Hebrews 3:3

Heb_3:3-6

He that hath built all things is God

Divine socialism

1.

He that built all things is God. He began in the undated past, and He keeps on in sundry ways and with diverse materials from generation to generation. To-day is built up out of yesterday and all its predecessors, and the vast and prolific morrow will be constructed out of the incomprehensible and mighty to-day.

2. Know ye that the Lord, He is God. It is He who hath made us and not we ourselves. We are His workmanship, created of old, with a body that is a finely built machine, opulent in resources, and apt for our uses; with a mind of surprising capacities; perception and reason, memory and conscience, hope and trust, reverence and love, and above all with a spirit that links us with the Infinite, makes us susceptible of being created anew in Christ Jesus, after the type of His holy life. The home is His work, built as the primary institution for choking in the germ the destructive self-seeking of the human race, and developing that love which forgets self, considers all, and creates an atmosphere of domestic and social ozone that refreshes and exhilarates everybody who breathes it.

3. But Gods supreme building work goes very far beyond that unit of civilisation, the home, and seeks to construct out of the individuals of which the world is composed one vast moral commonwealth, a spiritual republic, a divine house, in which selfishness shall be killed outright, and God and freedom, righteousness and love, reign for ever and ever; a house with servants like Moses, sons like Jesus, faithful in all things; a free, aggressive, and holy spiritual community; a perfect form of society, into which nothing enters that defiles, or makes a lie. This is the Divine ideal, the sum and crown of the long and patient labours of God upon men, the image and pattern of the things, towards the realisation of which all the pulling down and plucking up of nations, and states, and churches, and all the reconstructing of systems and societies, stedfastly and assuredly tend.

4. Whose house are we--we Hebrews recently become followers of Jesus, but not the less belonging to Gods building; for He goes forward amid the wreck of systems, the sacking of Jerusalem, with unbroken persistence, calm and sure, though not swift, towards the eternally pre-ordained top-stone. The fires of God (Heb_12:29) sweep through the structure with a fierce and cleansing blast, not a grain of gold is lost; but lo! here I an ampler edifice, on a wider foundation, richer in its architectural beauty, rises into sight as the dwelling-place of the sons of men.

5. Whence it follows, if you are able to hear it, that in the truest sense God is the first Socialist the Author of that gospel which has done more to create motive and inspire practical enthusiasm for the real welfare of men, than all other systems and agencies and persons put together.

6. Two workers of unapproachable greatness stand out with decisive significance as social creators and organisers. Many builders have done excellently, hut Moses, a faithful servant in the house of the Father, and Jesus, a faithful Son, have excelled them all. The making of Israel was in the hands of Moses. The making of all things new is the work of Christ.

7. Moses, indeed, was faithful in all His house as a servant, and built up, as Ewald says, for the first time in all human history a whole nation, prepared to put itself under obligation to live hereafter only in accordance with true religion and her requirements, and to look for salvation in all time to come only from loyalty in its religious life, and the love of the true God, which this loyalty pre-supposes. Better foundation than that can no man lay--God, freedom, righteousness, love; and on every part of it is prophetically written the name of the coming Christ.

8. But the chief purpose of the writer of the letter to the Hebrews is to show that Christ is a greater Builder than Moses. In what, then, was Jesus greater than Moses? In the basis on which He built? No: for both built on the same. In the spirit in which He did His work? No; for both could say, It is my meat to do the will of my Father, and to finish His work. In fidelity to His trust? Yes; but this is not in the writers mind: but rather the fact that Christ proves Himself to be nearer the founts and sources of spiritual power.

(1) Did Moses speak of a definite Deity? Christs view of God as the Father and Saviour of all men, and of all alike, is the fullest gospel men have yet seen, and makes the amplest provision for all the needs of the individual and social life of mankind.

(2) Did Moses build on the heights of freedom? Christ much more! It is to His incarnation and sacrifice we owe the knowledge of the unutterable worth of one soul, the marvellous possibilities of one corrupted and lost human being! From him comes the impulse to liberty.

(3) Is Moses a legislator? so also is Christ. He did not come to destroy the law and the prophets, but to fill out and realise their plan; not to demolish their often-dropped ideal, but to take it up and embody it in the life of men. He leads to higher ways of action; to patience, forbearance, forgiveness and self-devotion, for the sake of the weakest and worst; and what men could not do or suffer under the law they accomplish with ease and grace under the gospel.

(4) Since Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father, is greater than Moses the servant of God, in that He furnishes the one thing that was lacking, viz., motive-power; and furnishes it on a scale of limitless magnitude, and with a fitness for human need that leaves nothing to desire, let us hold fast our boldness and the glorying of our hope to the end, and so prove that we are of this Divine house. Gods commonwealth is as sure to be established as the heavens and earth are built. Only let us give His gospel free play; treat it as containing the key to all our social problems as well as to our individual uses, and it will prove itself as victorious over the difficulties of humanity as it has signally triumphed in the experience of numberless individuals.

(5) But recollect, we only belong to that house in so far as we hold fast our boldness and do not fail in bravo deeds, in bold initiative, in courageous persistence, in the speech and work that vindicate and back our confidence. God has no room for cowards and idlers.

(6) Partnership in that house requires another quality, viz., that of holding fast the glorying of our hope, i.e., our exulting hopefulness. In social things, says John Morley, we may be sure undying hope is the secret of vision, and it is also the secret of patient work. We are saved socially by hope. Amid all this conflict of human passion and opinion, Gods work of salvation and regeneration goes on, without haste and without rest, towards its long since predicted consummation. (John Clifford, D. D.)

The being and attributes of God proved from His works

I. THIS WORLD MIGHT HAVE HAD A BEGINNING. There is nothing absurd in this supposition. We can easily conceive that there was a time when the heavens and earth mid not exist; and consequently that there was a time when they first came into existence. Now, if the world existed of necessity, it would be absolutely immutable, or incapable of change.

II. If this world might have begun to exist, then IT MIGHT HAVE HAD A CAUSE OF ITS EXISTENCE. Upon this principle the apostle supposes that every house is builded by some man, or owes its existence to some cause. And this mode of reasoning from the effect to the cause, is perfectly agreeable to common sense. Should the greatest sceptic travel two or three hundred miles into a wild wilderness, and there discover a very ancient and elegant house, he would instantaneously draw the conclusion in his own mind that that house was built by some man.

III. If the world might have had a cause, then IT MUST HAVE HAD A CAUSE. When a number of men walk in procession, they bear the relation of antecedent and consequent to each other, but not the relation of cause and effect. The motion of those who walk before is no cause of the motion of those who walk behind. The operation of our own minds gives us a clear and distinct perception of cause and effect. When we walk, we are conscious of a power to produce motion. Our idea of cause and effect is as clear and distinct as our idea of heat and cold, and is as truly correspondent to an original impression. This being established, the way is prepared to show, that if the world might have had a cause, it must have had a cause.

IV. THE CAUSE WHICH PRODUCED THIS WORLD MUST BE EQUAL TO THE EFFECT PRODUCED. No cause can produce an effect superior to itself. For just so far as an effect surpasses the cause, it ceases to be an effect, and exists of itself.

1. The Creator of all things must be possessed of almighty power. This is the first attribute of the first cause which His great and marvellous works impress upon the mind.

2. The Author and Framer of the world must be supremely wise and intelligent. Mankind have always admired the beauty of the world. Uniformity amidst variety appears through every part of creation.

3. The builder and upholder of the world must be everywhere present. It is the nature of all created beings and objects to be constantly and absolutely dependent upon their Creator.

4. The Maker and Governor of the world must be a being of boundless knowledge. He must necessarily know Himself, and be intuitively acquainted with all His natural and moral perfections. And by knowing these, He must necessarily know all possibles; that is, all things which lie within the limits of omnipotence.

5. The first, supreme and intelligent Cause of all things must be eternal. To suppose the first Cause had a cause of His existence, is to suppose there was a cause before the first Cause; or to suppose He was the cause of His own existence, is to suppose that He existed and operated before He did exist; or to suppose that He came into existence without any cause, is to suppose what has been proved to be impossible.

6. The Framer of our bodies and the Father of our spirits must be a being of moral rectitude. The moral faculty of man carries in it a clear demonstration of the moral rectitude of his Maker. Besides, the whole world bears innumerable marks of the Divine goodness.

Deductions:

1. If it be true that the visible world displays the being and perfections of the Deity, then all who reason themselves into atheism are guilty, of extreme folly.

2. If there be a being of supreme power and intelligence, who is the Creator and Proprietor of the world, then there is great reason to think that He will dispose of all things to His own glory.

3. If there be a being who hath made us, and who will absolutely dispose of us, then it is very desirable to receive a revelation of His will.

4. It there be a God who is possessed of every natural and moral perfection, then it is fruitless for those who believe and acknowledge His existence to deny the divinity of the Scriptures in order to get rid of their disagreeable doctrines.

5. If there be a God, then all His reasonable creatures are bound to be religious. Our capacity to know God obliges us to glorify Him as God. (N. Emmons, D. D.)

God in History

There is a God in history. The undevout historian, like the undevout astronomer, is mad. Every house is built by some one, but He that built all things is God. There is a house, a structure that fills the ages, its foundations laid millenniums ago. Great events are like columns in their structure, like arches, like graceful pinnacles, and a glorious dome shall complete it by and by. And it must be a fool that can look on the structure of history, with all its marvellous adjustments and adaptations, its many and varied apartments, its evidence of architecture, symmetry, and beauty, and say there is no Architect in history. (A. T. Pierson, D. D.)

Christ as a Son over His own house

Christ the Lord, and Moses the servant

To speak of Moses to the Jews was always a very difficult and delicate matter. It is hardly possible for Gentiles to understand or realise the veneration with which the Jews regard Moses, the servant of God, Think of the history of Moses. It was wonderful from the very commencement. His whole life was a sacrifice of love and of obedience to the God of His fathers Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob; a life of self-denial and affection to the people of his choice. Look at his peculiar position. He was mediator of the covenant, the ambassador (apostle) and plenipotentiary (as it were) of God. All Gods dealings with Israel were transacted through him. Look, again, at the work Moses accomplished; at the great things which the grace of God performed through him. Through him God brought Israel out of Egypt, and led them through the Red Sea; He gave the ten commandments and the whole law b v him; by him the whole national life of Israel was organised. But after admitting fully the excellence of Moses, the apostle proceeds to show the still greater glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. It must have struck you that in many respects Moses was a type of Jesus. But yet, what a difference! The zeal of Moses was not free from earth-born elements, and had to be purified. But there was nothing in Jesus that was of the earth earthy; no sinful weakness of the flesh was in Him who condescended to come in the likeness of sinful flesh. But notice the imperfection of Moses as a servant. How different was Jesus! He declared the full, perfect, and free love of God. 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. A Christian is like the tabernacle; he is a sanctuary. There is the holy of holies, the holy place, and the outer court. But in all the glory of God is to be revealed; the holiness of God to be shown forth. His body is the Lords; the members of his body are Christs members. God is to walk in it, to dwell in it, to rest in it. He is to be not merely a visitor, but an indwelling guest, abiding in him. How manifold are the mansions in which He dwells! As there are many mansions in the Fathers house above, as there are many mansions in His Church below, so also are there many rooms in the spiritual house of the individual believer; in various manifestations of grace, strength, and love, does God dwell in us. But the apostle adds-shall I call it a condition? shall I call it an encouragement? If you hold fast the confidence and the rejoining of your hope unto the end. And with the exhortation is the word of promise: Being confident of this very thing, that He which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. They that trust in the Lord shall be like Mount Sion, which cannot be moved, but standeth fast for ever. Oh, blessed word and promise of God, that He will keep us unto the end I Hold fast the confidence and rejoicing of your hope firm unto the end. Faith is the mother of Hope; but how often is the mother strengthened and cheered by the daughter! Cherish the hope which in Christ Jesus is given unto you who believe in the Saviour. (A. Saphir.)

Christ as a Son over His own house

I. AS A SON OVER HIS OWN HOUSE, CHRIST EXERCISES THE PREROGATIVES OF EXCLUSIVE SUPREMACY.

II. CHRIST AS A SON OVER HIS OWN HOUSE IS ITS ONLY REDEEMER.

III. THE LORD JESUS CHRIST AS A SON OVER HIS OWN HOUSE HAS PROCURED FOR IT THE GIFTS AND THE GRACES OF HIS HOLY SPIRIT.

1. During His personal ministry, our Lord instructed His own house in the things which pertained to the kingdom of God. As the Prophet of the Church, He made known the whole counsel of God for the obedience of faith.

2. Our Lord was, moreover, even in His estate of humiliation, a Son over His own house, as its Sovereign from whom emanate all the laws which regulate both its internal economy and the outward business of the house of God.

3. Christ is no longer visibly present in that house over which He presides as a Son. The heavens must retain Him until the times of the restitution of all things. Still, He is truly and ever present by His Spirit, whom He sends forth in every age to carry forward many of the sublime designs of His mission into the world. (John Smyth, D. D.)

The spiritual house

I. First of all, THE HOUSE? WHAT HOUSE IS THIS? Whose house are we. It is a house composed of all true believers. It is a spiritual edifice. Only look at the contrast; the house of bondage and the house of light and liberty; the former under Moses as a servant, and yet a master--the latter under Jesus the Son, and He also the Master. Oh I what a precious truth it is, that the believer passes from the one to the other.

II. Now, let us CONSIDER THE PROOF THE TEXT GIVES TO US WHEREBY A MAN MAY KNOW WHETHER HE REALLY BELONGS TO THIS HOUSEHOLD. It does not say, If you hold fast your confidence and the rejoicing of the hope, you shall belong to this house; but it says, Whose house we are if we do so and so. That is the proof of my being a member of that house. Observe here the contrast is not between belonging to the house of Christ and no house. Observe, it is not between having religion and no religion. It does not say, If you have confidence, and if you have hope, you prove that you are religious, as contrasted with those who have no religion; but you prove that you belong to the house of Christ, as contrasted with the house of Moses. That shows us that whatever a man may say about his religion, yet if he has not confidence, he has gone back to the Mosaic dispensation. Now I do say to you, this house of Christ, as contrasted with the house of Moses, is a glorious house. It has no parallel in the universe. There is nothing like the household of God, belonging to Christ; even angelic intelligences, though a part of that household, are eventually not to be compared to the members of Christs household. The believer is brought into such a union with Gods own Son, as communicates to him a blessedness unknown to any other creature. Even now, look at the wonderful privileges to which believers are called--fellowship with the Father and His Son, Jesus Christ, and Community of nature with Christ; Christ having humanity, we having the Divine nature! Only conceive what is held out to us--the glorious promise that we shall behold the glory that He had with the Father before the world was! The apostle says, whose house are we, if we hold this fast; if this is manifest in our feelings and deportment. We must get that kind of confidence that neither hell nor earth can shake, and that is to be got by implicit trust in the promises of the Lord. So again the expectation: you are to hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope. What hope? That He will come again; the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour, Jesus Christ; that is the hope. There is a rejoicing of common expectation; but the expectation of the Christian must be definite. Let me give you two or three important practical rules for retaining this confidence and hope.

1. First of all, thoroughly understand the relationship into which you enter when you enter the house of Christ. Understand thoroughly your relation to God the Father. It is in proportion as you see that, together with your relationship to the Son and Holy Ghost, that you feel confidence that you shall hold fast. Feel this: if God be my Farther, will He give me a stone if I ask Him for bread? Certainly not. Then how much more will He not give me His own Spirit if Christ be my own Saviour? Will He withhold the robe of righteousness in which I may stand before Him? Certainly not, if Christ died that I might have it. If the Holy Ghost be an indweller of my soul, will He quit me? Certainly not.

2. Then another thing bear in mind that you should hold fast; that this work is the work of the Holy Ghost, through whatever instrumentality the Holy Ghost may operate on you. Learn, therefore, to exercise an unqualified dependence on the Holy Ghost. While you are using every possible means, learn to be always dependent on the Holy Ghost, as completely as though you did nothing, at the same time remembering that the Holy Ghost does work by means.

3. Another thing: remember that the path of duty is the path in which all these things are met with and enjoyed. (C. Molyneux, M. A.)

The Church Christs house

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 platform of the Church, provided the materials, and by almighty power disposed them to receive the reform. He has compacted and united this His house, and has settled the orders of it, and crowned all with His own presence, which is the true glory of this house of God. (M. Henry.)

Christ in relation to the true Church

I. HE OWNS IT.

1. This proprietorship is founded on His creative work.

2. His redemptive work.

II. HE OCCUPIES IT.

1. As a permanent Resident.

2. As a hospitable Host.

3. As A Master. (Homilist.)

Whose house are we

Christians are Gods house

What a singular honour is this, that we should be Gods house--yea, His dwelling-house.

I. A nobleman hath many houses, which he dwells not in himself, but letteth them forth to other men. We are not houses to let, but God Himself dwelleth in us; we are His mansion-house. It pleaseth Him of His infinite mercy to dwell in such base houses as we are.

2. If God dwell in us, and we be His house, then bow neat and handsome should it be kept. Shall a kings house be overgrown with weeds Shall there be filthy corners in a kings palace? And shall we that profess ourselves to be Gods house he full of pride, envy, and malice? The devil found his house swept and garnished to his mind, and shall not Gods house be swept for the entertaining of Him? Let us garnish ourselves, which are Gods house, with the sweet flowers of faith, love, hope, zeal, humility, temperance, patience, sobriety, that God may take delight to dwell in us.

3. There is no man, especially if he dwell in a house, and it be his own, but will bestow needful reparations on it; and do you think God will suffer His house to lie unrepaired? Nay, being Gods house, we shall want nothing for soul or body. If we decay in faith, zeal, and other graces of His Spirit, He will in due season repair them again; He will keep His house wind-tight and water-tight; He will preserve it from wind and weather--yea, the gates of hell shall never prevail against His house.

4. A man may have a house and be defeated of it: some wrangling lawyer may wring it out of his hand, or he may be weary of his house, and make it away. None can snatch Gods house out of His hand; He is no changeling; He will keep His house for ever. What? are we the house of God simply? Live as we list, and do what we will? No, verily; but if we hold fast the confidence, &c. One special quality of a good house is to be firm and stable. If it be a tottering house, ready to shake in every wind and tempest, a man will have small joy to dwell in it; even so, we that be the house of

God Almighty must not be wavering and inconstant, but we must stand sure, and hold fast the graces we have received. There be two things which we must hold fast: faith and hope; the boldness that we have by faith to come into the presence of God, to whom we have access by Christ, apprehended by faith, and by virtue whereof we may boldly call God Father, and open our minds freely to Him--that is the nature of the word. (W. Jones, D. D.)

Of those who are the house of Christ

This pronoun (we)

may be taken two ways

1. Jointly, for the whole Catholic Church, which is the society of all that ever did or shall believe in Jesus Christ.

2. Distinctly, for every particular believer. For the body of a particular professor is said to be the temple of the Holy Ghost (1Co_6:19). Fitly are saints styled a house.

For

1. As stones and timber, they are brought together and fitly laid, and that for God to dwell among them (2Co_6:16).

2. As a house is set upon a foundation (Luk_6:48), so are saints built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief Corner-stone (Eph_2:20).

3. As Solomons temple was beautified and adorned with silver, gold, variety of pictures, and other ornaments (2Ch_3:4; 1Ki_6:29), so saints are decked and adorned with the various graces of God s Spirit (Gal_5:22-23).

4. As a house inhabited hath a governor over them, so the society of saints have one over them who is called the Master of the house (Mat_10:25).

5. As in a house there is a household which consisteth of children, servants, and others, so in the Church of God (Mat_15:26; Luk_11:7).

6. As in a great house there are variety of officers, so in the Church there are stewards, ministers, and others (2Co_12:28).

7. As in a house all needful provision useth to be stored up, so in this house of Christ there is bread of life, water of life, and needful food and refreshing.

Singular comforts must needs hence arise to those that are parts and members of this house; and that by reason of

1. The sure foundation whereon it is settled (1Co

3:11).

2. The fast knitting of the parts of the house together Eph_2:21).

3. The excellent ornaments thereof, which are the glorious graces of Gods Spirit,

4. The good laws and constitutions for better governing the same, being all contained in the Word of God.

5. The wise Governor thereof.

6. The excellent household.

7. The useful offices in it.

8. The variety and sufficiency of provisions appertaining thereto.

That which is expected of such as are of this house is

1. That they cleanse themselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit 2Co_7:1; 2Co_6:16-18). Otherwise this house of Christ may prove the devils stye.

2. That they deck and adorn themselves with the graces of Gods Spirit Col_3:12).

3. That they be subject to their Governor, and to the good orders that He establisheth among them.

4. That they be content with the place and portion which the Master of the household allots unto them.

5. That they maintain unity amongst themselves; for a house divided against itself shall not stand (Mat_12:25). (W. Gouge.)

If we hold fast the confidence

This conditional speech importeth

1. That some professors in the visible Church may make defection, and not persevere to the end.

2. That such as shall make final defection hereafter are not a part of Gods house for the present, howsoever they be esteemed.

3. That true believers must take warning, from the possibility of some professors apostasy, to look the better to themselves, and to take a better gripe of Christ, who is able to keep them.

4. That true believers both may and should hold fast their confidence unto the end; yea, and must aim to do so, if they would persevere.

5. That true believers have ground and warrant, in the promises of the gospel, both to hope for salvation, and to rejoice and glory in that hope, as if it were present possession.

6. That the more a man aimeth at this solid confidence and gloriation of hope, the more evidence he giveth that he is of the true house of God. (D. Dickson, M. A.)

Holding fast

The word which is rendered confidence in this verse is not the same as that which appears in other places in the same chapter. We are made partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast unto the end, says the fourteenth verse. We are His house if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end. The two things are substantially the same, and yet there is a shade of difference in the meaning of each of them. The word in my text translated confidence literally means frank speech saying everything is literally the rendering of the expression. And the thought is just this, when you are upon terms of perfect confidence with anybody, as we say, we know him, or I can say anything I like to him. And that is the sort of thing this writer enjoins as the essential of the Christian mans relationship to God. Two friends, two lovers, a parent and a child, that understand each other, it does not matter much what they are talking about; anything will serve, because each knows that down to the very bottom of the other heart it is joy to that other heart to make itself manifest. But if there be the slightest tinge of distrust or alienation, like a sensitive plant, the leaves all fold themselves together, and so shut themselves up, and constraining silence comes. So, says my text, this marks the true relation to God, that there is such perfect trust that there is perfect frankness. And so you get, you know, such other words as these in this same Epistle, about having access with confidence, about coming boldly to the Throne of grace, and the like, all of them carrying the same suggestion of intimacy. Hold fast the frank speech, which is a child of trust, and the trust which is the parent of the frank speech. And my text gives us a practical hint when it calls this temper and disposition the confidence of hope. It is precisely in the measure in which we cherish the Christian hope with regard to that future--that guilt, and with guilt anxiety, and with anxiety fear, being all doneaway with, there comes this full and free communication. The child that doubts the fathers favour, and is conscious of its own faults, sulks in the corner and says nothing. The child that is sure of its Fathers forgiveness, and is conscious of its own faults, has no rest till it tells its faults. And so the frankness which comes of confidence is based upon that assurance which covers all the future with a great light of hope, and all the past with a great light of pardon and oblivion. And then the other side of this disposition is conveyed by that other significant word, Hold fast, not only the confidence, but the glorying, which is more nearly the meaning of the word than the rejoicing of our version, the glorying, which likewise is the fruit of hope. Now, this glorying does not mean an act of glorying, but it means the subject matter, or the occasion. That is to say, it does not describe a mans disposition or notion, but it describes something outside of him, which excites that emotion, and on which it is fixed. So you see my text has two horns to it, as it were; the one lays hold of something in me, and says to me, You see to it that you hold fast your confidence, and the other points to something without me, and says, In order that you may see that you keep hold of the thing which entitles you to rejoice, to triumph, to glory, to boast yourselves. That is to say, we have here set forth the great facts of the gospel, all gathered up into that one word, the matter for our boasting, and that boasting which is no self-complacent bragging of our own strength, but a certain triumphant exultation in a thing that lies outside of us, and with which we have nothing to do but accept it, that glorying, the confidence of which I have been speaking, is, in a certain sense, the child of hope. For the more we are familiar with the great issues to which God is leading us, if we will, the more we shall keep firm hold of the ground for rejoicing and triumph which lies in the message of His love. And all life with all its bitterness, with its changes, and defeats, and sorrows, it will all, smitten, as it were, into beauty by this light of the future that falls upon it, it too will all become material for triumph, for exultation, for gladness. And now let me say a word as to the effort that is required to keep this hold of which my text speaks. The word is a very vivid and very natural one, the metaphor strong but most familiar, the grasp of a muscular hand which tightens itself round something that it will not part with, is set before us as the analogue to which our Christian disposition and temper is to be conformed. And so we come just to these two practical advices--Hold fast the inward emotion; and hold fast the outward Object upon which it rests. How do you hold fast an inward emotion? How call we stereotype and make permanent the flowing currents of our inward life? Perhaps not absolutely is it possible for us to do so. All emotion is evanescent. Well then, swiftly renew it as it dies. The carbon points in the electric lamp burn away with tremendous rapidity, but there is a little mechanical action behind them which keeps pushing them forward with proportionate swiftness, so that there is always a fresh surface presented to be consumed and to be illuminated. And so you and I can do, day by day renewing the temper which day by day is dropping away, as it were, burnt out, we can cultivate the habit of frank speech to God. If you want to hold fast your confidence, cultivate as you can the habit of coming near to God, and telling Him everything. And that we may, let us beware of dropping into the evils which certainly will break that communion and will darken that confidence. For no man will be on frank terms with God that has not got coiled in his heart some evil which he knows to be a devil, and yet will not cast out. And then, on the other hand, as we have to cultivate the inward emotion, so we have to cultivate our firm grasp of the outward thing, the material and ground of our glorying and of our hope. All muscular effort tends to relaxation. That is to say, if a man lays hold of a rope ever so tightly, unless there is a continual renewal of the muscular impulse the grasp will slacken by degrees. There are three ways by which you lose your hold of Gods truth. Some of you let it be dragged out of your hands by violence; some of you let it drop out of your hands by carelessness; and some of you fling it away out of your hands because you want to clutch something else. And so for all three ways by which men lose their Christianity here comes the exhortation: hold fast the ground of your glorying, and keep a tight grip of Jesus Christ. Those whose slack hands let Him go generally open their hands a finger at a time, or a joint at a time, and do not know what they are doing until the palm is open and empty. (A. Maclaren, D. D.)

Marks of the Church of God

Here the apostle setteth down three especial marks by which the children of God are known: the first is the joy of their hope; the second, the assurance of it; the third, the constancy and perseverance unto the end. And let us not think but that God hath done thus with us, whom He hath chosen to eternal life. He hath prepared our hearts to know and feel His unspeakable gift which He hath given us; for if we should bestow any gift upon men, we are not so unwise to give a precious thing unto him that knows not what it is; we would not give him a diamond that would think it to be a piece of glass, nor we would not give him a pearl that would think it to be a grain of salt, for we should lose both our labour and our thanks. And shall we think the Lord will so bestow His heavenly blessings? Will He give His gifts to those that know them not, who cannot give Him again the praise of His goodness? No, He will never do it; but, as Peter saith, He hath taken us for His own people to the end we should show forth His virtues that hath called us out of darkness into His marvellous light; and therefore, if we be in the covenant of His grace, appointed to the inheritance of His glory, it is impossible we should not feel the comfort of it, and know the height and breadth of His great mercy and grace. Another thing here to be learned, if we will know ourselves to be this house and Church of God, is, that as we hold this hope, so we must hold it steadfast and without wavering unto the end, for so, the apostle saith, we must have steadfast assurance of our hope; he calleth it in the sixth chapter a frill persuasion of hope. St. Paul calleth it his intentive hope, a hope in which he shall never be frustrate. So that this assurance is in a true and living hope, and it casteth out mistrust and wavering, even as faith doth, for faith and hope cannot be separate, neither in nature nor property; but if you have faith, you have hope, and as your faith is, so is your hope--a sure faith, a lively hope; a wavering faith, a blind hope; for our faith is a persuasion of the love of God in Christ, and our hope is an apprehension of the glory which by that love is given unto us. It cannot be that we should know the love and grace of God, which is our faith, but we must know the fruit of His love, that is, His glory and eternal life, which is our hope; if therefore we be sure that God doth love us in Jesus Christ, we are also sure that God will glorify us through Jesus Christ; and as our faith rejoiceth in Gods favour, so our hope rejoiceth in Gods glory; and as our faith is sure that nothing shall separate the love of God from us, so our hope longeth after the incorruptible inheritance which we feel and know is laid up in heaven. So this constancy and boldness of our hope, without wavering, laid up in our breasts, and crying still within us, Come, Lord Jesu, this hope is our warrant we be the house of God. Now, the third thing which we must here mark for our instruction is perseverance, for so he saith, We must hold our rejoicing continual unto the end. A most necessary thing, and such as without which all our labour is lost, but a thing hard to attain unto, know it by the experience of it, for scarce one of a great many doth grow up into fervency of zeal and so continueth unto the end. And therefore the more danger is unto us in this behalf, the more watchful we must be to avoid the peril. The greatest enemy we have to make us fall, that we should not hold this constancy to the end, is our own flesh. And if it may have any rule in this work we are undone, for flesh will like of nothing long. Even as Solomon saith, the eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear with hearing; but be the tune never so sweet, at last we desire another. (E. Deering, B. D.)

The nature and advantages of the believers confidence

I. ON WHAT THE STRENGTH AND PERMANENCY OF THIS FEELING OF CONFIDENCE DEPENDS, It depends on a continued realisation of the Lord Jesus Christ, the great object of our faith, and an enlargement of our views concerning His glory and excellency. No desire or resoluteness on our part to retain the sentiment of confidence will avail, without presentation to the mind of the object by which it is excited (see Heb_3:1-2). In the construction of this sentence, as well as in what follows, it is remarkable how the inspired writer always keeps in view the connection of those whom he addresses with Him of whom He speaks. Is He an Apostle or High Priest?--it is of our profession. Is He a Son over His own house?--it is added, whose house are we. This appropriation of Him to usgives us a peculiar interest in all that is said of Him.

II. THE ADVANTAGES OF THIS FEELING OF CONFIDENCE AS PROMOTING THE MORAL GOOD OF THE SOUR. Whilst the great question of our peace with God remains undecided, the prevailing motive under which any religious effort can be put forth is fear; itself not the legitimate motive, but leagued as it must be with the paralysing influence of uncertainty on so momentous a concern, it can have no steady or permanent efficacy in producing efforts for good. Therefore, the apostle says, Ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear, but the spirit of adoption. Unquestionably a spirit of fear is not a spirit of power; and those moralists who expect great results by exciting fear in the minds of men must be disappointed; it is as if a general should expect to achieve a great victory by filling the minds of his soldiers with fear when entering on the contest. We know how easy, and in many cases how successful, an enterprise is made by having the mind supported by confidence in matters of this world; the same principle holds in religion, that a spirit of confidence in God is a spirit of power for enduring and accomplishing what His holy will requires. There is, no doubt, a material difference between the confidence of the men ,,f this world, connected as it is with high self-estimation, and leading to presumption and insolence which often defeat itself, and that confidence of the believer in God, which is connected with the lowest estimate of himself, and with the most entire meekness and humiliation of spirit, and which is seen, as often exercised in the patient endurance of reproaches and trials, as in the strenuousness of the soul for religious objects. But as human nature is constituted, peace of mind, with the hope of support, and enterprise, and success from God, all entering into the idea of a believers confidence, give him a spirit of power in the great undertaking of his souls salvation, by which he pursues a resistless course, utterly unknown to minds under the vacillating influence of uncertainty and fear--difficulties yield, and enemies are repelled before him; and there is a moral influence and dignity in his character to which the consciences of others give the secret homage due to power. But the main strength of the feeling of confidence towards God which faith begets consists in its exciting love to God, which is the great legitimate principle of moral obedience. Farther, the effect upon the understanding is no less striking or deserving of notice in forming an estimate of the moral efficacy of believing confidence in the truth of God. The apostle says that God hath given us the spirit of a sound mind, by which we are certainly to understand a greater degree of rationality, and of the influence of our reason on our heart and habits. It is easy to account for uncultivated men becoming intellectual, by having their minds strongly excited by the weight of an eternal interest to study, and reason from day to night upon the most profound of all subjects. And it is no less easy to determine why intellectual irreligious men cannot reason soundly upon religion--they have not been impelled to inquiry by the same pressure; they have not learned the views nor imbibed the principles which would enable them to reason, either with sense or safety, on this momentous subject. It is not the mere exercise of the understanding, but the nature of the subjects about which it is conversant, that gives it force as a moral engine, the greatest metaphysician may be completely outdone in judging of matters of common life by a man of plain common sense, and in matters connected with the souls salvation his judgment may be completely outdone by a plain Bible Christian. But even when the mind has been employed with the utmost attention on the truth, and comes to its conclusions, their efficacy is small and unabiding until the confidence of faith in the Divine testimony becomes a fixed sentiment in the mind. A conclusion depending on a process of reasoning may strongly impress us whilst we retain the recollection of the process by which we arrived at it; but when that is lost, its impression is weak, and utterly fails before an opposing temptation. How often is it the case with men that they feel little confidence in their own conclusions, however legitimately they may appear to have arrived at them, unless they are fortified by the concurring opinions of those who are reputed wise. This observation leads to the conclusion to which we desire you to come on this subject--that it is not the mere cultivation of the faculty of reason, nor its exercise on the appropriate subjects, that give it real force and steadiness for habitually influencing our moral character, but the distinct apprehension of the Divine testimony concurring with and sanctioning the different positions to which the mind has assented. Reason and faith in the Christian are closely allied in that exercise, for though the Christian must, on the testimony of God, receive some things as true which are above the comprehension of his reason in the present state, God does not propose to him what is contrary to it; and in the peculiar points, the faith of which is essential to salvation, God leads the human mind to an understanding of that which He requires it to believe.

III. THE INFLUENCE THIS CONFIDENCE HAS ON HAPPINESS. In its lowest degree it produces a repose of the soul, to which the gay and thoughtless of this world are utter strangers. It is equally obvious that the state of mind in which it possesses energy to pursue the dictates of the higher faculties, wherein it is exempted from the control of degrading passions, and especially has its leading affection its chief desire, toward that great Source of all good, to which, by its original relations, it was allied, and for enjoying which its capacities were framed, must be the happiest state of the soul; and that all apparent happiness, in a different state, is as delusive in its nature as it is transitory in its duration. Recourse to God, considered in itself, is at all times an unfailing source of joy to the soul that has confidence in Him. It is inward, and independent of outward combinations, which he could not command; it accords with stillness and retirement, which are so irksome to the children of pleasure; it purifies and ennobles the soul; nor is there in it, when rightly understood, the least vestige of delusiveness or enthusiasm; for, though not depending upon sense, or carried on through its medium, its evidence of reality is quite as satisfactory. He whose soul goes out in confidence to God knows Gods existence--His attention to his desires--His approbation of the confidence which the soul cherishes in Him from the testimony of His written Word--of that Record of Truth which will survive and prove its reality when all the objects of time and sense shall have passed away for ever. (Donald Fraser, D. D.)

Means for perseverance

To help us on in holding out, these graces following, among others, are very useful.

1. Humility. This is the basis and foundation when the fore-mentioned house is settled. Christ saith that a man who builds a sure house digs deep Luk_6:48). God giveth grace to the humble (Pro_3:34). For this very end we are forbidden to be high-minded, lest we fall (Rom_11:20). Self-conceitedness and pride make men careless (Rev_3:17).

2. Sincerity. Tills is an inward soundness. If the foundation be not sound, the edifice cannot be well settled on it. Soundness is that which maketh last and endure. Sappy, rotten timber will quickly fail. Counterfeit grace will not last.

3. A settled resolution to hold out to the end (Psa_119:106).

4. Jealousy. Jealousy, I say, in regard of the temptations whereunto we are subject, and of our own weakness. Satan is subtle (1Pe_5:8). Sin is deceitful (Heb_3:13); and we are of ourselves foolish, and prone to yield to sin and Satan. If we be secure or careless, we may be soon taken as birds in a net.

5. Prudence. For the manifestation hereof avoid occasions which may draw thee out of thy Christian course.

6. Growth in grace. By this we shall be the more strengthened and the better enabled to hold out.

7. Walking with God. By this he that never saw death pleased God all the days of his life (compare Gen_5:24 with Heb_11:5).

8. Stedfast expectation of the prize or reward that is set before thee. It is said of Moses that he had respect unto the recompense of the reward Heb_11:26).

9. Prayer-faithful, fervent, constant prayer. Christ used this means for Himself (Heb_5:7). This means He also used that Peters faith might not fail. By the foresaid means we may continue to enjoy our spiritual strength, as Caleb did his bodily strength (Jos_14:11), and as Moses, whose natural force abated not (Deu_34:7), we shall still bring forth fruit in old age (Psa_92:14). (W. Gouge.)

Christian stability

An established, experienced, hopeful Christian is, in the world, like an iceberg in a swelling sea. The waves rise and fall. Ships strain and shiver, and nod on the agitated waters. But the iceberg may be seen from far, receiving the breakers on its snow-white side, casting them off unmoved, and, where all else is rocking to and fro, standing stable like the everlasting hills. The cause of its steadiness is its depth, Its bulk is bedded in calm water beneath the tumult that rages on the surface. Although, like the ships, it is floating in the water, it receives and throws off the angry waves like the rocks that gird the shores. Behold the condition and attitude of Christians! They float in the same sea of life with other men, and bear the same buffetings; but they are not driven hither and thither, the sport of wind and water. The wave strikes them, breaks over them, and hisses past in foam; but they remain unmoved. They were not caught by surprise while they had a slight hold of the surface. The chief part of their being lies deep beyond the reach of these superficial commotions. Their life, hid with Christian God, bears without breaking all the strain of the storm. (W. Arnot, D. D.)

Example of stability

The Macrocystis pyrifera is a marine plant, rising from a depth of one hundred and fifty or two hundred feet, and floating for many fathoms on the surface of the sea. Darwin says, I know few things more surprising than to see this plant growing and thriving amid the great breakers of the Western Ocean, which no masses of rock, however hard, can long resist. The stem is round, slimy, and smooth, and seldom has a diameter of so much as an inch. How great its resistance to withstand the strain of such a sea! In spite of storm and breakers, the species maintains itself from century to century; for the strength with which it clings to the naked rock, and faces the fury of the elements, has been poised by the wisdom of God. (J. Hartwig.)

Means of stability

As we tie a tender tree to some other tree that it may not be broken by the winds, and cast anchor in a storm to fix the ship that it may not be driven by the tempest; so ought we to join and apply our weak and faint hearts to the firm pillar of Gods word, and fix the ship of our souls by the anchor of hope, that it sink not. (John Arndt.)

Confidence in death

Donald Cargill, on the scaffold, July 27, 1681, as he handed his well-used Bible to one of his friends that stood near, gave this testimony: I bless the Lord that these thirty years and more I have be, n at peace with God, and was never shaken loose of it. And now I am as sure of my interest in Christ, and peace with God, as all within this Bible and the Spirit of God can make me. And I am no more terrified at death, or afraid of hell because of sin, than if I had never had sin: for all my sins are freely pardoned and washed thoroughly away through the precious blood and intercession of Jesus Christ.

Confidence to the end

The time came when Luther was to write no more. He was at Eisleben, attending a Protestant synod. It was the 17th February, 1546. He felt that he was dying. Pray, brethren; oh! pray for the spread of the gospel, he said to his fellow-labourers. Then he took a turn or two in the room, and lay down. Friends, I am dying. Into Thy hands, O Lord, I commit my spirit. Reverend father, said Dr. Jonas, do you die firm in the faith you have taught? Luther opened his eyes, which were half-closed, looked fixedly at Jonas, and replied, firmly and distinctly, Yes. That was the last word he uttered; then his great spirit went home.

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

Heb 3:3-4. For, &c. — The apostle proceeds in this verse, and the three following, with his design of evidencing the excellence of Christ above Moses, as he had done before in reference to angels, and all other revealers of the will of God to the church; the word for denoting the connection of this paragraph with Heb 3:1 : “Consider him,” says he; for he is worthy of more glory than Moses. — The church being called the house of God, and that by God himself, the apostle takes advantage of the metaphor to express the dignity of Christ. He that buildeth the house, &c. — The verb κατασκευαζω, here used, and rendered to build, signifies to set things in order, Heb 9:6. It likewise signifies to form a thing as an artificer doth; in which sense it is applied to Noah’s forming the ark, Heb 11:7. In this passage it signifies the forming a church, or religious society, by bestowing on it privileges, and by giving it laws for the direction of its members. And, as the apostle is speaking of the forming of the Christian Church, his meaning is, that Jesus, who formed the Christian Church, is a more honourable or greater person than all the members of that church collectively; consequently greater than any particular member of it. By making this observation, the apostle intimated that Moses, being a member of the Jewish Church, which he formed as God’s servant, and needing its services and privileges equally with the Israelites, he was not to be compared with Jesus, who by his own authority had erected and supported the church in all ages and places, and had need of none of the privileges or services of the church which he had formed. For every house is builded by some man — As the discourse is not concerning a material edifice, but concerning the Jewish and Christian Churches, every house must mean every church or religious society; perhaps also every community, state, or government righteously established, is included in this general expression. But he that built all things — Or all these things, as Beza renders the expression, namely, the whole church, and all the persons that belong to it, or the parts of it, in all ages; the expression all things being properly restrained to the subject treated of, and the word used by the apostle to express the building of the house, plainly declaring that it is the same kind of building he is treating of, and not the absolute creation of all things, which is nowhere expressed by that word; is God — “The words may be so understood as to signify either that God made or built all these things, or that he who made and built all these things is God; the first sense making God the subject, the latter the predicate of the proposition. But as to our purpose, they amount to the same thing; for if he who made them is God, his making of them declares him to be so. And that it is the Lord Christ who is intended in this expression, will appear immediately; for, 1st, If God absolutely, or God the Father be intended, then by the building of all things, the creation of the world is designed; so they all grant who are of that opinion; but that this is not so, we have already demonstrated from the words themselves. 2d, The introduction of God absolutely, and his building of all things in this place, is no way subservient to the apostle’s purpose; for what light or evidence doth this contribute to his principal assertion, namely, that Christ was more honourable than Moses, and that on account of his building the house of God, the confirmation whereof he doth in these words expressly design? 3d, It is contrary to his purpose. For he doth not prove the Lord Christ to be deservedly preferred before Moses, unless he manifest that by his own power he built the house of God in such a manner as Moses was not employed in; whereas, according to this interpretation, he assigns the principal building of the house to another, even the Father, and so overthrows what he had before asserted. This then is that which by these words 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.” — Owen.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

3:3-6 Jesus deserves far more glory for two reasons. First, a person who builds a house deserves more praise than the house itself. The Messiah is the one who builds God’s house (see 2 Sam 7:13). The implication is that Moses is part of the house (i.e., God’s people) that God has built. Second, whereas Moses was a servant in God’s house, Christ, as the Son, is the heir in charge of God’s entire house. Sons have greater status than household servants.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Heb 3:3. Πλείονος, of more) Christ, a prophet as Moses, Act 3:22, note (whereas the other prophets only explained Moses); and yet He was different from Moses, ch. Heb 8:9; Joh 1:7. He is greater than Moses according to this passage.—γὰρ, for) The reason assigned (Ætiology) has relation to κατανοήσατε, consider.—δόξης, glory) Presently afterwards, τιμὴν, honour: τιμὴ here rather denotes something internal; δόξα follows it.—τοῦ οἴκου) The genitive is governed by πλείονα, the comparative; for it is an Enthymeme [a covert syllogism, wherein one or other premiss needs to be supplied], as follows: Christ is greater than the house (for the house is being prepared [‘built,’ κατασκευάζεται]; Christ hath prepared [‘built’] the house and all things, and so Christ is God): therefore Christ is greater than Moses. The reason is: for Moses is less than the house, as a minister and as in some measure a portion of the house; comp. Mat 12:6, note.

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

Heb_3:3.[56] Continued alleging of reasons for the καταΝΟΉΣΑΤΕ, Heb_3:1, in bringing into more distinct relief the exaltedness of Christ above Moses. Heb_3:3 is not, as de Wette supposes, explication or analysis of Heb_3:2. For a placing upon a parallel cannot be explained or analysed by a placing superior.

ΑὟΤΟς] sc. Ἰησοῦς.

On ΠΑΡΆ after a comparative, see at Heb_1:4.

ἨΞΊΩΤΑΙ] has been counted worthy, sc. by God. The verb stands, as ordinarily (comp. 2Th_1:5; 2Th_1:11; 1Ti_5:17; Heb_10:29), in the real sense, so that it includes the notion of the possession obtained.

The figure in the proposition of comparison, καθʼ ὅσον πλείονα τιμὴν ἔχει τοῦ οἴκου κ.τ.λ., is occasioned by the preceding ἘΝ ὍΛῼ Τῷ ΟἼΚῼ ΑὐΤΟῦ added in Heb_3:2. The words contain a truth of universal validity, the application of which, for the rest, to Christ and Moses, follows of itself. Greater honour than the house (in the wider sense [of household], the family and servants included therein) has he who has prepared it. Thus, also, Christ stands higher in honour and glory than Moses. For founder and establisher of the house of God, or the divine kingdom,which in its first formations reaches back to the time of the Old Covenant, but by the New Covenant comes to full realization,is Christ; while Moses is only a part of the οἶκος itself, only a (ministering, cf. Heb_3:5) member of this house, or an ΟἸΚΈΤΗς in the same. Confusing and full of caprice is the indication of the connection of thought of Heb_3:3-6 as given by Delitzsch. See, in opposition to him, Riehm, Lehrbegr. des Hebräerbr. p. 309.

τοῦ οἴκου] is governed by the comparative ΠΛΕΊΟΝΑ: more (greater) honour than the house. Mistakenly do Homberg, Wolf, Peirce, Michaelis, Heumann, Semler, Morus, Ernesti, Heinrichs, Paulus, Stengel, and others make it depend upon τιμήν: greater honour of the house, or in the house.

κατασκευάζειν] implies more than ΟἸΚΟΔΟΜΕῖΝ. Not only the erection of the house, but also the arrangement thereof, the providing of it with the necessary furniture and servants, is thereby expressed.

[56] Comp. Gabler, Dissert. exeg. in illustrem locum Heb_3:3-6, Jena 1778. (Reprinted in the Opuscc. acad. vol. II. Ulm 1831, 8.)

Meyer — Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament — English translation by Peter Christie, edited by Frederick Crombie (T&T Clark, 1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The first comparison: The builder of the house is better than the house itself, therefore is Christ better than Moses. The reason of the consequent is this: because the builder of this house is God, which cannot be attributed to Moses: and therefore Moses was not properly the builder, but a part of the house: but Christ as Lord and God, made all this house.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

For--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).

was--Greek, "has been."

counted worthy of more glory--by God, when He exalted Him to His own right hand. The Hebrew Christians admitted the fact (Heb 1:13).

builded the house--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.

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 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 ουτος should have been translated this person, and this would have referred immediately to Jesus Christ, Heb 3:1.

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.

He who hath builded the house] There can be no doubt that a man who builds a house for his own accommodation is more honourable 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.

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

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 well-known metaphor used in Scripture to call the Church the house of God. (1 Timothy 3:15.) And as it is composed of the faithful, each of them is called a living stone. (1 Peter 2:5.) They are also sometimes called the vessels with which the house is furnished. (2 Timothy 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 master-builder 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 master-builder 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.

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

(3) For this man was counted.—Rather, For He hath been accounted, by God, who hath crowned Him with glory and honour (Heb_2:9). In this reward lies contained the proof that He was faithful. This is probably the connection of thought; others join this verse with the first: “Consider Him . . . for He hath received higher glory than Moses.”

Inasmuch as.—That is, in proportion as: the glory attained by Jesus exceeds the glory of Moses, as the honour due to the builder of the house exceeds that possessed by the house itself. It is not said that Jesus is the Builder; but the relation in which He stands to the Builder of the house is compared with that of Moses to the house. (See Heb_3:5-6.) “Builded” is not a happy word here (especially if we consider the sense in which “house” is used), but it is not easy to find a suitable rendering. The meaning is, He who prepared or formed the house, with all its necessary parts and arrangements.

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

3. For this man] Rather, “For He,” i.e. Christ. The “for” depends on the “Consider.”

was counted worthy] Rather, “hath been deemed worthy,” namely, by God.

more glory] Rather, “a fuller glory” (amplioris gloriae, Vulg.).

of more glory than Moses] Eagerly as the writer is pressing forwards to develop his original and central conception of Christ as our Eternal High Priest, he yet has to pause to prove His superiority over Moses, because the Jews had begun to elevate Moses into a position of almost supernatural grandeur which would have its effect on the imaginations of wavering and almost apostatising converts. Thus the Rabbis said that “the soul of Moses was equivalent to the souls of all Israel;” (because by the cabbalistic process called Gematria the numerical value of the letters of “Moses our Rabbi” in Hebrew = 613, which is also the value of the letters of “Lord God of Israel”). They said that “the face of Moses. was like the Sun;” that he alone “saw through a clear glass” not as other prophets “through a dim glass” (comp. St Paul’s “through a mirror in a riddle,” 1Co_13:12) and that whereas there are but fifty gates of understanding in the world, “all but one were opened to Moses.” See the Rabbinic references in my Early days of Christianity, 1. 362. St Paul in 2Co_3:7-8 contrasts the evanescing splendour on the face of Moses with the unchanging glory of Christ.

he who hath builded the house] The verb (κατασκευάσας) implies rather “equipped” or “established” than “builded” (see Heb_9:2; Heb_9:6, Heb_11:7 and note on Heb_1:2; Wis_13:4).

hath more honour than the house] The point of this expression is not very obvious. If taken strictly it would imply that Moses was himself “the house” which Christ built. But οἶκος, “house” or “household” means more than the mere building (οἰκία), It means the whole theocratic family, the House of Israel in its covenant relation; and though Moses was not this House, he was more than a servant in it being also its direct representative and human head. (There is a somewhat similar phrase in Philo, De plant. Noe, 16.)

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 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 Zac 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.

(u) T. Bab. Megilia, fol. 12. 1. (w) Shemot Rabba, sect. 21. fol. 106. 3. Maimon. Yesode Hattorah, c. 7. sect. 6. Obede Cochabim, c. 1. sect. 3. & in Misn Sanhedrin, c. 11. sect. 1. Tzeror Hammor, fol. 18. 3. (x) Maimon. Teshubah, c. 9. sect. 2. (y) Menasseh ben Israel, Conciliat. in Deut. qu. 11.

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

3 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.

Ver. 3. Worthy of more glory than Moses] In whom these Hebrews trusted, Joh 5:45. And the Jews at this day hold that the law of nature shall bring to heaven those that observe it, but the Hebrews (unto whom the law of Moses was peculiarly given) by keeping it shall have a prerogative of glory. Poor seduced souls!

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.

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.

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

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)

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).

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.

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

3. This man—Here, as in Heb_3:4, the italics show that the word man is not in the Greek, but is supplied by the translators. The writer uses only the pronoun this one.

Builded—Founded, erected, furnished, and filled it with family and domestics. See note on Heb_3:2.

Than the house—Moses was, as servant, (Heb_3:5,) part of the house; Christ, as Son, was, under God, instrumental builder, heir, and proprietor. Hence his more glory.

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

For of more glory than Moses hath this man (so A.V, for outov , supplying "man," though it is to be observed that the humanity of the person spoken of is not expressed in the original) been counted worthy , (hxiwtai cf. Luk_7:7 1Ti_5:17 2Th_1:11) by so much as more honor than the house hath he that built (or, established) it. Here the account of Christ"s superiority to Moses begins. On the several expressions used we remark:

(1) The initiatory gar connects the sentence logically with katanohsate in ver. 1, and thus retains its usual sense of "for.

(2) The form of comparison in the Greek, pleionov para , is the same as Heb_1:4, where the account of Christ"s superiority to angels began (on which see supra).

(3) The "glory" (doxa) here assigned to Christ is "the glory and honor" spoken of above as attained by him in consequence of his human obedience Heb_2:9, "because of the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor"). This, rather than "the glory he had with the Father before the world was", (Joh_17:5) is suggested by the word hxiwtai , as well as by the drift of the preceding chapters. We may suppose also a reference, in contrast, to the transitory "glory" on the countenance of Moses (h katargoumenh), which is contrasted (2Co 3) with the uperballoush doxa in Christ. We observe, further, that in the latter part of the verse timh is substituted for doxa , as more suitable to the mundane comparison of a house and its builder.

(4) Kataskeuazein may include the idea of fitting up and furnishing a house as well as building it. But what is the drift of the intended argument? It is usual, with the Fathers generally, to suppose that Christ (outov) is intended to be denoted as the Builder or Establisher of the house in which Hoses was a servant, and that the argument is that he, as such, is necessarily greater than the servant, who was but a part of the house, or household, thus established. Oikov , it is to be observed, may include in its meaning the familia, as well as the house itself, as kataskeuazein may include the idea of constituting the whole establishment (cf. infra, "whose house we are"). Among moderns, Hofmann and Delitzsch deny this identification of o kataskeuasav with outov : against which there are the following reasons:

(1) The SON has not been represented so far in the Epistle as the originator of the economy of redemption. Notwithstanding distinct intimations of his eternal proexistent Deity, (as in Heb_1:1, Heb_1:2, Heb_1:10) it has been as the Messiah, the Apostle and High Priest, manifested in time, and passing through humanity to glory, that he has been regarded in the preceding argument. Nor is there any proof here adduced of his being the Builder of the "house," so as to justify the conclusion on this ground of his glory being greater than that of Moses.

(2) The word hxiwtai ("has been counted worthy of") suggests (as has been already remarked) refer once to the glory won by him, "on account of the suffering of death," rather than to his pristine glory as the Divine Builder.

(3) Elsewhere in the New Testament, when the Church is referred to under the figure of a house, it is spoken of as God"s building. (of 1Ti_3:15 1Co_3:9, 16 Eph_2:22 1Pe_4:17 1Pe_2:5) It is never spoken of as Christ"s.

(4) The wording of ver. 3 does not necessitate the identification of o kataskeuasav with outov Kay oson means "so far as;" it implies only that the glory of Christ is greater than that of Moses, in proportion as the honor of the builder is greater than that of the house.

(5) The identification increases the difficulty of understanding the relevance to the argument of ver. 4, of which more will be said presently. Taking, then, o kataskeuasav to denote God the Father, we may state the argument thus: God is the Builder, or Founder, of his own house. Christ has been already shown to be his SON, associated with him in dignity and power, and, as such, Lord over his Father"s house. Moses, on the other hand, as appears from Num_12:7, was but a servant in God"s house. As, then, the Founder is to the house, so is the Son and Lord to a servant in it; the Son partaking of the glory of the Founder; the servant only of that of the house in which he serves. According to this view of the argument, the premises have been established, and the conclusion follows; the relation of Christ to the Builder of the house has been set forth in the preceding chapter, and may be now assumed; that of Moses is sufficiently shown by the quotation from the Pentateuch. Thus also verses 5 and 6 are found to carry out naturally the idea here introduced, instead of unexpectedly starting a different one.

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

He that hath builded it hath more glory than the house - Than the family itself, or any member of it.

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

Our apostle having, in comparison between Christ and Moses, and showed in general wherein thay were alike and did agree; he proceeds now to evince the preference of Christ, and to show in sundry signal instances his exaltation above Moses; This man, meaning the Messiah, was counted worthy of more glory than Moses, &c.

As if he had said, "Christ is as much more honourable than Moses, as the maker and master of the house is more honourable than the house: he that buildeth the house hath more honour than the house; but Christ built the house, and Moses was only the house, or a part of it. "Therefore Christ ought to have more honour than Moses: for all families or houses are founded by some man; but he that built the church, is the same that made all things, namely, God"

Another proposition proving the same conclusion, we have in the next versed: thus, "He that is a son over his own house, is of more honour than a servant in the house of another. But Christ is a son over his own house; Moses was only a servant in the house of another; therefore more honour is due to Christ than is payable to Moses."

Learn hence, 1. That the church is God’s house, a building of God, a sacred building, his special temple, the place of his constant and fixed residence.

Learn, 2. That the build of the church is so great and glorious a work, as that it could not be effected by any but him who was truly and really God: such is the wisdom of its contrivance, that none but God could build it, and such omnipotent power was required in the building of it, that we may admire its excellency, but cannot comprehend it.

Learn, 3. That Christ, the builder of this church, the house of God, is worthy of all glory and honour, upon the account of that his building: he had indeed an essential glory from all eternity, the same with that of God the Father, which was clouded for a season by his taking upon himself the form of a servant: but there is a farther honour and glory, which he received in his exaltation as head of the church, and as Lord and heir of the whole creation, which renders him the object of religious adoration.

Learn, 4. That although every one that is employed as an instrument in building the house of God, and is faithful in his work and trust, is with Moses worthy of great honour; yet the honour of all such instruments put together, is inferior and subordinate to the glory and honour of Jesus Christ, the chief builder of the church.

The apostle having thus confirmed his argument, returns (according to his usual manner) to make application of it unto the Hebrews, and improves it for enforcement of his exhortation unto constancy and perseverance. Whose house are we: that is, believers who worship him according to the gospel are so, upon this condition, that we hold fast our confidence; that is, the confident profession of our Christian faith, and the joy and glorying in our hopes of the promised blessedness, unto the end.

Learn hence, That as it is an eminent privilege requires an answerable duty: because we are the house of God, it becomes us to hold fast our confidence unto the end.

Learn, 2. That as at all times, so especially in a time of trial and persecution, constancy in our Christian profession is, and will be a good evidence, both to ourselves and others, that we are living stones in the house of God: His house are we, if we hold fast our confidence unto the end.

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

3. The Greek oikos, house, in the Bible means family. When Paul said to the jailer, “Believe on the Lord Jesus and thou and thy house shall he saved,” it would better read, “Thou and thy family shall be saved.” In these verses we now expound, house means the Church, i.e., the family of God. It is used synonymously with the divine ecclesia, i.e., the people whom the Holy Ghost has “called out” of the world, and separated unto God to be His elect witnesses in a world oblivious of God and His laws, and dominated by Satan. The Bible says there never was such a man as Moses who actually spoke with God face to face. He was leader, legislator, prophet and mediator. At the same time he was a fallible mortal, and only a servant in the house of God. Contrastively with Moses, Jesus was the omnipotent Builder of the house, in which Moses was a servant. While He is our Elder Brother, the Firstborn of the Church, He is also the omnipotent, infallible Creator of the Church. We honor Moses as the paragon saint in his dispensation; but since the great Antitype has come and revealed to us the summary of essential truth, and sealed it with His blood, we are no longer under Moses, the types and shadows all having retreated before the effulgent glory of the great Archetype. If the Apostolic Church had proved true to the Pentecostal dispensation of entire sanctification, walking in the cloudless splendor of the glorious Sun of Righteousness, and not fallen back into the types and shadows of Mosaic moonlight, the Gospel would have been preached to every creature long before you and I ever saw the light of day, and the millennium in all its glory would have belted the globe long centuries ago. The Mosaic dispensation looked through the dim lights of type and prophecy to a coming Redeemer. Of course, vast clouds of uncertainty and doubt enveloping the future constituted the normal state of the Church, which did not rise above the plane of justification. The patriarchs and prophets enjoyed the experience of sanctification, living in advance of their dispensation. When all the concurrent symbolism type and prophecy were verified in the personal advent, presence, living, teaching and vicarious sufferings of the Incarnate God, every cloud, doubt and fear retreated from the firmament of faith and hope; meanwhile the personal descension of the Holy Ghost on the day of Pentecost, inaugurated the glorious dispensation of entire sanctification, the normal attitude of Christian experience, life and character, till God’s perfected saints shall hail the glorious King descended on his millennial throne.

William B. Godbey, Commentary on the New Testament (1896–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

3–6. For this man was counted worthy of more glory. Jesus, the house-builder, the builder of Israel, as well as of the church, the Divine Savior, is more glorious than Moses, a member of the house of Israel, even as the builder of the house is superior to the house.

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.

3. οὗτος, “He,” i.e. Christ. The γὰρ depends on the κατανοήσατε.

ἠξίωται, “hath been deemed worthy,” namely, by God.

πλείονος … δόξης “of a fuller glory” (amplioris gloriae, Vulg.).

παρὰ Μωϋσῆν. Eagerly as the writer is pressing forwards to develop his original and central conception of Christ as our Eternal High Priest, he yet has to pause to prove His superiority over Moses, because the Jews had begun to elevate Moses into a position of almost supernatural grandeur which would have its effect on the imaginations of wavering and almost apostatising converts. Thus the Rabbis said that “the soul of Moses was equivalent to the souls of all Israel” (because by the cabbalistic process called Gematria the numerical value of the letters of “Moses our Rabbi” in Hebrew = 613, which is also the value of the letters of “Lord God of Israel”). They said that “the face of Moses was like the sun”; that he alone “saw through a clear glass,” not as other prophets “through a dim glass” (comp. St Paul’s “through a mirror in a riddle,” 1Co 13:12), and that whereas there are but fifty gates of understanding in the world, “all but one were opened to Moses.” See the Rabbinic references in my Early Days of Christianity, I. 362. St Paul in 2Co 3:7-8 contrasts the evanescing splendour on the face of Moses with the unchanging glory of Christ.

πλείονα τιμὴν ἔχει τοῦ οἴκου, “greater honour than the house.” The οἴκου depends on πλείονα not on τιμήν. The point of this expression is not very obvious. If taken strictly it would imply that Moses was himself “the house” which Christ built. But οἶκος, “house” or “household” (“die Familie und das Dienerschaft”), means more than the mere building (οἰκία). It means the whole theocratic family, the House of Israel in its covenant relation; and though Moses was not this House, he was more than a servant in it, being also its direct representative and human head. (There is a somewhat similar phrase in Philo, De plant. Noe, 16.)

ὁ κατασκευάσας. The word implies rather “equipped” or “established” than “builded” (see Heb 9:2; Heb 9:6, Heb 11:7 and note on Heb 1:2; Wis 13:4).

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.

3.] For (the γάρ is best connected, as commonly, with the κατανοήσατε above: as containing the reason why our attention should be thus fixed on Jesus: for, though He has the quality of faithfulness in God’s house in common with Moses, yet is He far more exalted and glorious than he. Bleek, understanding αὐτοῦ above of Christ, inclines to connect γάρ immediately with it: “it is His house, inasmuch as,” &c. But surely a ratiocination so taken up from a pronoun of at least ambiguous reference, would, without something to emphasize αὐτοῦ as = ἑαυτοῦ, be exceedingly obscure to the reader. Others, as De Wette, would join it to the immediately preceding and render it explicatively: but this seems harsh and incoherent) this person (the transposition in the later mss. to δόξης οὗτος has probably been made to bring οὗτος παρὰ Μωυσῆν together and πλείονος δόξης. But it is characteristic of our Writer to separate words constructed together by an emphatic word) hath been held worthy (the word includes, with the idea of ‘accounting worthy,’ that also of the actual bestowal of the dignity. So Philo, of Moses when a child, De Vit. Mos. i. 5, vol. ii. p. 83, τροφῆς οὖν ἤδη βασιλικῆς κ. θεραπείας ἀξιούμενος. And De Decal. § 21, p. 198, τὴν μέντοι προνομίαν ἧς ἐν τοῖς οὖσιν ἑβδομὰς ἠξίωται: Diod. Sic. xix. 11, τὴν δʼ Εὐρυδίκην.… ἔκρινε μείζονος ἀξιῶσαι τιμωρίας: Arrian, Var. Hist. xii. 10, τῶν ἀριστείων ἠξιώθησαν. See more examples in Bleek. The word refers to the honour and glory wherewith God hath crowned Christ, in His exaltation to His right Hand; which is taken for granted without further explanation, as a fact well known to the readers) of more glory (not, “of so much the more:” the construction is as in ch. 8:6, διαφορωτέρας τέτυχεν λειτουργίας, ὅσῳ καὶ κρείττονός ἐστιν διαθήκης μεσίτης) than (on παρά after a comparative, see note, ch. 1:4), Moses, inasmuch as (this seems to give καθʼ ὅσον very happily, with just the same blending of analogy and inference) he hath more honour than the house (so is this gen. to be rendered, and not ‘in,’ or ‘from the house,’ as D-lat., “quanto majorem honorem habet domus is qui præparavit eam:” and so vulg., Luther, but combining with it the other rendering also (nachdem der eine grossere Ehre am hause hat der es bereitet denn das haus), Wolf, Peirce, al. This, that the Founder of the house had more glory from, or in the house, than Moses, was not true in fact of Christ: for they of the house had rejected Him. Cf. a very similar comparison in Philo, de Plant. Noë, § 16, vol. i. p. 340, ὅσῳ γὰρ ὁ κτησάμενος τὸ κτῆμα τοῦ κτήματος ἀμείνων, κ. τὸ πεποιηκὸς τοῦ γεγονότος, τοσούτῳ βασιλικώτεροι ἐκεῖνοι. The majority of Commentators take it as above: e. g. Chrys, πλείονα τιμὴν ἔχει τῶν ἔργων ὁ τεχνίτης, ἀλλὰ καὶ τοῦ οἴκου ὁ κατασκευάζων αὐτόν: and Thdrt., ὅση φησὶ ποιήματος πρὸς ποιητὴν διαφορά, τοσαύτη Μωυσέως πρὸς τὸν χριστόν. For the argument, see below) who established it (“κατασκευάζειν οἶκον,” says Bleek, “is not to ‘found a household,’ so that ὁ κατασκευάσας τὸν οἶκον should designate the paterfamilias,—a meaning which can hardly be defended:—but the formula refers beyond doubt primarily to the erection of an actual house. The word is so used, of the preparation of a building,—a house, or temple, or ship, or town, &c.,—and especially in later Greek. So in our Epistle (in St. Paul it never occurs), besides here and ver. 4,—as in reff. also. 1 Macc. 15:3, κατεσκεύασα πλοῖα πολεμικά: Jos. Vit. § 12, καθαιρεθῆναι τὸν οἶκον ὑπὸ Ἡρώδου … κατασκευασθέντα: Herodian, v. 6. 13, κατεσκεύασε δὲ καὶ ἐν τῷ προαστείῳ νεὼν μέγιστόν τε καὶ πολυτελέστατον: ib. § 22, πύργους τε μεγίστους καὶ ὑψηλοτάτους κατασκευάσας: Plut. Numa, p. 67 a, ἐνταῦθα κατασκευάζεται κατάγειος οἶκος οὐ μέγας: Diod. Sic. xi. 62, ἄλλας τριήρεις πολλὰς κατεσκεύασαν, &c. In almost all these places, the verb may be so taken as to include not only the erection of the building, ship, &c., but also the fitting up, providing with proper furniture (κατασκευή, σκεύη), as indeed it is found more expressly used in Attic writers: e. g. Xen. Hiero ii. 2, μεγαλοπρεπεστάτας οἰκίας καὶ ταύτας κατεσκευασμένας τοῖς πλείστου ἀξίοις: id. Anab. iv. 1. 8, ἦσαν δὲ καὶ χαλκώμασι παμπόλλοις κατεσκευασμέναι αἱ οἰκίαι, and al.; Demosth. p. 1208, ἔτι δὲ σκεύεσιν ἰδίοις τὴν ναῦν κατεσκεύασα: p. 689, οἷς κατεσκευασμένην ὁρᾶτε τὴν πόλιν: ib., ὥστε τινὲς μὲν αὐτῶν πολλῶν δημοσίων οἰκοδομημάτων σεμνοτέρας τὰς ἰδίας κατεσκευάκασιν οἰκίας. And here also we may say, that κατασκευάζειν means more than οἰκοδομεῖν οἶκον, and includes, besides the building of the house, the fitting it up, and providing it with all requisites. So that to this κατασκευή of the house belong servants, male and female; and so here we may say that the οἰκέται, the servants of the house, are included. The sense then is this: just as he who has built and furnished a house,—for himself namely, as master of the house,—stands higher in honour than the house itself and the individual οἰκέται, so does Christ higher than Moses: and Christ is thus represented as he who has prepared the house of God (and therefore as its lord), to whom Moses also belongs, as an individual οἰκέτης. And so Chrys., Œc., &c.” Wetstein and Böhme have proposed a way of taking this verse which is at least specious: viz. to understand ὁ κατασκευάσας not of the Son, but of the Father, and the sentiment to be, inasmuch as he who established the house has more honour than the house, which honour Christ, as His Son, shares. But however suitable this idea may be in the next verse (see below), it is well answered by Bleek, al., that the insertion of it here would be quite alien from the object of the Writer, who is clearly comparing, directly, Moses and Christ: and that besides, a reference to a sentiment lying out of the immediate path of the argument would be introduced not by καθʼ ὅσον, but by πλήν, or ἀλλά (or δέ, as in ver. 4). I am surprised to find Hofmann and Delitzsch upholding this last-mentioned interpretation as the only right one. Surely the ellipsis of the proposition ‘the honour of the Father belongs to the Son also’ is not for a moment to be assumed. And besides, to suppose οὗτος in this verse, and ὁ κατασκευάσας, not to refer to the same person, would involve a harshness and carelessness of style neither of which belongs to our Writer. See more on next verse).

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

Was counted worthy [ηξιωται] . Used both of reward which is due (1Ti 5:17) and of punishment (Heb 10:29).

Of more glory [πλειονος δοξης] . Comp. ch. Heb 2:8, 9.

Inasmuch as [καθ οσον] . 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.

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