Testament, it is used for the confession of a thing (1 Tim. 6:12, 13), and to set forth the faith which Christians profess (Heb. 4:14). Here it may be taken either for an act on our part— the confessing Christ to be "the Apostle and High Priest," or, the subject matter of the faith we profess. Christians are not ashamed to own Him, for He is not ashamed to own them. The apostleship and priesthood of Christ are the distinguishing subjects of our faith, for Christianity centers entirely around the person of Christ. The confession is that which faith makes, see Hebrews 10:23. The cognate of this word is found in Hebrews 11:13 and Hebrews 13:15, "giving thanks:" these two references emphasizing the "stranger and pilgrim" character of this profession, of which Christ Jesus is the Apostle and High Priest.  

It remains now for us to notice the people to whom this exhortation is addressed: they are denominated "holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling." These Hebrews were addressed as "brethren" because they belonged spiritually to the family of God. "He evidently refers to the blessed truth just announced, that Jesus, the Son of God, is not ashamed to call us brethren" (Heb. 2:11). He means therefore those who by the Spirit of God have been born again, and who can call God their Father. He addresses those of God who are in Christ Jesus, who were quickened together with Him; for when He rose from the dead He was ‘ the first-born among many brethren’ . He calls them ‘ holy brethren,’ because upon this fact of brotherhood is based their sanctification: ‘ He that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one’ " (Saphir). No doubt the "holy brethren" was also designed to distinguish them from their brethren according to the flesh, the unbelieving Jews. By his use of this appellation the apostle to the Gentiles evidenced his interest in and love for the Hebrews: he acknowledged and esteemed them as "brethren."  

"What an interesting and delightful view is thus presented to our minds of genuine Christians scattered all over the earth— belonging to every kindred, and people, and tongue, and nation— distinguished from one another in an almost infinite variety of ways, as to talent, temper, education, rank, circumstances, yet bound together by an invisible band, even the faith of the truth, to the one great object of their confidence, and love, and obedience, Christ Jesus— forming one great brotherhood, devoted to the honor and service of His Father and their Father, His God and their God! Do you belong to this holy brotherhood? The question is an important one. For answer, note Christ’ s words in Matthew 12:50" (Dr. J. Brown).  

"Partakers of the heavenly calling." This at once serves to emphasize the superiority of Christianity over Judaism, which knew only an earthly calling, with an earthly inheritance. The word "partakers" signifies "sharers of." The calling wherewith the Christian is called (Eph. 4:1) is heavenly, because of its origin— it proceeds from Heaven; because of the means used— the Spirit and the Word, which have come from Heaven; because of the sphere of our citizenship (Phil. 3:20); because of the end to which we are called— an eternal Heaven. Thus would the Holy Spirit press upon the sorely-tried Hebrews the inestimable value of their privileges.  

Finally, the whole of this appellation should be viewed in the light of the relation between those addressed and Christ. How is it possible for sinful worms of the earth to be thus denominated? Because of their union with the incarnate Son, whose excellency is imputed to them, and whose position they share. We are partakers of the heavenly calling because He, in wondrous condescension, partook of our earthly lot. What He has, we have; where He is, we are. He is the Holy One of God, therefore are we holy. He has been "made higher than the heavens," therefore are we "partakers of the heavenly calling!" Just so far as our hearts really lay hold of this, shall we walk as "strangers and pilgrims" here. Where our "Treasure" (Christ) is, there will our hearts be also. That is why we are here bidden to "consider" Him.  

"Who was faithful to Him that appointed Him, as also Moses was in all His house" (verse 2).  

"To speak of Moses to the Jews was always a very difficult and delicate matter. It is hardly possible for Gentiles to understand or realize the veneration and affection with which the Jews regard Moses, the man of God. All their religious life, all their thoughts about God, all their practices and observances, all their hopes of the future, everything connected with God, is with them also connected with Moses. Moses was the great apostle unto them, the man sent unto them of God, the mediator of the old covenant" (Saphir). Admire then the perfect wisdom of the Holy Spirit so plainly evidenced in our passage. Before taking up Christ’ s superiority over Moses, He points first to a resemblance between them, making mention of the "faithfulness" of God’ s servant. Ere taking this up let us dwell on the first part of the verse.  

"Who was faithful to Him that appointed Him." The chief qualification of an apostle or ambassador is, that he be Faithful. Faithfulness signifies two things: a trust committed, and a proper discharge of that trust. "Our Lord had a trust committed to Him... this trust He faithfully discharged. He sought not His own glory, but the glory of Him that sent Him; He ever declared His message to be not His own, but the Father’ s; and He declared the whole will or word of God that was committed unto Him" (Dr. John Owen). Christ was ever faithful to the One who sent Him. This was His chief care from beginning to end. As a boy, "I must be about My Father’ s business" (Luke 2:49). In the midst of His ministry, "I must work the works of Him that sent Me" (John 9:4). At the finish, "Not as I will, but as Thou wilt" (Matt. 26:39).  

"As also Moses was faithful in all His house." "The key to the whole paragraph is to be found in the meaning of the figurative term ‘ house,’ which so often occurs in it (just seven times, A.W.P.). By supposing that the word ‘ house’ here is equivalent to edifice, the whole passage is involved in inextricable perplexity. ‘ House’ here signifies a family or household. This mode of using the word is an exemplification of a common figure of speech, by which the name of what contains is given to what is contained. A man’ s family usually resides in his house, and hence is called his house. This use of the word is common in the Bible: ‘ The House of Israel,’ ‘ the House of Aaron,’ ‘ the House of David,’ are very common expressions for the children, the descendants, the families of Israel, Aaron and David. We have the same mode of speech in our own language, ‘ the House of Stuart,’ ‘ the House of Hanover.’ Keeping this remark in view, the verse we have now read will be found, short as it is, to contain in it the following statements:— Moses was appointed by God over the whole of His family: Moses was faithful in discharging the trust committed to him. Jesus is appointed by God over the whole of His family: Jesus is faithful in the discharge of the trust committed to Him" (Dr. J. Brown).  

"The house, the building, means the children of God, who by faith, as lively stones, are built upon Christ Jesus the Foundation, and who are filled with the Holy Ghost; in whom God dwells, as in His temple, and in whom God is praised and manifested in glory. The illustration is very simple and instructive. We are compared unto stones, and as every simile is defective, we must add, not dead stones, but lively stones, as the apostle in his epistle to the Ephesians speaks of the building growing. The way in which we are brought unto the Lord Jesus Christ and united with Him is not by building, but by believing. The builders rejected the ‘ chief corner-stone’ (Ps. 118:22); but ‘ coming unto Christ’ (1 Pet. 2:4, 5), simply believing, ‘ ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house.’ When we go about the works of the law we are trying to build, and as long as we build we are not built. When we give up working, then by faith the Holy Ghost adds us to Christ, and grafts up into the living Vine, who is also the Foundation. We are rooted and grounded. The house is one, and all the children of God are united in the Spirit" (Saphir).  

That which the Spirit has here singled out for mention in connection with Moses, the typical "apostle," is that he was faithful in all God’ s house, faithful in the discharge of his responsibilities concerning the earthly family over which Jehovah placed him. Although he failed personally in his faith, he was faithful as an "apostle." He never withheld a word which the Lord had given him, either from Pharaoh or from Israel. In erecting the tabernacle all things were made "according to" the pattern which he had received in the mount. When he came down from Sinai and beheld the people worshipping the golden calf, he did not spare, but called for the sword to smite them (Exo. 32:27, 28). In all things he conformed to the instructions which he had received from Jehovah (Exo. 40:16).  

"For this Man was counted worthy of more glory than Moses, inasmuch as He who hath builded the house hath more honor than the house" (verse 3). The apostle now proceeds to present Christ’ s superiority over Moses. But ere considering this, let us admire again the heavenly wisdom granted him in the method of presenting his argument. In the previous verse he has acknowledged the greatness of Moses, and here he also allows that he was worthy of glory, or praise. This would at once show that Paul was no enemy of Judaism, seeking to disparage and revile it. Equally striking is it to note how, in now turning the eyes of the Hebrews to One who is infinitely greater than Moses, he does not speak of his failures— his slaying of the Egyptians (Exo. 2), his slowness in responding to the Lord’ s call (Exo. 3,4), his angered smiting of the rock (Num. 20); but by presenting the glories of Christ.  

This third verse presents to us the first of the evidences here furnished of the superiority of Christ over Moses: He is the Builder of God’ s house; this, Moses never was. Its opening "For" looks back to the first verse, advancing a reason or argument why the Hebrews should "consider" the Apostle and High Priest of their confession, namely, because He is worthy of more glory than Moses the typical apostle. "The phrase, ‘ to build the house,’ is equivalent to, be the founder of the family. This kind of phraseology is by no means uncommon. It is said, Exodus 1:21, that God ‘ made houses’ to those humane women who refused to second the barbarous policy of Pharaoh in destroying the infants of the Israelites: i.e. He established their families, giving a numerous and flourishing offspring. In Ruth 4:11, Rachel and Leah are said to have built the house of Israel. And Nathan says to David, 2 Samuel 7:11: ‘ Also the Lord telleth thee that He will make thee a house;’ and what the meaning of that phrase is, we learn from what immediately follows, Hebrews 5:12’ (Dr. J. Brown).  

The contrast thus drawn between Christ and Moses is both a plain and an immense one. Though officially raised over it, Moses was not the founder of the Israelitish family, but simply a member of it. With the Apostle of our confession it is far otherwise. He is not only at the head of God’ s family (Heb. 2:10, 13— His "sons," His "children"), but He is also the Builder or the Founder of it. As we read in Ephesians 2:10, "for we are His workmanship, created in (or "by") Christ Jesus." Moses did not make men children of God; Christ does. Moses came to a people who were already the Lord’ s by covenant relationship; whereas Christ takes up those who are dead in trespasses and sins, and creates them anew. Thus as the founder of the family is entitled to the highest honor from the family, so Christ is worthy of more glory than Moses.  

"For every house is builded by some man; but He that built all things is God" (verse 4). Here the Spirit brings in a yet higher glory of Christ. The connection is obvious. In the preceding verse it has been argued: the builder is entitled to more honor than the building: as then Christ is the Builder of a family, and Moses simply the member of one, He must be counted worthy "of more glory." In verse 4, proof of this is given, as the opening "for" denotes. The proof is twofold: Christ has not only built "the house," but "all things." Christ is not only the Mediator, "appointed" by God (verse 2), but He is God. To how much greater glory then is He justly entitled!  

"For every house is builded by some one," should be understood in its widest signification, regarding "house" both literally and figuratively. Every human habitation has been built, every human family has been founded, by some man. So "He that built all things" is to be taken without qualification. The entire universe has been built ("framed," Hebrews 11:3) by Christ, for "all things were made by Him" (John 1:3), all things "that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible" (Col. 1:16). Therefore Christ made Moses, as the whole family of Israel. "He that built all things is God." The Holy Spirit here designedly uses the Divine title because the work attributed to Christ (building the family of God) is a Divine work: because it proves, without controversy, that Christ is greater than Moses; because it ratifies what was declared in the first chapter concerning the Mediator, that He is true God. Therefore should all "honor the Son even as they honor the Father" (John 5:23).  

"And Moses verily was faithful in all His house, as a servant, for a testimony of those things which were to be spoken after; but Christ as a Son over His own house" (verses 5, 6). These words bring before us the next proofs for the superiority of Christ over Moses: the typical apostle was but a servant, Christ is "Son;" the one was but a testimony unto the other. The position which Divine grace allotted to Moses was one of great honor, nevertheless he ministered before Jehovah only as a "servant." The words "in all His house" should be duly pondered: other servants were used in various parts of the family, but the glory of Moses was that he was used in every part of it; that is to say, he was entrusted with the care and regulation of the whole family of Israel. Still, even this, left him incomparably the inferior of the Lord Jesus, for He was a Son not "in all His house," but "over His own House."  

"And Moses verily was faithful in all His house, as a servant." Here again the apostle would subdue the prejudices of the Jews against Christianity. He was not discrediting the greatness of Moses. So far from it, he repeats what he had said in verse 2, emphasizing it with the word "verily." Yet the faithfulness of Moses was as a "servant," a reminder to all, that this is the quality which should ever characterize all "servants." The word "as a servant" has the same force as in John 1:14, "we beheld His glory, the glory as of the Only-begotten of the Father:" thus the "as" brings out the reality of the character in view. Moses faithfully conducted himself as a "servant," he did not act as a lord. This was evidenced by his great reverence for God (Exo. 3:6), his earnestly desiring an evidence of God’ s favor (Exo. 34:9), his preferring the glory of the Lord to his own glory (Heb. 11:24-26, Exo. 32:10-12), and in his meekness before men. (Num. 12:3).  

"For a testimony of those things which were to be spoken after." This was a word much needed by the Jews. So far from the revelation of Christianity clashing with the Pentateuch, much there was an anticipation of it. Moses ordered all things in the typical worship of the house so that they might be both a witness and pledge of that which should afterwards be more fully exhibited through the Gospel. Therefore did Christ say, "For had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed Me: for he wrote of Me" (John 5:46). And on another occasion we are told, "And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, He expounded unto them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself" (Luke 24:27).  

"But Christ as a Son over His own house." Here is the final proof that Christ is "counted worthy of more glory than Moses." The proofs presented in this passage of our Lord’ s immeasurable superiority are seven in number, and may be set forth thus: Moses was an apostle, Christ "the Apostle" (verse 1). Moses was a member of an "house:" Christ was the Builder of one (verse 3). Moses was connected with a single house, Christ "built all things," being the Creator of the universe (verse 4). Moses was a man; Christ, God (verse 4). Moses was but a "servant" (verse 5); Christ, the "Son." Moses was a "testimony" of things to be spoken after (verse 5), Christ supplied the substance and fulfillment of what Moses witnessed unto. Moses was but a servant in the house of Jehovah, Christ was Son over His own house (verse 6). The Puritan Owen quaintly wrote, "Here the apostle taketh leave of Moses; he treats not about him any more; and therefore he gives him, as it were, an honorable burial. He puts this glorious epitaph on his grave: "Moses, a faithful servant of the Lord in His whole house."  

"But Christ as a Son over His own house, whose house are we" (verse 6). Here the "house" is plainly defined: it is a spiritual house, made up of believers in Christ. Not only are the "brethren" of verse 1, partakers of the heavenly calling, but they are members of the spiritual family of God, for in them He dwells. How well calculated to comfort and encourage the sorely-tried Hebrews were these words "whose house are we!" What compensation was this for the loss of their standing among the unbelieving Jews!  

"If we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end" (verse 6). Do these words weaken the force of what has last been said? In nowise; they contained a much-needed warning. "There were great difficulties, circumstances calculated especially to effect the Jew, who, after receiving the truth with joy might be exposed to great trial, and so in danger of giving up his hope. It was, besides, particularly hard for a Jew at first to put these two facts together: a Messiah come, and entered into glory; and the people who belonged to the Messiah left in sorrow, and shame, and suffering here below" (W. Kelly).  

The Hebrews were ever in danger of subordinating the future to the present, and of forsaking the invisible (Christ in heaven) for the visible (Judaism on earth), of giving up a profession which involved them in fierce persecution. Hence their need of being reminded that the proof of their belonging to the house of Christ was that they remained steadfast to Him to the end of their pilgrimage.  

"If we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end." As the same thought is, substantially, embodied again in verse 14, we shall now waive a full exposition and application of these words. Suffice it now to say that the Holy Spirit is here pressing, once more, on these Hebrews, what had been affirmed in Hebrews 2:1, "Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip." Let each Christian reader remember that our Lord has said, "If ye continue in My word, then are ye My disciples indeed" (John 8:31).  

  

  

Maclaren: Heb 3:1

Consider Jesus

Consider the Apostle and High Priest of our profession, Christ Jesus.' Heb. 3:1.

Consider Him that endured'. Heb. 12:3.

THE kinds of consideration enjoined in these two exhortations are somewhat different. The former of them is expressed by a word which means fixed attention and close scrutiny. It is employed, for instance, by our Lord in His injunctions to consider the ravens and the lilies, and by Peter in his account of his vision of the great sheet let down from heaven, upon which, when he had fixed his eye, he considered. Such a fastened gaze of awakened interest and steady contemplation, the writer would have all who are partakers of the heavenly calling to direct upon Jesus.

The other exhortation refers to a specific kind of contemplation. The word might almost be rendered compare,' for it means to weigh one thing in relation to another. It is the contemplation of comparison which is meant. What or whom is the comparison to be drawn between? Jesus, as the Leader of the great host of the faithful, and ourselves. The main point of comparison is to be found in the difficulties of the Christian life. Think what he has borne and what you have to bear; how He bore it and where, having borne it, He is now. The Captain has sustained the whole brunt of the assault and has conquered. Think of Him and be brave, and lift up the hands that hang down, and confirm the feeble knees.

So, then, throwing these two injunctions together, we may regard them as impressing upon us an all-important exercise of mind and heart, without which there can be no vigorous Christian life, and which, I fear me, is woefully neglected by the average Christian to-day.

I. I Ask You To Think First Of This Gaze Of The Christian Soul.

Consider the Apostle and High Priest of our profession, Christ Jesus.'

I have said that the word implies an awakened interest, a fixed and steady gaze; and that is almost the Alpha and the Omega of the Christian life. So to live in the continual contemplation of Jesus our Pattern and our Redeemer is the secret of all Christian vitality and vigour. There must be no languid look, as between half-opened eyelids, as men look upon some object in which they have little interest, but there must be the sharpened gaze of interested expectancy, believing that in Him on whom we look there lie yet undiscovered depths, and yet undreamed-of powers, which may be communicated to us.

There must be not only the sharpened look of contemplation, but there must be a very considerable protraction of the gaze. You will never see Jesus Christ if you look at Him only by snatches for a moment, and then turn away the eye from Him, any more than a man who comes out from some brilliantly lighted and dazzling room into the darkness, as it at first appears, of the midnight heavens, can see their glories. The focus of the eye must be accommodated to the object of vision, before there can be any real sight of Him. We must sit before Him, and be content to give time to the gaze, if we are to get any good out of it. Nobody sees the beauties of a country who hurries through it in an express train. These passing glances, which are all that so many of us can spare for the Master, are of little use in revealing Him to us. You do not feel Mont Blanc unless you sit and gaze and let the fair vision soak into your souls, and you cannot understand Jesus Christ, nor see anything in Him, unless you deal with Him in like fashion.

But if there be this steady and protracted contemplation of the Lord, then, amidst all the bustle of our daily life, and the many distractions which we all have to face, there will come sudden flashes of glory and the clouds will lift often, and let us see the whole white range in its majesty and sublimity. They who know what it is to come apart into a solitary place, and rest awhile with Him, will know what it is to bear the vision with them amid all the distractions of duty and the noise of the world.

There is no way by which we can bring an unseen person to have any real influence upon our lives except by the direction of our thoughts to Him. So if you professing Christian men and women will give your thoughts and your affections and the run of your minds to everything and everybody rather than to your Master, there is no wonder that your religion is of so little use to you, and brings so little blessing or power or nobleness into your lives. The root of weakness lies in the neglect of that solemn and indispensable duty to consider Jesus, in patient contemplation and steadfast beholding.

Now such thoughts as these, as to the relation between the protracted gaze and a true realisation of the Master's presence, cast light upon such a question as the observance of the Sunday. I do not care to insist upon anybody keeping this day sacred for devout purposes unless he is a Christian man. I would not talk about the obligation, but about the privilege. And this I say, that unless you have a reservoir you will have empty pipes, and the water supply in your house will fail. And unless you Christian men and women use this blessed breathing time, which is given to us week after week, in order to secure that quiet, continuous contemplation of the Master, which is almost impossible for most of us amidst the rush and hurry of the week day, your religion will always be a poor thing.

I know, of course, that we may be taunted with concentrating and clotting, as it were, devout contemplations into one day in seven, and then leaving all the rest of the week void of Christ, and may be told how much better is worship diffused through all life. But I am sure that the shortest way to have no religion at all is to have it only as a diffused religion. If it is to be diffused it must first be concentrated; and no man will carry Jesus Christ with him throughout the distractions of daily life who does not know what it is to be often in the secret place of the Most High, there in the silence of fixed spirit, to consider Jesus Christ.'

Then let me remind you, too, that such a gaze as this is not to be attained without decisive effort. You have to cut off sidelights; just as a man will twist up a roll of paper and put it to his eye and shut out everything on either side, if he wants to see the depth of colour in a picture. So we have to look away from much if we would look unto Christ, and to be contented to be blind to a great deal that is fascinating and dazzling, if we would be clear sighted as to the things that are far off. The eye of nature must be closed if the eye of the Spirit is to be opened. And if we are to see the things that are, we must resolutely shut out the false glories of the things that only do appear. For these are perishable, and the others are real and eternal.

II. Secondly, Notice Here A Little More Particularly The Object Of The Christian Gaze.

We may dwell briefly in this connection upon the predicates of our Lord in these two verses. According to the true reading of the first of them we are to consider Jesus. The first thing that is to rivet our interested and continuous contemplation is the manhood of the Lord. That name Jesus is never used in this epistle, and seldom in any part of the New Testament, without the intention of especially emphasising the humanity of Christ. It is that fair life, as it is unrolled before us in the pages of the Gospels, to which we are to look for illumination, for inspiration, for pattern and motive of service, and for all companionship in suffering and victory in warfare. Consider Jesus,' our Brother, the Man that has lived our life and died our death.

Note that we have to consider Him in His offices, the Apostle and High Priest of our profession.' This is the only instance in scripture in which the name Apostle' is given to our Lord. And of course it is here employed not in its technical, but in its wider and etymological sense. It means one who is sent.' The contrast floating in the writer's mind is apparently between Jesus and Moses; the two men both of whom, though in different fashion, were God's messengers to found a polity. Perhaps another contrast is floating in his mind, such as he has drawn out at length in the first chapter of this great epistle, between those by whom at sundry times and in divers manners God spake unto the fathers'; and Him by whom in these last days, He has, once for all, spoken unto us.' Possibly there is also a contrast between Jesus Christ the Lord of the angels, and the ministering spirits who, the previous context tells us, are sent forth to minister to them that shall be heirs of salvation.' The name thus lifts Christ above Moses, prophets, angels, and sets Him on a pedestal, as the sole and single Revealer of the will of God to the world. The Father sanctified and sent Him into the world to be the one communicator of His perfect Name. The completeness and uniqueness of our Lord's revealing mission are expressed in that title.

The other side of what is needful for communion between God and man is expressed in the other designation,' the High Priest.' Two things go to make complete communion--God's revelation to us and our approach to God. Christ is the Agent of both. As the subsequent context--where this idea of High Priest is more fully developed--distinctly shows, the main ideas connected with it in the writer's mind here, are intercession and sympathy. So on the one hand, as Apostle, He brings God to us; and on the other hand, as Priest, He brings us to God; and makes the golden link by which heaven and earth are united, and God tabernacles with man.

It is this Christ--not merely in His manhood, but in that manhood interpreted as being the medium of all revelation possible to the world, and as being, on the other hand, the medium of all the access that sinful men can have to God--it is this Christ whom we are to consider, not merely in the sweetness and gentleness and holiness of His lovely Manhood as recorded in the gospels, but in these mighty offices of which that Manhood was the discharge and the expression, whereby God dwells with man, and sinful men can dwell with God.

We hear a great deal in these days about Christianity being Christ and not doctrines. I say, too, Christianity is Christ, but I say it is the Christ whom these groat truths proclaim to us that we have to grasp. And it is not enough to consider Jesus from a mere humanitarian point of view, nor will the consideration of Him be peace and power and holiness and life to men, unless they consider Him as the Apostle and High Priest of their profession.'

And again, we have to consider not only the Manhood in itself, and the offices which that Manhood discharges, but also the sorrows through which it passes. That is the force of the second of my two texts. We have to think of that Lord, who is the Leader of all the great host of the faithful, whose praises have been sung in the magnificent roll-call of the eleventh chapter; and to turn away from their lesser struggles, and paler beauties, and less complete victories. We have to think of what Jesus Christ bore, of what was laid upon Him, of how He bore it, and of how He has been exalted now to the right hand of God. Compare our difficulties and trials with His, and think that these are the pattern for us; and that we have to tread the path which He trod. Then consider how insignificant ours are in comparison with His. The whole fury of the tempest broke upon Him. It is only the tail of the storm that comes to us. The whole force of the blow was sustained unfalteringly by the steadfast Christ. It is only the blunt sword which has glanced off His strong shoulder to smite us.

We need not seek a resting placeWhere He we loved had none.'

And if we will consider Him that endured,' sorrow and difficulty and opposition in our Christian life will dwindle into a very little thing, and will become a token that as is the Master so is the servant.

III. Lastly, Notice The Blessings Of This Gaze.

First, let us consider Him for calmness amidst a world full of noise and confusion. We live in a time and in a city where life is very crowded; and the pressure of every day is almost more than some of us can bear. There is no relief from the continual agitation about trifles, from the hurry and bustle of this community and this country, as continuous, and in the truest point of view as aimless and insignificant as the running of ants upon an ant hill--except we live in the daily contemplation of Jesus Christ. Nothing will quiet a man like that. It gives a certain sense of remoteness, and a very positive conviction of insignificance, to what else is intrusively and obtrusively near, and fallaciously appears to be important to us. Christ's voice quiets the storm.

On my soulLooks Thy fair face and makes it still.'

If you would have inward calmness, without which life is busy slavery, consider Jesus.'

Again, that gaze will help us to a fixed confidence amidst the fluctuations of opinion. We live in a day of unrest, when the foundations are being re-investi-gated, and the Tree of Life can scarcely grow because men are digging it up to look at its roots. Let us try to remember that the vital centre of all is Jesus, that faith is independent of criticism, and that if we can realise His presence in our lives in these great capacities of which I have been speaking, and as the Companion of our difficulties who has trodden the same path that we have to tread, then we can look very quietly upon all the unsolved questions which are important in their place, but which, however they are answered, do not touch that central fact and our possible relation to Him. Consider Jesus,' and then you will be able to say, The things which can be shaken are removed that the things which cannot be shaken may remain.' Ceremonies, churches, creeds, have all of them a human element, which will go. The divine Christ is the permanent in Christianity.

I might turn the word of my text in another direction for a moment, though it is a digression. After unbelieving theories have done their worst, I would say to the men who advocate them, Consider Christ,' Look at that fair vision. Where did it come from? Account for Him on any hypothesis but the truth of these four gospels. Account for His influence in the world on any hypothesis but His divine mission. You may talk till Doomsday, but you have to reckon with Jesus Christ, and to explain Him. Until you do, you have not established your negations. The reef on which so many goodly ships of unbelief have struck, and where their hulls lie broken and covered with the drifting sands of oblivion, is waiting for many a flaunting theory of to-day. Consider Christ.' That shatters anti-supernatural religion.

And, last of all, let us do it for diligence in service and patience in suffering. If we lay that fair image upon our hearts, it will lead to love, and love will make us toil in His service. If the sensitive plate be laid in the sunshine it will receive the image of the sun. If we consider Him, thereby, and not without such consideration, shall we become like Him.

As for our suffering and toils and difficulties, how they dwindle, and how easy patience is when we think of Him! Simon the Cyrenian had to carry the Cross after Christ, but we have only to carry a very little, light one, when compared with that which He bore and which bore Him. We compare our suffering with His, and are silent. We have to think of what He deserved and we deserve, and the blush comes to our cheeks. We have to remember how He bore, and how we have borne, and we are ashamed of our fretfulness and petulance. We have to think of Him at the right hand of God. The poor fighters in the arena can lift their eyes to the place where the Emperor sits between the purple curtains, and with the flashing axes of the guard round Him, and remembering that He, throned there, was once wrestling here as we are, and that we shall be throned with Him, the thought will make us bear the blows, and run the race, and face the lions.

So, dear brother, the sure means of calmness amidst agitation, of confidence amidst the fluctuations of a restless age, of strenuous warfare, of diligent service, and patient endurance, lies here in the consideration of Christ. If we try to keep Him before our eyes life will be blessed. The secret of joy and peace on earth is the consideration of the Master by faith, and to see Him as He is will be the heaven of heaven. Here, the condition of holiness, joy, peace, power, is consider Jesus'; and yonder the charter of new felicities and new capacities will be, Behold the Lamb.' If we set Him at our right hand we shall not be moved, and shall walk in the light of His countenance on earth, and He will set us at His right hand in the heavens, where His servants shall serve Him and see His face; and His name shall be in their foreheads.

MHCC: Heb 3:1-6

Christ is to be considered as the Apostle of our profession, the Messenger sent by God to men, the great Revealer of that faith which we profess to hold, and of that hope which we profess to have. As Christ, the Messiah, anointed for the office both of Apostle and High Priest. As Jesus, our Saviour, our Healer, the great Physician of souls. Consider him thus. Consider what he is in himself, what he is to us, and what he will be to us hereafter and for ever. Close and serious thoughts of Christ bring us to know more of him. The Jews had a high opinion of the faithfulness of Moses, yet his faithfulness was but a type of Christ's. Christ was the Master of this house, of his church, his people, as well as their Maker. Moses was a faithful servant; Christ, as the eternal Son of God, is rightful Owner and Sovereign Ruler of the Church. There must not only be setting out well in the ways of Christ, but stedfastness and perseverance therein to the end. Every meditation on his person and his salvation, will suggest more wisdom, new motives to love, confidence, and obedience.

Matthew Henry: Heb 3:1-6

In these verses we have the application of the doctrine laid down in the close of the last chapter concerning the priesthood of our Lord Jesus Christ. And observe,

I. In how fervent and affectionate a manner the apostle exhorts Christians to have this high priest much in their thoughts, and to make him the object of their close and serious consideration; and surely no one in earth or heaven deserves our consideration more than he. That this exhortation might be made the more effectual, observe,

1. The honourable compellation used towards those to whom he wrote: Holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling. (1.) Brethren, not only my brethren, but the brethren of Christ, and in him brethren to all the saints. All the people of God are brethren, and should love and live like brethren. (2.) Holy brethren; holy not only in profession and title, but in principle and practice, in heart and life. This has been turned by some into scorn: "These,"say they, "are the holy brethren;"but it is dangerous jesting with such edge-tools; be not mockers, lest your bands be made strong. Let those that are thus despised and scorned labour to be holy brethren indeed, and approve themselves so to God; and they need not be ashamed of the title nor dread the scoffs of the profane. The day is coming when those that make this a term of reproach would count it their greatest honour and happiness to be taken into this sacred brotherhood. (3.) Partakers of the heavenly calling - partakers of the means of grace, and of the Spirit of grace, that came from heaven, and by which Christians are effectually called out of darkness into marvelous light, that calling which brings down heaven into the souls of men, raises them up to a heavenly temper and conversation, and prepares them to live for ever with God in heaven.

2. The titles he gives to Christ, whom he would have them consider, (1.) As the apostle of our profession, the prime-minister of the gospel church, a messenger and a principal messenger sent of God to men, upon the most important errand, the great revealer of that faith which we profess to hold and of that hope which we profess to have. (2.) Not only the apostle, but the high priest too, of our profession, the chief officer of the Old Testament as well as the New, the head of the church in every state, and under each dispensation, upon whose satisfaction and intercession we profess to depend for pardon of sin, and acceptance with God. (3.) As Christ, the Messiah, anointed and every way qualified for the office both of apostle and high priest. (4.) As Jesus, our Saviour, our healer, the great physician of souls, typified by the brazen serpent that Moses lifted up in the wilderness, that those who were stung by the fiery serpents might look to him, and be saved.

II. We have the duty we owe to him who bears all these high and honourable titles, and that is to consider him as thus characterized. Consider what he is in himself, what he is to us, and what he will be to us hereafter and for ever; consider him, fix your thoughts upon him with the greatest attention, and act towards him accordingly; look unto Jesus, the author and finisher of your faith. Here observe, 1. Many that profess faith in Christ have not a due consideration for him; he is not so much thought of as he deserves to be, and desires to be, by those that expect salvation from him. 2. Close and serious consideration of Christ would be of great advantage to us to increase our acquaintance with him, and to engage our love and our obedience to him, and reliance on him. 3. Even those that are holy brethren, and partakers of the heavenly calling, have need to stir up one another to think more of Christ than they do, to have him more in their minds; the best of his people think too seldom and too slightly of him. 4. We must consider Christ as he is described to us in the scriptures, and form our apprehensions of him thence, not from any vain conceptions and fancies of our own.

III. We have several arguments drawn up to enforce this duty of considering Christ the apostle and high priest of our profession.

1. The first is taken from his fidelity, Heb 3:2. He was faithful to him that appointed him, as Moses was in all his house. (1.) Christ is an appointed Mediator; God the Father has sent and sealed him to that office, and therefore his mediation is acceptable to the Father. (2.) He is faithful to that appointment, punctually observing all the rules and orders of his mediation, and fully executing the trust reposed in him by his Father and by his people. (3.) That he is as faithful to him that appointed him as Moses was in all his house. Moses was faithful in the discharge of his office to the Jewish church in the Old Testament, and so is Christ under the New; this was a proper argument to urge upon the Jews, who had so high an opinion of the faithfulness of Moses, and yet his faithfulness was but typical of Christ's.

2. Another argument is taken from the superior glory and excellence of Christ above Moses (Heb 3:3-6); therefore they were more obliged to consider Christ. (1.) Christ was a maker of the house, Moses but a member in it. By the house we are to understand the church of God, the people of God incorporated together under Christ their maker and head, and under subordinate officers, according to his law, observing his institutions. Christ is the maker of this house of the church in all ages: Moses was a minister in the house, he was instrumental under Christ in governing and edifying the house, but Christ is the maker of all things; for he is God, and no one less than God could build the church, either lay the foundation or carry on the superstructure. No less power was requisite to make the church than to make the world; the world was made out of nothing, the church made out of materials altogether unfit for such a building. Christ, who is God, drew the ground-plan of the church, provided the materials, and by almighty power disposed them to receive the form; he has compacted and united this his house, has settled the orders of it, and crowned all with his own presence, which is the true glory of this house of God. (2.) Christ was the master of this house, as well as the maker, Heb 3:5, Heb 3:6. This house is styled his house, as the Son of God. Moses was only a faithful servant, for a testimony of those things that were afterwards to be revealed. Christ, as the eternal Son of God, is the rightful owner and sovereign ruler of the church. Moses was only a typical governor, for a testimony of all those things relating to the church which would be more clearly, completely, and comfortably revealed in the gospel by the Spirit of Christ; and therefore Christ is worthy of more glory than Moses, and of greater regard and consideration. This argument the apostle concludes, [1.] With a comfortable accommodation of it to himself and all true believers (Heb 3:6). Whose house we are: each of us personally, as we are the temples of the Holy Ghost, and Christ dwells in us by faith; all of us jointly, as we are united by the bonds of graces, truths, ordinances, gospel discipline, and devotions. [2.] With a characteristic description of those persons who constitute this house: " If we hold fast the confidence, and the rejoicing of the hope, firmly to the end; that is, if we maintain a bold and open profession of the truths of the gospel, upon which our hopes of grace and glory are built, and live upon and up to those hopes, so as to have a holy rejoicing in them, which shall abide firm to the end, notwithstanding all that we may meet with in so doing."So that you see there must not only be a setting out well in the ways of Christ, but a stedfastness and perseverance therein unto the end. We have here a direction what those must do who would partake of the dignity and privileges of the household of Christ. First, They must take the truths of the gospel into their heads and hearts. Secondly, They must build their hopes of happiness upon those truths. Thirdly, They must make an open profession of those truths. Fourthly, They must live so up to them as to keep their evidences clear, that they may rejoice in hope, and then they must in all persevere to the end. In a word, they must walk closely, consistently, courageously, and constantly, in the faith and practice of the gospel, that their Master, when he comes, may own and approve them.

Barclay: Heb 3:1-6

Let us remember the conviction with which the writer to the Hebrews starts. The basis of his thought is that the supreme revelation of God comes through Jesus Christ and that only through him has a man real access to God. He began by proving that Jesus was superior to the prophets; he went on to prove that Jesus was superior to the angels; and now he proceeds to prove that Jesus is superior to Moses.

It might at first sight seem that this is an anticlimax. But it was not so for a Jew. For him Moses held a place which was utterly unique. He was the man with whom God had spoken face to face as a man speaks with his friend. He was the direct recipient of the Ten Commandments, the very Law of God. The greatest thing in all the world for the Jew was the Law, and Moses and the Law were one and the same thing. In the second century a Jewish teacher called Rabbi Jose ben Chalafta, commenting on this very passage which declared that Moses was faithful in all his house, said: "God calls Moses faithful in all his house, and thereby he ranked him higher than the ministering angels themselves." For a Jew the step that the writer to the Hebrews takes is the logical and inevitable step in the argument. He has proved that Jesus is greater than the angels; now he must prove that he is greater than Moses who was greater than the angels.

In fact this quotation which is used to tell of the greatness of Moses is proof of the unique position which the Jews assigned to him. "Moses was faithful in all his house." The quotation is from Num 12:6-7. Now the point of the argument in Numbers is that Moses differs from all the prophets. To them God makes himself known in a vision; to Moses he speaks "mouth to mouth." To the Jew it would have been impossible to conceive that anyone ever stood closer to God than Moses did, and yet that is precisely what the writer of the Hebrews sets out to prove.

He bids his hearers fix their attention on Jesus. The word he uses (katanoein, 2657) is suggestive. It does not mean simply to look at or to notice a thing. Anyone can look at a thing or even notice it without really seeing it. The word means to fix the attention on something in such a way that its inner meaning, the lesson that it is designed to teach, may be learned. In Luk 12:24Jesus uses the same word when he says: "Consider the ravens." He does not merely mean, "Look at the ravens." He means, "Look at the ravens and understand and learn the lesson that God is seeking to teach you through them." If we are ever to learn Christian truth, a detached glance is never enough; there must be a concentrated gaze in which we gird up the loins of the mind in a determined effort to see its meaning for us.

In a sense the reason for that is implicit when the writer addresses his friends as sharers in heaven's calling. The call that comes to a Christian has a double direction. It is a calling from heaven and it is a calling to heaven. It is a voice which comes from God and calls us to God. It is a call which demands concentrated attention because of both its origin and its destination. A man cannot afford to give a disinterested glance to an invitation to God from God.

When we do fix our attention on Jesus what do we see? We see two things.

(i) We see the great apostle. No one else in the New Testament ever calls Jesus an apostle. That the writer to the Hebrews does so deliberately is quite clear, because apostle is a title he never gives to any man. He keeps it for Christ.

What does he mean when he so uses it? The word apostolos (652) literally means one who is sent, forth. In Jewish terminology it was used to describe the envoys of the Sanhedrin, the supreme court of the Jews. The Sanhedrin sent out apostoloi (652) who were clothed with its authority and the bearers of its commands. In the Greek world it frequently meant ambassador. So then Jesus is the supreme ambassador of God and an ambassador has two supremely important and relevant characteristics.

(a) The ambassador is clothed with all the authority of the king who sends him. On one occasion the king of Syria, Antiochus Epiphanes, invaded Egypt. Rome desired to stop him and sent an envoy called Popillius to tell him to abandon his projected invasion. Popillius caught up with Antiochus on the borders of Egypt and they talked of this and that for they had known each other in Rome. Popillius had not the vestige of an army with him, not even a guard. Finally Antiochus asked him why he had come. Quietly Popillius told him that he had come to tell him that Rome wished him to abandon the invasion and go home. "I will consider it," said Antiochus. Popillius smiled a little grimly; he took his stall and drew a circle in the earth round Antiochus. "Consider it," he said, "and come to your decision before you leave that circle." Antiochus thought for a few seconds and then said: "Very well. I will go home." Popillius himself had not the slightest force available--but behind him was all the power of Rome. So Jesus came from God and all God's grace and mercy and love and power were in his apostolos (652).

(b) The voice of the ambassador is the voice of the king or country who sent him. In a foreign land the British ambassador's voice is the voice of Britain. So Jesus came with the voice of God; in him God speaks.

(ii) Jesus is the great High Priest. What does that mean? This is an idea to which the writer to the Hebrews returns again and again. Just now we only set down the fundamental basis of what he means. The Latin for a priest is pontifex, which means a bridge-builder. The priest is the person who builds a bridge between man and God. To do that he must know both man and God. He must be able to speak to God for men and to speak to men for God. Jesus is the perfect High Priest because he is perfectly man and perfectly God; He can represent man to God and God to man. He is the one person through whom man comes to God and God comes to man.

Wherein then lies the superiority of Jesus over Moses? The picture in the mind of the writer to the Hebrews is this. He thinks of the world as God's house and God's family. We use the word house in a double sense. We use it in the sense of a building and also in the sense of a family. The Greeks used oikos (3624) in the same double sense. The world, then, is God's house and men are God's family. But he has already shown us the picture of Jesus as the creator of God's universe. Now Moses was only part of God's universe, part of the house. But Jesus is the creator of the house and the creator is bound to stand above the house itself. Moses did not create the law; he only mediated it. Moses did not create the house; he only served in it. Moses did not speak of himself; all that he ever said was only a pointer to the greater things that Jesus Christ would some day say. Moses, in short, was the servant; but Jesus was the Son. Moses knew a little about God; Jesus was God. Therein lies the secret of his superiority.

Now the writer to the Hebrews uses another picture. True, the whole world is God's house; but in a special sense the Church is God's House, for in a special sense God brought it into being. That is a picture the New Testament loves (compare 1Pe 4:17; 1Ti 3:15, and especially 1Pe 2:5). That building of the Church will stand indestructible only when every stone is firm; that is to say, when its every member is strong in the proud and confident hope he has in Jesus Christ. Each one of us is like a stone in the Church; if one stone is weak the whole edifice is endangered. The Church stands firm only when each living stone in it is rooted and grounded in faith in Jesus Christ.

Constable: Heb 1:1--3:1

I. The culminating revelation of God 1:1--2:18

Hebrews is a sermon reduced to writing (cf. 13:22; James). Indications of this fact are the writer's references to speaking and hearing (cf. 2:5; 5:11; 8:1; 9:5; 11:32). His epistle is more typical of speech than of writing.

Various stylistic devices enable the student of this book to identify the sections of the writer's thought. These devices include inclusio, linking words, the repetition of key terms, alternation between exposition and admonition, and others, which I shall point out where appropriate. These rhetorical devices were common in the writer's culture, and his use of them indicated to the original readers where his thoughts were moving.

There is an alternation in the genre of this epistle from exposition to exhortation to exposition to exhortation and so forth. Noting these major changes makes interpreting the book much easier. The blocks of material by genre are as follows. I shall note the changes in the notes that follow as well.

Exposition	Exhortation
ch. 1	2:1-4
2:5-18	3:1-4:14
4:15-5:10	5:11-6:12
6:13-10:18	10:19-39
ch. 11	chs. 12-1318

This writer customarily began with a brief statement that presented the theme of each major section of his discourse. The first such statement appears in 1:1-4 and introduces the theme of the culminating revelation of God, which continues through 2:18.¹⁹

Constable: Heb 3:1--5:11

II. The High Priestly Character of the Son 3:1--5:10

The writer proceeded to take up the terms "merciful" and "faithful" from 2:17 and to expound them in reverse order. He spoke of the faithfulness of Jesus (3:1-6, exposition) and the need for his hearers to remain faithful as well (3:7-4:14, exhortation). He then encouraged his audience with a reminder of Jesus' compassion as a merciful high priest in the service of God (4:15-5:10, exposition).

Constable: Heb 3:1-6

A. The Faithfulness of the Son 3:1-6

"The author steadily develops his argument that Jesus is supremely great. He is greater than the angels, the author of a great salvation, and great enough to become man to accomplish it. Now the author turns his attention to Moses, regarded by the Jews as the greatest of men. . . . The writer does nothing to belittle Moses. Nor does he criticize him. He accepts Moses' greatness but shows that as great as he was, Jesus was greater by far."¹⁰³

It was important to convince the Jewish readers that Jesus Christ is greater than Moses because the entire Jewish religion came through Moses. Christianity came through Christ.

"Observing the grammatical markers supplied by the writer, we submit that the development of the author's thought reflects the following scheme:

vv 1-2, introduction of the comparison between Jesus and Moses;

v 3, assertion of Jesus' superiority to Moses;

vv 4-6a, explanation for this assertion;

v 6b, relevance for the congregation."¹⁰⁴

3:1 We should give careful attention to Jesus because of our unity as brothers and our holy calling as participants in His future reign and joy (2:10-12). Our calling as Christians is not just earthly but heavenly.

Jesus Christ is the "Apostle" (lit. delegate, messenger, one sent forth with orders) in that He is the One God sent to reveal the Father to humankind (cf. 1:1-2; John 1:14; 3:17, 34; 5:36, 38; et al.). Furthermore He is the "High Priest" in that He is the One God anointed to represent human beings to Himself (2:17-18). Our confession is that for which we take a public stand in water baptism, namely, Christianity (cf. 4:14; 10:23).

3:2 We should probably translate this verse to tie it in directly to verse 1 rather than making it a separate statement. The idea is that Jesus Christ is now faithful, not that He was in the past. He is faithful now as Moses was in the past. We can see Moses' faithfulness in how he served regarding God's "house," the tabernacle, and regarding God's "household," Israel. He served exactly as God instructed him (cf. Num. 12:7; 1 Sam. 2:35; 1 Chron. 7:14).

3:3-4 We can see the difference between Jesus Christ's superiority and Moses' by comparing the builder of a building with the building itself. No matter how grand a building may be its creator always gets more glory than the building itself. Whereas Moses served faithfully in the system of worship the tabernacle represented, Jesus Christ designed that system of worship. These verses are a powerful testimony to the deity of Jesus Christ. If God built everything, and Jesus Christ built God's house, Jesus Christ is God.

3:5-6a Moses functioned as a servant preparing something that would serve as a model for a later time. The tabernacle was a model of the world over which Jesus Christ will reign eventually (cf. 1:8-13; 2:8), first in the Millennium and then in the new heavens and earth. Messiah's rule over the earth was a revelation about which the prophets who followed Moses spoke more fully. Jesus Christ will not serve. He will reign. He is not God's servant but God's Son. As such, He sits. He does not stand like a servant. He is the possessor of all things, not one who makes preparation for things as Moses did.

"By defining Moses' service in this way, the writer indicates that Moses' status as servant corresponds to that of the angels, who are servants to the heirs of salvation (see . . . 1:14)."¹⁰⁵

The church is God's house over which Jesus Christ sits in authority (e.g., 1 Cor. 3:16). He sits in the heavens, the holy of holies of this house. The tabernacle illustrated this house of God. The tabernacle was a microcosm of God's greater house. Moses served in the model faithfully. Jesus rules over the larger house faithfully, not as a servant, but as God's Son with full authority.

"In some sections of Jewish Christianity Christ's role was envisaged as primarily that of a second Moses; here He is presented as being much more than that."¹⁰⁶

3:6b God's big house consists of people, not boards, bars, and curtains. The writer was thinking of priestly functions, as is clear from the context. His concern was that his readers might not remain faithful to God (cf. Mark 4:5-6, 16-17). This would result in their losing their privilege as priests that included intimate fellowship with God and the opportunity to represent God before people and people before God. This is really what the Israelites as a whole lost when they turned away from the Lord and built the golden calf at Mt. Sinai (Exod. 32). Instead of all the Israelites being priests (Exod. 19:6) God limited this privilege to the Levites who remained faithful when the other Israelites apostatized (Exod. 32:26-29; cf. Num. 3:12-13). Just so today it is possible for us to forfeit the privilege of functioning as a priest in the future (cf. 1 Pet. 2:5). The writer shifted from using "house" to refer to the place where priestly functions take place, to using "house" to refer to the people engaged in those activities, namely, a household. We could translate the same Greek word (oikos) either "house" or "household."

The writer's point in this pericope was that his readers should follow the example of faithfulness to God that Moses and Jesus set or they could lose their privilege as priests. Essentially priests represent people to God. They exercise leadership of people Godward. The writer had previously warned his readers that unfaithfulness could result in their drifting away from God's truth (2:1-4). Moreover by contrasting Jesus and Moses he helped his Jewish readers appreciate the superiority of Jesus over Moses and so discouraged them from departing from Christianity and returning to Judaism.¹⁰⁷

"When we withdraw from the exercise of our priestly New Testament worship, we are no longer fellowshipping with the other believers. But this does not mean we are not saved or that we had salvation and lost it."¹⁰⁸

College: Heb 3:1-19

HEBREWS 3

III. GOD OFFERS REST TO ALL WHO TRUST HIM (3:1-4:16)

A. JESUS IS SUPERIOR TO MOSES (3:1-6)

¹ Therefore, holy brothers, who share in the heavenly calling, fix your thoughts on Jesus, the apostle and high priest whom we confess. ² He was faithful to the one who appointed him, just as Moses was faithful in all God's house. ³ Jesus has been found worthy of greater honor than Moses, just as the builder of a house has greater honor than the house itself. ⁴ For every house is built by someone, but God is the builder of everything. ⁵ Moses was faithful as a servant in all God's house, testifying to what would be said in the future. ⁶ But Christ is faithful as a son over God's house. And we are his house, if we hold on to our courage and the hope of which we boast.

Jesus has been shown to be superior to prophets (1:1-3), to angels (1:4-2:5), to men (2:6-18), to Satan (2:14-16), now to Moses (3:1-6). Actually, Jesus was not directly contrasted with men. He was seen as becoming fully a brother with them by entering flesh and blood. But he was the only man who fulfilled the exalted position God designed for man to hold (2:6-10), and their final salvation was dependent on his overcoming Satan and death, not on their achievement (2:14-18).

Chapters three and four show how God offers eternal "rest" to those who obey him. They may be divided into three major sections: 3:1-6 showing Jesus' superiority in faithfulness over Moses' faithfulness; 3:7-19 showing Israel's failure of faith which made them fall in the desert; and 4:1-13 showing the Sabbath-rest to which God brings his faithful people. The last three verses (4:14-16) are actually an introduction to the discussion of the priesthood of Christ which is presented in chapters five through seven. Israel's loss was not due to Moses' incompetence as though he was unfaithful. He was faithful in his role as servant. More significantly, Jesus also stands before us, faithful as a son. The two chapters are sprinkled with warnings. Even with trustworthy leaders, people may be lost because of their own unfaithfulness. Our author urges his readers not to copy Israel's unnecessary demise.

Like all other humans, Moses was not perfect; but his faithfulness, not his flaws of character, is the point of the author's argument here. Both Moses and Jesus were faithful to the one who appointed them. Jesus' position as son over God's house made him superior to Moses whose position was as a servant in God's house (3:5-6). Jesus is even superior to Moses, the grand head of all the Old Testament system.

3:1 Therefore, holy brothers, who share in the heavenly calling, fix your thoughts on Jesus, the apostle and high priest whom we confess.

No NT verses are unrelated to their contexts. There is some link between every verse of the NT and the verses before it and those after it. Sometimes an author prods his readers to notice this connection, like here. The whole second chapter concerning Jesus' faithfully carrying out of his rescue of man may highlight the need for our faithfully clinging to him so we can enter that eternal rest (chapter 3-4). Since this very word o{qen ( hothen , "therefore") also begins 2:17 and 3:1, the writer probably thought of 2:17-18 as one unit of thought based on its preceding verses as though he presented 3:1ff. in one unit of thought based on 2:17-18. The previous paragraph about Jesus as the merciful high priest to this one about Jesus as the faithful high priest are both expansions of the phrase "merciful and faithful high priest" in 2:17. The writer reminds his readers of that connection with the word " therefore ."

The causal connection of this word " therefore" (o{qen , hothen , "from where, from which, therefore," actually an adverb) is expressed by the NIV every time it occurs in Hebrews, except in 11:19 where the anemic "and" appears. It is translated in the NIV, "for this reason" (2:17); "therefore;" (3:1 and 7:25); or "hence" (8:3; 9:18; and 11:19). It normally moves the logic forward at the sentence level (2:17; 7:25; 8:3; 9:18; 11:19), although here it may be at the paragraph level. In 2:17-18 Jesus was just called a "faithful high priest" who is able to help those who are being "tempted."

Holy brothers, who share in the heavenly calling. He has stood with his readers ("we" in 1:1f.; 2:1, 3; see 4:1-3). Now for the first time he directly addresses them ("you"). " Holy" or "saint" (a{gio" , hagios ) is used of Christians elsewhere in Hebrews (6:10 and 13:24). This was one of Paul's common designations for his readers (Rom 1:7; 1 Cor 1:2; 2 Cor 1:1; Eph 1:1; Phil 1:1; Col 1:2). See also the verb form, we have been "made holy, sanctified" (2:11; 9:13; 10:10,14,29; 13:12). In Hebrews the Spirit of God is also called holy, i.e., the "Holy Spirit" (2:4; 3:1,7; 6:4; 9:8; 10:15). The plural form (lit., "holies") is used to designate the tabernacle sanctuary, i.e., the "Holy Place" (8:2; 9:1,2,3,8,12,24,25; 10:19; 13:11).

The readers are addressed as " brothers" again in 3:12; 10:19; and 13:22 and "beloved" in 6:9. The other four vocative forms, that is, nouns of direct address, in Hebrews are all in quotations from the LXX (1:8,10; 10:7; 12:5). In the first three Jesus is addressed as "God" and "LORD." In the last (12:5) the reader of Proverbs is addressed as "My son." The longest phrase of direct address is in 3:1, "holy brothers, who share in the heavenly calling." The phrase "holy brothers" occurs again in the NT only in a variant reading of 1 Thessalonians 5:27. "Brothers" is the most common form of address in all NT epistles.

Christianity is not designed to be lived alone. Hebrews states four things in which Christians share : in the heavenly calling (3:1); in Christ (3:14); in the Holy Spirit (6:4); and, with all people, in a father's discipline (12:8). Outside of Hebrews the NT only uses this noun in Luke 5:7 of fishing partners. Its cognate verb carries the broader idea of sharing. Christ shared humanity with us (2:14); but he "belonged to" (lit., "shared") a different tribe than priests, i.e., the tribe of Judah, not the tribe of Levi (7:13). Immature people "live on" (lit., "share") milk (5:13). All NT occurances of the verb metevcw (metechô , "to share") outside of Hebrews are in 1 Corinthians 9-10. Plowmen and threshers share the crop (9:10), so Paul expects to share the fruit of his labor (9:12). People share in a meal (10:30). Christians are said to be all one loaf and to share the same loaf which is Christ (10:17). Since they share the table of the LORD, it is not possible to share the table of demons also (10:21).

Although the Christian calling is only mentioned here in Hebrews with the noun, its verbal counterpart, "to call" appears a half dozen times. The verb "to call" may mean either (1) to give a name to something perhaps indicating the meaning of the new role, or (2) to invite into a new role. The first idea is used when Jesus calls men "brothers" (2:11) and when God designates the time "today" (3:13). The second is used when Jesus was called into the high priesthood by God (5:4), when Abraham was summoned to go to some future inheritance (11:8), and when people are invited to walk with God (9:15). Only the last instance is a perfect tense, which brings to the readers' attention both the finished initial call and the subsequent adventures and benefits that grow out of that response. It is this last sense of "call" which is used here.

The call is potentially for everyone, but it is effective only for those who respond (Acts 2:38-40). This was true of God's call to Abraham, Moses, Isaiah, Peter and Andrew, Paul, etc. It is a consistent concept of Scripture that God calls people to himself. He does not coerce them. He does not save them against their will. Whatever his plans for individuals, families or nations, he allows men to respond from their own choice. God is a gentleman. He simply calls; he does not coerce. See Isaiah 55:1-3. His occasional additional strong measures, for example with Jonah, only serve to underline the general freedom which he allows. Many exhortations are found in Hebrews, clarifying the results of obedience and disobedience. The choice is left with men.

The Christian calling is a heavenly (ejpouravnio" , epouranios ) calling, an upward call leading to heaven (Phil 3:14). Hebrews repeatedly contrasts what is physical, temporary and visible with what is spiritual, permanent and invisible.

One should examine other passages that describe this heavenward call of God in Christ (Matt 9:13; Rom 8:28-30; 9:22-26; 11:29; 1 Cor 1:9,26-31; 7:15,17-24; Gal 5:13; Eph 1:17-23; 4:1-6; Phil 3:12-15; Col 3:15; 1 Thess 2:10-12; 4:7-8; 2 Thess 1:11-12;2:13-16; 1 Tim 6:12; 2 Tim 1:8-10; 1 Pet 1:13-16; 2:9-10; 3:8-9; 5:10-11; 2 Pet 1:3-11). Of course there are many others which describe this call but do not use the word "call."

Fix your thoughts on Jesus. "You are what you think." "You become what you think about all day long." Non-Christians know the power of the mind to shape our future by focused thought. It is no surprise to find this kind of direction also in the Scripture. To help us achieve this focus there are four Gospels telling the story of Jesus' ministry on earth. No other events are repeated four times in the Bible in such detail. We would all be much better off if we spent more time thinking about Jesus.

No other person stands so tall. He is our model for living, for speech, conduct, purity, sympathy, prayer and selfless serving. He is our savior. Without his death we would die forever. With his death we can live forever. He is our high priest. No one else could enter God's presence for us to make atonement for us. No one else could intercede for us like Jesus. He is our forerunner. He made a way for us to follow that leads to glory.

Liddell and Scott defines the verb katanoeo ("fix your thoughts on") as "1. notice, observe carefully; 2. look at with reflection, . . . contemplate." G. Harder says,

A strengthened form of noeo is katanoeo (Hdt. Onwards), to direct one's mind and interest towards something, to notice and perceive it . . . Thus katanoeo can mean to observe, test, comprehend, understand, in the latter sense being almost synonymous with syniemi , to understand.

Later he adds,

Lk. 20:23 shows that katanoein includes what goes on behind the scenes. In the same way, Heb. 3:1 means that it is not the outward figure of Jesus that we should look to, but what he really is, as the emissary of God, as the real High Priest, and as the proper object of Christian faith.

The verb occurs again in Hebrews in 10:24 where we are urged to "consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds."

Apostle . Jesus chose twelve of his followers and called them "apostles" (Luke 6:13-16). Barnabas was also called an apostle (Acts 14:14), as were Paul (2 Cor 1:1) and Epaphroditus (Phil 2:25, NIV translates ajpovstolo" [ apostolos ] here as "messenger"). Paul was an apostle of Jesus. Barnabas and Epaphroditus should probably be called apostles of the church, perhaps "missionaries" says LS (p. 99). Jesus was an apostle "sent from God" (Matt 10:40; etc.). The verb ajpostevllw (apostellô , "I send") was used of many different people who were sent to do a specific task. It was used of Moses (Exod 3:10; 7:16; Num 16:28-29); but since this is not the point of the comparison in this paragraph, it is not mentioned. The Father evidently has the role of principle planner and principle administrator. Jesus was sent out from him to do the specific task of redeeming mankind. As God's apostle, he was commissioned with the task of setting up the system of Christianity which we confess. He did the task well, though his position, not his performance, is the focus of the paragraph.

The word "apostle" probably should not be understood simply as one who has been sent, but as one who has been both properly equipped and commissioned. Whatever preparation, training or authorization is necessary to carry out the intended mission has been provided along with the "send-off." See others who were "prepared and sent," (Acts 8:14; 10:20-21; 15:27; 19:22; 2 Cor 8:22-23; 12:16-18; Phil 2:19-23, 25, 28-30; 2 Tim 4:12). The rabbis said, "A man's messenger is like the one who sent him" (M.Berakoth 5:5). The solemnity of this remark may be seen in its context, "If he that says the Tefillah falls into error it is a bad omen for him; and if he was the agent of the congregation it is a bad omen for them that appointed him, because a man's agent is like to himself."

Besides apostle Jesus also filled the role of high priest . Hebrews will actually call him "priest" (iJereuv" , hiereus ) in 7:3,11,15,17; 8:4, "great priest" (iJereuΙ" mega" , hiereus megas ) in 4:14; 10:21 or "high priest" (ajrciereuv" , archiereus ) in 2:17; 3:1; 4:15; 5:5,10; 6:20; 7:26; 8:1; 9:11,25. Other passages imply this role for Jesus, but do not directly state it, as 13:11ff. There are passages applying the LXX statements to Jesus (5:6; 7:21). The main section in Hebrews that discusses his priesthood, Hebrews 4:14-7:28, contrasts Jesus with priests in general, not necessarily with the high priests. Hebrews 2 places Jesus alongside humans as their brother, not as their ruler (2:17). One could almost say, "chief among equals." The OT high priest was the leader of all priests and one of them. So it is fitting for Jesus the priest among a kingdom of priests to be called the high priest, as principal among them.

The sacrifice described in Hebrews 9 was that on the Day of Atonement in which the high priest had the predominant place. In that setting Jesus would be contrasted with the Jewish high priest. This usage naturally carried over to the other times when Jesus is referred to in the book of Hebrews.

Whom we confess. The Christian confession revolves around the mission of Jesus. The good news they told was about Jesus' coming to rescue man and his atoning work for us. Those who did not confess Jesus were no part of his people. Confession of Jesus is a necessary and natural part of belonging to him and to the Father (Matt 10:32-33; 1 John 2:22-23; 4:1-3). The hope we confess is based on Jesus' faithful work as high priest (4:14-16; 10:22-23). Confession of Jesus should not be confused with confession of sins. Sins should be confessed to God who promises to forgive his people who confess their sins to him (1 John 1:9). Confession of Jesus is the open acknowledgement before men of who Jesus is and what he has done for our redemption. It is the center of evangelism.

3:2 He was faithful to the one who appointed him, just as Moses was faithful in all God's house. 3:3 Jesus has been found worthy of greater honor than Moses, just as the builder of a house has greater honor than the house itself.

The measure of faithfulness could be best assessed by the one who appointed him . God said, "This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased" (Matt 3:17). When Jesus finished his work of providing purification for sins, God welcomed him to sit down at his right hand on his throne and promised to make all of Jesus' enemies a footstool for his feet (1:13). The honor given to Jesus is as much greater than the honor given to Moses as the honor given to a builder is greater than the house he built. Among all those whom Jesus redeemed, he also redeemed Moses by his death on the cross. Moses did not redeem Jesus.

Moses' exasperation at the people's grumbling led him to disobey God by striking the rock for water rather than speaking to it as God had commanded. This dishonored God enough in not trusting him totally, that God would not let Moses bring Israel into the promised land (Num 20:2-13, 24; 27:14; Deut 1:37; 3:23-28; 32:50-52; Ps 106:32-33). It is possible that God wanted this incident to provide some lesson for future generations as he did with the bronze snake (John 3:14-16 based on Num 21:4-9). They could just look at the snake and be healed. One could look in faith at Jesus on the cross and be healed. If Moses had obeyed, God might have said his people could just speak to him (the rock) and find God's provision for their need.

The point of the author here about Moses is his predominant faithfulness, however, not his occasional failure. "Moses was faithful in all God's house" (v.2). This very faithfulness of Moses is specifically stated by God when Miriam and Aaron challenged Moses' preeminent position,

Listen to my words: "When a prophet of the LORD is among you, I reveal myself to him in visions, I speak to him in dreams. But this is not true of my servant Moses; he is faithful in all my house. With him I speak face to face, clearly and not in riddles; he sees the form of the LORD. Why then were you not afraid to speak against my servant Moses? (Num 12:6-8).

3:4 For every house is built by someone, but God is the builder of everything.

Design logically presupposes a designer. Many Christian and non-Christian philosophers alike hold the idea of design to be the most significant concept in understanding the ultimate origin of our universe. Hebrews says it simply, "Every house is built by someone." The statement is made here as another reason why Jesus is worthy of greater honor than Moses. His high status is no arbitrary accident of a blind universe.

The builder of all things is God. The word "builder" (participle from the Greek verb, kataskeuavzw , kataskeuazô ) may be defined as "to make ready, prepare; to build, construct, create; to furnish." Thiele cites classical examples of preparing various things: meals, a room, festal routes, a ship, preparing for battle, even formal teaching on various subjects. The LXX uses it also to describe the work of creation. Hebrews has about half of the NT uses. People prepared the tabernacle (9:2,6), and Noah prepared an ark (11:7, as 1 Pet 3:20). John the Baptist prepared a people (Luke 1:17) and a way (Matt 11:10 and parallels) for Jesus.

The word "God" does not have an article, thereby stressing the essence more than the identity of God. Westcott calls it "the character of God as God." Since Jesus is seen as the builder of the house, he is functioning at the level where God functions. He was called "God" in 1:8-9 by applying Psalm 95 to him. He was virtually called God in 2:5-9 where he returned to a God-level position above the angels after being beneath them for a little while during his mission on earth. Moses did not function at this level. Jesus' status as the unique Son of God further supports this idea.

Moses appears several times in the book of Hebrews. His parents hid him for three months at his birth because of their faith (11:23). Moses exercised this same faithfulness as a servant in all God's house (3:2, 5). When mature, he chose the Jews and their Messiah rather than the pleasures of the Egyptian palace (11:24-26). He led Israel out of Egypt (3:16; 11:27, 29), at which time he kept the Passover and its sprinkling of blood (11:28). Though full of fear at Mt. Sinai (12:21), he received and "proclaimed every commandment of the law to all the people" (9:19) including guidelines about priests (7:14) and punishment (10:28). Under his direction the tabernacle was built exactly like the pattern God showed him (8:5). He inaugurated the covenant agreement by sprinkling blood on the scroll, all the people, the tabernacle and everything in it (9:19-21).

In Revelation 15:3 those who were victorious over the beast sing "the song of Moses the servant of God and the song of the Lamb." Moses is mentioned more times than Abraham in the NT.

Moses wrote more pages of the Bible than anyone else. Moses gave the law as well as the plans for the tabernacle and its service which were perpetuated and embellished in the temple worship. Moses inaugurated the priesthood of Aaron. Moses delivered the people of God from Egyptian bondage, implementing the severe plagues on Egypt, leading in the miraculous crossing of the Red Sea and guiding them safely in the desert for forty years. Moses divided up the promised land as an inheritance and set up Joshua to bring them victoriously into it. Only Moses had spoken to God face to face (Deut 34:10; see also Exod 33:11 and Num 12:6-8). It is not strange that Lauterbach can describe the Jew's supreme admiration for Moses this way,

Of all Biblical personages Moses has been chosen most frequently as the subject of later legends; and his life has been recounted in full detail in the poetic haggadah. As liberator, lawgiver, and leader of a people which was transformed by him from an unorganized horde into a nation, he occupies a more important place in popular legend than the Patriarchs and all the other national heroes.

The Mishnah says, "none in Israel is greater than he [Moses]. . . . Whom have we greater than Moses? (M.Sotah 1:9).

3:5 Moses was faithful as a servant in all God's house, testifying to what would be said in the future.

The NIV in verse five sounds like Moses was doing the testifying. The fact that Moses was faithful as a servant was what became a testimony (lit., "into a testimony") of things to be spoken later. Moses did prophesy about these things, but that is not the point of this passage. The form lalhqhsomevnwn (lalçthçsomenôn ; NIV, "what would be said in the future") is the only future passive participle in the NT.

3:6 But Christ is faithful as a son over God's house. And we are his house, if we hold on to our courage and the hope of which we boast.

Moses was virtually unparalleled as a servant of God, but he was still merely that - a servant. In striking contrast, Jesus "is" (not was) faithful as "a son" (not a servant). Moreover, while Moses served "in" God's house, Jesus is "over" God's house. The superiority of Jesus over Moses could not be more clearly shown. Better than the prophets (1:1-2), better than the angels (1:4-13), better even than Moses, only Jesus is given the name "son."

A similar thought to the expression "we are his house" is found in 1 Timothy 3:15 and 1 Peter 4:17. Compare the OT phrase "house of Israel." The image of a spiritual building is found in 1 Corinthians 3:10-12; Ephesians 2:19-22 and 1 Peter 2:4-8. It is a beautiful parallel expressing our mutual interdependence. Although the words oiko" ( oikos ) and oijkiva ( oikia ), both translated "house," are quite interchangeable, only oikos appears in Hebrews (3:2-6; 8:8,10; 10:21; 11:7). It is used of both God's house and man's house. Montefiore explains that

In the author's day the 'extended family', with its large variety of age and its ramifications of relationship, offered a closer analogy to the Church of God than the present smaller unit of the Western family, usually comprising only parents and children.

Eager to emphasize the certainty of God's promises, many have been blind to any conditions God attached to them, as though fulfilling God's conditions would constitute some kind of "work" by which one earned the right to receive those promises.

We are his, if we hold on . The Christian's position as part of the house of God is conditional. He must remain faithful. The conditionality is emphasized even more by the use of a special emphatic word ejavnper ( eanper , " if"), which appears only here, 3:14, and 6:3 in the whole NT. Thayer says of the enclitic particle -per , which is here appended to the ordinary word ean ("if,") that "the idea of the word to which it is annexed must be taken in its fullest extent."

How can one avoid the conditions which God places on his promises? " If you forgive . . . when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you" (Matt 6:14, emphasis added, also below). " If you have faith, . . . you can say to this mountain . . . and it will move" (Matt 17:20-21). " If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever . . . and it will be given you" (John 15:7). Can one dismiss forgiveness or faith or remaining in Jesus as mere verbiage and not real conditions? May his commands be ignored and one still expect to receive his promises? How could Noah expect to be saved from the coming flood if he did not obey God's command to build an ark? (Gen 6:14ff.). How could Abraham expect God to fulfill his promise if he would not leave his homeland? (Gen 12:1-4). How would the hearers at Pentecost expect to receive forgiveness of sins and the gift of the Holy Spirit if they did not fulfill the conditions Peter laid before them? (Acts 2:38). "He who stands firm to the end will be saved" (Matt 10:22). Is there some other way to be saved by which the condition Jesus stated may be ignored?

Let the author of Hebrews speak. Can a person be saved who "drifts away," ignoring the great salvation Jesus has brought? (2:1-4). Will God's rest be acquired by those who "turn away" and do not "hold firmly till the end?" What if we make no attempt to "encourage one another daily"? (3:13-14). He said we should "make every effort to enter that rest" or we would "fall" (4:11). Can one please God who will not "leave the elementary teachings . . . and go on to maturity?" (6:1). We say instead, "Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly" (Col 3:16). "If you do these things, you will never fall" (1 Pet 1:10).

The general meaning of of katevcw (katechô , " to hold on to") is clear enough. Interesting pictures emerge if one applies the nautical imagery of this word from Acts 27:40, "to steer toward;" or the legal imagery of "taking possession of property" from Matthew 21:38. Courage and hope become major parts of good Christian living. It takes courage to approach God initially (10:19) and repeatedly (4:16). His gracious offer fills us with hope (6:18) for help when we come to him. If our hope can be sure, we can be sure (6:11-12; 10:23; 11:1). Ours is a much better hope than anyone has had before us (7:19). "The hope of which we boast" could be literally translated, "the pride of hope" (toΙ kauvchma th'" ejlpivdo" , to kauchçma tçs elpidos ) or as BAGD suggests, "that for which we are proud to hope." Encouragement and hope are provided by fellow Christians (here), by the LORD (2 Thess 2:16) and by the Scripture (Rom 15:4).

B. PSALM 95:7-11 (3:7-11)

⁷ So, as the Holy Spirit says:

"Today, if you hear his voice,

⁸ do not harden your hearts

as you did in the rebellion,

during the time of testing in the desert,

⁹ where your fathers tested and tried me

and for forty years saw what I did.

¹⁰ That is why I was angry with that generation,

and I said, 'Their hearts are always going astray,

and they have not known my ways.'

¹¹ So I declared on oath in my anger,

'They shall never enter my rest.'" ^a

^a 11 Psalm 95:7-11

3:7 So, as the Holy Spirit says: "Today, if you hear his voice,

The lengthy passage from Psalm 95:7-11 is quoted to expand on the idea of 3:6 that we must hold on to our courage and hope in order to remain a part of the house of God. It is only those who remain faithful to the end who will find themselves in heaven sharing the eternal "rest" with God when all of earth history is over. Israel failed to remain faithful. Consequently, they lost this rest. The shepherd-heart of our author does not want his Christian brothers to suffer the same loss.

There are two parts of Psalm 95, an invitation to worship (1-7a) and a warning against disobedience (7b-11). God should be worshipped because he is "the great God" controlling all nature, and he is "our God" making us "the people of his pasture." The rest of the Psalm warns us not to lose that privilege (Ps 95:7b-11). This latter portion urges the necessity of faithfulness, and thus is very appropriate to cite in a section arguing the need for faithfulness.

3:8 do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion, during the time of testing in the desert,

This discussion about the incidents at Massah and Meribah illustrate how the OT can help us. Only a few weeks after Israel had been delivered from the Egyptian army at the Red Sea, they begin to grumble at God's provisions. Moses named the place Massah and Meribah, Hebrew names meaning "Testing" and "Quarreling" (Num 17:7). A similar grumbling against God occured near Kadesh as the nation approached Canaan. In this incident Moses became exasperated with the people and struck the rock instead of speaking to it as God directed. He was punished by being denied entrance to the land (Num 20:1-13, 24). Moses referred to this grumbling in his speeches in Deuteronomy (6:16; 9:22; 33:8). God reminded Moses of this infraction when he was preparing to die (Deut 32:48-52). The problem made such an impression that it is mentioned repeatedly in Psalms (Ps 81:7; 95:8; 106:32-33). By the time of Ezekiel the northern location had become a place-name, Meribah Kadesh, used in marking the boundaries of the land (Ezek 47:19; 48:28). The author of Hebrews chose to use the record in the ninety-fifth Psalm.

The LXX differs from the MT in two significant points. Instead of using the Hebrew names, Meribah and Massah, it translates them respectively as parapikrasmov" ( parapikrasmos , "Provocation") and peirasmov" ( peirasmos , "Testing"). Secondly, it ascribes the Psalm to David in its title. In a somewhat similar fashion the apostles and Christians, when praying about the first opposition to the fledgling church, ascribed the second Psalm to the Holy Spirit through David (Acts 4:25-26). The Hebrew text had left it anonymous. Like those praying believers, the author of Hebrews attributes the text ultimately to the Holy Spirit. Compare Hebrews 9:8 and 10:15 where the Holy Spirit is stated to be the ultimate author in producing Bible texts. Sharing in the Holy Spirit (6:4) and insulting the Spirit of grace (10:29) may therefore refer either to the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit who enters at the time of conversion or to the Bible which the Holy Spirit has graciously provided for our guidance.

3:9 where your fathers tested and tried me and for forty years saw what I did. 3:10 That is why I was angry with that generation, and I said, 'Their hearts are always going astray, and they have not known my ways.'

The NT text differs from the LXX in one further point. First, notice the LXX ambiguity. The LXX put the phrase "forty years" between the statements about (1) the fathers who disbelieved though "seeing my works" and (2) God's "being angry with them." Thus it is left unclear which thing lasted for forty years. The Hebrew text of the Psalm positions the phrase in the same place with the same ambiguity. The editors of both the MT and the LXX punctuate the text to indicate that God's wrath lasted for forty years.

3:11 So I declared on oath in my anger, 'They shall never enter my rest.'"

God expressed his anger with the solemnity of an oath statement, "I declared on oath in my anger, 'They shall never enter my rest.'" This is consistent with the forty years' time during which all of the disbelieving generation died, except Joshua and Caleb (Num 14:26-35). On the other hand, Amos 5:25-27, which Stephen quoted in Acts 7:42-43, sounds like the unfaithfulness of Israel lasted for forty years in the wilderness. This matches the OT picture of Israel's behavior during the desert wandering. The author of Hebrews adds the word diov ( dio , "therefore") after the phrase "forty years," thus making the forty years describe the Jews' misbehavior, not God's wrath.

Three major concepts are drawn from the Psalm: an idea called "today," the "hardening" of hearts, and God's "rest." These concepts are rather intertwined in the section (3:12-4:11), although God's rest comes into focus in chapter four. In the same way that the exhortation of 2:1-4 followed immediately after a long collection of OT verses quoted (1:5-13), so the exhortation of 3:12ff. follows immediately after the long OT quotation of 3:7-11.

C. HOLD FIRM TO THE END (3:12-15)

¹² See to it, brothers, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. ¹³ But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin's deceitfulness. ¹⁴ We have come to share in Christ if we hold firmly till the end the confidence we had at first. ¹⁵ As has just been said:

"Today, if you hear his voice,

do not harden your hearts

as you did in the rebellion." ^a

^a 15 Psalm 95:7,8

Unbelief can spring up in the most unexpected places. Who would have thought that those who personally witnessed the ten plagues on Egypt, the crossing of the Red Sea and the awesome year of events at Mt. Sinai would ever turn away from God with sinful, unbelieving, hard hearts? But they did. The book of Hebrews repeatedly urges its Christian readers not to walk down the same unbelieving path. They are " brothers" now. He wants them to remain brothers. He calls them brothers in 3:1, 12; 10:19 and 13:22; as Jesus had called them brothers (2:11-12; see 2:17). Compare 13:1 and 23.

As repentance turns toward the living God, unbelief turns away from him (Compare Acts 3:19; 9:35; 11:21; 20:21; 26:18-20 and 1 Thess 1:19 with Rom 3:12; Gal 4:9; 1 Tim 5:15 and Heb 12:25). Unbelief is a basic sin (John 16:8-9). It is always expressed in self-willed distrust of others. Such a person is unyielding to another's wishes or judgments. All that matters is one's own opinion. This not only damages relations with God. Relations with others degenerate into this same self-centered independence. That is why the alternative to this kind of heart is interdependence (3:13). Christians are not designed to live by themselves. Henry warns us that if we allow ourselves to distrust God, we will soon desert him. When we distrust others, we will readily desert them, too.

Since the designation of God as " the living God" was introduced in the scene at Sinai, it has an ominous overtone (Deut 5:26). "It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God" (Heb 10:31). It was the expression used in oath statements in court (Matt 26:63). To live for him takes away this fear and lets us serve him gladly (9:14; 12:22; 1 John 4:18). It is a good designation, for God is full of life and all life comes from him (John 5:21; 10:10).

3:13 But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin's deceitfulness.

Daily we must encourage one another . The present tense indicates repetition. If encouragement is only once a month, it will not help carry burdens. If encouragement is only once a week in the general assembly of believers, it will not meet the daily needs of living. The beginning church spent time together daily (Acts 2:46). Besides daily food (Matt 6:11; Acts 6:1; Titus 3:14; James 2:15) there were daily struggles of cross-bearing (Luke 9:23; 1 Cor 15:31; 2 Cor 11:28) and need for daily renewal (2 Cor 4:16) when daily facing the unregenerate world (1 Thess 4:12; 2 Pet 2:8). The work of evangelism was done daily (Acts 2:47; 5:42; 16:5; 17:17; 19:9). One of the great weaknesses of the church today may be this general lack of daily interdependence with its accompanying openness in joy and sorrow, in sins and victories.

Westcott reported Bengel's insight that the Greek text (parakalei'te eJautouv" , parakaleite heautous ) properly says, "Encourage yourselves" rather than, "Encourage one another ." This "suggests the close unity of the Christian body."

The statement, "As long as it is called Today," does not sound like the invitation will always exist. One day the end will come when Jesus returns to bring the long-awaited salvation (9:28). Tomorrow may be too late. Since the statement is from the Psalms, the time called "Today" existed in the time of the Psalm writer. Thus the invitation to enter his rest was open previous to the Christian era. Israel's failure did not close heaven forever to wayward mankind.

Muscles become stiff from lack of use, coldness, disease or age. Hearts become hard in the same ways. Here it is attributed to sin's deceitfulness . This could say Satan's deceitfulness, for his work is behind all sin. He is the father of lies. Much of his approach is bluffing and empty deception (John 8:44). He wants us to believe that he is far more knowledgeable and powerful than he is. He will flee if resisted (James 4:7). Dods traces the psychological order of hardening thus, "sin, a deceived mind, a hardened heart, unbelief, apostasy."

On the other hand, part of the danger of sin is that we treat it so lightly that we do not take adequate precautions to prevent its terrible work. Wealth also is deceitful, promising what it does not deliver and raising false hopes of its power to satisfy (Matt 13:22). Moses saw through this deception of sin, and he chose to leave all the privileges of the palace of Egypt to escape from it (11:24-26). Adam and Eve did not see through it and they brought huge evil on the world instead of the improvement they anticipated (Gen 3). As faith comes by hearing the message of God and obeying it, so hardening comes by hearing and not obeying (Rom 10:17; John 15:22-25).

Pharaoh hardened his own heart early in the plagues (8:15, 32; 9:34). God hardened Pharaoh's heart later when Pharaoh did not have the strength to keep resisting as he wanted to do (9:12; 10:1, 20, 27; 11:10). If one persists in an evil direction, eventually God may help him go farther down that path than he could go on his own strength. See 2 Thessalonians 2:11.

3:14 We have come to share in Christ if we hold firmly till the end the confidence we had at first.

We have come to share in Christ (lit., "For we have become partners of Christ"). The noun mevtoco" ( metochos , "partner, partaker") is primarily a term found in Hebrews (1:9; 3:1, 14; 6:4; 12:8). It is only outside of Hebrews in Luke 5:7 of partners in a fishing business. The cognate verb metevcw (metechô , "to share, have a share") is used in Hebrews of Jesus' sharing flesh and blood with us (2:17), of infants using milk (5:13), and of Jesus' not being a part of the tribe of Levi (7:13). It is outside of Hebrews only in 1 Corinthians 9:10, 22; 10:17, 21 and 30.

The perfect tense of the verb "become" (NIV " have come to") indicates a decisive time when this partnership became a reality and brings the results of that relationship before us as well. This dramatic event and new status is given as the reason to beware and to encourage one another. The NIV omits the connecting word gavr ( gar , "because"). The word "partners" (NIV "share") is a bit ambiguous here. It would mean either (1) Christ as an equal partner with Christians, or (2) human partners with one another who both belong to Christ. The first could be argued from Jesus' brotherhood with man, which has just been developed in chapter two. He generously shares his throne with Christians (Matt 25:21; Rev 3:21). The second could be argued from Jesus' position as high priest and sacrifice as well as author and finisher of our salvation. Davidson remarks that "The idea of a mystical union with Christ is not prominent, if at all found, in the Epistle; he is the Captain, Forerunner, High Priest, Brother, but always distinct. With this understanding, however, partakers of (xiii.10) is more probable than partakers with Christ (ii.10)." This is about as near as Hebrews comes to the frequent Pauline phrase "in Christ."

The very strong word for " if" ( eanper , discussed above in 3:6) indicates a very real danger of not remaining faithful till the end. A good beginning does not guarantee a good finish. As the king of Israel said, "One who puts on his armor should not boast like one who takes it off" (1 Kgs 20:11). The Hebrew readers have had a good beginning like the church at Ephesus (Heb 10:32-39; Rev 2:4-5). Now they need to finish well.

3:15 As has just been said: "Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion."

The requirements in the Psalm are applied directly to Christian readers. With this approach the OT is much more of a direct guide for Christians, than simply a record of God's past dealings with his people. In a sense the new covenant is complete in itself. In another sense, the new covenant expresses a continuing record with the old of God's dealings with man. It is a further step in his revelation to man. Hence, the OT should hold much material useful to make today's Christian life count for God. Paul must have been referring to the OT when he made the following statements:

Everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope (Rom 15:4).

Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth (2 Tim 2:15).

The holy Scriptures . . . are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work (2 Tim 3:15-17).

D. UNBELIEVING ISRAELITES FELL IN THE DESERT (3:16-19)

¹⁶ Who were they who heard and rebelled? Were they not all those Moses led out of Egypt? ¹⁷ And with whom was he angry for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the desert? ¹⁸ And to whom did God swear that they would never enter his rest if not to those who disobeyed ^a ? ¹⁹ So we see that they were not able to enter, because of their unbelief.

^a 18 Or disbelieved

With a series of questions the author highlights various facets of the unfaithfulness and fall of those who died in the forty years of desert wandering. What was their sin? "They heard and rebelled." "They sinned." "They disobeyed." What were the terrible consequences of their sin? God "was angry for forty years." Their "bodies fell in the desert." Worst of all, God "swore that they would never enter his rest." Meyer remarks on the dreariness of chapter three, "How dreary those incessant funerals! How monotonous the perpetual sounds of Oriental grief moaning through the camp! What wonder that Psalm 90 [the only Psalm ascribed to Moses], written among such scenes, is so inexpressibly sad!"

These were the very people whom Moses led out of Egypt. These were the people who witnessed the plagues and the cloud of fire, the manna and the quail, the very people who heard God's voice at Sinai. Westcott makes the horrible observation that, "The Old Testament is in fact a record of successive judgments of Israel out of which a few only were saved." Davidson reminds us that "Israel's defection was universal, and that it happened when the memory of their deliverance from Egypt was fresh."

-College Press New Testament Commentary: with the NIV

Introduction / Outline

Robertson: Hebrews (Book Introduction)

The Epistle to the Hebrews

By Way of Introduction

Unsettled Problems

Probably no book in the New Testament presents more unsettled problems than does the Epistle to the Hebrews. On that score it ranks with the Fourth Gospel, the Apocalypse of John, and Second Peter. But, in spite of these unsolved matters, the book takes high rank for its intellectual grasp, spiritual power, and its masterful portrayal of Christ as High Priest. It is much briefer than the Fourth Gospel, but in a sense it carries on further the exalted picture of the Risen Christ as the King-Priest who reigns and pleads for us now.

The Picture of Christ

At once we are challenged by the bold stand taken by the author concerning the Person of Christ as superior to the prophets of the Old Testament because he is the Son of God through whom God has spoken in the new dispensation (Heb_1:1-3), this Son who is God’s Agent in the work of creation and of grace as we see it stated in Phi_2:5-11; Col_1:13-20; John 1:1-18. This high doctrine of Jesus as God’s Son with the glory and stamp of God’s nature is never lowered, for as God’s Son he is superior to angels (Heb 1:4-2:4), though the humanity of Jesus is recognized as one proof of the glory of Jesus (Heb_2:5-18). Jesus is shown to be superior to Moses as God’s Son over God’s house (Heb 3:1-4:13), But the chief portion of the Epistle is devoted to the superiority of Jesus Christ as priest to the work of Aaron and the whole Levitical line (Heb 4:14-12:3). Here the author with consummate skill, though with rabbinical refinements at times, shows that Jesus is like Melchizedek and so superior to Aaron (Heb 4:14-7:28), works under a better covenant of grace (Heb_8:1-13), works in a better sanctuary which is in heaven (Heb_9:1-12), offers a better sacrifice which is his own blood (Heb 9:13-10:18), and gives us better promises for the fulfilment of his task (Heb 10:19-12:3). Hence this Epistle deserves to be called the Epistle of the Priesthood of Christ. So W. P. Du Bose calls his exposition of the book, High Priesthood and Sacrifice (1908). This conception of Christ as our Priest who offered himself on the Cross and as our Advocate with the Father runs all through the New Testament (Mar_10:46; Mat_20:28; Joh_10:17; Mat_26:28; Rom_8:32; 1Pe_1:18.; 1Jo_2:1.; Rev_5:9, etc.). But it is in Hebrews that we have the full-length portrait of Jesus Christ as our Priest and Redeemer. The Glory of Jesus runs through the whole book.

The Style

It is called an epistle and so it is, but of a peculiar kind. In fact, as has been said, it begins like a treatise, proceeds like a sermon, and concludes like a letter. It is, in fact, more like a literary composition than any other New Testament book as Deissmann shows: " It points to the fact that the Epistle to the Hebrews, with its more definitely artistic, more literary language (corresponding to its more theological subject matter), constituted an epoch in the history of the new religion. Christianity is beginning to lay hands on the instruments of culture; the literary and theological period has begun" ( Light from the Ancient East , pp. 70f.). But Blass ( Die Rhythmen der asianischen und romischen Kunstprosa , 1905) argues that the author of Hebrews certainly and Paul probably were students of Greek oratory and rhetoric. He is clearly wrong about Paul and probably so about the author of Hebrews. There is in Hebrews more of " a studied rhetorical periodicity" (Thayer), but with many " parenthetical involutions" (Westcott) and with less of " the impetuous eloquence of Paul." The eleventh chapter reveals a studied style and as a whole the Epistle belongs to the literary Koiné rather than to the vernacular. Moulton ( Cambridge Biblical Essays , p. 483) thinks that the author did not know Hebrew but follows the Septuagint throughout in his abundant use of the Old Testament.

The Author

Origen bluntly wrote: " Who wrote the Epistle God only knows certainly" as quoted by Eusebius. Origen held that the thoughts were Paul’s while Clement of Rome or Luke may have written the book. Clement of Alexandria (Eusebius says) thought that Paul wrote it in Hebrew and that Luke translated it into Greek. No early writer apparently attributed the Greek text to Paul. Eusebius thought it was originally written in Hebrew whether by Paul or not and translated by Clement of Rome. But there is no certainty anywhere in the early centuries. It was accepted first in the east and later in the west which first rejected it. But Jerome and Augustine accepted it. When the Renaissance came Erasmus had doubts, Luther attributed it to Apollos, Calvin denied the Pauline authorship. In North Africa it was attributed to Barnabas. In modern times Harnack has suggested Priscilla, but the masculine participle in Heb_11:32 ( me diēgoumenon ) disposes of that theory. The oldest Greek MSS. (Aleph A B) have simply Pros Hebraious as the title, but they place it before the Pastoral Epistles, while the Textus Receptus puts it after the Pastoral Epistles and Philemon. In the light of all the facts one can only make a guess without a sense of certainty. For myself I should with Luther guess Apollos as the most likely author of this book which is full of the Spirit of God.

The Recipients

If the title is allowed to be genuine or a fair interpretation of the Epistle, then it is addressed to Jewish (Hebrew) Christians in a local church somewhere. Dr. James Moffatt in his Commentary (pp. xv to xvii) challenges the title and insists that the book is written for Gentile Christians as truly as First Peter. He argues this largely from the author’s use of the lxx. For myself Dr. Moffatt’s reasons are not convincing. The traditional view that the author is addressing Jewish Christians in a definite locality, whether a large church or a small household church, is true, I believe. The author seems clearly to refer to a definite church in the experiences alluded to in Heb_10:32-34. The church in Jerusalem had undergone sufferings like these, but we really do not know where the church was. Apparently the author is in Italy when he writes (Heb_13:24), though " they of Italy" ( hoi apo tēs Italias ) can mean those who have come from Italy. These Jewish Christians may even have lived in Rome itself.

The Date

Here again modern scholars differ widely. Westcott places it between a.d. 64 and 67. Harnack and Holtzmann prefer a date between a.d. 81 and 96. Marcus Dods argues strongly that the Epistle was written while the temple was still standing. If it was already destroyed, it is hard to understand how the author could have written Heb_10:1.: " Else would they not have ceased to be offered?" And in Heb_8:13 " nigh to vanishing away" ( eggus aphanismou ) is only intelligible with the temple service still going on. The author makes use of the tabernacle instead of the temple because the temple was patterned after the tabernacle. On the other hand, the mention of Timothy in Heb_13:23 as being " set free" ( apolelumenon ) raises an inquiry concerning Paul’s last plea to Timothy to come to him in Rome (2Ti_4:11-13). Apparently Timothy came and was put in prison. If so, since Paul was put to death before Nero’s own death (June 8, a.d. 68), there is left only the years 67 to 69 a.d. as probable or even possible. It is thus the last of the New Testament books before the Johannine Writings all of which come towards the close of the century and after the destruction of Jerusalem.

The Purpose

The author states it repeatedly. He urges the Jewish Christians to hold fast the confession which they have made in Jesus as Messiah and Saviour. Their Jewish neighbours have urged them to give up Christ and Christianity and to come back to Judaism. The Judaizers tried to make Jews out of Gentile Christians and to fasten Judaism upon Christianity with a purely sacramental type of religion as the result. Paul won freedom for evangelical and spiritual Christianity against the Judaizers as shown in the Corinthian Epistles, Galatians, and Romans. The Gnostics in subtle fashion tried to dilute Christianity with their philosophy and esoteric mysteries and here again Paul won his fight for the supremacy of Christ over all these imaginary aeons (Colossians and Ephesians). But in Hebrews the author is battling to stop a stampede from Christ back to Judaism, a revolt (apostasy) in truth from the living God. These Jews argued that the prophets were superior to Jesus, the law came by the ministry of angels, Moses was greater than Jesus, and Aaron than Jesus. The author turns the argument on the Jews and boldly champions the Glory of Jesus as superior at every point to all that Judaism had, as God’s Son and man’s Saviour, the crown and glory of the Old Testament prophecy, the hope of mankind. It is the first great apologetic for Christianity and has never been surpassed. Moffatt terms it " a profound homily."

JFB: Hebrews (Book Introduction)

CANONICITY AND AUTHORSHIP.--CLEMENT OF ROME, at the end of the first century (A.D), copiously uses it, adopting its words just as he does those of the other books of the New Testament; not indeed giving to either the term "Scripture," which he reserves for the Old Testament (the canon of the New Testament not yet having been formally established), but certainly not ranking it below the other New Testament acknowledged Epistles. As our Epistle claims authority on the part of the writer, CLEMENT'S adoption of extracts from it is virtually sanctioning its authority, and this in the apostolic age. JUSTIN MARTYR quotes it as divinely authoritative, to establish the titles "apostle," as well as "angel," as applied to the Son of God. CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA refers it expressly to Paul, on the authority of Pantænus, chief of the Catechetical school in Alexandria, in the middle of the second century, saying, that as Jesus is termed in it the "apostle" sent to the Hebrews, Paul, through humility, does not in it call himself apostle of the Hebrews, being apostle to the Gentiles. CLEMENT also says that Paul, as the Hebrews were prejudiced against him, prudently omitted to put forward his name in the beginning; also, that it was originally written in Hebrew for the Hebrews, and that Luke translated it into Greek for the Greeks, whence the style is similar to that of Acts. He, however, quotes frequently the words of the existing Greek Epistle as Paul's words. ORIGEN similarly quotes it as Paul's Epistle. However, in his Homilies, he regards the style as distinct from that of Paul, and as "more Grecian," but the thoughts as the apostle's; adding that the "ancients who have handed down the tradition of its Pauline authorship, must have had good reason for doing so, though God alone knows the certainty who was the actual writer" (that is, probably "transcriber" of the apostle's thoughts). In the African Church, in the beginning of the third century, TERTULLIAN ascribes it to Barnabas. IRENÆUS, bishop of Lyons, is mentioned in EUSEBIUS, as quoting from this Epistle, though without expressly referring it to Paul. About the same period, Caius, the presbyter, in the Church of Rome, mentions only thirteen Epistles of Paul, whereas, if the Epistle to the Hebrews were included, there would be fourteen. So the canon fragment of the end of the second century, or beginning of the third, published by MURATORI, apparently omits mentioning it. And so the Latin Church did not recognize it as Paul's till a considerable time after the beginning of the third century. Thus, also, NOVATIAN OF ROME, CYPRIAN OF CARTHAGE, and VICTORINUS, also of the Latin Church. But in the fourth century, HILARY OF POITIERS (A.D. 368), LUCIFER OF CAGLIARI (A.D. 371), AMBROSE OF MILAN (A.D. 397) and other Latins, quote it as Paul's; and the fifth Council of Carthage (A.D. 419) formally reckons it among his fourteen Epistles.

As to the similarity of its style to that of Luke's writings, this is due to his having been so long the companion of Paul. CHRYSOSTOM, comparing Luke and Mark, says, "Each imitated his teacher: Luke imitated Paul flowing along with more than river fulness; but Mark imitated Peter, who studied brevity of style." Besides, there is a greater predominance of Jewish feeling and familiarity with the peculiarities of the Jewish schools apparent in this Epistle than in Luke's writings. There is no clear evidence for attributing the authorship to him, or to Apollos, whom ALFORD upholds as the author. The grounds alleged for the latter view are its supposed Alexandrian phraseology and modes of thought. But these are such as any Palestinian Jew might have used; and Paul, from his Hebræo-Hellenistic education at Jerusalem and Tarsus, would be familiar with PHILO'S modes of thought, which are not, as some think, necessarily all derived from his Alexandrian, but also from his Jewish, education. It would be unlikely that the Alexandrian Church should have so undoubtingly asserted the Pauline authorship, if Apollos, their own countryman, had really been the author. The eloquence of its style and rhetoric, a characteristic of Apollos' at Corinth, whereas Paul there spoke in words unadorned by man's wisdom, are doubtless designedly adapted to the minds of those whom Paul in this Epistle addresses. To the Greek Corinthians, who were in danger of idolizing human eloquence and wisdom, he writes in an unadorned style, in order to fix their attention more wholly on the Gospel itself. But the Hebrews were in no such danger. And his Hebræo-Grecian education would enable him to write in a style attractive to the Hebrews at Alexandria, where Greek philosophy had been blended with Judaism. The Septuagint translation framed at Alexandria had formed a connecting link between the latter and the former; and it is remarkable that all the quotations from the Old Testament, excepting two (Heb 10:30; Heb 13:5), are taken from the Septuagint. The fact that the peculiarities of the Septuagint are interwoven into the argument proves that the Greek Epistle is an original, not a translation; had the original been Hebrew, the quotations would have been from the Hebrew Old Testament. The same conclusion follows from the plays on similarly sounding words in the Greek, and alliterations, and rhythmically constructed periods. CALVIN observes, If the Epistle had been written in Hebrew, Heb 9:15-17 would lose all its point, which consists in the play upon the double meaning of the Greek "diathece," a "covenant," or a "testament," whereas the Hebrew "berith" means only "covenant."

Internal evidence favors the Pauline authorship. Thus the topic so fully handled in this Epistle, that Christianity is superior to Judaism, inasmuch as the reality exceeds the type which gives place to it, is a favorite one with Paul (compare 2Co 3:6-18; Gal 3:23-25; Gal 4:1-9, Gal 4:21-31, wherein the allegorical mode of interpretation appears in its divinely sanctioned application--a mode pushed to an unwarrantable excess in the Alexandrian school). So the Divine Son appears in Heb 1:3, &c., as in other Epistles of Paul (Phi 2:6; Col 1:15-20), as the Image, or manifestation of the Deity. His lowering of Himself for man's sake similarly, compare Heb 2:9, with 2Co 8:9; Phi 2:7-8. Also His final exaltation, compare Heb 2:8; Heb 10:13; Heb 12:2, with 1Co 15:25, 1Co 15:27. The word "Mediator" is peculiar to Paul alone, compare Heb 8:6, with Gal 3:19-20. Christ's death is represented as the sacrifice for sin prefigured by the Jewish sacrifices, compare Rom 3:22-26; 1Co 5:7, with Heb. 7:1-10:39. The phrase, "God of Peace," is peculiar to Paul, compare Heb 13:20; Rom 15:33; 1Th 5:23. Also, compare Heb 2:4, Margin, 1Co 12:4. Justification, or "righteousness by faith." appears in Heb 11:7; Heb 10:38, as in Rom 1:17; Rom 4:22; Rom 5:1; Gal 3:11; Phi 3:9. The word of God is the "sword of the Spirit," compare Heb 4:12, with Eph 6:17. Inexperienced Christians are children needing milk, that is, instruction in the elements, whereas riper Christians, as full-grown men, require strong meat, compare Heb 5:12-13; Heb 6:1, with 1Co 3:1-2; 1Co 14:20 Gal 4:9; Col 3:14. Salvation is represented as a boldness of access to God by Christ, compare Heb 10:19, with Rom 5:2; Eph 2:18; Eph 3:12. Afflictions are a fight, Heb 10:32; compare Phi 1:30; Col 2:1. The Christian life is a race, Heb 12:1; compare 1Co 9:24; Phi 3:12-14. The Jewish ritual is a service, Rom 9:4; compare Heb 9:1, Heb 9:6. Compare "subject to bondage," Heb 2:15, with Gal 5:1. Other characteristics of Paul's style appear in this Epistle; namely, a propensity "to go off at a word" and enter on a long parenthesis suggested by that word, a fondness for play upon words of similar sound, and a disposition to repeat some favorite word. Frequent appeals to the Old Testament, and quotations linked by "and again," compare Heb 1:5; Heb 2:12-13, with Rom 15:9-12. Also quotations in a peculiar application, compare Heb 2:8, with 1Co 15:27; Eph 1:22. Also the same passage quoted in a form not agreeing with the Septuagint, and with the addition "saith the Lord," not found in the Hebrew, in Heb 10:30; Rom 12:19.

The supposed Alexandrian (which are rather Philon-like) characteristics of the Epistle are probably due to the fact that the Hebrews were generally then imbued with the Alexandrian modes of thought of Philo, &c., and Paul, without coloring or altering Gospel truth "to the Jews, became (in style) as a Jew, that he might win the Jews" (1Co 9:20). This will account for its being recognized as Paul's Epistle in the Alexandrian and Jerusalem churches unanimously, to the Hebrews of whom probably it was addressed. Not one Greek father ascribes the Epistle to any but Paul, whereas in the Western and Latin churches, which it did not reach for some time, it was for long doubted, owing to its anonymous form, and generally less distinctively Pauline style. Their reason for not accepting it as Paul's, or indeed as canonical, for the first three centuries, was negative, insufficient evidence for it, not positive evidence against it. The positive evidence is generally for its Pauline origin. In the Latin churches, owing to their distance from the churches to whom belonged the Hebrews addressed, there was no generally received tradition on the subject. The Epistle was in fact but little known at all, whence we find it is not mentioned at all in the Canon of Muratori. When at last, in the fourth century, the Latins found that it was received as Pauline and canonical on good grounds in the Greek churches, they universally acknowledged it as such.

The personal notices all favor its Pauline authorship, namely, his intention to visit those addressed, shortly, along with Timothy, styled "our brother," Heb 13:23; his being then in prison, Heb 13:19; his formerly having been imprisoned in Palestine, according to English Version reading, Heb 10:34; the salutations transmitted to them from believers of Italy, Heb 13:24. A reason for not prefixing the name may be the rhetorical character of the Epistle which led the author to waive the usual form of epistolary address.

DESIGN.--His aim is to show the superiority of Christianity over Judaism, in that it was introduced by one far higher than the angels or Moses, through whom the Jews received the law, and in that its priesthood and sacrifices are far less perfecting as to salvation than those of Christ; that He is the substance of which the former are but the shadow, and that the type necessarily gives place to the antitype; and that now we no longer are kept at a comparative distance as under the law, but have freedom of access through the opened veil, that is, Christ's flesh; hence he warns them of the danger of apostasy, to which Jewish converts were tempted, when they saw Christians persecuted, while Judaism was tolerated by the Roman authorities. He infers the obligations to a life of faith, of which, even in the less perfect Old Testament dispensation, the Jewish history contained bright examples. He concludes in the usual Pauline mode, with practical exhortations and pious prayers for them.

HIS MODE OF ADDRESS is in it hortatory rather than commanding, just as we might have expected from Paul addressing the Jews. He does not write to the rulers of the Jewish Christians, for in fact there was no exclusively Jewish Church; and his Epistle, though primarily addressed to the Palestinian Jews, was intended to include the Hebrews of all adjoining churches. He inculcates obedience and respect in relation to their rulers (Heb 13:7, Heb 13:17, Heb 13:24); a tacit obviating of the objection that he was by writing this Epistle interfering with the prerogative of Peter the apostle of the circumcision, and James the bishop of Jerusalem. Hence arises his gentle and delicate mode of dealing with them (Heb 13:22). So far from being surprised at discrepancy of style between an Epistle to Hebrews and Epistles to Gentile Christians, it is just what we should expect. The Holy Spirit guided him to choose means best suited to the nature of the ends aimed at. WORDSWORTH notices a peculiar Pauline Greek construction, Rom 12:9, literally, "Let your love be without dissimulation, ye abhorring . . . evil, cleaving to . . . good," which is found nowhere else save Heb 13:5, literally, "Let your conversation be without covetousness, ye being content with," &c. (a noun singular feminine nominative absolute, suddenly passing into a participle masculine nominative plural absolute). So in quoting Old Testament Scripture, the writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews quotes it as a Jew writing to Jews would, "God spoke to our fathers," not, "it is written." So Heb 13:18, "We trust we have a good conscience" is an altogether Pauline sentiment (Act 23:1; Act 24:16; 2Co 1:12; 2Co 4:2; 2Ti 1:3). Though he has not prefixed his name, he has given at the close his universal token to identify him, namely, his apostolic salutation, "Grace be with you all"; this "salutation with his own hand" he declared (2Th 3:17-18) to be "his token in every Epistle": so 1Co 16:21, 1Co 16:23; Col 4:18. The same prayer of greeting closes every one of his Epistles, and is not found in any one of the Epistles of the other apostles written in Paul's lifetime; but it is found in the last book of the New Testament Revelation, and subsequently in the Epistle of CLEMENT OF ROME. This proves that, by whomsoever the body of the Epistle was committed to writing (whether a mere amanuensis writing by dictation, or a companion of Paul by the Spirit's gift of interpreting tongues, 1Co 12:10, transfusing Paul's Spirit-taught sentiments into his own Spirit-guided diction), Paul at the close sets his seal to the whole as really his, and sanctioned by him as such. The churches of the East, and Jerusalem, their center, to which quarter it was first sent, received it as Paul's from the earliest times according to Cyril, Bishop of Jerusalem (A.D. 349). JEROME, though bringing with him from Rome the prejudices of the Latins against the Epistle to the Hebrews, aggravated, doubtless, by its seeming sanction of the Novatian heresy (Heb 6:4-6), was constrained by the force of facts to receive it as Paul's, on the almost unanimous testimony of all Greek Christians from the earliest times; and was probably the main instrument in correcting the past error of Rome in rejecting it. The testimony of the Alexandrian Church is peculiarly valuable, for it was founded by Mark, who was with Paul at Rome in his first confinement, when this Epistle seems to have been written (Col 4:10), and who possibly was the bearer of this Epistle, at the same time visiting Colosse on the way to Jerusalem (where Mark's mother lived), and thence to Alexandria. Moreover, 2Pe 3:15-16, written shortly before Peter's death, and like his first Epistle written by him, "the apostle of the circumcision," to the "Hebrew" Christians dispersed in the East, says, "As our beloved brother Paul hath written unto you" (2Pe 3:15), that is, to the Hebrews; also the words added, "As also in all his Epistles" (2Pe 3:16), distinguish the Epistle to the Hebrews from the rest; then he further speaks of it as on a level with "other Scriptures," thus asserting at once its Pauline authorship and divine inspiration. An interesting illustration of the power of Christian faith and love; Peter, who had been openly rebuked by Paul (Gal 2:7-14), fully adopted what Paul wrote; there was no difference in the Gospel of the apostle of the circumcision and that of the apostle of the uncircumcision. It strikingly shows God's sovereignty that He chose as the instrument to confirm the Hebrews, Paul, the apostle of the Gentiles (Rom 11:13); and on the other hand, Peter to open the Gospel door to the Gentiles (Act 10:1, &c.), though being the apostle of the Jews; thus perfect unity reigns amidst the diversity of agencies.

Rome, in the person of CLEMENT OF ROME, originally received this Epistle. Then followed a period in which it ceased to be received by the Roman churches. Then, in the fourth century, Rome retracted her error. A plain proof she is not unchangeable or infallible. As far as Rome is concerned, the Epistle to the Hebrews was not only lost for three centuries, but never would have been recovered at all but for the Eastern churches; it is therefore a happy thing for Christendom that Rome is not the Catholic Church.

It plainly was written before the destruction of Jerusalem, which would have been mentioned in the Epistle had that event gone before, compare Heb 13:10; and probably to churches in which the Jewish members were the more numerous, as those in Judea, and perhaps Alexandria. In the latter city were the greatest number of resident Jews next to Jerusalem. In Leontopolis, in Egypt, was another temple, with the arrangements of which, WIESELER thinks the notices in this Epistle more nearly corresponded than with those in Jerusalem. It was from Alexandria that the Epistle appears first to have come to the knowledge of Christendom. Moreover, "the Epistle to the Alexandrians," mentioned in the Canon of Muratori, may possibly be this Epistle to the Hebrews. He addresses the Jews as peculiarly "the people of God" (Heb 2:17; Heb 4:9; Heb 13:12), "the seed of Abraham," that is, as the primary stock on which Gentile believers are grafted, to which Rom 11:16-24 corresponds; but he urges them to come out of the carnal earthly Jerusalem and to realize their spiritual union to "the heavenly Jerusalem" (Heb 12:18-23; Heb 13:13).

The use of Greek rather than Hebrew is doubtless due to the Epistle being intended, not merely for the Hebrew, but for the Hellenistic Jew converts, not only in Palestine, but elsewhere; a view confirmed by the use of the Septuagint. BENGEL thinks, probably (compare 2Pe 3:15-16, explained above), the Jews primarily, though not exclusively, addressed, were those who had left Jerusalem on account of the war and were settled in Asia Minor.

The notion of its having been originally in Hebrew arose probably from its Hebrew tone, method, and topics. It is reckoned among the Epistles, not at first generally acknowledged, along with James, Second Peter, Second and Third John, Jude, and Revelation. A beautiful link exists between these Epistles and the universally acknowledged Epistles. Hebrews unites the ordinances of Leviticus with their antitypical Gospel fulfilment. James is the link between the highest doctrines of Christianity and the universal law of moral duty--a commentary on the Sermon on the Mount--harmonizing the decalogue law of Moses, and the revelation to Job and Elias, with the Christian law of liberty. Second Peter links the teaching of Peter with that of Paul. Jude links the earliest unwritten to the latest written Revelation. The two shorter Epistles to John, like Philemon, apply Christianity to the minute details of the Christian life, showing that Christianity can sanctify all earthly relations.

JFB: Hebrews (Outline)

• THE HIGHEST OF ALL REVELATIONS IS GIVEN US NOW IN THE SON OF GOD, WHO IS GREATER THAN THE ANGELS, AND WHO, HAVING COMPLETED REDEMPTION, SITS ENTHRONED AT GOD'S RIGHT HAND. (Heb 1:1-14)
• DANGER OF NEGLECTING SO GREAT SALVATION, FIRST SPOKEN BY CHRIST; TO WHOM, NOT TO ANGELS, THE NEW DISPENSATION WAS SUBJECTED; THOUGH HE WAS FOR A TIME HUMBLED BELOW THE ANGELS: THIS HUMILIATION TOOK PLACE BY DIVINE NECESSITY FOR OUR SALVATION. (Heb. 2:1-18)
• THE SON OF GOD GREATER THAN MOSES, WHEREFORE UNBELIEF TOWARDS HIM WILL INCUR A HEAVIER PUNISHMENT THAN BEFELL UNBELIEVING ISRAEL IN THE WILDERNESS. (Heb. 3:1-19)
• THE PROMISE OF GOD'S REST IS FULLY REALIZED THROUGH CHRIST: LET US STRIVE TO OBTAIN IT BY HIM, OUR SYMPATHIZING HIGH PRIEST. (Heb. 4:1-16)
• CHRIST'S HIGH PRIESTHOOD; NEEDED QUALIFICATIONS; MUST BE A MAN; MUST NOT HAVE ASSUMED THE DIGNITY HIMSELF, BUT HAVE BEEN APPOINTED BY GOD; THEIR LOW SPIRITUAL PERCEPTIONS A BAR TO PAUL'S SAYING ALL HE MIGHT ON CHRIST'S MELCHISEDEC-LIKE PRIESTHOOD. (Heb 5:1-14)
• WARNING AGAINST RETROGRADING, WHICH SOON LEADS TO APOSTASY; ENCOURAGEMENT TO STEADFASTNESS FROM GOD'S FAITHFULNESS TO HIS WORD AND OATH. (Heb 6:1-14)
• CHRIST'S HIGH PRIESTHOOD AFTER THE ORDER OF MELCHISEDEC SUPERIOR TO AARON'S. (Heb. 7:1-28)
• CHRIST, THE HIGH PRIEST IN THE TRUE SANCTUARY, SUPERSEDING THE LEVITICAL PRIESTHOOD; THE NEW RENDERS OBSOLETE THE OLD COVENANT. (Heb 8:1-13)
• INFERIORITY OF THE OLD TO THE NEW COVENANT IN THE MEANS OF ACCESS TO GOD: THE BLOOD OF BULLS AND GOATS OF NO REAL AVAIL: THE BLOOD OF CHRIST ALL-SUFFICIENT TO PURGE AWAY SIN, WHENCE FLOWS OUR HOPE OF HIS APPEARING AGAIN FOR OUR PERFECT SALVATION. (Heb. 9:1-28)
• PROOF OF AND ENLARGEMENT ON, THE "ETERNAL REDEMPTION" MENTIONED IN. Heb 9:12 (Heb. 9:13-28)
• CONCLUSION OF THE FOREGOING ARGUMENT. THE YEARLY RECURRING LAW SACRIFICES CANNOT PERFECT THE WORSHIPPER, BUT CHRIST'S ONCE-FOR-ALL OFFERING CAN. (Heb. 10:1-39) Previously the oneness of Christ's offering was shown; now is shown its perfection as contrasted with the law sacrifices.
• DEFINITION OF THE FAITH JUST SPOKEN OF (Heb 10:39): EXAMPLES FROM THE OLD COVENANT FOR OUR PERSEVERANCE IN FAITH. (Heb. 11:1-40) Description of the great things which faith (in its widest sense: not here restricted to faith in the Gospel sense) does for us. Not a full definition of faith in its whole nature, but a description of its great characteristics in relation to the subject of Paul's exhortation here, namely, to perseverance.
• EXHORTATION TO FOLLOW THE WITNESSES OF FAITH JUST MENTIONED: NOT TO FAINT IN TRIALS: TO REMOVE ALL BITTER ROOTS OF SIN: FOR WE ARE UNDER, NOT A LAW OF TERROR, BUT THE GOSPEL OF GRACE, TO DESPISE WHICH WILL BRING THE HEAVIER PENALTIES, IN PROPORTION TO OUR GREATER PRIVILEGES. (Heb. 12:1-29)
• EXHORTATION TO VARIOUS GRACES, ESPECIALLY CONSTANCY IN FAITH, FOLLOWING JESUS AMIDST REPROACHES. CONCLUSION, WITH PIECES OF INTELLIGENCE AND SALUTATIONS. (Heb. 13:1-25)

TSK: Hebrews 3 (Chapter Introduction)

Overview

Heb 3:1, Christ is more worthy than Moses; Heb 3:7, therefore if we believe not in him, we shall be more worthy punishment than hardhearted Israel.

Poole: Hebrews 3 (Chapter Introduction)

CHAPTER 3

MHCC: Hebrews (Book Introduction)

This epistle shows Christ as the end, foundation, body, and truth of the figures of the law, which of themselves were no virtue for the soul. The great truth set forth in this epistle is that Jesus of Nazareth is the true God. The unconverted Jews used many arguments to draw their converted brethren from the Christian faith. They represented the law of Moses as superior to the Christian dispensation, and spoke against every thing connected with the Saviour. The apostle, therefore, shows the superiority of Jesus of Nazareth, as the Son of God, and the benefits from his sufferings and death as the sacrifice for sin, so that the Christian religion is much more excellent and perfect than that of Moses. And the principal design seems to be, to bring the converted Hebrews forward in the knowledge of the gospel, and thus to establish them in the Christian faith, and to prevent their turning from it, against which they are earnestly warned. But while it contains many things suitable to the Hebrews of early times, it also contains many which can never cease to interest the church of God; for the knowledge of Jesus Christ is the very marrow and kernel of all the Scriptures. The ceremonial law is full of Christ, and all the gospel is full of Christ; the blessed lines of both Testaments meet in Him; and how they both agree and sweetly unite in Jesus Christ, is the chief object of the epistle to the Hebrews to discover.

MHCC: Hebrews 3 (Chapter Introduction)

(Heb 3:1-6) The superior worth and dignity of Christ above Moses is shown.

(Heb 3:7-13) The Hebrews are warned of the sin and danger of unbelief.

(Heb 3:14-19) And of necessity of faith in Christ, and of stedfastly following him.

Matthew Henry: Hebrews (Book Introduction)

An Exposition, with Practical Observations, of The Epistle to the Hebrews

Concerning this epistle we must enquire, I. Into the divine authority of it; for this has been questioned by some, whose distempered eyes could not bear the light of it, or whose errors have been confuted by it; such as the Arians, who deny the Godhead and self-existence of Christ; and the Socinians, who deny his satisfaction; but, after all the attempts of such men to disparage this epistle, the divine original of it shines forth with such strong and unclouded rays that he who runs may read it is an eminent part of the canon of scripture. The divinity of the matter, the sublimity of the style, the excellency of the design, the harmony of this with other parts of scripture, and its general reception in the church of God in all ages - these are the evidences of its divine authority. II. As to the divine amanuensis or penman of this epistle, we are not so certain; it does not bear the name of any in the front of it, as the rest of the epistles do, and there has been some dispute among the learned to whom they should ascribe it. Some have assigned it to Clemens of Rome; other to Luke; and many to Barnabas, thinking that the style and manner of expression is very agreeable to the zealous, authoritative, affectionate temper that Barnabas appears to be of, in the account we have of him in the acts of the Apostles; and one ancient father quotes an expression out of this epistle as the words of Barnabas. But it is generally assigned to the apostle Paul; and some later copies and translations have put Paul's name in the title. In the primitive times it was generally ascribed to him, and the style and scope of it very well agree with his spirit, who was a person of a clear head and a warm heart, whose main end and endeavour it was to exalt Christ. Some think that the apostle Peter refers to this epistle, and proves Paul to be the penman of it, by telling the Hebrews, to whom he wrote, of Paul's having written to them, 2Pe 3:15. We read of no other epistle that he ever wrote to them but this. And though it has been objected that, since Paul put his name to all his other epistles, he would not have omitted it here; yet others have well answered that he, being the apostle of the Gentiles, who were odious to the Jews, might think fit to conceal his name, lest their prejudices against him might hinder them from reading and weighing it as they ought to do. III. As to the scope and design of this epistle, it is very evident that it was clearly to inform the minds, and strongly to confirm the judgment, of the Hebrews in the transcendent excellency of the gospel above the law, and so to take them off from the ceremonies of the law, to which they were so wedded, of which they were so fond, that they even doted on them, and those of them who were Christians retained too much of the old leaven, and needed to be purged from it. The design of this epistle was to persuade and press the believing Hebrews to a constant adherence to the Christian faith, and perseverance in it, notwithstanding all the sufferings they might meet with in so doing. In order to this, the apostle speaks much of the excellency of the author of the gospel, the glorious Jesus, whose honour he advances, and whom he justly prefers before all others, showing him to be all in all, and this in lofty strains of holy rhetoric. It must be acknowledged that there are many things in this epistle hard to be understood, but the sweetness we shall find therein will make us abundant amends for all the pains we take to understand it. And indeed, if we compare all the epistles of the New Testament, we shall not find any of them more replenished with divine, heavenly matter than this to the Hebrews.

Matthew Henry: Hebrews 3 (Chapter Introduction)

In this chapter the apostle applies what he had said in the chapter foregoing concerning the priesthood of Christ, I. In a serious pathetic exhortation that this great high priest, who was discovered to them, might be seriously considered by them (Heb 3:1-6). II. He then adds many weighty counsels and cautions (Heb 3:7 to the end).

Barclay: Hebrews (Book Introduction)

INTRODUCTION TO THE LETTER TO THE HEBREWS

God Fulfils Himself In Many Ways

Religion has never been the same thing to all men. "God," as Tennyson said, "fulfils himself in many ways." George Russell said: "There are as many ways of climbing to the stars as there are people to climb." There is a well-known saying which tells us very truly and very beautifully that "God has his own secret stairway into every heart." Broadly speaking, there have been four great conceptions of religion.

(i) To some men it is inward fellowship with God. It is a union with Christ so close and so intimate that the Christian can be said to live in Christ and Christ to live in him. That was Paulconception of religion. To him it was something which mystically united him with God.

(ii) To some religion is what gives a man a standard for life and a power to reach that standard. On the whole that is what religion was to James and to Peter. It was something which showed them what life ought to be and which enabled them to attain it.

(iii) To some men religion is the highest satisfaction of their minds. Their minds seek and seek until they find that they can rest in God. It was Plato who said that "the unexamined life is the life not worth living." There are some men who must understand or perish. On the whole that is what religion was to John. The first chapter of his gospel is one of the greatest attempts in the world to state religion in a way that really satisfies the mind.

(iv) To some men religion is access to God. It is that which removes the barriers and opens the door to his living presence. That is what religion was to the writer of the Letter to the Hebrews. With that idea his mind was dominated. He found in Christ the one person who could take him into the very presence of God. His whole idea of religion is summed up in the great passage in Heb_10:19-23 .

"Therefore, since we have confidence to enter the sanctuary by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way which he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith."

If the writer to the Hebrews had one text it was: "Let us draw near."

The Double Background

The writer to the Hebrews had a double background into both of which this idea came. He had a Greek background. Ever since the time of Plato, five hundred years before, the Greeks had been haunted by the contrast between the real and the unreal, the seen and the unseen, the temporal and the eternal. It was the Greek idea that somewhere there was a real world of which this was only a shadowy and imperfect copy. Plato had the idea that somewhere there was a world of perfect forms or ideas or patterns, of which everything in this world was an imperfect copy. To take a simple instance, somewhere there was laid up the pattern of a perfect chair of which all the chairs in this world were inadequate copies. Plato said: "The Creator of the world had designed and carried out his work according to an unchangeable and eternal pattern of which the world is but a copy." Philo, who took his ideas from Plato, said: "God knew from the beginning that a fair copy could never come into being apart from a fair pattern; and that none of the objects perceivable by sense could be flawless which was not modelled after an archetype and spiritual idea, and thus, when he prepared to create this visible world, he shaped beforehand the ideal world in order to constitute the corporeal after the incorporeal and godlike pattern." When Cicero was talking of the laws men know and use on earth, he said: "We have no real and life-like likeness of real law and genuine justice; all we enjoy is a shadow and a sketch."

The thinkers of the ancient world all had this idea that somewhere there is a real world of which this one is only a kind of imperfect copy. Here we can only guess and grope; here we can work only with copies and imperfect things. But in the unseen world there are the real and perfect things. When Newman died they erected a statue to him, and on the pedestal of it are the Latin words: Ab umbris et imaginibus ad veritatem, "Away from the shadows and the semblances to the truth." If that be so, clearly the great task of this life is to get away from the shadows and the imperfections and to reach reality. This is exactly what the writer to the Hebrews claims that Jesus Christ can enable us to do. To the Greek the writer to the Hebrews said: "All your lives you have been trying to get from the shadows to the truth. That is just what Jesus Christ can enable you to do."

The Hebrew Background

But the writer to the Hebrews also had a Jewish background. To the Jew it was always dangerous to come too near to God. "Man," said God to Moses, "shall not see me and live" (Exo_33:20 ). It was Jacobastonished exclamation at Peniel: "I have seen god face to face and yet my life is preserved" (Gen_32:30 ). When Manoah realised who his visitor had been, he said in terror to his wife: "We shall surely die, for we have seen God." The great day of Jewish worship was the Day of Atonement. That was the one day of all the year when the High Priest entered the Holy of Holies where the very presence of God was held to dwell. No man ever entered in except the High Priest, and he only on that day. When he did, the law laid it down that he must not linger in the Holy Place for long "lest he put Israel in terror." It was dangerous to enter the presence of God and if a man waited too long he might be struck dead.

In view of this there entered into Jewish thought the idea of a covenant. God, in his grace and in a way that was quite unmerited, approached the nation of Israel and offered them a special relationship with himself. But this unique access to God was conditional on the observance by the people of the law that he gave to them. We can see this relationship being entered into and this law being accepted in the dramatic scene in Exo_24:3-8 .

So then Israel had access to God, but only if she kept the law. To break the law was sin, and sin put up a barrier which stopped the way to God. It was to take away that barrier that the system of the Levitical priesthood and sacrifices was constructed. The law was given; man sinned; the barrier was up; the sacrifice was made; and the sacrifice was designed to open the closed way to God. But the experience of life was that this was precisely what sacrifice could not do. It was proof of the ineffectiveness of the whole system that sacrifice had to go on and on and on. It was a losing and ineffective battle to remove the barrier that sin had erected between man and God.

The Perfect Priest And The Perfect Sacrifice

What men needed was a perfect priest and a perfect sacrifice, someone who was such that he could bring to God a sacrifice which once and for all opened the way of access to him. That, said the writer to the Hebrews, is exactly what Christ did. He is the perfect priest because he is at once perfectly man and perfectly God. In his manhood he can take man to God and in his Godhead he can take God to man. He has no sin. The perfect sacrifice he brings is the sacrifice of himself, a sacrifice so perfect that it never needs to be made again. To the Jew the writer to the Hebrews said: "All your lives you have been looking for the perfect priest who can bring the perfect sacrifice and give you access to God. You have him in Jesus Christ and in him alone."

To the Greek the writer to the Hebrews said: "You are looking for the way from the shadows to reality; you will find it in Jesus Christ." To the Jew the writer to the Hebrews said: "You are looking for that perfect sacrifice which will open the way to God which your sins have closed; you will find it in Jesus Christ." Jesus was the one person who gave access to reality and access to God. That is the key-thought of this letter.

The Riddle Of The New Testament

So much is clear but when we turn to the other questions of introduction Hebrews is wrapped in mystery. E. F. Scott wrote: "The Epistle to the Hebrews is in many respects the riddle of the New Testament." When it was written, to whom it was written, and who wrote it are questions at which we can only guess. The very history of the letter shows how its mystery is to be treated with a certain reserve and suspicion. It was a long time before it became an unquestioned New Testament book. The first list of New Testament books, The Muratorian Canon, compiled about A.D. 170, does not mention it at all. The great Alexandrian scholars. Clement and Origen, knew it and loved it but agreed that its place as scripture was disputed. Of the great African fathers, Cyprian never mentions it and Tertullian knows that its place was disputed. Eusebius, the great Church historian, says that it ranked among the disputed books. It was not until the time of Athanasius, in the middle of the fourth century, that Hebrews was definitely accepted as a New Testament book, and even Luther was not too sure about it. It is strange to think how long this great book had to wait for full recognition.

When Was It Written?

The only information we have comes from the letter itself. Clearly it is written for what we might call second generation Christians (Heb_2:3 ). The story was transmitted to its recipients by those who had heard the Lord. The community to whom it was written were not new to the Christian faith; they ought to have been mature (Heb_5:12 ). They must have had a long history for they are summoned to look back on the former days (Heb_10:32 ). They had a great history behind them and heroic martyr figures on which they ought to look back for inspiration (Heb_13:7 ).

The thing that will help us most in dating the letter is its references to persecution. It is clear that at one time their leaders had died for their faith (Heb_13:7 ). It is clear that they themselves had not yet suffered persecution, for they had not yet resisted to the point of shedding their blood (Heb_12:4 ). It is also clear that they have had ill-treatment to suffer for they have had to undergo the pillaging of their goods (Heb_10:32-34 ). And it is clear from the outlook of the letter that there is a risk of persecution about to come. From all that it is safe to say that this letter must have been written between two persecutions, in days when Christians were not actually persecuted, but were none the less unpopular with their fellow-men. Now the first persecution was in the time of Nero in the year A.D. 64; and the next was in the time of Domitian about A.D. 85. Somewhere between these dates this letter was written, more likely nearer to Domitian. If we take the date as A.D. 80 we shall not be far wrong.

To Whom Was It Written?

Once again we have to be dependent on such hints as we get from the letter itself. One thing is certain--it cannot have been written to any of the great Churches or the name of the place could not have so completely vanished. Let us set down what we know. The letter was written to a long-established Church (Heb_5:12 ). It was written to a Church which had at some time in the past suffered persecution (Heb_10:32-34 ). It was written to a Church which had had great days and great teachers and leaders (Heb_13:7 ). It was written to a Church which had not been directly founded by the apostles (Heb_2:3 ). It was written to a Church which had been marked by generosity and liberality (Heb_6:10 ).

We do have one direct hint. Amongst the closing greetings we find the sentence, as the Revised Standard Version translates it: "Those who come from Italy send you greetings" (Heb_13:24 ). Taken by itself that phrase could mean either that the letter was written from Italy or that it was written to Italy, the greater likelihood is that it was written to Italy. Suppose I am in Glasgow and am writing to some place abroad. I would not be likely to say, "All the people from Glasgow greet you." I would be much more likely to say, "All the people in Glasgow greet you." But suppose I am somewhere abroad where there is a little colony of Glaswegians, I might well say, "All the people from Glasgow send you their greetings." So then we may say that the letter was written to Italy; and if it was written to Italy it was almost certainly written to Rome.

But quite certainly it was not written to the Church at Rome as a whole. If it had been it would never have lost its title. Furthermore, it gives the unmistakable impression that it was written to a small body of like-minded persons. Moreover, it was obviously written to a scholarly group. From Heb_5:12 we can see that they had long been under instruction and were preparing themselves to become teachers of the Christian faith. Still further, Hebrews demands such a knowledge of the Old Testament that it must always have been a book written by a scholar for scholars.

When we sum it all up, we can say that Hebrews is a letter written by a great teacher to a little group or college of Christians in Rome. He was their teacher; at the moment he was separated from them and was afraid that they were drifting away from the faith; and so he wrote this letter to them. It is not so much a letter as a talk. It does not begin like Paulletters do, although it ends with greetings as a letter does. The writer himself calls it "a word of exhortation."

By Whom Was It Written?

Perhaps the most insoluble problem of all is the problem of its authorship. It was precisely that uncertainty which kept it so long on the fringes of the New Testament. The title in the earliest days was simply, "To the Hebrews." No authorname was given, no one connected it directly with the name of Paul. Clement of Alexandria used to think that Paul might have written it in Hebrew and that Luke translated it, for the style is quite different from that of Paul. Origen made a famous remark, "who wrote the Letter to the Hebrews only God knows for certain." Tertullian thought that Barnabas wrote it. Jerome said the Latin Church did not receive it as Pauland speaking of the author said, "the writer to the Hebrews whoever he was." Augustine felt the same way about it. Luther declared that Paul could never have written it because the thought was not his. Calvin said that he could not bring himself to think that this letter was a letter of Paul.

At no time in the history of the Church did men ever really think that Paul wrote Hebrews. How then did it get attached to his name? It happened very simply. When the New Testament came into its final form there was of course argument about which books were to be included and which were not. To settle it one test was used. Was a book the work of an apostle or at least the work of one who had been in direct contact with the apostles? By this time Hebrews was known and loved throughout the Church. Most people felt like Origen that God alone knew who wrote it, but they wanted it. They felt it must go into the New Testament and the only way to ensure that was to include it with the thirteen letters of Paul. Hebrews won its way into the New Testament on the grounds of its own greatness, but to get in it had to be included with the letters of Paul and come under his name. People knew quite well that it was not Paulbut they included it among his letters because no man knew who wrote it and yet it must go in.

The Author Of Hebrews

Can we guess who the author was? Many candidates have been put forward. We can only glance at three of the many suggestions.

(i) Tertullian thought that Barnabas wrote it. Barnabas was a native of Cyprus; the people of Cyprus were famous for the excellence of the Greek they spoke; and Hebrews is written in the best Greek in the New Testament. He was a Levite (Act_4:36 ) and of all men in the New Testament he would have had the closest knowledge of the priestly and sacrificial system on which the whole thought of the letter is based. He is called a son of encouragement; the Greek word is paraklesis (G3874); and Hebrews calls itself a word of paraklesis (G3874) (Heb_13:22 ). He was one of the few men acceptable to both Jews and Greeks and at home in both worlds of thought. It might be that Barnabas wrote this letter, but if so it is strange that his name should vanish in connection with it.

(ii) Luther was sure that Apollos was the author. Apollos, according to the New Testament mention of him, was a Jew, born at Alexandria, an eloquent man and mighty in the scriptures (Act_18:24 ; 1Co_1:12 ; 1Co_3:4 ). The man who wrote this letter knew the scriptures; he was eloquent; and he thought and argued in the way that a cultured Alexandrian would. The man who wrote Hebrews was certainly a man like Apollos in thought and in background.

(iii) The most romantic of all conjectures is that of Harnack, the great German scholar. He thought that maybe Aquila and Priscilla wrote it between them. Aquila was a teacher (Act_18:26 ). Their house in Rome was a Church in itself (Rom_16:5 ). Harnack thought that that is why the letter begins with no greetings and why the writername has vanished--because the main author of Hebrews was a woman and a woman was not allowed to teach.

But when we come to the end of conjecture, we are compelled to say as Origen said seventeen hundred years ago, that only God knows who wrote Hebrews. To us the author must remain a voice and nothing more; but we can be thankful to God for the work of this great nameless one who wrote with incomparable skill and beauty about the Jesus who is the way to reality and the way to God.

FURTHER READING

Hebrews

J. Moffatt, Hebrews (ICC; G)

W. Neil, Hebrews (Tch: E)

J. H. Robinson, Hebrews (MC; E)

Abbreviations

ICC: International Critical Commentary

MC: Moffatt Commentary

Tch: Torch Commentary

E: English Text

G: Greek Text

Barclay: Hebrews 3 (Chapter Introduction)

Greater Than The Greatest (Heb_3:1-6)

While Today Still Lasts (Heb_3:7-19)

Constable: Hebrews (Book Introduction)

Introduction

Historical background

The writer said that he and those to whom he wrote had come to faith in Jesus Christ through the preaching of others who had heard Jesus (2:3-4). Apparently those preachers had since died (13:7). The original readers had been Christians for an extended period of time (5:12). So probably the earliest possible date of composition was about A.D. 60.

Some scholars believe that the book must have been written before A.D. 70 since the writer spoke of the sacrifices as being offered when he wrote (7:27-28; 8:3-5; 9:7-8, 25; 10:1-3, 8; 13:10-11). However, the writer showed no interest in the temple but spoke of the sacrifices as the Israelites offered them when the tabernacle stood. He evidently used the present tense to give these reference a timeless quality rather than indicating that temple worship was still in practice. Nevertheless a date of composition before A.D. 70 seems probable.¹

"The best argument for the supersession of the old covenant would have been the destruction of the Temple."²

The reference to Timothy's release from imprisonment (13:23) appears to date the book later in the life of that outstanding man.³ No other New Testament writer mentioned his imprisonment. The imprisonment of Christians seems to have been a well-known fact of life (10:34; 13:3). This was true after Nero launched an empire-wide persecution in A.D. 64. All of these factors when taken together seem to point to a writing date near A.D. 68-69.

As to authorship, most students of this subject are not dogmatic or even certain for good reason.⁴ As early as Origen, the Alexandrian church father who died about A.D. 255, no one knew who the writer was for sure. After careful study of the authorship of Hebrews, Origen wrote, "But who it was that really wrote the epistle, God only knows."⁵

"The language of the Epistle is both in vocabulary and style purer and more vigorous than that of any other book of the New Testament.

". . . The vocabulary is singularly copious. It includes a large number of words which are not found elsewhere in the apostolic writings, very many of which occur in this book only among the Greek Scriptures . . ."⁶

"All that can be said with certainty is that Hebrews was composed by a creative theologian who was well trained in the exposition of the Greek Scriptures. . . . He was surely a hellenistic Jewish-Christian."⁷

Commentators have made cases for the writer being Paul, Apollos, Barnabas, Luke, Peter, Jude, Stephen, Silvanus (Silas), Epaphras (Epaphroditus), Philip the Evangelist, Priscilla, Mary the mother of Jesus, Clement of Rome, Aristion, and others.⁸ None of these suggestions has found enthusiastic general reception for various reasons. Probably we should be content to share Origen's agnosticism on this question and look forward to getting the answer in heaven.⁹

The early Christians originally accepted all the New Testament books as inspired by God because they contained apostolic teaching. For this reason the writer was probably either an apostle or a close associate of at least one of the apostles (cf. 13:23).

The original recipients of the epistle are also unknown. The title "The Epistle to the Hebrews" implies that they were Jewish Christians. This title is ancient and is probably a safe guide to the identity of the first readers. References in the epistle also suggest that the original readers were mainly Jewish. The writer assumed that they were very familiar with the institutions of Judaism. The warnings against turning away from Jesus Christ back to the Old Covenant also imply this identity. Other indications are the emphasis on the superior priesthood of Jesus and the many appeals to the authority of the Hebrew Scriptures. However the brand of Judaism in view seems to have been Hellenistic rather than Palestinian.

The reference to the generosity of the readers and their helping other believers (6:10) suggests that the original audience did not live in Palestine. The Palestinian churches had a reputation for needing material assistance rather than for giving it to other Christians (cf. Rom. 15:25-31; 1 Cor. 16:3). Probably they were Jews of the Diaspora therefore. This conclusion has support in the writer's consistent use of the Septuagint Old Testament version. Hellenistic Jews used this translation widely, but Palestinian Jews did not use it as much.¹⁰

In most of the New Testament churches there was a mixture of Jewish and Gentile believers. The appeal of this epistle would certainly have been great to Gentiles tempted to return to paganism as it would have been to Jews facing temptation to return to Judaism. However the writer's primary concern appears to have been that his Jewish readers were failing to appreciate that Christianity is the divinely revealed successor to Judaism. He did not want them to abandon Christianity and return to Judaism.

Probably the letter originally went to a house-church outside Palestine that had a strong Hellenistic Jewish population. This church may have been in or near Galatia in view of conditions that existed there that the Epistle to the Galatians reflects. However they may very well have lived in another area. Many scholars believe that the letter went first to a church in or near Rome.¹¹

In view of 13:24b it has seemed to some scholars that the writer was in Italy when he sent this epistle, perhaps in Rome. However the expression "from Italy" in that verse probably refers to those living outside Italy, such as Priscilla and Aquilla who were Jews forced to leave Rome by Emperor Claudius' edict in A.D. 49 (Acts 18:2).¹² This expression suggests that the writer was not in Italy when he wrote.

Purpose

Many students of the book have observed that Hebrews is more of a sermon in written form than an epistle in the traditional New Testament sense.¹³ The writer even described it as a "word of exhortation" (13:22). He urged the original readers to persevere in their faith rather than turning from Christianity and returning to Judaism. A note of urgency and pastoral concern permeates the whole letter. This tone comes through especially strongly in the five warning passages and in the encouragements that follow these warnings.

". . . the purpose of the writer to the Hebrews is not to give us an interpretation of Old Testament prophecy. . . . Using material not from the prophets but primarily from the Psalms, with other materials added to elaborate the argument, the writer's goal was to establish the superiority of the gospel in contrast to all that went before, particularly the levitical system. The primary evidence of the supremacy of Christianity is presented in its finality. Coming to Christ means final access to God without any barrier."¹⁴

". . . Hebrews is a sermon rooted in actual life. It is addressed to a local gathering of men and women who discovered that they could be penetrated by adverse circumstances over which they exercised no control. It throbs with an awareness of the privilege and the cost of discipleship. It is a sensitive pastoral response to the sagging faith of older and tired individuals who were in danger of relinquishing their Christian commitment. It seeks to strengthen them in the face of a new crisis so that they may stand firm in their faith. It warns them of the judgment of God they would incur if they were to waver in their commitment. Exhortations to covenant fidelity and perseverance are grounded in a fresh understanding of the significance of Jesus and his sacrifice."¹⁵

Message¹⁶

We could summarize the message of this epistle in the following words. We will only realize our full eternal reward as believers if we appreciate the greatness of Jesus Christ and continue to trust God rather than turning away from Him in this life.

The ultimate goal that the writer had in view was our full eternal reward as believers. I do not believe it was the conversion of the unsaved members of his audience. He addressed his readers consistently as believers. He wrote to encourage Christians to persevere faithfully so we will receive all that God wants to give us at the judgment seat of Christ. Our rewards are at issue in this letter. He did not want us to suffer loss but to enter into our full inheritance, our full rest, our full salvation.

To do this he wrote that we must know one thing and do two things, one positive and one negative.

We must know the greatness of Jesus Christ. In this epistle the writer presented Him as the greatest revelation that God has given mankind. God's revelation in His Son is superior to all other revelations He has given in three respects.

1. It supersedes all other revelations: God's revelation through angels (the Mosaic Law), His revelation through humans (the prophets), and His revelation through rituals (the Old Covenant). When Jesus Christ came to reveal God, He brought revelation that superseded what had preceded Him.

2. God's revelation in His Son is sufficient to meet every basic human need. God spoke through His Son, so the need for a prophet (a revealer of God) no longer exists. He established a new Covenant, so the need for a priest (a mediator for man) no longer exists. Moreover He exalted His Son to His right hand, so the need for a king (a righteous ruler) no longer exists.

3. God's revelation in His Son insures final victory in every basic sphere. The individual (the human order) attains perfection through the Son. Society (the social order) will experience perfection through the Son. The universe (the cosmic order) will reach perfection through the Son.

This is what we need to know objectively to do subjectively what is necessary to gain our full reward as believers.

What we must do is continue to trust God. Hebrews places great emphasis on the importance of living by faith. It teaches us three things about faith.

1. Hebrews defines faith. Faith is volitional surrender and obedience to God regardless of appearances. It is not just intellectual conviction. It is the action of the will that expresses intellectual conviction. This epistle regards unbelief as disobedience as does all of Scripture. People in the past who lived by faith made decisions and acted because they believed God in spite of appearances (ch. 11).

2. Hebrews also illustrates faith. It describes faith as doing, as suffering, and as waiting. These are the primary activities of faith that the writer of Hebrews emphasized. They are progressively more difficult. It is harder to suffer persecution for our faith than it is to obey God when obedience does not involve suffering. It is most difficult to keep on trusting God when suffering does not end. Waiting for God to fulfill His promises is hardest of all when our hopes do not materialize (e.g., Christ's return).

3. In addition, Hebrews vindicates faith. It assures us of the ultimate triumph of faith. People in the past who acted in faith achieved. People who suffered for their faith triumphed. People who waited in faith received their reward.

On the positive side we need to continue to trust God to realize our full reward as believers.

What we must not do is turn away from God. This is the negative responsibility that the letter also stresses. If we apostatize, we will lose our full reward. Hebrews teaches us three things about apostasy (as it does about faith).

1. This epistle defines apostasy descriptively. It is the opposite of faith. It consists of disobedience because of appearances (e.g., the 10 spies; cf. Jude). Apostasy for a Christian is turning away from faith having previously embraced faith. An apostate, however, can be a believer or an unbeliever.

2. Hebrews also illustrates apostasy in the same three ways it illustrates faith. Apostasy acts. It involves a deliberate turning away. It also suffers, not now but in the future because of what the apostate loses. It also waits, even though it lives for the present rather than for the future.

3. Likewise Hebrews condemns apostasy. It assures us of the ultimate tragedy of apostasy. Apostates may achieve what they want in the present, namely success, but they lose what is far more valuable in the future. They may avoid suffering now, but later they will be sorry. They may not want to wait for their reward now, but they will wait forever for it later and never get it.

This is the central message of the epistle. We will only realize our full eternal reward as believers if we appreciate the greatness of Jesus Christ and continue to trust God rather than turning away from Him.

The writer urged his readers to persevere in faith by using two appeals, one negative and one positive.

The first appeal is negative: the warnings. There are five warning passages in Hebrews. Each one warns of the danger of apostasy from a different angle.

1. The first passage (2:1-4) warns of the danger of drifting away from the truth (2:1). It pictures a ship dragging its anchor. The tides of our age can draw us away from our moorings. We need to keep on standing firm in faith (cf. Col. 1:23).

2. The second passage (3:7-19) warns of the danger of disbelief (3:12). Disbelief results in heart hardening (3:13). We need to keep on believing rather than ceasing to believe (cf. Luke 17:3).

3. The third passage (5:11-6:12) warns of the danger of immaturity (5:12). When we do not put truth into practice, we do not just remain in the same spiritual state. We regress. Therefore we need to keep on growing (cf. 2 Pet. 3:18).

4. The fourth passage (10:19-39) warns of the danger of willful sinning (10:26-27). If we abandon confidence in the efficacy of Jesus Christ's sacrifice, there is no other sacrifice that can protect us from God's judgment as believers. We need to keep on submitting to God (cf. Rom. 6:16).

5. The fifth passage (12:14-29) warns of the danger of unresponsiveness (12:25). The message of this letter demands positive response. If we do not respond positively, we will lose part of our reward (12:17). We need to keep on obeying God (cf. Titus 3:8).

The second appeal is positive: the encouragements. Accompanying each of the warning passages is at least one word of encouragement. The writer balanced his negative warnings with positive words of encouragement.

1. The first passage (2:1-4) encourages with a reminder of God's confirming His promises with miracles in the apostolic age (2:3b-4).

2. The second passage (3:7-19) encourages by reminding us of Jesus' example of faithfulness (3:1-6) and our resources as believers (4:12-16).

3. The third passage (5:11-6:12) encourages with a reminder of the readers' past faithfulness (6:9-12) and God's firm promises (6:13-20).

4. The fourth passage (10:19-39) also encourages with a reminder of the readers' past perseverance (10:32-39).

5. The fifth passage (12:14-29) encourages by reminding us of Jesus' example of perseverance (12:1-2) and the divine reason for discipline (12:3-11).

By way of application let me make three observations based on the three major revelations in the epistle.

1. An appreciation for Jesus Christ is foundational to faithful perseverance. The reason many Christians turn away from the Lord is that they do not appreciate His greatness. Preach Christ in your ministry.

2. We need to emphasize the Christian's hope more in our ministries. We live in a present oriented culture that values immediate self-gratification. Many Christians are apostatizing because they do not appreciate the reward they will receive if they remain faithful to the Lord. This life is preparation for the next.

3. We need to realize that God will judge Christians who apostatize. We will not lose our salvation, but we will lose much that we will wish we never gave up if we stop walking by faith.

Outline¹⁷

I. The culminating revelation of God 1:1-2:18

A. The agent of God's final revelation 1:1-4

B. The superiority of the Son 1:5-14

C. The danger of negligence (the first warning) 2:1-4

D. The humiliation and glory of God's Son 2:5-9

E. The Son's solidarity with humanity 2:10-18

II. The high priestly character of the Son 3:1-5:10

A. The faithfulness of the Son 3:1-6

B. The danger of disbelief (the second warning) 3:7-19

C. The possibility of rest for God's people 4:1-14

D. The compassion of the Son 4:15-5:10

III. The high priestly office of the Son 5:11-10:39

A. The danger of immaturity (the third warning) 5:11-6:12

1. The readers' condition 5:11-14

2. The needed remedy 6:1-3

3. The dreadful alternative 6:4-8

4. The encouraging prospect 6:9-12

B. The basis for confidence and steadfastness 6:13-20

C. The Son's high priestly ministry 7:1-10:18

1. The person of our high priest ch. 7

2. The work of our high priest chs. 8-9

3. The accomplishment of our high priest 10:1-18

D. The danger of willful sinning (the fourth warning) 10:19-39

1. The three-fold admonition 10:19-25

2. The warning of judgment 10:26-31

3. The encouragement to persevere 10:32-39

IV. The proper response 11:1-12:13

A. Perseverance in faith ch. 11

1. Faith in the antediluvian era 11:1-7

2. Faith in the patriarchal era 11:8-22

3. Faith in the Mosaic era 11:23-31

4. Faith in subsequent eras 11:32-40

B. Demonstrating necessary endurance 12:1-13

1. The example of Jesus 12:1-3

2. The proper view of trials 12:4-11

3. The need for greater strength 12:12-13

V. Life in a hostile world 12:14-13:25

A. The danger of unresponsiveness (the fifth warning) 12:14-29

1. The goal of peace 12:14-17

2. The superiority of the New Covenant 12:18-24

3. The consequences of apostasy 12:25-29

B. Life within the church ch. 13

1. Pastoral reminders 13:1-21

2. Personal explanations 13:22-25

Constable: Hebrews

Hebrews

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Walvoord, John F. Major Bible Prophecies. Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 1991.

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Ware, Bruce A. "The New Covenant and the People(s) of God." In Dispensationalism, Israel and the Church: The Search for Definition, pp. 68-97. Edited by Craig A. Blaising and Darrell L. Bock. Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 1992.

Westcott, Brooke Foss. The Epistle to the Hebrews. Reprint ed. Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., n.d.

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Copyright 2003 by Thomas L. Constable

Haydock: Hebrews (Book Introduction)

THE

EPISTLE OF ST. PAUL, THE APOSTLE,

TO THE HEBREWS.

INTRODUCTION.

The Catholic Church hath received and declared this Epistle to be part of the Canonical Scriptures of the New Testament, though some doubted of it in the first ages [centuries], especially in the Latin Church, witness St. Jerome on the 8th chap. of Isaias; Luther and most of his followers reject it, but the Calvinists and the Church of England have received it. Others, who received this Epistle in the first ages [centuries], doubted whether it was written by St. Paul, but thought it was written by St. Barnabas, or by St. Clement, or St. Luke, or at least that St. Paul only furnished the matter and the order of it, and that St. Luke wrote it, and St. Paul afterwards read it and approved it. It was doubted again, whether this Epistle was first written in Hebrew (that is, in Syro-Chaldaic, then spoken by the Jews) or in Greek, as Estius pretends. The ancient writers say it was written in Hebrew, but that it was very soon after translated into Greek either by St. Luke or St. Clement, pope and martyr. Cornelius a Lapide thinks the Syriac which we have in the Polyglot to have been the original; but this is commonly rejected. See Tillemont on St. Paul, Art. 46, and note 72; P. Alleman on the first to the Hebrews, &c. St. Paul wrote this letter about the year 63, and either at Rome or in Italy. See Chap. xii. 24. He wrote it to the Christians in Palestine, who had most of them been Jews before. This seems the reason why he puts not his name to it, nor calls himself their apostle, his name being rather odious to the Jews, and because he was chosen to be the apostle of the Gentiles. The main design is to shew that every one's justification and salvation is to be hoped for by the grace and merits of Christ, and not from the law of Moses, as he had shewn in his Epistles to the Galatians and the Romans, where we many observe this kind of difference: To the Galatians he shews, that true justice cannot be had from circumcision and the ceremonies of the law: to the Romans, that even the moral precepts and works of the law were insufficient without the grace of Christ: and in this to the Hebrews, he shews that our justice could not be had from the sacrifices of the old law. As to the chief contents: He exhorts them to the faith of Christ, by shewing his dignity and pre-eminence above the Angels, and above Moses, Chap. i, ii, iii.; that Christ's priesthood was above that of Aaron, from the 4th to the 8th chap. ver. 6; that the new law and testament is preferable to the old, form thence to the middle of chap. x.; he commends faith by the example of the ancient Fathers, Chap. xi. and in the beginning of the twelfth; then he exhorts them to patience, constancy, brotherly love, &c. The like exhortations are mixed in other parts of this Epistle. (Witham) --- We must here remark, that our separated brethren, relying solely upon tradition, admit in general this Epistle into their canon of Scriptures, though they are necessitated to allow that for some centuries great doubts were entertained on the subject. According to Mr. Rogers, in his Defence of the Thirty-nine Articles, whilst several among the Protestants have rejected as apocryphal the Epistle to the Hebrews, that of James, the 2nd and 3rd of John, and Jude, others have as strenuously maintained that they ought to be admitted into the sacred canon. The Catholic Church admits them as deutero-canonical books, and of equal authority with the proto-canonical books....After the arguments had been justly weighed on both sides, they seem to have been admitted by the general consent of the Latin Church, as they had all along been admitted by the Greek Church. The canon, as it now stands, both of the Old and New Testament, we find enumerated in Pope Innocent's letter to Exuperius, bishop of Toulouse, an. 405 [the year A.D. 405], in St. Augustine, (lib. ii. de doct. christ. chap. viii.) and in the decrees of an African Council, an. 419 [the year A.D. 419], consisting of 217 bishops, who declare that in giving a catalogue of the Holy Scriptures, they only confirm and ratify what they have received from their Fathers. This canon is attributed to the third Council of Carthage, an. 397 [the year A.D. 397]. Dr. Cosin, an eminent Protestant divine, tells us in his canon of Scripture, p. 4, "that to know the books of Scripture, there is no safer course to be taken than to follow the public voice and the universal testimony of the Church." The sixth of the thirty-nine articles gives a similar rule, which excludes private judgment. And "what is this," asks Hooker, "but to acknowledge ecclesiastical tradition?" The mind of man, naturally fickle and unsettled, stands in need of a guide in the road to eternal life. I shall never hesitate, says a spirited author, to take for my guide the Catholic Church, which contains in herself the authority of past and future ages. The Syriac version of the Old and New Testament, which is deservedly allowed to be of greatest antiquity and authority, comprises the same deutero-canonical books as the canon of the Council of Trent; a convincing proof that the Church of Syria, immediately after the times of the apostles, considered them as part of the sacred canon, no less than the Catholics of the present day. For a very satisfactory account respecting the authenticity and inspiration of this Epistle, as also for an excellent commentary with notes moral, doctrinal, and critical, see a late work entitled, An Explanation of St. Paul's Epistle to the Hebrews, by the Rev. Henry Rutter. --- What can be the reason why Protestants admit the deutero-canonical books of the New and reject those of the Old Testament? --- This Epistle merits the particular attention of Christians of every denomination, since it points out to them their various duties in respect to the necessity of faith and the practice of a holy life. In opposition to the Socinians, it tends to shew not only the divinity of Jesus Christ, but also that his death was a true and real sacrifice of atonement for the sins of mankind. See Chap. i, ver. 5, &c. In opposition to other sectarists, it proves that the bloody sacrifice of Christ, once offered on the cross, though a full, perfect, and sufficient sacrifice of redemption, does not exclude the unbloody sacrifice of the Mass, by which he is a priest for ever, according to the order of Melchisedech. See Chap. v, &c. It is no less applicable to Catholics, in order to confirm them in the faith once delivered to the saints, and to point out the dreadful consequences of abandoning that religion which Jesus Christ came to establish in the world. The just man lives by faith; but if he draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him. Let us, therefore, hold fast the confession of our hope, without wavering, or forsaking our assembly, the Catholic Church, as many have done to follow Luther, Calvin, Wesley, and other separatists. But we, says the apostle, are not of them who draw back unto perdition, but of them who have faith unto the saving of the soul. (Hebrews x. 39.)

====================

Gill: Hebrews (Book Introduction)

INTRODUCTION TO HEBREWS

That this epistle was written very early appears from hence, that it was imitated by Clement of Rome, in his epistle to the Corinthians, who took whole sentences out of it; and therefore it could not be a new work, as Eusebius ^a observes: it has been denied to be authentic by some heretics, as the Marcionites and Arians, but has been generally received as such by the orthodox: some indeed doubted of it, because it was not received by the Roman church, as an epistle of the Apostle Paul ^b; though others, who have thought it was not his, as Origen, yet looked upon it as genuine ^c. It has been ascribed to different persons, as to Barnabas, to Apollos, to Luke the Evangelist, and to Clement of Rome, but without any just reason. Clement of Alexandria, a very ancient writer, asserts it to be the Apostle Paul's ^d; and his name stands in the title of it, in all R. Stephens's exemplars, and in all Beza's copies, excepting one, and so it does in the Vulgate Latin and Arabic versions; and that it is his, is highly probable from the agreement there is between this, and other epistles of his; compare Heb 1:2 with Col 1:15 and Heb 5:12 with 1Co 3:1 and Heb 12:1 with 1Co 9:24 and Heb 13:7 with 1Th 5:11, and Heb 13:9 with Eph 4:14 and Heb 13:18 with 2Co 1:12 and Heb 13:20 with Rom 15:13 and many other places; and also from the order and method of it, first treating of doctrines, and then proceeding to practical exhortations, which is the common form of Paul's epistles: to which may be added various circumstances; as that it was written from Italy, where Paul was a prisoner; and the mention the author of it makes of his bonds, and of Timothy, as well known unto him, who was Paul's companion; besides, the token of his epistles appears in this, namely, his usual salutation to the churches; see Heb 13:23. But above all, the testimony of the Apostle Peter is greatly in favour of its being his, 2Pe 3:15 from whence it clearly appears, that the Apostle Paul did write an epistle to the Hebrews; for to them Peter wrote; see 1Pe 1:1 and what epistle could it be but this? and what Peter refers to is to be found in it; see Heb 10:25 and which is written with great wisdom; in none of Paul's epistles is there a greater discovery of his knowledge of divine mysteries than in this; and in it also are things hard to be understood, Heb 5:11. The common objections to its being his are, its not bearing his name, the diversity of its style, and the author of it seeming to be not an apostle, but a disciple of the apostle's: as to his not setting his name to it, the reasons might be, because he was the apostle of the Gentiles, and not so much of the Jews; and because of the prejudice of the Jews against him, both believers, and unbelievers; wherefore had his name been to it, it might have prevented the usefulness of it to the one, and have stirred up the rage of the other: as to the difference of style, different subjects require a different style; and yet in many things there is a likeness, as before observed: and as to the author's not being an apostle, which is concluded from Heb 2:3 the word "us" there is to be understood of the believing Hebrews, the disciples of the apostle, and not inclusive of the author, by a figurative way of speaking often used by Paul; and besides, the apostle received a confirmation of the Gospel from Ananias, who might have been an hearer of Christ, though he was at first taught it by Christ himself; add to this, that whoever was the writer of it, it was written before the destruction of Jerusalem, and when several of the apostles were living, and therefore he could never design by those words to put himself in a succeeding generation. The persons to whom this epistle was written were Hebrews, or Jews; so called, as some think, from the name of Abraham, the father of them; or, as others, from his passing over the river Euphrates, when he came out of Chaldea into Palestine. So Abram the Hebrew, in Gen 14:13 is by the Septuagint rendered, perathv, "one that passes over", taking it to come from the word rbe, which signifies to "pass over"; with this compare Jos 24:3 and this is the opinion of some of the Jewish Rabbins ^e; though it seems rather that they were called so from Heber, who lived at the time of the confusion of languages; see Gen 10:21. And this is the sense of many Jewish writers, ancient and modern, of Josephus ^f, of Jonathan ben Uzziel ^g, of R. Nehemiah ^h, of Aben Ezra ⁱ, and Kimchi ^k, and others; 2Co 11:22. And these were the Hebrews that dwelt in the land of Judea, and particularly at Jerusalem; nor were they the unbelieving inhabitants of those parts, but believers in Christ, who were embodied in a Gospel church state, It was a tradition of the ancients ^l, that this epistle was written originally in Hebrew, and was translated into Greek, either by Luke the Evangelist, or by Clement of Rome. But for this there is no foundation; no Hebrew copy can be produced; Munster's edition of it in Hebrew is a translation from the Greek, in which it was, no doubt, originally written, that being the common language, and well known to the Jews; and which appears from the citations in it out of the Old Testament, which are made, not from the Hebrew text, but from the Greek version; and besides, had it been written in Hebrew, the writer would not have interpreted the Hebrew words, Melchizedek and Salem, as he does, in Heb 7:1. The time of its writing was before the destruction of Jerusalem, which in this book is signified by the coming of the Lord, and the day approaching; and after Timothy was released from prison, and some time within the two years of his own imprisonment at Rome; when he hoped for a release, as his epistles to the Philippians and to Philemon show. Dr. Lightfoot places it in the year 62, and in the eighth of Nero. And the occasion and design of it is, to set forth the superior excellency of Christ to angels and men, to Moses, to Joshua, to Aaron, and his sons, and the preferableness of his priesthood and sacrifice to the Levitical priesthood and its sacrifices; to teach the Hebrews the true knowledge of the mysteries of their law; to point out to them the design, use, and abrogation of its ceremonies; and to prepare them for what afflictions and persecutions they would be called to endure for Christ; and to exhort them to perseverance, and to strengthen them against apostasy, as well as to instruct them in the various duties of religion.

Gill: Hebrews 3 (Chapter Introduction)

INTRODUCTION TO HEBREWS 3

The apostle having discoursed, in the preceding chapters, concerning the dignity of Christ's person, and his wondrous grace in the assumption of human nature, and suffering in the room and stead of his people, exhorts the Hebrews in this to a serious consideration of him, attention to him, and faith in him, and constancy in it; the arguments he uses to engage them to these things are taken from the grace and benefit they themselves were partakers of through him, from the office in which he was, and his faithfulness to his Father in the discharge of it, Heb 3:1 which is illustrated in the case of Moses, who was faithful in the house of God, and whom Christ excelled, and therefore was worthy of more honour; partly, because he is the builder of the house; and partly, because he is a Son in it, when Moses was only a servant; which house is Christ's own, and consists of true and steadfast believers in him, Heb 3:2, wherefore the exhortation to regard him is renewed, enforced, and expressed in the words of the Holy Ghost, Heb 3:7 which are taken out of Psa 95:7 and applied to the present case: hence the apostle cautions against unbelief, as being a great evil in itself, and bad in its consequence, causing persons to depart from the living God, Heb 3:12, in order to prevent which he advises to a daily exhortation of each other to their duty, that so they might not be hardened in sin through the deceitfulness of it, Heb 3:13 and the rather it became them to be concerned to hold fast their faith in Christ to the end, since this is the grand evidence of being a partaker of him, Heb 3:14. And then the exhortation in the above passage of Scripture is recited, Heb 3:15 to show, that though not all the persons spoken of, yet some did provoke the Lord by their unbelief, and unbecoming carriage, Heb 3:16 wherefore, by the example of punishment being inflicted on such, of which instances are given in the forefathers of these people, such as their carcasses falling in the wilderness, and their not entering into the land of Canaan, which they could not, because God swore they should not, being grieved and provoked by them, and because of their unbelief, they are dissuaded from the same evils, lest they should be punished in like manner, Heb 3:17.

College: Hebrews (Book Introduction)

INTRODUCTION

It is difficult to overestimate the significance of Hebrews for understanding the nature of the new covenant. No other document in the New Testament canon comments as directly and extensively upon this covenant as does Hebrews. Its description of Jesus as the great high priest of the believer is a unique contribution to New Testament Christology.

Yet Hebrews is perhaps as well known for the difficulties it presents as it is for its distinctive contributions to our understanding of the ministry of Jesus and the nature of our salvation. It is difficult to be certain about who wrote it, when and to whom. It is a letter and not quite a letter. Many find its line of argument intricate and complex, its theology abstract and obscure, and its use of the Old Testament puzzling if not problematic. This commentary will begin by addressing some of these considerations.

AUTHORSHIP

Over the years, most of the debate about the authorship of Hebrews has focused on whether or not Paul wrote this letter. Arguments have been made for other possible authors as well. What we can know for certain about the author is best gleaned from the letter itself, but many will want to know how this debate affects our confidence in the authority and inspiration of the letter.

Did Paul write the Letter to the Hebrews?

Though few defend Pauline authorship of Hebrews today, in the past this view has enjoyed the support of significant church leaders and traditions. The earliest extant copy of Hebrews (early third century) has been received as part of a collection of Paul's letters, in which it was placed after Romans. Pauline authorship was defended by notable church fathers in the East, e.g., Clement of Alexandria (c.150-c.215) and Origen (185-253) who, despite reservations, defended it as essentially Pauline, at least in part on the weight of what was then received tradition. Later, Jerome and Augustine helped to shift opinion in the West and the Sixth Synod of Carthage (419) established a tradition of support for Pauline authorship which lasted until the Reformation.

However, the weight of the evidence - both historical and texual - is far from clear. Early church opinion was far from universal. In the West, prior to Jerome and Augustine, such leaders as Irenaeus and Hippolytus of Rome did not accept Hebrews as Pauline. The Muratorian Canon (a list of documents accepted as New Testament Scripture, c. 170) included thirteen letters identified as Pauline but excluded Hebrews. When reformers such as Calvin and Luther reexamined the question centuries later, neither concluded that Paul was its author. Contemporary critics consider Pauline authorship implausible in light of clear differences between the vocabulary and style of Hebrews and epistles known to be Pauline. Further, it has been argued as improbable for Paul to refer to himself as the author does in 2:3 ("This salvation, which was first announced by the Lord, was confirmed to us by those who heard him") in light of what he says of himself in Galatians 1:11-12 ("I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it; rather, I received it by revelation from Jesus Christ").

Who else could have written the letter to the Hebrews?

As early as the second century, Tertullian identified Barnabas as the author of the letter. Barnabas was a Levite (Acts 4:26), and there is much about levitical ritual in the epistle. He was also a Hellenistic Jew, a member of the Jerusalem church and a missionary partner of Paul (Acts 9:27; 11:30; 12:1-14:28). All of this evidence is circumstantial, however, and nothing but Tertullian's opinion connects him to the letter directly.

Clement of Alexandria first suggested that Luke translated a Hebrew text written by Paul. Calvin affirmed this possiblity centuries later. There are some similarities in the Greek style of Luke-Acts and Hebrews. But there is little other evidence and there are also some differences in style. Calvin also suggested Clement of Rome as a possibility. However, Clement of Rome widely quoted from the letter himself. It is unlikely that he would quote himself and his use of the Old Testament is often at variance with that in Hebrews.

Luther was the first to suggest Apollos as the possible author of Hebrews, a view which continues to enjoy some popularity. He was a "learned man, with a thorough knowledge of the Scriptures" who "vigorously refuted the Jews in public debate, proving from the Scriptures that Jesus was the Christ" (Acts 18:24-28). Presumably, he would have been capable of the careful handling of the LXX found in Hebrews. Also, he probably had some connection to the Pauline mission (1 Corinthians 1-4). But concluding that he was therefore the author of Hebrews is, at best, conjecture.

Among others, arguments have been made for Peter, Jude, Stephen, Aristion, Priscilla, Silas, Timothy, Epaphras, Philip and Mary the mother of Jesus as possible authors of Hebrews. Two other possibilities remain. An associate of Paul could have written the letter for him (a view first suggested by Origen in 220). It is also possible that Hebrews was written by some other anonymous Christian unknown to us. The letter itself does not clearly identify its author. Perhaps the fairest conclusion is that advanced by Origen, in spite of his inclination to defend Pauline authorship: "who wrote the Epistle, God only knows the truth."

How does the debate about authorship affect our view of the letter?

It is important to note that, although the debate over authorship has extended over the centuries, the question of the letter's canonicity (i.e., its inspiration and authority) has not. Even though church fathers in the East may have had doubts about its authorship, there is no evidence that they ever questioned its canonicity. Though the Muratorian Canon excluded Hebrews (as well as James and 1-2 Peter), all four books were included in the New Testament canon by the Synod of Hippo (393) and the Third (397) and Sixth (419) Synods of Carthage. Subsequent questions about its authorship during the Reformation had no effect at all upon the reformers' view of its authority or inspiration.

It is clear that apostolicity, as well as other issues such as universality and the "rule of faith," were important in the early decisions about the New Testament canon. We must keep in mind, however, that a document's "canonical" status is the result of a human process which does not bestow divine authority or inspiration upon a document but recognizes the authority and inspiration which it inherently possesses because it has been "God-breathed" (2 Tim 3:16). In other words, if it is true that Hebrews is a divinely inspired and authoritative document, its inspiration and authority remain factual in an objective sense apart from our own inability to clearly discern the identity of its author. In his providence, God bore witness to the inspiration and authority of this letter in a manner that left little room for doubt, as Hebrews persistently silenced the questions of men who soon found that it "is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work" (2 Tim 3:16-17).

What do we know about the author?

Though the question of authorship is not determinative of either the letter's inspiration or authority, it is significant for our interpretation of Hebrews. Knowing as much as we can about the author can be helpful for discerning the meaning of a text. We may not be able to know the identify of our author with any degree of certainty, but there is much that we can know about him.

He was probably a Hellenistic Jew for he was both steeped in the LXX and possessed of an excellent vocabulary and a polished style for writing in the Greek language. Presumably, then, he was well educated. He was probably a second generation Christian (2:3) but one with direct connection to apostolic influence since he was a companion of Timothy (13:23) and thus possibly an associate of Paul. It is possible that he wrote from Italy, although 13:24 could also be taken to mean that the recipients were in Italy and some in his own party were from there as well. The rhetoric of the letter and his description of it as "my word of exhortation" (13:22) suggest that he was probably a preacher. His "short letter" reveals a compassionate pastor, a keen theologian and a superior logician who applies all the resources of revelation and rhetoric at his command so that his dear friends will "not drift away" (2:1).

DATE, DESTINATION AND PURPOSE

Three important facts suggest at least a general date for the letter. First, Clement of Rome cited Hebrews frequently. 1 Clement was written in A.D. 95 or 96 and thus Hebrews would not only have been completed but well circulated by this date. Second, there is thus little reason to doubt that the Timothy of 13:23 was the associate of Paul referred to elsewhere in the New Testament. Though we do not know how old Timothy was when he joined Paul in his work, it is unlikely that this reference would place the letter very late in the first century. Finally, much is made of the destruction of the Jerusalem temple in A.D. 70. Although it is possible that the author would not have referred to this event if it had happened by the time of writing, it seems improbable that he would omit reference to an event that not only had a significant effect on the lives of first-century Jews (including Christians) but would have added great force to his own argument. Further, he refers to old covenant worship rituals in the present tense (8:4-5; 10:1-3).

Other considerations as to the probable date of the letter pertain to the identity and location of its recipients. The title "To the Hebrews" may have been added later and reflect later opinions about its contents but it accompanies the letter in all of the oldest Greek manuscripts and there is no evidence that the letter ever bore any other title. Some suggest that the phrase could be translated "against the Hebrews" but it is the same formula used in Paul's letters which were hardly "against" the Romans, Galatians, etc. The title of the letter thus suggests that its recipients were Jewish, and the content that they were both Jewish and Christian.

The letter itself indicates that its recipients were enduring persecution (10:33-34; 12:4; 13:3, 23). The more natural reading of 13:24 suggests that the author wrote to Italy rather than from Italy (for which the expression "those in Italy send you their greetings" would have been more appropriate). The Edict of Claudius had expelled Jews from Rome in 49 but many had returned by the time of the persecution begun by Nero in 64. Since our earliest quotes of Hebrews come to us from Clement of Rome, its circulation there was likely at an early date. The cumulative evidence thus suggests that the letter was addressed to Jewish Christians in Rome who suffered under the persecutions of Nero.

The combination of these circumstances and statements in the letter suggest its purpose. Though some have suggested that Hebrews was written foremost to combat an early Jewish perversion of Christian doctrine or as a generic tract to demonstrate the superiority of Christianity, key verses in the letter suggest that it was addressed to a particular community with a view to responding to an urgent need. The following verses are all suggestive:

Passage Exhortation End in View

2:1 We must pay more careful attention so that we do not . . . to what we have heard drift away

3:1 fix your thoughts on Jesus (cp. 12:2)

3:6 hold on to our courage and the

3:6 hope of which we boast

3:12 See to it . . . that none of you has a

. . . heart that turns away from the

living God

3:13 encourage one another daily so that none of you

may be hardened by

sin's deceitfulness

3:14 . . . if we hold firmly till the end the We have come to

confidence we had at first share in Christ . . .

4:1 let us be careful that none of you be

found to have fallen

short of it [rest]

4:11 Let us . . . make every effort to enter so that no one will

that rest fall

4:14 let us hold firmly to the faith we

profess

6:11 show this same diligence to the very in order to make your

end hope sure

10:23 Let us hold unswervingly to the

hope we profess

10:35 So do not throw away your it will be richly

confidence rewarded

10:36 You need to persevere so that when you

have done the will of

God, you will receive

what he has promised.

12:1 Let us run with perseverance the

12:1 race marked out for us

12:2 Let us fix our eyes on Jesus (cp. 3:1)

12:3 Consider him who endured such so that you will not

opposition from sinful men grow weary and lose

heart

Hebrews is, without doubt, a theologically valuable document which presents a well arranged argument in defense of the superiority of the new covenant. Yet these verses suggest that the author had an immediate purpose in mind for his theology and his rhetoric - the encouragement of Christian brothers and sisters who, suffering under persecutions which threatened even martyrdom, were tempted to abandon their strength. In the midst of their suffering, our author sends his "short letter" and "word of exhortation" (13:22) that they might fix their eyes on Jesus (3:1; 12:2), whose greatness he demonstrates from their own beloved Scriptures and cherished heritage.

FORM AND STRUCTURE

Since Hebrews includes some of the formal features of an epistle (e.g., personal greetings and closing formula) but not others (e.g., typical introductory greeting or address), there has been much debate as to whether it is more of a letter or a sermon. However, this particular formulation of the genre question probably reads a sharper distinction between written and oral communication back into an era when rhetoric rarely made such a rigid separation. Other epistles in the New Testament were clearly written in the knowledge that they would be read in the presence of congregations. It is thus possible to argue that, though written, they should be viewed primarily as oral documents. Writing lengthy treatises with significant oral features was a typical "rhetorical" practice for the ancients (e.g., the "template" or model speeches of Isocrates and others). Hence, Hebrews could well have been constructed as a "written homily," i.e., a letter with sermonic features.

This is to propose a variation of Deissmann's suggestion that Hebrews could have been an example of Christian literary art (i.e., a kind of treatise). Guthrie's criticism - that the writer's purpose was too serious to be regarded in this light - assumes that literary art cannot be addressed to particular communities and urgent occasions, when in fact, rhetoric is chiefly defined by (1) its "addressed" nature and (2) its "contingent" character. The fact that it is addressed to specific communities, their circumstances and the demands of those circumstances is precisely what, according to Aristotle, distinguishes "rhetoric" from its counterpart "dialect." It is quite in keeping with at least one significant ancient rhetorical tradition to regard Hebrews as a written homily - an extended written treatise with significant oral features, addressed to a particular community with a view to responding to an urgent need.

Of what import is this conclusion? There is little value in examining Hebrews for exact correspondence to any particular classical scheme of rhetoric as some have done for (1) a strong case has been made that there is no single classical tradition of rhetoric and (2) our uncertainty about the identity of the author makes it impossible for us to do anything more than speculate about the possible significance of any such similarities.

There are several values, however, in recognizing the "rhetorical" nature of the document. First, this encourages us to keep in mind that, above all, Hebrews is an attempt to persuade its recipients (to take action, i.e., a case of deliberative rhetoric). Close attention should thus be paid to its argumentative dimensions. Also, as we attempt to follow the writer's development of thought, we should be alert for the use of rhetorical devices which signal transitions from argumentative sections to hortatory sections that address the contingiences of the community's situation. Further, apart from the complexities which separated competing rhetorical traditions in the ancient world, it is not inappropriate to look for evidence of the kinds of topoi (argumentative commonplaces) more widely employed and with which a well educated author was likely to be familiar. This should aid our understanding of the nature of the proofs employed by our author. Finally, it reminds us to seek the relevance of the subject matter of Hebrews in relationship to particular sets of life circumstances (persecution, suffering, temptation, and discouragement among them).

Hebrews is organized around a series of quotations from the Old Testament which are not only presented as argument but also developed with a variety of exegetical procedures (see below). If we use these quotations as a guideline for discerning its structure, the following picture of Hebrews emerges.

Chapter One is an introduction. This chapter is full of Old Testament quotations demonstrating Jesus' superiority over angels.

Chapter Two appeals to Psalm 8. Jesus rescues man by coming down beneath angels, joining man in flesh and blood, dying, and then returning to his place of exaltation above the angels. All who cling to him in faith return with him to the throne.

Chapters Three and Four deal with Psalm 95. God offers rest to all who trust him. The land of Canaan was not that rest, for this Psalm spoke of a rest long after the Israelites who wandered in the desert hardened their hearts and lost the rest which God offered to them. God's rest is still available for all who believe him.

Chapters Five, Six and Seven are organized around Psalm 110. Jesus is a priest like Melchizedek, who was also superior to the priesthood of the old covenant. Jesus, in fact, is a priest forever by God's oath.

Chapter Eight introduces Jeremiah 31. The new covenant, created by Jesus our great high priest, is superior to the old covenant. It is founded on better promises than the old covenant, which was a mere copy and shadow of this new covenant.

Chapters Nine and Ten treat Psalm 40. Jesus' living sacrifice of himself through obedience is far superior to the Old Testament sacrifices of dead bulls and goats repeatedly offered in the old tabernacle. Jesus took this sacrifice into the very presence of God, thus fully taking away sins and cleansing our consciences.

Chapter Eleven develops a theme from Habakkuk 2, that the righteous will live by faith. This principle by which we live is illustrated by numerous examples of people living by faith.

Chapter Twelve treats Proverbs 3. We must accept the discipline God brings upon us, for God disciplines those he loves.

Chapter Thirteen is the conclusion. It is full of exhortations on how to give ourselves to God in the life of faith.

Remove the introductory and concluding chapters for a moment and an interesting picture of the structure of the main body of thought emerges. The new covenant (chapter 8) is central, tying together his priesthood (chapters 5-7) and his sacrifice (chapters 9-10). This is prepared for by the offer of rescue (chapter 2) and rest (chapters 3-4) and followed by the re

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-College Press New Testament Commentary: with the NIV

ABBREVIATIONS

ABD Anchor Bible Dictionary

BAGD Bauer-Arndt-Gingrich-Danker Greek Lexicon (2nd. ed.)

BDB New Brown-Driver-Briggs-Gesenius Hebrew and English

Lexicon

BDF Blass-Debrunner-Funk Greek Grammar

ISBE International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (Bromiley)

KJV King James Version

LN Louw & Nida's Lexicon Based on Semantic Domains

LSJ Liddell-Scott-Jones Greek Lexicon

LXX Septuagint

MHT Moulton-Howard-Turner Greek Grammar

MM Moulton & Milligan's Vocabulary of Greek Testament

NASB New American Standard Bible

NIDNTT New International Dictionary of New Testament

Theology

NJB New Jerusalem Bible

RSV Revised Standard Version

TDNT Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, ed. by

Gerhard Kittel and Gerhard Friedrich

ZPED Zondervan Pictorial Encyclopedia of the Bible

-College Press New Testament Commentary: with the NIV

College: Hebrews (Outline)

OUTLINE

I. JESUS IS SUPERIOR TO THE ANGELS - 1:1-14

A. The Preeminence of the Son - 1:1-4

B. The Son Superior to the Angels - 1:5-14

II. JESUS RESCUES MAN - 2:1-18

A. Warning Not to Ignore Such a Great Salvation - 2:1-4

B. Jesus Became a Man to Bring Men to Glory - 2:5-18

III. GOD OFFERS REST TO ALL WHO TRUST HIM - 3:1-4:16

A. Jesus Is Superior to Moses - 3:1-6

B. Psalm 95:7-11 - 3:7-11

C. Hold Firm to the End - 3:12-15

D. Unbelieving Israelites Fell in the Desert - 3:16-19

E. A Sabbath-Rest for the People of God - 4:1-5

F. A Sabbath-Rest Remains - 4:6-11

G. The Message from God Does Its Part to Save Us - 4:12-13

H. Jesus, the Great High Priest - 4:14-16

IV. JESUS IS SUPERIOR TO THE PRIESTHOOD OF THE OLD COVENANT AND A PRIEST FOREVER BY GOD'S OATH - 5:1-7:28

A. Requirements of the High Priest - 5:1-4

B. Jesus Fulfills the Requirements and Offers Eternal Salvation - 5:5-10

C. [Excursus: Responding to God] - 5:11-6:12

1. Still Infants - 5:11-14

2. On to Maturity - 6:1-3

3. Those Who Fall Away - 6:4-8

4. Confident of Better Things - 6:9-12

D. God's Oath Makes His Purpose Sure - 6:13-20

E. Melchizedek Like the Son of God - 7:1-3

F. Melchizedek Greater than Abraham - 7:4-10

G. Jesus Is High Priest Based on His Resurrection which Introduces a Better Hope - 7:11-19

H. Jesus Is High Priest Based on God's Oath which Produces a Better Covenant - 7:20-22

I. Jesus' Resurrection Creates a Permanent Priesthood - 7:23-25

J. Jesus' Death Provides the Perfect Sacrifice - 7:26-28

V. THE NEW COVENANT BROUGHT BY JESUS OUR HIGH PRIEST IS SUPERIOR TO THE OLD COVENANT - 8:1-13

A. Our High Priest Reigns and Serves in the True Tabernacle, Prefigured by Old Testament Shadows - 8:1-5

B. Our High Priest Is Mediator of the New Covenant, Promised through the Prophet Jeremiah - 8:6-13

VI. JESUS' SACRIFICE OF HIMSELF IS SUPERIOR TO THE SACRIFICES OF THE OLD COVENANT AND SETS US FREE FROM SIN - 9:1-10:39

A. The Tabernacle and Its Tools - 9:1-5

B. The Day of Atonement - 9:6-10

C. Jesus' Sacrifice Cleanses Our Conscience - 9:11-14

D. Jesus' Death Inaugurates the New Covenant - 9:15-22

E. Jesus' Sacrifice Was Once for All - 9:23-28

F. Old Covenant Sacrifices Could Not Take Away Sin - 10:1-4

G. Christ Offered His Body to Make Us Holy - 10:5-10

H. Our High Priest Now Reigns - 10:11-14

I. Witness of the Holy Spirit through Jeremiah - 10:15-18

J. Let Us Draw Near to God and Spur One Another On - 10:19-25

K. The Judgment of God on Those Who Keep Sinning - 10:26-31

L. Reminder of Earlier Suffering - 10:32-34

M. The Need to Persevere - 10:35-39

VII. GOD EXPECTS US TO SHOW FAITH - 11:1-40

A. The Nature of Faith - 11:1-3

B. Faith Illustrated by Abel, Enoch, and Noah - 11:4-7

C. Faith Illustrated by Abraham - 11:8-19

D. Faith Illustrated by Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph- 11:20-22

E. Faith Illustrated by Moses - 11:23-28

F. Faith Illustrated in Israel - 11:29-38

G. God Planned to Make Them Perfect with Us - 11:39-40

VIII. GOD EXPECTS US TO ENDURE DISCIPLINE - 12:1-29

A. A Call to Perseverance - 12:1-3

B. The Word of Encouragement - 12:4-6

C. God Disciplines His Children - 12:7-11

D. Practical Actions - 12:12-17

E. Terrifying Mt. Sinai - 12:18-21

F. Mt. Zion, the Heavenly Jerusalem - 12:22-24

G. A Kingdom which Cannot Be Shaken - 12:25-29

IX. CONCLUDING EXHORTATIONS - 13:1-25

A. Keep Loving Each Other - 13:1-3

B. Stay Pure - 13:4-6

C. Remember Your Leaders - 13:7-8

D. Counterparts to Old Covenant Practices - 13:9-16

E. Obey Your Leaders and Pray for Us - 13:17-19

F. Benediction and Closing Exhortations - 13:20-22

G. Personal Greetings - 13:23-25

-College Press New Testament Commentary: with the NIV