Hebrews 10:31

Heb_10:31

A fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God

Is God love?

(With 1Jn_4:16):--A sermon on these two texts was published by Mr. Charles Voysey, and entitled, A challenge to the orthodox. The heading of the sermon puts the matter in an interrogative form: Is God love? OR, IS it a fearful thing to fall into His hands? The two ideas are regarded as incompatible, and evidently it is suggested that they are startling opposites. Now it will be for us to consider whether they are really opposites, and whether there is any contradiction of moral idea in them at all.

I. THIS SEEMING CONTRADICTION IS OFTEN HARMONISED IN HUMAN LIFE. Most of US have known the love of home, as amongst the dearest experiences of earthly life; and we shall not easily forget the dewy eyes that looked so carefully into the trunk that was being packed for us with sacrificial love. True! but yet we can remember times when it was a fearful thing to fall into our earthly fathers hands! The fatherly spirit seemed turned into a consuming flame of righteous anger. Nay, in cases of guilty betrayal, the deeper the parental love, the more intense the indignation at the harm done to some dear child of the home. And who can measure the terrible influences of sin in Gods fair universe? Is His voice the only voice that is to be silent? Is His hand the only one that is not to hold the sword of justice? Is He who is the author of the eternal moral law, and who is the inspirer and quickener of all moral intuition, to be assailed as wanting in love, if by the lips of one of His own inspired apostles He declares that it is a fearful thing to fall into His hands?

II. THIS SEEMING CONTRADICTION WAS HARMONISED IN THE LIFE OF CHRIST HIMSELF. All ages since the Redeemers advent have at least agreed in the testimony that He was a Lord of love. And yet, while His whole life is a revelation that God is love, He casts some clear light, upon the truth that it is a fearful thing to fall into His hands. Wicked men trembled as He read their hearts. He saw where sin was taking the forms of hypocrisy and hardness. And would any universe be beautiful or desirable that had not a retribution for such as these hardened hypocrites? Would it not be a fearful thing, if it were not a fearful thing for them to fall into the hands of God? Were they to devour widows houses for nothing? Were they to be full of all uncleanness, and yet meet no condemnation from the immaculate God? Where is justice in the universe, if they escape from the wrath to come?

III. THIS SEEMING CONTRADICTION IS NOT A CHRISTIAN ONE ALONE. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of Nature, if you disobey her laws. The tempest, will not let you play with the lightning; the precipice will not let you tempt her indulgence by plunging into the depths; the sea soon casts upturned and ghastly faces on to the shore if you tack amid the rocks, even though there be beauty at the prow, and pleasure at the helm! And what are we reminded of when Nature thus resents our negligence and ignorance? We are told that all these laws and powers could not be altered for one instant in the smallest degree without injuring man, and that to secure his welt-being and safety all these laws are established. What would be the good of saying, Now you must choose one horn of this dilemma--You cannot say, Nature is love, and yet it is a fearful thing to fall into her hands?

IV. THESE SEEMING CONTRADICTIONS HAVE BEEN HARMONISED WITHIN BY CONSCIENCE ITSELF. Instincts are often truer than arguments. We feel in relation to what is Called crime that a merely reformatory system is not enough. It would be wrong to pass over their crimes, wrong to make Nemesis impossible! What? with their miserable victims of yesterday tortured, pillaged, traduced, and murdered! Would it be right to say, as does Mr. Voysey, Love makes no bargain, and imposes no conditions; can never so betray itself as to say, Believe and thou shalt be saved, but, thou shalt be saved whether thou believest or not! A fearful enough universe such an one would be; an altogether unmitigated misery to live in it. Love imposes no conditions! Is it so? Is there to be no Cursed be he that perverteth the judgment of the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow? I venture to affirm that the righteous instincts of human nature say emphatically, Amen, as of old, to all these condemnations. (W. M.Statham, M. A.)

Future punishment a fearful thing

I. The text asserts that It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God, and our first statement shall be, that SURELY IT IS SO; as we may certainly gather from several considerations.

1. It must be a fearful thing for impenitent sinners to fall into Gods hand when we remember the character of God as revealed in His judgments of Deu_7:10; Isa_66:6). What instances does the Scripture give of what Paul calls the severity of God, and how true is it that It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God!

2. Pursuing our heavy task, we shall not draw your solemn attention to the words of the Saviour. Our Lord Jesus Christ we believe to be the incarnation of God, and to represent our God under a most tender aspect. It is a very remarkable fact that no inspired preacher of whom we have any record ever uttered such terrible words concerning the destiny of the lost as our Lord Jesus Christ.

3. We feel that it must be a fearful thing to be punished for sin when you remember the atonement.

4. The conscience of every sinner tells him that there wilt be a wrath to come. Dying men who have lived in impenitence, have often exhibited fears that are not to be accounted for, except upon the supposition that the shadow of a terrible doom had cast itself upon their minds.

II. Let me urge you NOT TO ATTEMPT TO DEPRIVE YOURSELF OF THE BENEFICIAL EFFECT WHICH A PROPER CONSIDERATION OF THIS DOCTRINE WOULD HAVE UPON YOU.

1. Do not deny the fact, at any rate if you do, be consistent and deny Scripture altogether.

2. Do not have the edge of this truth taken off by those who suggest a hope that though you may be punished for a time in the next world you will ultimately be destroyed and annihilated.

3. Some suppose that instead of annihilation, restoration awaits the lost. What can there be about hell fire to change a mans heart?

4. Some ungodly men say, Well, you do not believe for a minute that there is any material fire, do you? But if it were not so, do you think that soul punishment is a trifle? Why, man, it is the very soul of punishment. It is far more dreadful than bodily pain.

III. CONSIDER HOW THIS TEXT IS PUT. The punishment to be endured is here described as falling into the hands of the living God. Will not that be fearful? But what could there be that would alarm the soul in falling into the hands of the living God? Let me remind you. You sinners, when you begin to think of God, feel uneasy. In a future state you will be compelled to think of God. That thought will torment you. You will have to think of God as one to whom you were ungrateful. You will feel remorse, but not repentance, as you recollect that He did honestly invite you to come to Him, that He did call and you refused. As you think of the happiness of those whose hearts were given to Him, it will make your miseries great to think of what you have lost. Well may the wicked gnash their teeth, as they note the overthrow of evil and the establishment of good!

IV. IF THESE THINGS BE SO, THEN ACT ACCORDINGLY. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

The New Testament revelation of God

Not one jot or title of the old revelation of God as a God of Righteousness is lost or cancelled. The moral teaching is stern and uncompromising as ever. Gods love, which is Himself, is not the invertebrate amiability or weak good-naturedness to which some would reduce it. The New Testament, it has been said, with all its glad tidings of mercy is a severe book (Church). For the goodness and the severity of God are, as it were, the convex and the concave in His moral nature. (Aubrey L. Moore.)

Future punishment:

The Almighty will not appear as an injured individual avenging his wrongs, but as a righteous Judge administering the law. (J. Howard Hinton, M. A.)

The ethical value of a belief in retribution

David Mallet was a great free-thinker, and a very free speaker of his free thoughts; he made no scruple to disseminate his sceptical opinions whenever he could with any propriety introduce them. At his own table, indeed, the lady of the house (who was a staunch advocate for her husbands opinions) would often in the warmth of argument say, Sir, we Deists. She once made use of this expression in a mixed company to David Hume, who refused the intended compliment by asserting that he was a very good Christian; for the truth of which he appealed to a worthy clergyman present, and this occasioned a laugh, which a little disconcerted the lady and Mr. Mallet. The lecture upon the non credenda of the free-thinkers was repeated so often, and urged with so much earnestness, that the inferior domestics became soon as able disputants as the heads of the family. The fellow who waited at table, being thoroughly convinced that for any of his misdeeds he should have no after-account to make, was resolved to profit by the doctrine, and made off with many things of value, particularly plate. Luckily he was so closely pursued that he was brought back with his prey to his masters house, who examined him before some select friends. At first the man was sullen, and would answer no questions put to him; but being urged to give a reason for his infamous behaviour, he resolutely said, Sir, I had heard you so often talk of the impossibility of a future state, and that after death there was no reward for virtue, or punishment for vice, that I was tempted to commit the robbery. Well, but, you rascal, replied Mallet, had you no fear of the gallows? Sir, said the fellow, looking sternly at his master, what is that to you, if I had a mind to venture that? You had removed my greatest terror; why should I fear the lesser? (Thomas Davies, on David Mallet.)

In the hands of the living God

We are all, in one sense, in the hands of the living God (Psa_139:7-10). In conversion, too, the sinner, in some sense, falls into the hands of God. The alien is restored--the rebel is welcomed back again--the prodigal returns to his Fathers house, and sinks into his Fathers arms. Glorious privilege!--And yet, the sacred writer testifies, It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. Jehovah is here regarded as the God of vengeance. To fall into the hands of Jehovah as the unreconciled Thunderer, is certain ruin for the guilty soul of man. In that case, the righteous Governor fulfils upon the sinner the curses of the broken covenant of works; the dark and dreadful threatenings of His word upon the workers of iniquity are carried into execution; God meets men as an enemy, and His wrath blazes out against them. Nor does the mercy with which Christianity is suffused interfere with the execution of the threatenings of heaven upon those who finally reject the great salvation. The very greatness of that salvation, and the very meekness and gentleness of Christ, serve to aggravate their guilt, and to augment their punishment. Oh, now let the sinner fall into His hands as the hands of God in Christ, bidding him welcome to their kind and sheltering embrace; lest, hereafter, he fall into His hands as the hands of an avenging potentate--an unreconciled and desolating foe. (A. S.Patterson.)

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Heb 10:31. Τὸ ἐμπεσεῖν, to fall) It is a good thing to fall into God’s hands with faith, 2Sa 24:14: it is a terrible thing to fall rashly into His hands, Heb 10:27; comp. Sir 8:1.

Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1860) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

fearful . . . to fall into the hands--It is good like David to fall into the hands of God, rather than man, when one does so with filial faith in his father's love, though God chastises him. "It is fearful" to fall into His hands as a reprobate and presumptuous sinner doomed to His just vengeance as Judge (Heb 10:27).

living God--therefore able to punish for ever (Mat 10:28).

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 31. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.] To fall into the hands of God is to fall under his displeasure; and he who lives for ever can punish for ever. How dreadful to have the displeasure of an eternal, almighty Being to rest on the soul for ever! Apostates, and all the persecutors and enemies of God's cause and people, may expect the heaviest judgments of an incensed Deity: and these, not for a time, but through eternity.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(31) The living God.—As in Heb_3:12; Heb_9:14 the exact meaning of the writer’s words is “a Living God;” and a reference to the first of these passages (and to Heb_4:12) will show clearly what is their force in this place. There can be little doubt that Deuteronomy 32, from which he has been quoting, is still in his thought. See Deu_32:40—“I lift up my hand to heaven, and say, I live for ever.”

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

31. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God] Fearful for the deliberate apostate and even for the penitent sinner (1Ch_21:13; 1Sa_24:14; LXX. Sir_2:18), and yet better in any case than to fall into the hands of man.

of the living God] Heb_3:12.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

For ye had compassion of me in my bonds,.... When he was bound at Jerusalem, by the chief captain Lysias, with two chains, Act 21:33 or when he was in bonds elsewhere; which they did by sympathizing with him in their hearts; by their prayers for him, and in their letters to him; and by sending presents to him for his relief and support. The Alexandrian copy, and two of Stephens's, the Vulgate Latin and Syriac versions, read, "had compassion on the prisoners"; or "them that were bound"; meaning prisoners in general, remembering them that were in bonds, as bound with them; or particularly such as were prisoners for the sake of Christ, and his Gospel; and it may be some of them, which the apostle himself committed to prison, in his state of unregeneracy:

and took joyfully the spoiling of your goods; the furniture of their houses, their worldly substance, of which they were stripped by their persecutors; and this they took quietly and patiently, yea, joyfully; rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer the confiscation of their goods for the sake of Christ: the reason of which joy was,

knowing in yourselves that ye have in heaven a better and an enduring substance: that which is laid up for the saints in heaven is "substance"; it is signified by an house, a city, a kingdom; and so it is rendered here in the Ethiopic version; and by riches, true, glorious, and durable; and by a treasure and an inheritance: and this is "better" than anything in this world; as to the quality of it, it being celestial; and as to the quantity of it, it being all things; and as to the place where it is, "in heaven"; though this clause is left out in the Alexandrian copy, and in the Vulgate Latin and Ethiopic versions; and as to the company with whom it is enjoyed, saints in light; yea, God himself is the portion of his people: and this is an "enduring" substance; it cannot be wasted by the saints themselves; nor taken away from them by others; nor can it decay in its own nature; and the saints will always endure to enjoy it: and this they may be said to "have": it is promised to them, and prepared for them; they have a right unto it, and the earnest of it; and they have it already in Christ, their head and representative; so that it is, upon all accounts, sure unto them: and this they know in themselves; from what they find and feel in their own hearts; from the sealing testimony and earnest of the Spirit, and from the promise of Christ, Mat 5:10.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

31 It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

Ver. 31. It is a fearful thing] For who knoweth the power of his anger? even according to thy fear is thy wrath, Psa 90:11. A melancholy man can fancy vast and terrible fears, fire, sword, racks, strappadoes, scalding lead, boiling pitch, running bell metal, and this to all eternity; yet all these are nothing to that wrath of God which none can either avoid or abide.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God - There may be an allusion here to the request of David to “fall into the hands of the Lord and not into the hands of men,” when it was submitted to him for the sin of numbering the people, whether he would choose seven years of famine, or flee three months before his enemies, or have three days of pestilence; 2 Sam. 24. He preferred “to fall into the hands of the Lord,” and God smote seventy thousand men by the pestilence. The idea here is, that to fall into the hands of the Lord, after having despised his mercy and rejected his salvation, would be terrific; and the fear of this should deter from the commission of the dreadful crime. The phrase “living God” is used in the Scripture in opposition to “idols.” God always lives; his power is capable of being always exerted. He is not like the idols of wood or stone which have no life, and which are not to be dreaded, but he always lives. It is the more fearful to fall into his hands because he will live “forever.” A man who inflicts punishment will die, and the punishment will come to an end; but God will never cease to exist, and the punshment which he is capable of inflicting today he will be capable of inflicting forever and ever. To fall into his hands, therefore, “for the purpose of punishment” - which is the idea here - is fearful:

(1)Because he has all power, and can inflict just what punishment he pleases;

(2)Because he is strictly just, and will inflict the punishment which ought to be inflicted;

(3)Because he lives forever, and can carry on his purpose of punishment to eternal ages; and

(4)Because the actual inflictions of punishment which have occurred show what is to be dreaded.

So it was on the old world; on the cities of the plain; on Babylon, Idumea, Capernaum, and Jerusalem; and so it is in the world of wo - the eternal abodes of despair, where the worm never dies. All people must, in one sense, fall into his hands. They must appear before him. They must be brought to his bar when they die. How unspeakably important it is then now to embrace his offers of salvation, that we may not fall into his hands as a righteous, avenging judge, and sink beneath his uplifted arm forever!

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Man is mortal, and therefore cannot extend his vengeance beyond death; God is immortal, and, as he lives eternally, can punish eternally; and he who during life despises a God who died for him, will at death experience the rigour of a God always living to punish him.

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

The punishment of these apostates is further aggravated from the inflicter of it, the knowledge of which should make them tremble; the thoughts of it might affect them, as the hand-writing on the wall did Belshazzar, Dan 5:6. It should strike horror into their heart, trembling into their persons, Deu 28:65,66, by apostacy from him as a Father, to be subjected to him as a Judge, and as obnoxious to his severest judgment. Him in whose hand is power inexpressible, 1Ch 29:12, to avenge himself on his enemies, Psa 90:11, who have renounced him as their God, and provoked him to fury by it. A God that will not repent of vengeance, and who liveth ever to inflict it; who lifts up his hand to heaven, and saith, I live for ever, Deu 32:39,40; to punish with everlasting burning, and a devouring fire, such traitors to himself. So is he described, Isa 33:14; Mat 10:28. His vengeance on these apostates is like himself, everlasting.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

31. Fall into the hands—David, in 2Sa_24:14, preferred to fall rather into the hands of God than of man. The divine hands are a place of safety for the righteous; of terrible woe for the apostate and the transgressor.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. David, when the option was given him, preferred falling into the hand of the LORD to falling into the hand of man, (2Sa_24:14) trusting in the greatness of his mercies. But the case contemplated here is that of its being "too late to cry for mercy, when it is the time of justice." Fearful (the writer would say) is the thought of being exposed, without possibility of escape or of atonement, to the wrath of the Eternal Righteousness. The inspired author of this Epistle had evidently an awful sense of the Divine wrath against sin, and of man"s liability to it without atonement. He felt deeply the contradiction between humanity as it is and its ideal of perfection; and hence the wrath attributed to God in Holy Writ would appear to him as inseparable from a just conception of Divine holiness. For the more ardent the love in the human heart of moral good, by so much the keener is the indignation against moral evil, and the sense of the righteousness of retribution. The existence of such evil at all in the good God"s universe is indeed a mystery; but, as long as it is there, we cannot but conceive the face of the holy God as set utterly against it; and so any revelation to us of the Divine nature would be imperfect did it not include the idea which is humanly expressed by such terms as "zeal," "jealousy," "wrath," "vengeance." Hence came the long-felt need of some atonement, to reconcile sinful man to the eternal holiness. This need was expressed of old by the institution of sacrifice, which, however as is so clearly perceived in this Epistle could never itself be really efficacious in the spiritual sphere of things. In the atonement of Christ (if rightly apprehended) is found at last a true satisfaction of this spiritual need. But, man"s concurrence being still required, the idea of Divine wrath remains notwithstanding, as operative against such as, in deliberate perversity of free-will, after full knowledge, refuse to be thus reconciled. Hence the awful anticipations of future judgment on some, contained in this Epistle. The nature and duration of the doom to come, on such as remain subject to it, are in these passages left in obscurity. They speak only of fobera tiv ekdoch , an undefined expectation of something terrible. It may be observed, however, that, whatever be the force of other Scriptures in which the fire of that day is described as eternal and unquenchable, here at least the figure of a zeal of fire to devour the adversaries seems in itself to suggest rather utter destruction than perpetual pain.

Falling into the fronds of God a contrast.

"It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God." "Let me fall now into the hand of the Lord". (1Ch_21:13) State briefly what led to this utterance of David. The taking of the census, etc. Wherein was the sin of numbering the people? Not in the mere act; for Israel had been numbered thrice before by the command of the Lord. But David took this census

(1) without Divine authority or sanction;

(2) from motives of pride and ostentation.

Perhaps he was contemplating schemes of foreign conquest. Certainly the motive was a sinful one, and therefore the act was sinful. God was displeased thereby, and he determined to punish the king and his people for this and previous sins, e.g. the rebellions in which the people had joined. He, however, sent Gad the seer unto David to give him the choice of one out of three punishments. (1Ch_21:11-14) With becoming humility and piety, the king left the judgment in the hand of God. He prayed that he might "not fall into the hand of man," and his people be destroyed three months before their foes; but whether the punishment should be "three years" famine, or three days the sword of the Lord, even the pestilence, in the land," he left to the decision of the merciful God. "David said unto Gad," etc. (1Ch_21:13) After these words the text from our Epistle has a strange sound: "It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God." The sacred writer has been treating of a sin of extraordinary wickedness apostasy from Christ; and apostasy characterized, not by ignorance, but by despite of the clearest knowledge; not by weakness, but by willfulness; not by transitoriness, but by persistence. It is of the punishment of such an apostate that it is said, "It is a fearful thing," etc. "The hands of God are his almighty operations, whether in love or wrath." He is "the living God" because he is self-existent; his existence is independent, absolute, eternal. So "the hands of the living God" present the ideas of his almightiness and eternity. How fearful to fall into the punitive hands of such a Being! Man may be angry with me, but his power is limited, and he dies, and then he can injure me no longer; but it is a fearful thing to fall into the avenging hands of him whose power is unlimited and whose existence is endless the hands of the almighty and ever-living God, Contrast these two fallings into the hands of God.

I THE ONE FALLS VOLUNTARILY INTO GOD"S HANDS; THE OTHER, COMPULSORILY. David deliberately and freely elected to leave himself in the hands of the Lord; that was his choice. But the willfully and persistently wicked wilt fall into his hands as the guilty culprit falls into the hands of the officers of the law. The strong hand of Divine justice will seize the hardened rebel against God, and from that grip there will be no escape. Of our own free will let us now fall into his almighty and loving hands.

II THE ONE FALLS INTO HIS HANDS IN HUMBLE PENITENCE; THE OTHER, IN HARDENED IMPENITENCE. David was sincerely and deeply repentant of his sin. (1Ch_21:8, 1Ch_21:17) But in the case supposed in our Epistle the sinner willfully and defiantly persists in known and terrible sin, and is arrested by the Omnipotent hands as a daring rebel. And we have sinned and deserved God"s wrath. How shall we meet him? in penitence, or in presumption? "He is wise in heart, and mighty in strength,". (Job_9:4) "Kiss the Son, lest he be angry," etc. (Psa_2:12)

III THE ONE FALLS INTO HIS HANDS FIRMLY TRUSTING IN HIS MERCY; THE OTHER, DEEPLY DREADING HIS WRATH. "David said... for very great are his mercies." He could and did confide in the love of God even in his judgments. But when the desperately wicked fall into God"s hands it will be in abject terror (cf. ver. 27). Again let us imitate David, and trust God"s mercy, not man"s. "If you are accused, it is better to trust him for justice than to trust men; if you are guilty, it is better to trust him for mercy than to trust men; if you are miserable, it is better to trust him for deliverance than men.

IV THE ONE FALLS INTO HIS CHASTISING HAND; THE OTHER, INTO HIS AVENGING HAND. David and his people were to be punished, but the punishment was paternal chastisement for their profit. They were to suffer that they might be saved as a nation. But very different is the punishment of the willful and persistent sinner (see vers. 26, 27, 30, 31). What is our relation to God? Penitence, or persistence in sin? Humble trust, or abject terror? We must fall into his hands somehow. How shall it be? Hast thou an arm like God?" Let it be thusA guilty, weak, and helpless worm, On thy kind arms I fall; Be thou my Strength and Righteousness, My Savior, and my All." (Watts.) W.J.

Falling into the hands of the living God.

I AS ILLUSTRATED IN HISTORY. The whole passage, vers. 26-31, is a very serious one to read, insisting as it does on the reality of Divine retribution upon those guilty of neglect and disobedience. It was evidently necessary, however, to deal with this point and thus make the comparison between the old and the new covenant complete. How will God deal with those who willfully neglect the ample and gracious provisions of the new covenant? The first element in the answer is given by inquiring how he dealt with despisers of the old covenant despisers of Moses as Jehovah"s deputy and messenger. A great deal hangs on the word willfully. Jehovah has always been long-suffering with ignorance and thoughtlessness. But when men rise like Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, with the purposes of rebellion and self-assertion strong in their heart, knowing what they are doing, and doing it deliberately and defiantly, then God has to be equally assertive of his rightful authority and the rightful authority of whomsoever he makes his representative. The Jew did not question that it was a right thing that the despiser of Moses" Law should die without fail under two or three witnesses. Of course we must guard against arguing back from great catastrophes to great sins. What we are bound to do is to recognize the plain asserted connection between some great sins and the consequences that followed. And in every case, to every individual, the consequences are real; only in some cases the consequences have been made terribly conspicuous by way of warning.

II AS CONTRASTED WITH THE IMPOTENCE OF OTHER HANDS INTO WHICH WE MAY FALL. Jehovah, the living God, is here contrasted with lifeless idols. Jehovah, the God who makes unfailing, righteous, potent judgments, as contrasted with idolatrous priests who have no power except by working on the superstitious fears of men. Attachment to Mosaic institutions had hardened into something little better than idolatry. The living God had become a mere name, the center of a mechanical ritual. Men stood in terror of their own traditional delusions. Or they stood in terror of one another like those parents of the blind man, who feared they would be put out of the synagogue if they acknowledged Jesus as the Christ. It is right that men should be afraid, but how often are they afraid of the wrong things! To fall into the hands of men must have a dreadful look at first, but when the position is fully estimated it is a mere trifle. The really fearful thing is to fall into the hands of the living God. He is something very different from an empty superstition or a living man.

III AS CONNECTED WITH THE IMMENSE SIN OF WILFULLY REJECTING JESUS. The writer allows us to be under no mistake as to what he means. Whosoever can truly say that he does not trample underfoot the Son of God, does not reckon the blood of the covenant an unholy thing, does not do despite to the Spirit of grace, such a one is free. In the first days of breaking away from Judaism, when all the malevolence and bitterness of the worst sort of Jews came into play, there would be more occasion of warning of this sort than now. And even with regard to such men there is another side to be considered. Paul was once bitter and malevolent enough, but he put in the plea that what he did he did ignorantly, in unbelief. God only can judge the heart of a man enough to say how far his rejection is really deliberate, in the face of light and knowledge. Y.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

To fall into the hands - Of his avenging justice.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

Our apostle, In these words, winds up his whole argument against the wilful despisers of the gospel, taken from the aggravation of that sin, with the severity of the punishment that would certainly befall them that are guilty of it.

Note here, 1. The description given of God, he is the Living God; so called, both by way of opposition unto all dead and dumb idols, and also with respect to his lively power and strength, whereby he is able to avenge the sins of men; and likewise to signify the eternal duration of his existence. He ever liveth to execute his wrath, and inflict vengeance on the apostate sinner.

Learn, That the name of the living God is full either of terror or comfort to the souls of men. O Lord! Thine attributes, which are the principal delight of all sincere Christians, and the special object of their hope and faith, are an eternal spring of dread and terror to all impenitent sinners.

Note, 2. What is the effect and fruit of all sin in general, and of apostasy in particular, namely, a falling into God’s hands. There is a threefold hand of God mentioned in Scripture; his protecting hand, his correcting hand, and his wrathful and revenging hand. It is safe and comfortable to fall into God’s protecting hand: It is profitable and beneficial, though not pleasing and delightful, to fall into God’s chastening and correcting hand; but to fall into his angry hand; his wrathful and revengeful hand, this is sad and fearful; either to fall under this sentence of his wrath in this life, or under the full and final execution of that wrath in the life to come.

Note, 3. THe tremendous dreadfulness of that wrath; it is a fearful, dreadful thing, that which no tongue can utter, no heart can conceive. Who knoweth the power of thy wrath? Psa 90:11.

Learn hence, That the wrath and vengeance which the ever-living God will certainly inflict upon all wicked sinners in general, and upon all wretched apostates in particular, is very dreadful and tremendous; and so must needs be, because it is a wrath inconceivably great, and unavoidably sure, and because it is the wrath of a just God, of an almighty God, and of an ever-living God.

William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

31. It is a fearful thing, etc. A fearful thing for the sinner who has despised God's mercy; for the apostate who has trampled it under foot.

B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.

31. φοβερόν. Fearful for the deliberate apostate and even for the penitent sinner (1Ch 21:13; 2Sa 24:14; LXX. Sir 2:18), and yet better in any case than to fall into the hands of man.

θεοῦ ζῶντος. Heb 3:12.

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

31.] And this ἐκδοχὴ κρίσεως and πυρὸς ζῆλος are certainties, testified to by God Himself.

31.] Axiomatic conclusion of these solemn warnings. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God (yet in reff. Kings, 1 Chron., David says, ἐμπεσοῦμαι δὴ εἰς χεῖρας κυρίου, ὅτι πολλοὶ οἱ οἰκτιρμοὶ αὐτοῦ σφόδρα, εἰς δὲ χεῖρας ἀνθρώπου οὐ μὴ ἐμπέσω: and in ref. Sir. we have ἐμπεσούμεθα εἰς χεῖρας κυρίου, καὶ οὐκ εἰς χεῖρας ἀνθρώπων· ὡς γὰρ ἡ μεγαλωσύνη αὐτοῦ, οὕτω καὶ τὸ ἔλεος αὐτοῦ. But the two sentiments are easily set at one. For the faithful, in their chastisement, it is a blessed thing to fall into God’s hands: for the unfaithful, in their doom, a dreadful one. On ζῶν, as a characteristic of θεός, see on ch. 3:12. Here, the idea of life and energy, attached to the name of God, brings vividly out the ζῆλος with which He will consume His adversaries).

Henry Alford, The Greek Testament (1849–1861) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

To fall, etc. Comp. LXX, 2Sa 24:14; Sir. 2 18.

Of the living God. The living God, revealed in the living Christ, will not suffer his sacrificial gift and his covenant to be slighted and insulted with impunity. See on ch. Heb 3:12.

Marvin R. Vincent, Word Studies in the New Testament (1887–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

31. φοβερόν Tho word takes up tho φοβερά of v. 27. Tho adjective is found in the N. T. only in these passages and in c. xii. 21.

ἐμα. εἷς x.) The phrase occurs in the LXx. in a different connexion, 2 Sam. xxiv. 14; 1 Obron. xxi. 13; Ecclus ii, 18.

θεοῦ ζῶντος] See c. iii. 12 note.

(3) ov. 32—39. Encouragements

' from past experience.

Words of encouragement follow upon the words of warning, just as the warnings in c. vi. 4-8, were followed by the expression of joyful confidence. The Hebrews are reminded of their former couragoous faith (32—34); and they are exhorted not to poril its fruit at tho lust moment (35—39). Thoy had fought their battle : all that was required was that they should endure to wait for their crown: dpa dvds ὑμῖν δεῖ μόνου, ἵνα ἀναμείνητε τὴν μέλλησιν οὐχ ἵνα ἀθλήσητε πάλιν... πρὸς τὸ στεφανωθῆναι ἑστήκατε λοιπόν᾽ τοῦτο μόνον φέρετε, τὴν μέλλησιν τοῦ στεφάνου (Chrys.).

8 But call to mind the days of former time wherein after ye were enlightened ye endured a great struggle of sufferings, “partly being made @ gazing-stock both by reproaches and afflictions, and partly claiming Sellowship with thoes who 40 lived.

Brooke Foss Westcott (1825–1901), The Epistle to the Hebrews (1889) and The Epistles of St John (1883) — public domain (pre-1929). Text recovered from Internet Archive / Google Books OCR scans. Westcott’s Gospel of John commentary is not included (its OCR lost the chapter running-heads required for reliable verse-keying). Some Greek quoted in the Hebrews volume is imperfectly rendered by the OCR.