Hebrews 4:11

In this latter part of the chapter the apostle concludes, first, with a serious repeated exhortation, and then with proper and powerful motives.

I. Here we have a serious exhortation: Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, Heb 4:11. Observe, 1. The end proposed - rest spiritual and eternal, the rest of grace here and glory hereafter - in Christ on earth, with Christ in heaven. 2. The way to this end prescribed-labour, diligent labour; this is the only way to rest; those who will not work now shall not rest hereafter. After due and diligent labour, sweet and satisfying rest shall follow; and labour now will make that rest more pleasant when it comes. The sleep of the labouring man is sweet, Ecc 5:12. Let us therefore labour, let us all agree and be unanimous in this, and let us quicken one another, and call upon one another to this diligence. It is the truest act of friendship, when we see our fellow-christians loiter, to call upon them to mind their business and labour at it in earnest. "Come, Sirs, let us all go to work; why do we sit still? Why do we loiter? Come, let us labour; now is our working time, our rest remains." Thus should Christians call upon themselves and one another to be diligent in duty; and so much the more as we see the day approaching.

II. Here we have proper and powerful motives to make the advice effectual, which are drawn,

1. From the dreadful example of those who have already perished by unbelief: Lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief. To have seen so many fall before us will be a great aggravation of our sin, if we will not take warning by them: their ruin calls loudly upon us; their lost and restless souls cry to us from their torments, that we do not, by sinning as they did, make ourselves miserable as they are.

2. From the great help and advantage we may have from the word of God to strengthen our faith, and excite our diligence, that we may obtain this rest: The word of God is quick and powerful, Heb 4:12. By the word of God we may understand either the essential or the written word: the essential Word, that in the beginning was with God, and was God (Joh 1:1), the Lord Jesus Christ, and indeed what is said in this verse is true concerning him; but most understand it of the written word, the holy scriptures, which are the word of God. Now of this word it is said, (1.) That is quick; it is very lively and active, in all its efforts, in seizing the conscience of the sinner, in cutting him to the heart, and in comforting him and binding up the wounds of the soul. Those know not the word of God who call it a dead letter; it is quick, compared to the light, and nothing quicker than the light; it is not only quick, but quickening; it is a vital light; it is a living word, zōn. Saints die, and sinners die; but the word of God lives. All flesh is grass, and all the glory thereof as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away, but the word of the Lord endureth for ever, Pe1 1:24, Pe1 1:25. Your fathers, where are they? And the prophets, do they live for ever? But my words, which I commanded the prophets, did they not take hold of your fathers? Zac 1:5, Zac 1:6. (2.) It is powerful. When God sets it home by his Spirit, it convinces powerfully, converts powerfully, and comforts powerfully. It is so powerful as to pull down strong holds (Co2 10:4, Co2 10:5), to raise the dead, to make the deaf to hear, the blind to see, the dumb to speak, and the lame to walk. It is powerful to batter down Satan's kingdom, and to set up the kingdom of Christ upon the ruins thereof. (3.) It is sharper than any two-edged sword; it cuts both ways; it is the sword of the Spirit, Eph 6:17. It is the two-edged sword that cometh out of the mouth of Christ, Rev 1:16. It is sharper than any two-edged sword, for it will enter where no other sword can, and make a more critical dissection: it pierces to the dividing asunder of the soul and the spirit, the soul and its habitual prevailing temper; it makes a soul that has been a long time of a proud spirit to be humble, of a perverse spirit to be meek and obedient. Those sinful habits that have become as it were natural to the soul, and rooted deeply in it, and become in a manner one with it, are separated and cut off by this sword. It cuts off ignorance from the understanding, rebellion from the will, and enmity from the mind, which, when carnal, is enmity itself against God. This sword divides between the joints and the marrow, the most secret, close, and intimate parts of the body; this sword can cut off the lusts of the flesh as well as the lusts of the mind, and make men willing to undergo the sharpest operation for the mortifying of sin. (4.) It is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart, even the most secret and remote thoughts and designs. It will discover to men the variety of their thoughts and purposes, the vileness of them, the bad principles they are actuated by, the sinister and sinful ends they act to. The word will turn the inside of a sinner out, and let him see all that is in his heart. Now such a word as this must needs be a great help to our faith and obedience.

3. From the perfections of the Lord Jesus Christ, both of his person and office.

(1.) His person, particularly his omniscience: Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight, Heb 4:13. This is agreeable to what Christ speaks of himself: All the churches shall know that I am he that searches the reins and hearts, Rev 2:23. None of the creatures can be concealed from Christ; none of the creatures of God, for Christ is the Creator of them all; and there are none of the motions and workings of our heads and hearts (which may be called creatures of our own) but what are open and manifest to him with whom we have to do as the object of our worship, and the high priest of our profession. He, by his omniscience, cuts up the sacrifice we bring to him, that it may be presented to the Father. Now as the high priest inspected the sacrificed beasts, cut them up to the back-bone to see whether they were sound at heart, so all things are thus dissected, and lie open to the piercing eye of our great high priest. An he who now tries our sacrifices will at length, as Judge, try our state. We shall have to do with him as one who will determine our everlasting state. Some read the words, to whom with us there is an account or reckoning. Christ has an exact account of us all. He has accounted for all who believe on him; and he will account with all: our accounts are before him. This omniscience of Christ, and the account we owe of ourselves to him, should engage us to persevere in faith and obedience till he has perfected all our affairs.

(2.) We have an account of the excellency and perfection of Christ, as to his office, and this particular office of our high priest. The apostle first instructs Christians in the knowledge of their high priest, what kind of high priest he is, and then puts them in mind of the duty they owe on this account.

[1.] What kind of high priest Christ is (Heb 4:14): Seeing we have such a high priest; that is, First, A great high priest, much greater than Aaron, or any of the priests of his order. The high priests under the law were accounted great and venerable person; but they were but faint types and shadows of Christ. The greatness of our high priest is set forth, 1. By his having passed into the heavens. The high priest under the law, once a year, went out of the people's sight within the veil, into the holiest of all, where were the sacred signals of the presence of God; but Christ once for all has passed into the heavens, to take the government of all upon him, to send the Spirit to prepare a place for his people, and to make intercession for them. Christ executed one part of his priesthood on earth, in dying for us; the other he executes in heaven, by pleading the cause, and presenting the offerings, of his people. 2. The greatness of Christ is set forth by his name, Jesus - a physician and a Saviour, and one of a divine nature, the Son of God by eternal generation; and therefore having divine perfection, able to save to the uttermost all who come to God by him. Secondly, He is not only a great, but a gracious high priest, merciful, compassionate, and sympathizing with his people: We have not a high priest who cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, Heb 4:15. Though he is so great, and so far above us, yet he is very kind, and tenderly concerned for us. He is touched with the feeling of our infirmities in such a manner as none else can be; for he was himself tried with all the afflictions and troubles that are incident to our nature in its fallen state: and this not only that he might be able to satisfy for us, but to sympathize with us. But then, Thirdly, He is a sinless high priest: He was in all things tempted as we are, yet without sin. He was tempted by Satan, but he came off without sin. We seldom meet with temptations but they give us some shock. We are apt to give back, though we do not yield; but our great high priest came off clear in his encounter with the devil, who could neither find any sin in him nor fix any stain upon him. He was tried severely by the Father. It pleased the Lord to bruise him; and yet he sinned not, either in thought, word, or deed. He had done no violence, neither was there any deceit in his mouth. He was holy, harmless, and undefiled; and such a high priest became us. Having thus told us what a one our high priest is, the apostle proceeds to show us,

[2.] How we should demean ourselves towards him. First, Let us hold fast our profession of faith in him, Heb 4:14. Let us never deny him, never be ashamed of him before men. Let us hold fast the enlightening doctrines of Christianity in our heads, the enlivening principles of it in our hearts, the open profession of it in our lips, and our practical and universal subjection to it in our lives. Observe here, 1. We ought to be possessed of the doctrines, principles, and practice, of the Christian life. 2. When we are so, we may be in danger of losing our hold, from the corruption of our hearts, the temptations of Satan, and the allurements of this evil world. 3. The excellency of the high priest of our profession would make our apostasy from him most heinous and inexcusable; it would be the greatest folly and the basest ingratitude. 4. Christians must not only set our well, but they must hold out: those who endure to the end will be saved, and none but they. Secondly, We should encourage ourselves, by the excellency of our high priest, to come boldly to the throne of grace, Heb 4:16. Here observe, 1. There is a throne of grace set up, a way of worship instituted, in which God may with honour meet poor sinners, and treat with them, and they may with hope draw night to him, repenting and believing. God might have set up a tribunal of strict and inexorable justice, dispensing death, the wages of sin, to all who were convened before it; but he has chosen to set up a throne of grace. A throne speaks authority, and bespeaks awe and reverence. A throne of grace speaks great encouragement even to the chief of sinners. There grace reigns, and acts with sovereign freedom, power, and bounty. 2. It is our duty and interest to be often found before this throne of grace, waiting on the Lord in all the duties of his worship, private and public. It is good for us to be there. 3. Our business and errand at the throne of grace should be that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. Mercy and grace are the things we want, mercy to pardon all our sins and grace to purify our souls. 4. Besides the daily dependence we have upon God for present supplies, there are some seasons in which we shall most sensibly need the mercy and grace of God, and we should lay up prayers against such seasons - times of temptation, either by adversity or prosperity, and especially a dying time: we should every day put up a petition for mercy in our last day. The Lord grant unto us that we may find mercy of the Lord at that day, Ti2 1:18. 5. In all our approaches to this throne of grace for mercy, we should come with a humble freedom and boldness, with a liberty of spirit and a liberty of speech; we should ask in faith, nothing doubting; we should come with a Spirit of adoption, as children to a reconciled God and Father. We are indeed to come with reverence and godly fear, but not with terror and amazement; not as if we were dragged before the tribunal of justice, but kindly invited to the mercy-seat, where grace reigns, and loves to exert and exalt itself towards us. 6. The office of Christ, as being our high priest, and such a high priest, should be the ground of our confidence in all our approaches to the throne of grace. Had we not a Mediator, we could have no boldness in coming to God; for we are guilty and polluted creatures. All we do is polluted; we cannot go into the presence of God alone; we must either go in the hand of a Mediator or our hearts and our hopes will fail us. We have boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus. He is our Advocate, and, while he pleads for his people, he pleads with the price in his hand, by which he purchased all that our souls want or can desire.

Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Heb_4:11

Let us labour therefore to enter

Believers labouring for their reward

In these words there is, first, an exhortation; second, a motive pressing it.

In the exhortation we may consider

1. The dependence of it upon what goes before, intimated in the particle therefore; showing that it is an inference from some preceding doctrine. In the latter part of the third chapter, he shows that unbelief kept the disobedient Israelites out of Gods rest; both out of Canaan, and heaven typified thereby (chap. 4.).

(1) He lets them see that they had an offer of that eternal rest as well as the Israelites in the wilderness had; because both had the gospel, only the Israelites in the wilderness did not believe it.

(2) The great thing which we are to have in our eye, that rest, namely, of which David speaks (Psa_95:11); that rest which remains (Heb_4:9).

(3) What we are to aim at in reference to that rest; to enter into it, that is, to be partakes of it.

(4) The means to be used, in order to our entering, is labouring. Heaven will not fall down into our mouths while lying on the bed of sloth.

(5) Observe the order of the labour and the rest. In the way of Gods appointment, and of godly choice, the labour is first, then comes the rest. It is quite contrary with the wicked. They begin with a day of rest, and end with eternal toil; the godly begin with a night of toil, and end, or rather continue in eternal rest. Oh, that we may follow Gods order!

(6) Observe the end and design of this labour: it is rest. Men work in their young days, and lay up that they may rest in old age. So does the Christian. The wicked also labour that they may rest; but there is a vast difference both betwixt their labour and rest. Their labour is in sin, and their rest is there; but sought in vain, for in the fulness of their sufficiency they are in straits. But the godly have their labour in grace, their rest in glory, and between these there is an infallible connection; who, then, would refuse that labour which ends in that rest.

(7) The persons exhorted to labour; us, which includes the apostle and all the Hebrews, whom he exhorts to-day to hear Gods voice, so that this exhortation belongs to all the visible Church, godly and ungodly. Some have entered the avenue leading to glory, some have not; both are called to labour to enter.

2. The motive pressing the exhortation. It is taken from the danger of not labouring. Consider here

(1) That of which people are in danger, and which will come upon them, if they labour not to enter, falling; that is, falling short of heaven, and missing salvation.

(2) The great cause of ruin, that is, unbelief or unpersuasibleness. Unbelief is the great cause of the ruin of the hearers of the gospel, and that which cuts the sinews of true diligence, so as people under the power of it cannot labour.

(3) A confirmation of the certainty of their ruin: after the same example of unbelief.

(4) The universality of the danger: any man.

I. IN WHAT THE CHRISTIANS LABOUR CONSISTS.

1. The mind must be intent on the business of salvation. This imports

(1) An impression of the weight of that matter upon the spirit. No wise man will labour for a trifle.

(2) An habitual minding of that business. Religion is the believers trade--hence his conversation is in heaven.

(3) The hearts being set upon salvation (2Co_5:9). The scattered affections of the soul arc gathered together from off the variety of objects which the world affords us, and are fixed here (Psa_27:4).

2. In this labour there is painfulness and diligence. The man labours for salvation, as working for his life itself, for indeed he sees his all is at stake. No opposition will make him give over. There is such a faintness in all the endeavours of many for heaven, that with the fearful who have no heart, they are excluded (Rev_21:8).

3. In this labour there is haste. Our work must be done speedily, for the time proposed for our labouring is but to-day. There is an unbelieving haste, that will not wait Gods time; but this true haste is not to let his time slip.

4. There is this labour carefulness and holy anxiety about salvation, in the managing of the work (Php_2:12). Nosy this implies

(1) The turning of the soul from anxious cares about the world, to a holy solicitude about the salvation of the soul.

(2) A fear of falling short of heaven.

(3) An earnest desire to be set and kept on the way to heaven.

(4) A fear of mismanagement in his work. The labourer for heaven should work, and doth best work with a trembling hand. It was the fundamental maxim of the heathen moralists, Have confidence in yourself. But I may say the Christian maxim is, Have no confidence in yourself. He that trusteth in his own heart is a fool.

II. FOR WHAT WE ARE TO LABOUR. To enter into the heavenly rest. This is that which we are to have in our eye, and to which our endeavours are to be directed. We are not called to work for nought; but as heaven is attainable, we are to labour that we may enter into it.

1. Show some Scriptural notions of heaven, to which this of entering doth agree.

(1) Heaven is held out under the notion of a garden or paradise.

(2) A house.

(3) The temple typified by that at Jerusalem.

(4) A city glorious for magnificence and beauty (Rev_21:1-27.).

(5) A country; even a better country than the best here below (Heb_11:16).

(6) A kingdom (Mat_25:34); a kingdom that cannot be moved Heb_11:28).

2. Show what it is to enter into the heavenly rest.

(1) There is an entering into heaven by the covenant. The covenant of grace is the outer court of heaven. Of this everlasting covenant, ordered in all things and sure, David says, this is all my salvation and all my desire. Surely, then, heaven was in it.

(2) There is an entering by faith.

(a) In so far as faith lays hold upon Christ, and unites us to Him Joh_6:54).

(b) In so far as faith lays hold on the promise in which heaven is wrapped up.

(3) There is an entering by hope (Rom_8:24). Faith goes out as a conqueror, and hope divides the spoil.

(4) There is an entering by obedience. I know, said Jesus, that His commandment is life everlasting. There is a personal way to heaven, that is, Christ. I am, saith He, the Way. Also a real way to heaven, that is, the commands of God, called everlasting life, because they certainly land the soul in heaven, and there is an infallible connection betwixt true obedience and glory.

(5) There is an entering into heaven by actual possession, which in respect of our souls is at death, and in respect of our bodies will be at the resurrection, which is the full and final entry, to which all the rest are subservient. This entrance is that solemn entering into the kings palace Psa_45:15), which shall also be most joyful.

3. Mention some steps in the way by which we must labour to enter.

(1) We must labour to get grace; this is the first step. Let us have grace, says Paul, whereby we may serve God acceptably, with reverence and godly fear.

(2) We must labour to exercise grace in the gracious performance of duties.

(3) Growing in grace.

(4) Assurance of grace and glory.

(5) Perseverance in grace to the end.

4. Consider this labouring to enter, as it has a respect to our preparation for that eternal rest in heaven. The man that is to go abroad is a busy man, putting all things in order for his voyage; and he that is making for his nights rest in bed, is not idle; and he that is to enter into the possession of eternal rest, has much work on his hand preparatory thereto. And thus to labour to enter into the heavenly rest implies

(1) The solid faith of eternal life, even of this truth, that there remaineth a rest for the people of God.

(2) A sincere desire to be partaker of that rest, after this troublesome life is over.

(3) Resolute endeavours to enter there, by Gods own way, which has already been described.

(4) Frequent thoughts of that eternal rest.

III. HOW WE SHOULD LABOUR

1. We should labour willingly and cheerfully.

2. Diligently.

3. With all your might.

4. Resolutely.

5. Constantly.

6. With fear and trembling.

7. Quickly.

8. Refusing no piece of work God puts into your hands.

9. Evangelically.

IV. THAT WE MUST LABOUR IN ORDER TO OUR ENTERING INTO THAT REST.

1. Consider the several notions under which the Christians life and the way to heaven is held forth, all of them implying true pains and labours. It is a working, Labour not for the meat that perisheth (Greek, work), Joh_6:27). Here he that works not shall not eat. Yea, it is a working out of our own salvation; a bringing the work to perfection, otherwise what is done will be lost (2Jn_1:8). It is compared to the work of the husbandman, which you know is not easy, ploughing, sowing, reaping Hos_10:12), especially considering that they are both the labourers, and the ground that is laboured. The Christian is a spiritual soldier, he must 2Ti_4:7); yea, and overcome (Rev_3:21). Heaven has a strait gate by which to enter in, and therefore cannot be entered with ease. Men must press into it (Luk_16:16); and take it by storm; yea, put forth their utmost strength as they that agonising. The apostle says (2Co_5:9), we labour; the word signifies to labour most earnestly, as an ambitious man for honour; and what will not such do, to gain their point?

2. Consider how the way to heaven was typified under the Old Testament. Canaan was a type of heaven, and to what labour were the Israelites put before they could reach that land, though it was promised to them. Another eminent type of it, was the ascent into the temple, which was seated upon a hill, even Mount Moriah (1Ki_10:5). Many a weary step had some of them ere they got to Jerusalem (Psa_84:6-7); and when they came there, they had to ascend unto the hill of God (Psa_24:3), the mount of the Lords house, a type of heaven.

3. Consider how the Scripture supposeth this labour (Rom_7:24; Gal_6:5).

4. Consider how the Scripture represents the sluggard and his temper to us, as most hateful to God, and as one that is lost by his sloth (Pro_13:4; Pro_20:4; Pro_21:25). The sluggard is the unprofitable servant (Mat_26:34).

5. Whom God intends for heaven, in then] He puts an active principle of grace. It is as natural for grace to bring forth good works, as for a good fruit tree to bring forth good fruit.

6. To enter heaven without labour is a contradiction; and so impossible. Heaven is a reward, and necessarily pre-supposeth working. Moreover, it is a rest which is a relative term, and has necessarily labour pre-supposed to it.

V. WHY WE MUST LABOUR IN THIS SPIRITUAL WORK, in order to our entering heaven. Negatively; not because by works we must merit heaven, for the gift of God is eternal life, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Our working is the way to the kingdom; not the cause of our reigning; Christs working was that. But we must labour, because

1. It is the command of our great Lord and Master, whose command we are not to dispute, but to obey.

2. The glory of God requires it.

3. Because there is an infallible connection betwixt labouring and the rest. Labouring is the only way we can attain it. There is no reaching the treasure of glory without digging for it.

4. Because otherwise we pour contempt on the heavenly rest. It was the sin of the Israelites (Psa_106:24-25).

5. Because it is difficult work you have to do, and therefore we should set ourselves to labouring, for it is heart work.

Motives:

1. Consider that in other things you do not refuse to labour. You are not such as live idle and at ease. Now God is putting a piece of work in your hands; will you labour for others, but not for Him?

2. Your profession and your vows call upon you to labour to enter.

3. Your time is short; ere long all of us shall be in an unalterable state.

4. Your time is uncertain, as well as short.

5. The devil is busy to keep you out of that rest.

6. You have weighty calls to this work and labour. Lessons:

1. You have the call of the Word and ordinances. Wherefore has the Lord sent you His gospel, but for this end.

2. You have the call of providence.

3. The call of conscience.

4. If you labour not, you will never see heaven.

Now to make this labour easy to you, I would recommend--

1. To keep the encouragements to the work in your eye; particularly such as these, the example of those that have gone before you, and have got safe to the journeys end. These have made it appear the work is possible, and the reward certain.

2. Live by faith.

3. Labour to get and keep up love to Christ.

4. Look upon that labouring as your interest as well as your duty.

5. Be constant in that labour. (T. Boston, D. D.)

Labour to enter into eternal rest

How calm and beautiful to the servant of God is the close of a Sabbath day! It has, if he has used it aright, helped to allay all his cares and soothe all his woes; to brighten earth by the reflection of heaven. How endearing and animating, then, the blessed link, that knits the passing Sabbath of earth with the interminable Sabbath of heaven!--that makes the best and brightest day in the seven, to be to the child of God at once the pledge and the antepast of the everlasting rest that remaineth for the people of God!

I. Let us labour to enter into that rest; FOR LABOUR IS NEEDFUL, IF WE WOULD ENTER. Most true it is, that eternal life is from first to last the gift of God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Death we win--it is the wages of our service; life we receive--it is the free boon of boundless grace. Purchased, but by the blood of God; given to us without money and without price. But it is not less true, that though it be the gift of God, it is given to us in order to, and in connection with, toil, struggle, self-denial, self-subjugation, a warfare unremitting, a perpetual maintenance of the good fight of faith, against the flesh, the world, and the devil. We see, in the history of Gods saints in every age, that to enter the glorious rest was a task of stupendous difficulty--was a pursuit for unremitting earnestness and energy--and called for and cost them all their devoted powers. Says not the Scripture everywhere the same? Strive, said the Saviour--agonise--to enter in at the strait gate; for many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able.

II. We must labour to enter into that rest, because IF WE FAIL OF THAT REST, WE FAIL OF ALL REST FOR EVER.

III. Let us labour to enter into that rest; for IT IS WORTH OUR UTMOST LABOUR. It was beautifully said by a heathen wise man, that the noblest thing on earth is a noble object nobly pursued. That man, in his sentiment, was not far from the kingdom of God. Oh! had he possessed the lamp that lights us, to reveal to him the glories prepared for them that love God, he would have seen at once, that the only noble object for immortal, responsible, rational man--the only noble object to be nobly pursued, in faith, in love, in self-denial, in holiness, in obedience, in patience, in indomitable resolution--is the kingdom of Gods dear Son.

IV. Let us labour, therefore, to enter into that rest; for EVEN HERE HOW MUCH OF THIS REST MAY BE OURS, WHILE WE TOIL AND TRAVEL AND CONFLICT BELOW! The apostle beautifully says in the preceding context, We which have believed do enter into rest. There are first-fruits brought from heaven to the wilderness, as there were first-fruits brought from Canaan to the desert.

V. Let us, therefore, labour to enter into that rest; for our LABOUR IS NOT IN VAIN IN THE LORD. In this race none fails through inveterate ignorance, if that ignorance be not of choice and of obstinacy; none comes short through want of talent or opportunity or advantage, if he makes the most of such as God gives him; none fails because of extremity of poverty or misery or desolation of earthly circumstances; none comes short because there was not mercy in God, there was not efficacy in the blood of Christ, there was not freeness and fulness in the Spirit of grace, there was not room in heaven, there was not amplitude in the gospel of peace. Every man that fails and comes short, cannot enter in because of unbelief; because he would not come to Christ that he might have life, or, coming to Christ, he would not have life in the way of ,working out his own salvation with fear and trembling, because it was God that worked in him to will and to do of His good pleasure. (H. Stowell, M. A.)

The need of labour before rest

We may properly regard this as an intimation that care and trouble are absolutely necessary on our part, in order to the procurement and enjoyment of those things which God hath prepared for them that love Him. We should never fail to consider this life as a state of trial. In order to the attainment of human perfection, we perceive much labour to be necessary; there is no science, there is scarcely any art or employment in our several vocations in which we can arrive at eminence without industry and toil: exceptions there doubtless are, but this is the rule. We may further observe, that the greatest delight which we experience upon earth is frequently obtained by previous exertion or privation. As it is with the body, and with the attainment of natural blessings, so we have much greater reason to expect that it should be with the soul, with the attainment of those pure and spiritual blessings to which the natural man is averse. We could not expect them to be enjoyed without a previous discipline, without an anxious seeking, without a determined conflict. Not that such discipline and duty, on our part, are to be regarded as effectual in themselves; still less as entitling us to the benefits of the gospel on the ground of desert: we can have no such title but through the merits and for the sake of our blessed Redeemer. Whatever the labour might be--however severe, however unassisted and unrelieved--every wise man, every man who exercised a common judgment and prudence, would thankfully submit to it for a few years as the appointed means of a happy eternity; just upon the same principle as he would gladly submit to the trouble or toil of a day for the sake of procuring riches and comfort and honour during the remainder of his existence upon earth. But the work of the Christian, in the preparation of his soul for rest, is not a labour unassisted and unrelieved; not a gloomy period of service without the light of the sun. There is a heaven-born spirit, an all-sufficient grace, a holy energy and animation imparted, affording much more than a recompense even at present, and making the believer thankful that he has struggled and endured. Nevertheless, the mainstay of the children of God in their infirmities, the refreshment of their spirit in the vale below, is the promise of a heavenly rest at the end of their short pilgrimage, towards which they have the comfort of making a daily advancement: the promise of a final and blissful consummation. An aged Christian, now near this end, commonly says, at every striking of the clock upon his ear, thank God I am an hour nearer to my home and my rest. Such thankfulness may every one of us be able heartily to express! (J. Slade, M. A.)

Labour and study necessary for reaching heaven

We must not think to go to heaven without study, bare wishing will not serve the turn. It is not enough to say with Balaam, Oh, that my soul might die the death of the righteous, and my last end be like his (Num_23:10). It is not sufficient to all, oh, that I were in heaven, but we must study to go to heaven. Now in all studying these things must concur.

1. There must be the party that studieth, and that is every Christian--high and low, rich and poor, of what estate or condition soever. The king and the subject, the ministers and their people, the master and the servant, the father and the child, the husband and the wife, the merchant and the clothier, the gentleman and the yeoman, the divines, lawyers, physicians, husbandmen, &c., all must study to enter into this rest.

2. There must be a closet, or a place to study in, that is, the chamber of our own hearts.

3. There must be a book to study on. Every, student must have his books. There can be no workman without his tools, nor a scholar without a library. Now the Lord will not trouble us with many books. As Christ said, one thing is necessary. So one book is necessary, the book of books the Holy Scriptures. Let us study that thoroughly, and learn the way to heaven.

4. There must be a light to study by. No man can study in the dark; either he faust have daylight or candlelight. The light whereby we study is the light of Gods Spirit, who must enlighten our eyes that we may see the wonders of Gods laws and direct us to this heavenly rest.

5. There must be diligence m study. Every student must be diligent. Learning is not gotten without pains. We must not study by fits, a start and away, but we must lie at it, if by any means we may come to this rest.

6. There must be a time to study in. Now this time is the term of our life.

7. And it is worth our study. (W. Jones, D. D.)

Heaven a plaice of rest

Heaven is a place, or state, of rest. What kind of rest? The rest of inactivity, of absence of occupation, of listlessness, dreams, and luxurious vacuity? Certainly not. This is evidently not the kind of happiness that dignifies, improves, satisfies, or suits man, even here; far less therefore can it haronise with his exalted nature hereafter, which would only be cramped, imprisoned and dishonoured by such uncongenial inactivity.

I. A REST FROM DISTRACTING DOUBT. Here there is much sophism which is hardly to be distinguished from truth; in heaven all is truth. Here there is a great battle between truth and error; in heaven the victory is decided, and peace is eternal. Here we know in part, and therefore we can prophesy but in part; there we shall know even as we are known. There we shall rest; rest from the tides and fluctuations of uncertainty, and find a calm shot, and a secure haven. Nothing there can excite in us the least suspicion of the care, the justice, or the goodness of oar Maker, for these will be the visible support of our immortal life.

II. A REST FROM ANXIOUS CARES. In heaven these instruments of our earthly discipline will be laid aside. There will be no thorns in the pillow of that rest.

III. A PLACE, OR STATE, OF REST FROM PAIN,

IV. A REST FROM CONTENTION AND STRIFE. Discord, divisions, and fightings shall cease, and the confused noise of the warrior shall no more be heard there. Such things must not come where the Prince of Peace sits on the right hand of His Father. All rivalry and hate will be extinguished. There no friend goes out, nor enemy comes in.

V. A PLACE, OR STATE OF REST FROM SIN. (F. W. P. Greenwood, D. D.)

Labouring for rest

That is a singular paradox and bringing together of opposing ideas, is it not? Let us labour to enter into rest. The paradox is not so strong in the Greek as here; but it still is there. For the word translated labour carries with it the two ideas of earnestness and of diligence. And this is the condition on which alone we can secure the entrance, either into the full heaven above, or into the incipient heaven here. But note, we distinctly understand what sort of toil it is that is required to secure it, that settles the nature of the diligence. The main effort of every Christian life, in view of the possibilities of repose that are open to it here and now, and yonder in their perfection, ought to be directed to this one point of deepening and strengthening their faith and its consequent obedience. You can cultivate your faith, it is within your own power. You can make it strong or weak, operative through your life, or only partially, by fits and starts. And what is required is that Christian people should make a business of their godliness, and give themselves to it as carefully, and as consciously, and as constantly, as they give themselves to their daily pursuits. The men that are diligent in the Christian life, that exercise that commonplace, prosaic, pedestrian, homely virtue of earnest effort, are sure to succeed; and there is no other way to succeed. And how are we to cultivate our faith? By contemplating the great object which kindles it. By averting our eyes from the distracting competitors for our interest and attention, in so far as these might enfeeble our confidence. Do you do that? Diligence; that is the secret--a diligence which focusses our powers, and binds our vagrant wills into one strong, solid mass, and delivers us from languor and indolence, and stirs us up to seek the increase of faith, as welt as of hope and charity. Then, too, obedience is to be cultivated. How do you cultivate obedience? By obeying--by contemplating the great motives that should sway and melt, and sweetly subdue the will, which are all shrined in that one Easing, Ye are not your own; ye are bought with a price, and by rigidly confining our desires and wishes within the limits of Gods appointment, and religiously referring all things to His supreme will. If thus we dot we shall enter into rest. (A. Maclaren, D. D.)

Diligence explained

Diligence comprises both the impulse of the bowstring that despatches the arrow, and the feather that keeps it true to its aim. Diligio, the Latin word from which diligence is derived, means I choose, select, or love. To be diligent, therefore, is to resemble an eager hunter, who selects the fattest of the herd, and, leaving the rest, pursues and captures that one. Napoleon the First won his victories chiefly by rapid concentration of his forces on one point of the enemys line. A burning-glass is powerful because it focalises a mass of sunbeams on one point. So in all departments of activity, to have one thing to do, and then to do it, is the secret of success.

The need for diligence

God does not give thee the flower and the fruit of salvation, but the seed, the sunshine, and the rain. He does not give houses, nor yet beams and squared stones, but trees, and rocks, and limestone, and says: Now build thyself a house. Regard not Gods work within thee as an anchor to hold thy bark firmly to the shore, but as a sail which shall carry it to its post. (J. P. Lunge.)

Diligence

Its root meaning is to love, and hence it signifies attachment to work. The habits of literary men illustrate this. Lord Macaulay loved order, accuracy, and precision. He corrected his MS. remorselessly. So with his proof-sheets. He could not rest till the lines were level to a hairs breadth, and the punctuation correct to a comma; until every paragraph concluded with a telling sentence, and every sentence flowed like running water. (Thwings Preachers Cabinet.)

Christianity requires doing as well as believing

The other day I met a friend noted for a fretful and anxious disposition; and seeing that his face was cheerful and his step elastic, I said, Well, old friend, you look as if things were going pleasantly. He replied, Oh yes; my relatives have bought an annuity for me in the Assurance office, and until I die I shall have £200 a year to live on. You see, my future is provided for, and I have no need to worry myself about it as I used to do! Like that man, some people imagine that when they believe in Jesus, there is a something done which makes them safe for ever, without any further trouble to themselves. A man who buys a railway ticket, gets into the train, and feels he has nothing more to do except sit there comfortably until the train arrives at the journeys end. But the Christian life is much more difficult. It is true that through Jesus Christ is preached unto men the forgiveness of all their sins; but it is an error to preach that Christians have nothing to do except believe, Jesus demands a faith in Him which shall constrain us to do. (W. Birch.)

Labour till the last

Calvin, even in his dying illness, would not refrain from his labours; but when his friends endeavoured to persuade him to moderate his exertions, he replied, What! shall my Lord come and find me idle?

Labour necessary for our salvation

Never think that God is going to make a Christian out of you without effort of your own. When the lion crouches down before you, and his eyes glare upon you, and he is about to spring, you need not expect Providence to fire your gun for you; you must do it yourself or die. Tis kill or be killed with you then. God has already done His part in the work of your salvation. If you dont choose to do your part, you will perish. (H. W. Beecher.)

Fall after the same example of unbelief

The use of examples of punishment

This implies

1. There is danger and an evil to be feared.

2. The evil is falling.

3. All and every one is in this danger Lest any fall.

4. Lest any should slight the danger, he instanceth in the Israelites, who fell by unbelief.

To fall may be a sin or a punishment. If a sin, it is apostasy. If a punishment, it is exclusion out of Gods rest, with all the miseries that accompany it. So it seems here to be taken. By this, as by many other places, we easily understand how we must conceive of examples, and what use we must make of them. If they be examples of punishments, we must account them as executions of Gods laws, and especially of His comminations. The use that we must make of them is, to avoid those sins for which they were inflicted, and to be the more careful in this particular because by them we may easily know that Gods laws are not only words and His threats only wind. It is not with God as it is often with men, who will threaten more than they will or can do. Thence the saying, Threatened men live long. But here it is otherwise. Gods word is His deed, and His punishments, threatened against apostates are unavoidable. They are not made unadvisedly, and out of rash passion, but according to the eternal rules of wisdom and justice. And let every one know that that God that spareth neither men, nor angels, nor His own chosen and beloved people, will not spare us. Therefore, as we desire to escape this fearful punishment, let us labour to enter into that rest which God hath promised. (G. Lawson.)

Disobedience and unbelief

Disobedience is the root of unbelief. Unbelief is the mother of further disobedience. Faith is submission, voluntary, within a mans own power. If it be not exercised the true cause lies deeper than all intellectual ones, lies in the moral aversion of his will and in the pride of independence which says, Who is the Lord over us? Why should we have to depend upon Jesus Christ? And as faith is obedience and submission, so faith breeds obedience, and unbelief leads on to higher-handed rebellion. The two interlock each other, foul mother and fouler child; and with dreadful reciprocity of influence the less a man trusts the more he disobeys; the more he disobeys the less he trusts. (A. Maclaren, D. D.)

Unbelief incompatible with salvation

People say that it is arbitrary to connect salvation with faith, and talk to us about the injustice of men being saved and damned because of their creeds. We are not saved for our faith, nor condemned for our unbelief, but we are saved in our faith, and condemned in our unbelief. Suppose a man did not believe that prussic acid was a poison, and took a spoonful of it and died. You might say that his opinion killed him, but that would only be a shorthand way of saying that his opinion led him to take the thing that did kill him. Suppose a man believes that a medicine will cure him, and takes it, and gets well. Is it the drug or his opinion that cures him? If a certain mental state tends to produce certain emotions, you cannot have the emotions if you will not have the state. Suppose you do not rely on the promised friendship and help of some one, you cannot have the joy of confidence or the gifts that you do not believe in and do not care for. And so faith is no arbitrary appointment, but the necessary condition, the only condition possible, in the nature of things, by which a man can enter into the rest of God. If we will not let Christ heal our wounds, they must keep on bleeding; if we will not let Him soothe our conscience, it must keep on pricking; if we will not have Him to bring us nigh, we must continue far off; if we will not open the door of our hearts to let him in, He must stop without. Faith is the condition of entrance; unbelief bars the door of heaven against us, because it bars the door of our hearts against Him who is in heaven. (A. Maclaren, D. D.)

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

Heb 4:11. Let us labour therefore, &c. — That is, since the Israelites were so severely punished for their unbelief, let us labour — Greek, σπουδασωμεν, let us be in earnest, use diligence, and make haste, (all which particulars are included in the word,) to enter into that rest — By sincerely believing and steadfastly obeying the gospel, aspiring after and striving to attain every branch of holiness, internal and external; lest any man fall — Into sin and eternal perdition; after the same example of unbelief — By reason of such unbelief as the Israelites gave an example of. The unbelief against which we are here cautioned, as being the cause of men’s falling under the wrath of God, is chiefly that kind of it which respects the immortality of the soul, the resurrection of the body, the reality and greatness of the joys of heaven, and the miseries of hell; the redemption of the world by our Lord Jesus Christ, men’s sinfulness and guilt, depravity and weakness, and their need of the salvation of the gospel in all its branches, the ability and willingness of Christ to save them from their sins here, and conduct them to the heavenly country hereafter, together with his authority to judge the world, and power to dispense rewards to the righteous, and inflict punishments on the wicked. The unbelief of these great truths, revealed to us in the gospel, being the source of that wickedness which prevails among those called Christians, as well as among Mohammedans and heathen, we ought carefully to cherish a firm and steady belief of these things, lest by the want of a lively sense of them, we be led to live after the manner of the ungodly, and God he provoked to destroy us by the severity of his judgments.

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

IV

The peculiar and extraordinary nature of the word of God should deter us from resisting it

Heb_4:11-13

11Let us labor [strive zealously, σπουδάσωμεν] therefore, to enter into that rest, lest any man [any one] fall after the same example of unbelief [disobedience, ἀπειθείας]. 12For the word of God is quick [living], and powerful [effective, energetic, ἐνεργής], and sharper than any two-edged sword [and], piercing [through] even to the dividing asunder of soul6 and spirit, and of the joints [of both joints] and marrow, and is a discerner of [sits in judgment on, κριτικός] the thoughts [reflections] and intents 13 [thoughts] of the heart. Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and opened [laid bare] unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do.

[Heb_4:11.—Σπουδάσωμεν, let us strive zealously, 2Pe_1:10, “give diligence.” Here Alf., earnestly strive; Bib. Un., endeavor, perhaps not quite strong enough. De Wette, streben; Moll, ernstlich trachten.—ἐν τῷ αὐτῷ—πεσεῖν. Eng. ver., fall after; Vulg., Luth., Del., Alf., Bib. Un., etc., fall into; Moll, fall in the like, etc.; De Wette, fall, as a like example. All but the second (Vulg. etc.) take πεσεῖν, absolutely of perishing, against which Alf., after Lün., urges its unemphatic position, but to which we may reply, that this springs from a desire to give a special emphasis to ἀπειθείας. Grammatically, πεσεῖν ἐν, for πεσεῖν εἰς, fall into, is doubtless admissible: but “fall in,” or “into an example,” is harsh, and “to fall into the same example,” harsher still. I prefer taking with Eng. ver. and Moll, πεσεῖν, absolutely, of perishing, and I believe the expression to be a pregnant one, for “experience a like fall with that of those after whose disobedience you thus pattern;” the “pattern” not looking forward to the effect of their fall on others—which seems not at all in the author’s sphere of thought—but backward to the effect of the fall of their fathers upon them.—τῆς ἀπειθείας, disobedience, not unbelief, ἀπιστίας.

Heb_4:12.—Ζῶν γάρ, for living, placed emphatically at the beginning.—ἐνεργής, working, operative, effective.—τομώτερος ὐπέρ, more cutting beyond, a double comparative.—διικνούμενος, coming through, piercing through.—ἁρμῶν τε καὶ μυελῶν, both joints and marrow; with the omission of the τε after ψυχῆς, these words become naturally an explanatory apposition to ψυχῆς καὶ πνεύματος.—κριτικὸς.: Eng. ver., Bib. Un., discerner; Alf., judger, or discerner; De Wette, Richter; Lün., zu beurtheilen oder zu richten befühigt; Moll, richterlich.—ἐνθυμήσεων καὶ ἐννοιῶν, not, thoughts and intents, but reflections, or sentiments, emotions, affections, and ideas, thoughts, the former looking more to the moral and emotional, the latter to the intellectual nature.—K.].

EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL

Heb_4:11. Let us therefore strive earnestly to enter—example of disobedience.—The fact stated in Heb_4:1, and subsequently unfolded, that there not only is a true rest for the people of God, consisting in a participation of the rest of God Himself, but that we Christians are invited to it by a word of promise, and have in Jesus our true Leader, leads now, according to our understanding of Heb_4:1, either to the resumption of the exhortation which it contains, or to a new exhortation to earnest and zealous striving for an entrance into that rest (ἐκείνη, that, marking the specific rest just described). Whoever intermits this striving will fall on the way, and will furnish precisely such an example of disobedience, alike in his conduct and his destiny, as did the nation of Israel, in their march through the desert. Instead of παράδειγμα, in familiar use with the earlier Attic writers, but wanting in the N. Test., we have here, as at 2Pe_2:6, ὑπόδειγυα. Both words denote, sometimes copy, sometimes pattern. The ἐν is not=per (Wolf, Strig., etc.), or propter (Carpz.), but denotes state or condition, the being in (Bl., De W., Bisp., Del.). With this coincides substantially the view of Thol. that it corresponds with the Dat. modi, indicating the way and manner in which the fact as a whole presents itself (Bernhardy, Synt. 100), i.e., fall, and in his fall present the same example of disobedience as the Fathers. Πέσῃ is thus taken absolutely, a construction which, since Chrysostom has been given to it by most interpreters, though with an unwarranted reference to the use of the word, Heb_3:17, they restrict it to mere perishing (exclusive of the idea of sinning). Lönemann (followed by Alford) maintains that the position of πέση forbids our taking it here thus absolutely. But his view is untenable, and all the more so as his own explanation of the idea accords substantially with that given by us. He is right, however, in remarking that the translation of Luther, after the Vulg.: “that no one fall into the same example of unbelief,” is not, as by and since Bleek, to be rejected on grammatical grounds. For πίπτεινἐν is as good Greek as πίπτειν είς, only that it connects with the idea of falling into, that of subsequently remaining in. Del. adds still further examples from the Hellenistic, Psa_35:8; Psa_141:10; Eze_27:27.

Heb_4:12. For the word of God is living—two-edged sword.—Many distinguished Christian fathers, and, among recent expositors, Biesenthal even yet, regard the λόγος τοῦ θεοῦ here as the hypostatical or personal word of God; but as our Epistle nowhere else speaks of the personal Logos,—although it must certainly be supposed to have aided in preparing the way for that designation,—it is generally understood of the word of God as spoken and as recorded in the Scriptures. Under this view some (Schlicht., Mich., Abresch, Böhm., etc.) restrict it to the threatening and heart-piercing word of the O. Test., while others (Camero, Grot., Ebr., etc.) apply it te the Gospel of the N. T. Ebrard so regards it, even with reference to the fact that the Old Testament word remained exterior, and, as it were, a thing foreign to man. There is no ground, however, for such limitations; nor is there, on the other hand, any more ground for that wide and vague generalizing of the term which, with Bez., Schultz, Bisp., etc., would include in it the whole range of the Divine threatenings and promises, and strip the passage entirely of its local coloring. It is clear from the context that the passage is designed to justify and enforce the preceding warning (Heb_4:1), terminating emphatically and designedly with its suggestive ἀπειθείας. To do this, the writer brings out the characteristic nature of the word of God. That which God says (Lün.) is, as a product of the Divine activity, infinitely different from every human word. But it appears here in reference to no specific subject-matter whatever, but in reference merely to this single and peculiar feature, that it has proceeded from God, and has the form of the Logos. This is indicated by the properties which are immediately ascribed to it. As a word of God, it is living (ζῶν), Act_7:38; 1Pe_1:23; having life in itself, while again the like appellation is given to God, from whom it comes, Heb_3:12; Heb_10:31. Ebrard interpolates into the thought a contrast with the dead law; while Schlichting and Abresch unwarrantably restrict its import to imperishable duration, and Carpz., equally unwarrantably, to its capacity to nourish the life of the soul. But the inner life of the word reveals itself in actual operation. Hence, it is called ἐνεργής, proving itself operative and efficient; and since it lay within the scope of the author to unfold this feature of the word’s peculiar character, it is called, “sharper than any two-edged sword.” Such a sword, which, as δίστομος, or double-mouthed, ‘devours’ on both sides, issues, according to Rev_19:15, from the mouth of the Logos. Ὑπέρ stands after a comparative, Luk_16:8; Jdg_11:25, as παρά, Heb_1:4. In similar terms, Philo repeatedly speaks of the Logos.7

Heb_4:12. And piercing through—feelings and thoughts of the heart.—These expressions subserve the same purpose as the preceding, viz., to characterize the word of God as such. A union of the word of the Gospel, or even of the Hypostatical Logos, with the inner life of believers, is not indicated by a single feature of the picture. It simply presents to us the word of God in its proper and peculiar character, as penetrating through every outward and enveloping fold, into the inmost being of man, and thus competent to exercise judicial supervision (κριτικός not κρίτης) over those ἐνθυμήσεις and ἔννοιαι, which, as sources of human action, have their sphere of operation in the heart. The word exercises its judicial functions as well in the realm of thought, purpose and resolution, as in that of affection, inclination and passion; for it penetrates so deeply as to effect the work of separation (μερισμός) in the province of soul and spirit, and that in their natural (though not necessarily, as maintained by Del., sensuous and corporeal) life of emotion and sensibility. For ἁρμοί τε καὶ μυελοί form doubtless a figurative expression for the collective and deeper elements of man’s inner nature (as, in the same way, μυελός is found at Eurip. Hippol., 255, and Themist. Orat., 32, p. 357), and were here naturally suggested by the comparison of the “word” with a sword. And we can scarcely apply the language to the separating of the soul from the spirit, or of both from the joints and marrow of the body (Böhme, Del.); or to the penetrating of the word clear to the most secret place where soul and spirit are separated (Schlicht., who, although ἄχρι is not repeated, does not make ἁρμῶν τε καὶ μύελῶν, dependent on μερισμοῦ, but coördinates them with it). The separation is rather described as taking place in these designated spheres themselves, the word, like a sword, cleaving soul, cleaving spirit. Hofm. (Schriftb., I., 259) assumes a very harsh and indefensible inversion, making ψυχῆς καὶ πνεύματος depend on ἁρμῶν τε καὶ μυελῶν=alike the joints and marrow of the inner life. It is a more natural construction (with Lün., Alf., etc.), to take ἁρμῶν τε καὶ μυελῶν, connected as they are by τε καὶ into closely united parts of one whole, as subordinate to ψυχῆς καὶ πνεύματος, thus=soul and spirit, alike Joints and marrow [i.e., joints and marrow of soul and of spirit]. To assume (with Calv., Bez., etc.) a coördination of the two sets of words, as corresponding and similarly divided pairs, is forbidden by the absence of the τε in the first, pair; and the order of the words themselves (ψυχῆς, preceding πνεύματος) forbids our assuming, with Delitzsch, an advance from the πνεῦμα, as the primary and proper seat of gracious influences, through the more outward ψυχή to the strictly material and bodily portion of our nature.

Heb_4:13. And there is no creature that is not manifest, etc.—At the first glance, the language looks like a continuance of the description of the λόγος τοῦ θεοῦ; and hence many expositors who do not adopt the hypostatical view regarding the word, still refer the repeated αὐτοῦ, and the ὅν to λόγος. But although Joh_12:48 ascribes to the word a judicial function at the final judgment, and Pro_3:16 ascribe hands to wisdom, yet still here alike the mention of eyes, and the Hellenistic ἐνώπιον corresponding to the Heb. לִפְנֵי, indicate that the subject passes over from the word to God Himself. This transition is all the more natural, in that the attributes, previously ascribed to the word, point collectively to its origin from God, and to the power of God prevailing in it. But we are particularly forced to this construction from the final clause πρὸς ο͂ν ἡμῖν ὁ λόγος. This were an impotent, superfluous and purely objectless addition if it meant nothing but: “of whom we are speaking,”=περὶ οὗ ἡυῖν ὁ λόγος, Heb_5:11 (Luth., Grot., Schlicht., Strig., etc.), whether we refer the sentence to ‘God’ or to His ‘word.’ Nor does it mean properly: “to whom we have to give an account” (Pesh., Chrys., Primas., etc.); but more exactly: “with whom we stand in relation,” i.e, of accountability (Calv., Beng., Bl., and the later intpp.). No special emphasis rests on ἡμῖν, and, at all events, none strong enough to support the interpretation which Ebrard, on the strength of it, gives to the passage. The rendering proposed in Reuter’s Rep., 1857, p. Hebrews 27: “to whom [viz., God) the word is for us,” i.e., “to whom the word is to lead us,” is far-fetched and artificial. Before God, then, there is no creature, ἀφανής, i.e., invisible and untransparent; rather (δέ for ἀλλά, as Heb_2:6) are all creatures, γυμνά, stript of all natural and artificial covering; and τετραχηλισμένα, with neck bent back, so as to give a full view of the face. The archæological explanations drawn from ancient usages, either in gladiatorial combats, or in the treatment of criminals, or in animal sacrifices, are either unnatural, or superfluous. The explanation of κτίσις, as opus hominis quia id est velut creatura hominis (Grot., Carpz.), is decidedly to be rejected. [τετραχηλισμένα (Hesych., πεφανερωμένα) has been explained from the usage of athletes in grasping by the neck or throat their antagonist, and prostrating him on his back, so that he lies open and prostrate; or from the practice of bending back the necks of malefactors—who would naturally bow their heads—so that all may see their shame; or, from throwing back the necks of animals in sacrifices, in order to lay them bare to the knife of the slaughterer. The first seems objectionable, as giving to τραχηλίζειν, a meaning, i.e., of laying prostrate and bare, which is merely incidental to, and inferential from its proper force, “seize by the neck, throttle.” The second, from the fact that, though a Roman custom, there is no evidence that it was expressed by the Greek word τραχηλι̇ζειν. The third, also, is liable to the objection, that, though the usage was familiar to the Greeks, there is no evidence that this word was employed to designate it. The latter view is adopted by Lün.; the second by Bleek, De Wette, etc. Alford insists on the frequency of the occurrence of the word in Philo (especially “in a passage cast so much in Philo’s mode of rhetorical expression”), (who uses it uniformly in the sense of laying prostrate, generally metaphorically), and would thence interpret it here “as signifying entire prostration and subjugation under the eye of God.” Words worth renders: “bare and laid open to the neck, throat and back-bone;” and adds: “The metaphor is from sacrificial victims first flayed naked, and then dissected and laid open by the anatomical knife of the sacrificing Priest, so that all the inner texture, the nerves and sinews, and arteries of the body were exposed to view.”—K].

DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL

1. “The word searches out in our hearts the eternity which hitherto lay buried under a multitude of fancies and imaginations of the heart, and was too feeble to come forth of itself. It creates a spiritual understanding, which consists in true and substantial ideas. It furnishes an answer to the objections which distrust, fear, impatience, unbelief, awaken in our bosoms. It teaches us that there are within us two hostile wills; one from truth, the other from imagination; one from God, the other from ourselves. It separates the desires springing from imperfect education, from misunderstanding of the letter of the law, and those that spring from an uncleansed conscience and habitual desire, and it so judges and uncovers all deception, that nothing is hidden from it. Thus this word is a genuine auxiliary to the attainment of rest.” (Hahn, priest in Echterdingen).

2. The word is the essential means of revealing the true and living God, inasmuch as He in His essence is Spirit (Joh_4:24); and since speaking appears in this connection as an essential living utterance of God, its product, the word, must contain in itself, and express, the peculiarity of the divine life. Precisely for this reason, the same qualities are applied to the Word of Revelation as to the hypostatical Logos, and interpreters could easily question whether our text spoke of the former or the latter. At all events this passage belongs, as already recognized by Olshausen (Opuscula, p. 125); Köstlin, (Joh. Lehrbegr., p. 376) Dorner, (Christology I. 100) to those Biblical declarations which explain and prepare the way for the origin of the mode of expression in the prologue of the Gospel of John. For if Christ is conceived, not merely as the mediator of the creation, the redemption, and perfection of the world, but also as mediator of the whole revelation of God; if again the word is the essential means of this revelation, and if, finally, the personal mediator muse, in such a relation, be conceived of as of like nature with God, as demanded by the expressions ἀπαὐγασμα τῆς δόξης καὶ χαρακτὴρ τῆς ὑποστάσεως αὐτοῦ, Heb_1:3, and εἰκὼν τοῦ θεοῦ τοῦ ἀορατου, πρωτότοκος πάσης κτίσεως (Col_1:15), it becomes then entirely natural to characterize the Son of God, not merely as being the substance of the announced word, but as the eternal and personal Word, by the appellation of Logos.

3. Although expressions are found in Philo, regarding the cutting and penetrating sharpness of the “word,” which are similar to those used here, we are still not to go back to Philo for the explanation of our passage, but rather to conceptions and expressions of the Old Testament which Philo’s philosophical speculations not unfrequently obscure and misinterpret. The Word of God is specially compared (Isa_49:2) with a sharp sword, and Isa_11:4 speaks of the rod of His mouth, which will smite the earth, and of the breath of His lips which will slay the wicked. For this same reason similar figures are found at Eph_6:17; 2Th_2:8; Rev_1:16; Rev_2:12; Rev_19:15. The judicial power of the word, which is spirit and life (Joh_6:63; Act_7:38); is mentioned, also Joh_12:48;, as at Wis_16:12, its healing, and at Sir_43:26, its all-creating and sustaining power. We might also, perhaps, be reminded of the expressions at Wis_18:15; ὁ πἀντοδύναμός σου λόγος—=ξίφος ὀξὺ τὴν ἀνυπόκριτον ἐπιταγν σοήυ φέρων.

4. Since πνεῦμα (spirit) in our passage denotes a constituent element of human nature, and is distinguished from ψυχή (soul) the trichotomical view of the nature of man is here expressed, which is found also 1Th_5:23; while Mat_6:25; Jam_2:26 point undeniably to that of a dichotomy. But this indicates no contradiction in the Holy Scriptures itself, but simply authorizes both forms of representation. Regarding the contrast of the Scriptural dichotomy with a false trichotomy and in like manner of the Scriptural trichotomy with a false dichotomy, see Del., System of Biblical Psychology, Leipz. 1855, p. 64 ff; Olshausen, Opusc. Theol. p. 152, and Lutz, Biblical Dogmatic, p. 76; Von Rudloff, The Doctrine of Man, Leipz. 1858; and G. Von Zezschwitz, Classic Greek, and the Spirit of the Biblical Language, Leipz. 1859; p. 34 ff. In the latter work it is well said p. 60 that the Scripture speaks dichotomically in respect of the parts, trichotomically, of the living reality, but maintaining everywhere the fundamental unity of the human essence. It is entirely false to refer with G. L. Hahn, (Theol. of the New Testament, 1 vol., Leipz. 1854, p. 415) the πνεῦμα in our passage to the Spirit of God. According to the view of this scholar, it would be here said, that the Word of God is not despised with impunity, inasmuch as it is able to penetrate into the inmost recesses of human nature, where the soul, the central seat of life, receives from the spirit its contributions and nourishment. Granting, then, that the word is able to separate the soul from the spirit, this means, according to him, nothing else than that the Word of God has power to procure for man the eternal death of the soul. But the Spirit is here evidently a constituent element of human nature, which, in its origin, comes immediately from God, and belongs, in its nature, to the immaterial super-sensuous world. In it is involved the continued existence of man, and his entrance after death into the invisible world. The ψυχή (soul) is in this connection the central, and as it were aggregating point of human life, which is touched immediately by bodily impressions, but which also receives into itself the influences proceeding from the πνεῦμα. (Riehm, II. 672 ff.).

HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL

He who would attain to the desired goal must not merely give heed to the Word of God, but must strive earnestly to enter into the Rest of God.—What we hare in the Word of God, we best ascertain from its agency and its influence.—The character of the Word of God corresponds as well to its origin as to its object.—God judges in His word, 1, in order to save; 2, the whole world; 3, not merely the walk, but also the heart.—When is our striving a blessed one?—1, When it is directed to the attainment of the Rest of God;—2, when it is directed in accordance with the Word of God; 3, when it comes from a heart which has a living consciousness of its responsibility to God.—What is the nature of that God with whom we have to do?—Does the earnestness with which God desires our salvation find an answering earnestness in our striving after His approval?—To the magnitude of that which God has bestowed upon us, corresponds the weight of our responsibility, and the heaviness of His judgment.

Starke:—Without rest we were the most miserable of all creatures, and it were better for us that we had never been born, than that we remained in eternal unrest. Therefore, take courage, vigorously onward, be active in the struggle, joyful in the course, that we may lay hold of the jewel of rest (1Ti_6:12).—The Gospel is the means which God employs for our salvation. If then, it is to make living men out of dead ones, it must itself be living.—God’s Word has God’s power.—Observest thou not how it arouses thy conscience and rebukes thee?—God evinces His power in the works of faith and of salvation, no otherwise than through His word, and it also proves itself mighty in those who will not obey the truth, since it becomes to them a savor of death unto death, (1Co_1:24; 2Co_10:4-5; Rom_1:16; Psa_19:8.)—The law is a sharp sword, which pierces into the soul of a transgressor (Gal_3:10); but the Gospel is still sharper in its convicting power; it is able to soften the hardest heart, and to cut it asunder through the preaching of Christ, (Act_2:37; Act_16:14; Act_16:32; Act_26:27-28).—As the word is of divine authority, it is also a perfect, clear, and sure rule of faith.—The power of the word of God evinces itself in this, that without compulsion or external power, it draws hearts to itself, brings them out of the power of the devil, of sin, and of death, into obedience, and brings them to eternal, divine freedom, righteousness and life.—Our heart has frequently been smitten, we know not how or whence. Frequently we hear a whispering, without any sensible emotion. Then again it happens that we hear the same small voice, and taste in it a power, and receive from it a wisdom, that fills us with wonder, (Act_24:25).—Thoughts are not free from accountability; hearest thou not that they have their judge?—If thou goest about with evil trick and artifices, although they are choked down in the heart, and bear no fruit, they will still be revealed and judged to thine eternal shame, (1Co_4:5).

Berlenburger Bible:—He who will not hear the voice of God cannot possibly attain to the Rest of God, and although there may be found some who have said that they enjoy rest, they have still only a transitory and self-procured rest; but not a rest in God.—Many thousands have lost their rest because they did not put forth their utmost power in entering into it, (Luk_13:24).—Where unbelief puts itself in the way of the word, there the living word proves its power, so as to disclose the condition of the man.—The living Word of God cuts so deep into the soul that the false blood of selfishness, as it were, issues forth, and of necessity, betrays itself.—None is so upright toward thee—of that be assured—as this word.

Laurentius:—With the regenerate the spirit must have sway: the body must be subject to the soul, but the soul to the spirit.—From God nothing is hidden, neither the wickedness of the unconverted, nor the secret desire of believers. He knows and sees all better than we ourselves.

Rambach:—Those greatly err who hold the Word of God to be a dead letter; yet the law cannot make alive, for this is an honor which belongs alone to the Gospel.

Von Bogatzky:—None can have any excuse for remaining dead and inanimate, or sluggish and inactive; because the word is living and powerful.—With the sword of the Spirit must all our enemies be smitten, and not hinder us from entering into the heavenly Canaan.—We have not to do with mere men who formerly wrote the word, and who now preach it; no, we have to do with God Himself, the Judge of all flesh.—The more exalted is the person who speaks to us, the more reverently do we receive the word and obey it.

Rieger:—There arises in the heart, particularly if during many years it has not remained totally estranged from, and indifferent to, the proffers of God, an incredible blending of good and evil, of truth and falsehood, of earthly-mindedness, and occasional longing after something better, of inclination to the obedience of faith, and temptation to depart from the living God. If these remain always blended with each other, then the man always remains hidden from himself, now inclined to be influenced and yield to right persuasion, and now again timid, trembling before the temptation to cast away his confidence. With this he sinks at one time into fear, without exertion, and acts as if nothing more were to be accomplished; and at another plunges into self-confident endeavors in exertion without fear, without thought of the power of unbelief, from both of which only the call and drawing of God can set us free. From such a labyrinth there would be no escape without this judicial and serving power of the divine word, which must divide asunder for us faith and unbelief in their deepest roots, and their inmost and most vital tendencies.

Stier:—The unbeliever already has his judge in the heard but despised word, and his judgment in his heart and conscience.—He who in the deepest, indestructible original foundation of the fallen man, still attests by the voice of conscience His right and His truth, is the same one who now speaks by the word of His grace unto and into the conscience.

Von Gerlach:—All that is here said of the word, that is, of the revelation of God generally, holds in the highest degree of the independent, personal, eternal Word which was with the Father, and has appeared among us in the flesh; every individual word of God is an emanation from the eternal Word.—The greater the compassionate grace which God bestows upon us in Christ, the mightier the power of His all-healing and restoring love, so much the more fearful is the responsibility, if we nevertheless despise His word.

Heubner:—The Word penetrates even through the thickest bulwarks of prejudice, of illusion, and into the hardest and grossest hearts; it seizes upon the inmost being, the very vital principle of man.—How often has the declaration of the Bible assailed and completely penetrated the hardened and the transgressor, or a promise awakened the sluggish and the timid.—The power of the word comes from God who has created both the word and the human soul. Even the simplicity of the word strengthens its power.—God knows alike true and wavering faith.

Hahn:—We cannot believe and yet remain idle.—The word will at once render us cheerful, and will help us on if we deal with it honestly and do not weaken its power.—Many would gladly go into rest, but they do not lift up a foot in the right direction.

Fricke:—The goal toward which we tend is indeed rest, but the way is toil and labor.

Footnotes:

[6]Heb_4:12.—The τε after ψυχῆς is to be expunged according to Sin. A. B. C. H. L., 3, 73.

[7][The following passages from Philo (cited by Lün.), are among the striking evidences that our author, while totally free from the mystical and allegorizing fancies of Philo, could yet have hardly been unacquainted or unfamiliar with his writings: Qui rerum divinarum hæres, p. 499. Εἶτ’ ἐπιλέγει · Λιεῖλεν αὐτὰ μέσα (Gen_15:10) τὸ τίς οὐ προσθείς, ἵνα τὸν ἀδίδακτον ἐννοῇς θεὸν τέμνοντα τάς τε τῶν σωμάτων καὶ πραγμάτων ἑξῆς ἁπάσας ἡρμόσθαι καὶ ἡνῆσθαι δοκούσας φύσεις τῷ τομεῖ τῶν συμπάντων αὐτοῦ λὸγῳ · ὅς, εἰς τὴν ὀξυτάτην ἀκονηθεὶς ἀκμήν, διαιρῶν οὐδέποτε λήγει τὰ αἰσθητὰ πάντα · ἐπειδὰν δὲ μέχρι τῶν ἀτόμων καὶ λεγομένων άμερῶν διέλθῇ, πάλιν ἀπὸ τούτων τὰ λόγῳ θεωρητὰ εἰς ἀμυθήτους καὶ άπεριγρὰφους μοίρας ἄρχεται διαιρεῖν οὖτος ὁ τομεύς … Ἕκαστου οὖν τῶν τριῶν διεῖλε μέσον, τὴν μὲν ψυχὴν εἰς λογικὸν καὶ ἄλογον, τὸν δὲ λόγον εἰς αληθές τε καὶ ψεῦδος, τὴν δὲ αἴσθησιν εἰς καταληπτικἠν φαντασίαν καὶ ἀκαταλήπτον. Again de Cherubim, p. 112 f. Philo finds in the φλογίνη ῥομφαία, flaming sword, Gen_3:24, a symbol of the Logos, and then remarks in reference to Abraham: οὐχ ὁρᾷς ὅτι καὶ Ἀβαραὰμ ὁ σοφὸς, ἡνίκα ἤρξατο κατὰ θεὸν μετρείς πάντα καὶ μηδὲν ἀπολείπειν τῷ γεννητῷ, λαμβάνει τῆς φλογίνης ῥομφαίας μίμημα, πῦρ καὶ μάχαιραν (Gen_22:6), διελεῖν καὶ καταφλέξαι τὸ θνητὸν ἀφ̓ ἑαυτοῦ γλιχόμενος, ἵνα γυμνῆ τῇ διανοίᾳ μετάρσιος πρὸς τὸν θεὸυ ἀναπτῇ. In the first passage, Philo speaks of “God dividing (cutting) all the natures of bodies and of things in succession, which seem to have been fitted and united together, with His word, which is the divider (cutter) of all things, which being whetted to the keenest edge, never ceases dividing all things which are perceptible to sense,” etc. In the others he says that “Abraham, when he began to measure all things, according to God—takes a likeness of the flaming sword (i.e., of the Divine Logos), to wit, fire and a sword (μάχαιρα), seeking to sever and burn away the mortal part from himself, in order that with his naked intelligence he might soar and fly up to God.—K.].

Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures (Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical), ed. John Peter Lange, English translation edited by Philip Schaff (1864–1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Hebrews

MAN’S SHARE IN GOD’S REST

Heb 4:11.

WITH this simple, practical exhortation, the writer closes one of the most profound and intricate portions of this Epistle. He has been dealing with two Old Testament passages, one of them, the statement in Genesis that God rested after His creative work; the other, the oath sworn in wrath that Israel should not enter into God’s rest. Combining these two, he draws from them the inferences that there is a rest of God which He enjoys, and of which He has promised to man a share; that the generation to whom the participation therein was first promised, and as a symbol of that participation, the outward possession of the land, fell by unbelief, and died in the wilderness; that the unclaimed promise continued to subsequent generations and continues to this day. All the glories of it, all the terrors of exclusion, the barriers that shut out, the conditions of entrance, the stringent motives to earnestness, are one in all generations. Surface forms may alter; the fundamentals of the religious life, in the promise of God, and the ways by which men may win or miss it, are unchangeable.

And so the reiterated appeal comes to us with its primeval freshness, saying, after so long a time, ‘Today, if ye will hear His voice, harden not your hearts.’

We have, then, in the words before us, these three things - the rest of God; the barriers against, and the conditions of, entrance; and the labour to secure the entrance.

I. Note then, first, the rest of God.

Now it is quite possible that the Psalmist, in the passage on which our text foots itself, may have meant by ‘My rest’ nothing more than repose in the land, which rest was God’s since He was the giver of it. But it seems more probable that something of the same idea was floating in his mind, which the writer of this Epistle states so expressly and strongly - viz., that far beyond that outward possession there is the repose of the divine nature in which, marvellous as it may seem, it is possible for a man, in some real fashion, to participate.

What, then, is the rest of God? The ‘rest’ which Genesis speaks about was, of course, not repose that recruited exhausted strength, but the cessation of work because the work was complete, the repose of satisfaction in what we should call an accomplished ideal.

And, further, in that august conception of the rest of God is included, not only the completion of all His purpose, and the full correspondence of effect with cause, but likewise the indisturbance and inward harmony of that infinite nature whereof all the parts co-operant to an end move in a motion which is rest.

And, further, the rest of God is compatible with, and, indeed, but another form of, unceasing activity. ‘My Father worketh hitherto, and I work,’ said the Master; though the works were, in one sense, finished from the foundation of the world.

Now can we dare to dream that in any fashion that solemn, divine repose and tranquillity of perfection can be reproduced in us? Yes! The dewdrop is a sphere, as truly as the sun; the rainbow in the smallest drop of rain has all the prismatic colours blended in the same harmony as when the great iris strides across the sky. And if man be made in the image of God, man perfected shall be deiform, even in the matter of his apparently incommunicable repose. For they who are exalted to that final future participation in His life will have to look back, too, upon work which, stained as it has been in the doing, yet, in its being accepted upon the altar on which it was humbly laid, has been sanctified and greatened, and will be an element in their joy in the days that are to come. ‘They rest from their labours, and their works do follow them’ - not for accusation, nor to read to them bitter memories of incompleteness, but rather that they may contribute to the deep repose and rest of the heavens. In a modified form, but yet in reality, the rest of God may be possessed even by the imperfect workers here upon earth.

And, in like manner, that other aspect of the divine repose, in the tranquillity of a perfectly harmonious nature, is altogether, and without restriction, capable of being reproduced, and certain in the future to be reproduced in all them that love and trust Him, when the whole being shall be settled and centred upon Him, and will and desires and duty and conscience shall no more conflict. ‘Unite my heart to fear Thy name,’ is a prayer even for earth. It will be fully answered in heaven, and the souls made one through all their parts shall rest in God, and shall rest like God.

And further, the human participation in that divine repose will have, like its pattern, the blending without disturbance of rest with motion. The highest activity is the intensest repose. Just as a light, whirled with sufficient rapidity, will seem to make a still circle; just as the faster a wheel moves the more moveless it seems to stand; just as the rapidity of the earth’s flight through space, and the universality with which all the parts of it participate in the flight, produce the sensation of absolute immobility. It is not motion, but effort and friction, that break repose; and when there is neither the one nor the other, there will be no contrariety between activity and rest; but we shall enjoy at once the delights of both without the wear and tear and disturbance of the one or the languor of the other.

This participation by man in the rest of God, which has its culmination in the future, has its germ in the present. For I suppose that none of the higher blessings which attach to the perfect state of man, as revealed in Scripture, do so belong to that state as that their beginnings are not realised here. All the great promises of Scripture, except those which may point to purely physical conditions, begin to be fulfilled here in the earnest of the inheritance. And so, though toil be our lot, and work against the grain, beyond the strength, and for merely external objects of passing necessity., may be our task here, and the disturbance of rest through sorrows and cares is the experience of all, yet even here, as this Epistle has it, ‘we who have believed do enter into rest.’ The Canaan of the Jew is treated by the writer of this Epistle as having only been a symbol and outward pledge of the deeper repose to which the first receivers of the promise were being trained, if they had been faithful, to look forward and aspire; and the heaven that awaits us, in so far as it is a place and external condition, is in like manner but a symbol and making manifest to sense of the spiritual verity of union with God and satisfaction and rest in Him.

II. So look, secondly, at the barriers against, and the conditions of, entrance into that rest.

My text says, ‘Lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief.’ Now it is to be observed that in this section, of which this is the concluding hortatory portion, there is a double reason given for the failure of that generation to whom the promise was addressed to appropriate it to themselves; and that double representation has been unfortunately obscured in our Authorised Version by a uniform rendering of two different words. Sometimes, as here in my text, we find that the word translated ‘unbelief’ really means disobedience; and sometimes we find that it is correctly translated by the former term. For instance, in the earlier portions of the section, we find a warning against ‘an evil heart of unbelief.’ The word there is correctly translated, Then we find again, ‘To whom He ‘sware in His wrath that they should not enter into His rest; but unto them that believed not,’ where the word ought rather to be ‘them that were disobedient.’ And in the subsequent verse we find the ‘unbelief’ again mentioned. So there are not one but two things stated by the writer as the barriers to entrance - unbelief and its consequence and manifestation as well as root, disobedience.

And the converse, of course, follows. If the barrier be a shut door of unbelief, plated with disobedience, like iron upon an oak portal, then the condition of entrance is faith, with its consequence of submission of will, and obedience of life.

Notice the important lessons that are given by this alternation of the two ideas of faith and unbelief, obedience and disobedience. Disobedience is the root of unbelief. Unbelief is the mother of further disobedience. Faith is submission, voluntary, within a man’s own power. If it be not exercised the true cause lies deeper than all intellectual ones, lies in the moral aversion of his will and in the pride of independence, which says, ‘Who is Lord over us?’ Why should we have to depend upon Jesus Christ? And as faith is obedience and submission, so faith breeds obedience, and unbelief leads on to higher-handed rebellion. The two interlock each other, foul mother and fouler child; and with dreadful reciprocity of influence the less a man trusts the more he disobeys, the more he disobeys the less he trusts.

But, then, further, note the respective influence of these two - faith and unbelief; and the other couple, obedience and disobedience, in securing entrance to the rest. Now I desire to bring into connection with this duality of representation, which, as I have said, pervades this section of our letter, our Lord’s blessed words, ‘Come unto Me all ye that labour and are heavy laden and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn’ of Me ‘and ye shall find rest.’ There again, we have the double source of rest, and by implication the double source of unrest. For the rest which is given, and the rest which is found, that which ensues from coming to Christ, and that which ensues from taking His yoke upon us and learning of Him, are not the same. But the one is the rest of faith, and the other is the rest of obedience.

So, then, consider the repose that ensues from faith, the unrest that dogs unbelief. When a man comes to Christ, then, because Christ enters into him, he enters into rest. There follow the calming of the conscience and reconciliation with God, there is the beginning of the harmonising of the whole nature in one supreme and satisfying love and devotion. These things still the storm and make the incipient Christian life in a true fashion, though in a small measure, participant of the rest of God.

People say that it is arbitrary to connect salvation with faith, and talk to us about the ‘injustice’ of men being saved and damned because of their creeds. We are not saved for our faith, nor condemned for our unbelief, but we are saved in our faith, and condemned in our unbelief. Suppose a man did not believe that prussic acid was a poison, and took a spoonful of it and died. You might say that his opinion killed him, but that would only be a shorthand way of saying that his opinion led him to take the thing that did kill him. Suppose a man believes that a medicine will cure him, and takes it, and gets well. Is it the drug or his opinion that cures him? If a certain mental state tends to produce certain emotions, you cannot have the emotions if you will not have the state. Suppose you do not rely upon the promised friendship and help of some one, you cannot have the joy of confidence or the gifts that you do not believe in and do not care for. And so faith is no arbitrary appointment, but the necessary condition, the only condition possible, in the nature of things, by which a man can enter into the rest of God. If we will not let Christ heal our wounds, they must keep on bleeding; if we will not let Him soothe our conscience, it must keep on pricking; if we will not have Him to bring us nigh, we must continue far off; if we will not open the door of our hearts to let Him in, He must stop without. Faith is the condition of entrance; unbelief bars the door of heaven against us, because it bars the door of our hearts against Him who is heaven.

And then, in like manner, obedience and disobedience are respectively conditions of coming into contact or remaining untouched by the powers which give repose. Submission is tranquillity. What disturbs us in this world is neither work nor worry, but wills unconformed to our work, and unsubmissive to our destiny. When we can say, ‘Thy will be done,’ then some faint beginnings of peace steal over our souls, and birds of calm sit brooding even on the yet heaving deep. The ox that kicks against the pricks only makes its hocks bloody. The ox that bows its thick neck to the yoke, and willingly pulls at the burden, has a quiet life. The bird that dashes itself against the wires of its cage bruises its wings and puts its little self into a flutter. When it is content with its limits, its song comes back. Obedience is repose; disobedience is disturbance, and they who trust and submit have entered into rest.

III. Now, lastly, a word about the discipline to secure the entrance.

That is a singular paradox and bringing together of opposing ideas, is it not, Let us labour to enter into rest? The paradox is not so strong in the Greek as here, but it still is there. For the word translated ‘labour’ carries with it the two ideas of earnestness and of diligence, and this is the condition on which alone we can secure the entrance, either into the full heaven above, or into the incipient heaven here.

But note, if we distinctly understand what sort of toil it is that is required to secure it, that settles the nature of the diligence. The main effort of every Christian life, in view of the possibilities of repose that are open to it here and now, and yonder in their perfection, ought to be directed to this one point of deepening and strengthening faith and its consequent obedience.

You can cultivate your faith, it is within your own power. You can make it strong or weak, operative through your life, or only partially, by fits and starts. And what is required is that Christian people should make a business of their godliness, and give themselves to it as carefully and as consciously and as constantly as they give themselves to their daily pursuits. The men that are diligent in the Christian life, who exercise that commonplace, prosaic, pedestrian, homely virtue of earnest effort, are sure to succeed; and there is no other way to succeed. You cannot go to heaven in silver slippers. But although it be true that heaves is a gift, and that the bread of God is given to us by His Son, the old commandment remains unrepealed, and has as direct and stringent reference to the inward Christian life as to the outward. ‘In the sweat of thy brow thou shalt eat bread,’ though it be at the same time bread that is given thee. And how are we to cultivate our faith? By contemplating the great object which kindles it. Do you do that?

By resolving, with fixed and reiterated determinations, that we will exercise it. ‘I will trust and not be afraid.’ Do you do that? By averting our eyes from the distracting competitors for our interest and attention, in so far as these might enfeeble our confidence. Do you do that? Diligence; that is the secret - a diligence which focuses our powers, and binds our vagrant wills into one strong, solid mass, and delivers us from languor and indolence, and stirs us up to seek the increase of faith as well as of hope and charity. Then, too, obedience is to be cultivated. How do you cultivate obedience? By obeying - by contemplating the great motives that should sway and melt, and sweetly subdue the will, which are all shrined in that one saying.

‘Ye are not your own; ye are bought with a price,’ and by rigidly confining our desires and wishes within the limits of God’s appointment, and religiously referring all things to His supreme will. If thus we do, we shall enter into rest.

So, dear friends, the path is a plain enough one. We all know it. The goal is a clear enough one. I suppose we all believe it. What is wanted is feet that shall run with perseverance the race that is set before us. The word of my text which is translated ‘labour,’ is found in this Epistle in another connection, where the writer desires that we should show ‘the same diligence to the full assurance of hope unto the end.’ It is also caught up by one of the other apostles, who says to us, ‘Giving all diligence, add to your faith’ the manifold virtues of a practical obedience, and so ‘the entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.’ A more authoritative voice points us to the same strenuous effort, for our Lord has said, ‘Labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give unto you,’ and when the listeners asked Him what works He would have them do, He answered, bringing all down to one, which being done would produce all others, ‘This is the work of God, that ye believe on Him whom He hath sent.’

So if we labour to increase our faith, and its fruits of obedience, with a diligence inspired by our earnestness which is kindled by the thought of the sublimity of the reward, and the perils that seek to rob us of our crown, then, even in the wilderness, we shall enter into the Promised Land, and though the busy week of care and toil, of changefulness and sorrow, may disturb the surface of our souls, we shall have an inner sanctuary, where we can shut our doors about us and enjoy a foretaste of the Sabbath-keeping of the heavens, and be wrapped in the stillness of the rest of God.

Alexander MacLaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture (1904–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

4:11 let us do our best to enter: Failure to respond to the Good News with active obedience to God’s voice (4:1-2) will have an outcome analogous to the outcome for the wilderness wanderers: we will fall. • us . . . we . . . we: Obedience is not simply a personal matter; God’s people have a communal responsibility for obedience and should support each other in that endeavor (cp. 3:13; 10:25; 12:15).

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

Heb 4:11. Ἐκείνην, that) future, great.—ἐν τῷ αὐτῷ) in or after the same, as those men of former times.—ὑποδείγματι, example) The same word is found at Heb 8:5, Heb 9:23. He who falls through unbelief, is an example to others, who then say, Behold, ὁ δεῖνα, that man, has in like manner fallen.—πέσῃ) fall, with the soul, not merely with the body: ch. Heb 3:17. Moses speaks without reference to the ruin of souls, when he recounts the destruction of the people in the wilderness.

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

Heb_4:11-13. Conclusion by way of warning admonition.

σπουδάσωμεν] not: festinemus (Vulg.), but: let our earnest effort be directed to this end.

οὖν] deduces the inference from all that has been hitherto said, from Heb_3:7 onwards.

ἐκείνην τὴν κατάπαυσιν] that very κατάπαυσις, of which the discourse has heretofore been, which was described as a κατάπαυσις of God, as one already promised to the fathers, and then again to us, as a possession which they, on account of their disobedience and unbelief, failed to obtain, but which is still open to us as an ideal Sabbatic rest and everlasting blessedness, if we manifest faith and confidence.

ἵνα μὴ ἐν τῷ αὐτῷ τις ὑποδείγματι πέσῃ τῆς ἀπειθείας] lest any one fall into the same example of unbelief, i.e. lest any one fall into the same obstinate perversity as the fathers, and like them become a warning example for others. Thus the Vulgate, Luther, Beza, Cornelius a Lapide, Grotius, Abresch, Alford, Kurtz, Hofmann, Woerner, and others. πίπτειν ἐν is also quite usual in classical authors; see Passow and Pape ad vocem. From πίπτειν εἰς it is distinguished only by a greater degree of significance in that it does not merely like this express the falling into something, but also the subsequent lying in the same. Others, as Chrysostom, Oecumenius, Theophylact, Vatablus, Calvin, Schlichting, Jac. Cappellus, Wolf, Bengel, Carpzov, Schulz, Heinrichs, Bleek, de Wette, Stengel, Tholuck, Bisping, Grimm (Theol. Literaturbl. to the Darmstadt A. K.-Z. 1857, No. 29, p. 664; the last-named because the expression to fall into an example, instead of to afford an example, is supposed to be a forced one,the expression, however, is only a concise one (see above),and because πίπτειν is probably chosen with a retrospective glance to Heb_3:17, the passage to which reference is here made, with the difference that the word there denoted the physical destruction. But such intention in connection with the choice of the word is not at all to be assumed), Delitzsch, Riehm (Lehrbegr. des Hebräerbr. p. 774), Maier, Kluge, Moll, Ewald, take πέσῃ absolutely: fall, i.e. to be brought to ruin, perish. In that case ἐν is explained either by per (Wolf, Stengel, Ewald, al.), or conformably to [gemäss] (Tholuck), or propter (Carpzov), or, what with this construction would alone be correct, of the condition, the state in which one is (Bleek, de Wette, Bisping, Delitzsch, Riehm, Maier, Moll): in giving the same example. But this whole construction is artificial. Opposed to it is likewise the position of πέσῃ. For had this word such emphasis as it must have so soon as it is taken in the absolute sense, it would not have been inserted in such subordinate, unaccentuated fashion between the other words, but have been introduced at the very beginning of the proposition: ἵνα μή τις πέσῃ κ.τ.λ.

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.

Heb 4:11 . The exhortation follows naturally, “Let us then earnestly strive to enter into that rest, lest anyone fall in the same example of disobedience”. The example of disobedience was that given by the wilderness generation and they are warned not to fall in the same way. πέσῃ ἐν is commonly construed “fall into,” but it seems preferable to render “fall by” or “in”; πέσῃ being used absolutely as in Rom 14:4 , στήκει ἢ πίπτει . Vaughan has “lest anyone fall [by placing his foot] in the mark left by the Exodus generation”. ὑπόδειγμα is condemned by Phrynichus who says: οὐδὲ τοῦτο ὀρθῶς λέγεται · παράδειγμα λέγε . “In Attic ὑποδείκνυμι was never used except in its natural sense of show by implication ; but in Herodotus and Xenophon it signifies to mark out, set a pattern .” Rutherford’s Phryn. , p. 62. Cf. Heb 8:5 of this Epistle with Joh 13:15 for both meanings. It is used in Jas 5:10 with genitive of the thing to be imitated.

In Heb 4:12-13 another reason is added for dealing sincerely and strenuously with God’s promises and especially with this offer of rest. ζῶν γὰρ ὁ λόγος τοῦ θεοῦ , “for the word of God is living,” that word of revelation which from the first verse of the Epistle has been in the writer’s mind and which he has in chaps, 3, 4 exhibited as a word of promise of entrance into God’s rest. Evidently, therefore, ὁ λόγος τοῦ θεοῦ is not, as Origen and other interpreters have supposed, the Personal Word incarnate in Christ, but God’s offers and promises. Not only is the γάρ , linking this clause to the promise of rest, decisive for this interpretation; but the mention of ὁ λόγος τῆς ἀκοῆς in Heb 4:2 and the prominence given in the context to God’s promise make it impossible to think of anything else. To enforce the admonition to believe and obey the word of God, five epithets are added, which, says Westcott, “mark with increasing clearness its power to deal with the individual soul. There is a passage step by step from that which is most general to that which is most personal.” It is, first, ζῶν , “living” or, as A.V. has it, “quick”. Cf. 1Pe 1:23 , ἀναγεγεννημένοι … διὰ λόγου ζῶντος Θεοῦ καὶ μένοντος , and 1Pe 1:24 τὸ ῥῆμα Κυρίου μένει εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα . The meaning is that the word remains efficacious, valid and operative, as it was when it came from the will of God. “It is living as being instinct with the life of its source” (Delitzsch). It is also ἐνεργὴς , active, effective, still doing the work it was intended to do, cf. Isa 55:11 . τομώτερος ὐπὲρ πᾶσαν μάχαιραν δίστομον , “sharper than any two-edged sword”. τομ . ὑπὲρ is a more forcible comparative than the genitive; cf. Luk 16:8 ; 2Co 12:13 . The positive τομός is found in Plato Tim . 61 E. and elsewhere. δίστομος double-mouthed, i.e. , double-edged, the sword being considered as a devouring beast, see 2Sa 11:25 , καταφάγεται ἡ μάχαιρα . A double-edged sword is not only a more formidable weapon than a single-edged, offering less resistance and therefore cutting deeper (see Jdg 3:16 where Ehud made for himself μάχαιραν δίστομον a span long, and cf. Eurip., Helena , 983), but it was a common simile for sharpness as in Pro 5:4 , ἠκονημένον μάλλον μαχαίρας διστόμου , whetted more than a two-edged sword; and Rev 1:16 , ῥομφαία δίστομος ὀξεῖα . The same comparison is used by Isaiah (Isa 49:2 ) and by St. Paul (Eph 6:17 ); but especially in Wis 18:15 , “Thine Almighty Word leaped down from heaven … and brought thine unfeigned commandment as a sharp sword. This sharpness is illustrated by its action, διϊκνούμενος ἄχρι μερισμοῦ ψυχῆς καὶ πνεύματος , ἁρμῶντε καὶ μυελῶν , an expression which does not mean that the word divides the soul from the spirit, the joints from the marrow, but that it pierces through all that is in man to that which lies deepest in his nature. “It is obvious that the writer does not mean anything very specific by each term of the enumeration, which produces its effect by the rhetorical fullness of the expressions” (Farrar). For the expression cf. Eurip., Hippol. , 255 πρὸς ἄκρον μυελὸν ψυχῆς . But it is in the succeeding clause that the significance of his description appears; the word is Κριτικὸς ἐνθυμήσεων καὶ ἐννοιῶν καρδίας “judging the conceptions and ideas of the heart”. The word of God coming to men in the offer of good of the highest kind tests their real desires and inmost intentions. When fellowship with God is made possible through His gracious offer, the inmost heart of man is sifted; and it is infallibly discovered and determined whether he truly loves the good and seeks it, or shrinks from accepting it as his eternal heritage. The terms in which this is conveyed find a striking analogy in Philo ( Quis. Rer. Div. Haer. , p. 491) where he speaks of God by His Word “cutting asunder the constituent parts of all bodies and objects that seem to be coherent and united. Which [the word] being whetted to the keenest possible edge, never ceases to pierce all sensible objects, and when it has passed through them to the things that are called atoms and indivisible, then again this cutting instrument begins to divide those things which are contemplated by reason into untold and indescribable portions.” Cf. p. 506. In addition to this ( καὶ ), the inward operation of the word finds its counterpart in the searching, inevitable inquisition of God Himself with whom we have to do. “No created thing is hidden before Him (God) but all things are naked and exposed to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do.” τετραχηλισμένα has created difficulty. τραχηλίζω is a word of the games, meaning “to bend back the neck” and so “to overcome”. In this sense of overmastering it was in very common use. In Philo, e.g. , men are spoken of as f1τετραχηλισμένοι ταῖς ἐπιθυμίαις . This meaning, however, gives a poor sense in our passage where it is followed by τοῖς ὀφθαλμοῖς . Chrysostom says the word is derived from the skinning of animals, and Theophylact, enlarging upon this interpretation, explains that when the victims had their throats cut, the skin was dragged off from the neck downwards exposing the carcase. No confirmation of this use of the word is given. Perizonius in a note on Ælian, Var., Hist. , xii. 58, refers to Suetonius, Vitell. , 17, where Vitellius is described as being dragged into the forum, half-naked, with his hands tied behind his back, a rope round his neck and his dress torn; and we are further told that they dragged back his head by his hair, and even pricked him under the chin with the point of a sword as they are wont to do to criminals, that he might let his face be seen and not hang his head. [So, too, Elsner, who refers to Perizonius and agrees that the word means resupïnata, manifesta , eorum quasi cervice ac facie reflexa, atque adeo intuentium oculis exposita , genere loquendi ab iis petito, quorum capita reclinantur, ne intuentium oculos fugiant et lateant; quod hominibus qui ad supplicium ducebantur, usu olim accidebat.” Cf. “Sic fatus galeam laeva tenet, atque reflexa Cervice orantis capulo tenus applicat ensem.” Virgil, Æn . x. 535.] Certainly this bending back of the head to expose the face gives an excellent and relevant sense here. The reason for thus emphasising the penetrating and inscrutable gaze of God is given in the description appended in the relative clause; it is He πρὸς ὃν ἡμῖν ὁ λόγος , which, so far as the mere words go, might mean “of whom we speak” ( cf. Heb 1:7 and Heb 5:11 ), but which obviously must here be rendered, as in A.V., “with whom we have to do,” or “with whom is our reckoning,” cf. Heb 13:17 .

From Heb 4:14 to Heb 10:15 the writer treats of the Priesthood of the Son. The first paragraph extends from Heb 4:14 to Heb 5:10 , and in this it is shown that Jesus has the qualifications of a priest, a call from God, and the sympathy which makes intercession hearty and real. The writer’s purpose is to encourage his readers to use the intercession of Christ with confidence, notwithstanding their sense of sinfulness. And he does so by reminding them that all High priests are appointed for the very purpose of offering sacrifice for sin, and that this office has not been assumed by them at their own instance but at the call of God. It is because God desires that sinful men be brought near to Him that priests hold office. And those are called to office, who by virtue of their own experience are prepared to enter into cordial sympathy with the sinner and heartily seek to intercede for him. All this holds true of Christ. He is Priest in obedience to God’s call. The office, as He had to fill it, involved much that was repugnant. With strong crying and tears He shrank from the death that was necessary to the fulfilment of His function. But His godly caution prompted as His ultimate prayer, that the will of the Father and not His own might be done. Thus by the things He suffered He learned obedience, and being thus perfected became the author of eternal salvation to all that obey Him, greeted and proclaimed High Priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek.

The Expositor's Greek Testament, edited by W. Robertson Nicoll (1897–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

He returneth to an exhortation.

Lest any man become a like example of infidelity.

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

Let us . . . therefore--Seeing such a promise is before us, which we may, like them, fall short of through unbelief.

labour--Greek, "strive diligently."

that rest--which is still future and so glorious. Or, in ALFORD'S translation of Heb 4:10, "That rest into which Christ has entered before" (Heb 4:14; Heb 6:20).

fall--with the soul, not merely the body, as the rebel Israelites fell (Heb 3:17).

after the same example--ALFORD translates, "fall into the same example." The less prominent place of the "fall" in the Greek favors this. The sense is, "lest any fall into such disobedience (so the Greek for 'unbelief' means) as they gave a sample of" [GROTIUS]. The Jews say, "The parents are a sign (warning) to their sons."

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 11. Let us labour therefore] The word σπουδασωμεν implies every exertion of body and mind which can be made in reference to the subject. Rebus aliis omissis, hoc agamus; All things else omitted, this one thing let us do. We receive grace, improve grace, retain grace, that we may obtain eternal glory.

Lest any man fall] Lest he fall off from the grace of God, from the Gospel and its blessings, and perish everlastingly. This is the meaning of the apostle, who never supposed that a man might not make final shipwreck of faith and of a good conscience, as long as he was in a state of probation.

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

Having pointed out the goal to which we are to advance, he exhorts us to pursue our course, which we do, when we habituate ourselves to self-denial. And as he compares entering into rest to a straight course, he sets falling in opposition to it, and thus he continues the metaphor in both clauses, at the same time he alludes to the history given by Moses of those who fell in the wilderness, because they were rebellious against God. (Numbers 26:65.) Hence he says, after the same example, signifying as though the punishment for unbelief and obstinacy is there set before us as in a picture; nor is there indeed a doubt but that a similar end awaits us, if there be found in us the same unbelief.

Then, “to fall” means to perish; or to speak more plainly, it is to fall, not as to sin, but as a punishment for it. But the figure corresponds as well with the word to “enter”, as with the sad overthrow of the fathers, by whose example he intended to terrify the Jews.

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.

(11) Labour.—Rather, give diligence, strive earnestly. It is the necessity of watchful and constant faithfulness that is enforced. Hence the words that follow: “Lest any one fall into (or, after) the same example of disobedience” (Heb_4:6; Heb_3:18).

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

11. Let us labour] Lit., “let us be zealous,” or “give diligence” (2Pe_1:10-11; Php_3:14).

lest any man] See note on Heb_4:1.

of unbelief] Rather, “of disobedience.”

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 the word of God is quick and powerful,.... This is to be understood of Christ, the essential Word of God; for the Word of God was a known name of the Messiah among the Jews; See Gill on Joh 1:1 and therefore the apostle makes use of it when writing to them: and the words are introduced as a reason why care should be taken, that men fall not off from the Gospel, because Christ, the author, sum, and substance of it, is the living God, omnipotent and omniscient; for not a thing, but a person is spoken of, who is a Judge, and a critical discerner of the secrets of men's hearts: and certain it is, that this Word is spoken of as a person, and is said to be a priest in the following verses; to which may be added, that the several things said of the Word exactly agree with Christ: he is "the Word of God"; as the word is the birth of the mind, he is the only begotten of the Father; he is the Word that spoke for the elect in the council and covenant of grace, and that spoke all things out of nothing in creation; he is the Word that has been promised, and spoken of by the prophets from the beginning of the world; and is the interpreter of his Father's mind, and our Advocate with the Father: he is

quick, or, as it may be better rendered, "living"; he has life in himself as God, he is the living God; he is the living Redeemer and Mediator, and he lives for ever as man; he is the author and giver of life, natural, spiritual, and eternal: and he is powerful, as he appears to be in the creation and sustaining of all things; in his miracles and ministrations; in the work of man's redemption; in the preservation of his people, and in his advocacy and intercession:

and sharper than any twoedged sword; or "more cutting than one", by the words of his mouth, by the power of his Spirit, and the efficacy of his grace; for his mouth itself is as a sharp sword, and out of it comes forth one, Isa 49:2 by which he pierces the hearts of men, cuts them to the quick, and lays them open. Jehovah is called a twoedged sword with the Jews (m); and Philo the Jew speaks of the flaming sword of the Logos (n).

Piercing even to the dividing asunder soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow; the like property Philo the Jew ascribes to the "Logos", or Word; he calls him "a cutter", and says he cuts and divides all things, even all sensible things, yea, atoms, and things indivisible (o); the apostle seems here to have respect to the several names with which the soul of man is called by the Jews, , "soul, spirit, and breath" (p); the latter of these, they say, dwells between the other two. Some by the soul understand the natural and unregenerate part in man, and by the spirit the renewed and regenerate part, which though sometimes are not so easily distinguished by men, yet they are by Christ; others think the soul designs the inferior faculties, the affections; and the spirit the superior ones, the mind and understanding; but the apostle's meaning seems to be this, that whereas the soul and spirit are invisible, and the joints and marrow are covered and hid; so sharp and quick sighted, and so penetrating is the divine Word, that it reaches the most secret and hidden things of men: and this sense is confirmed by what follows,

and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart; Christ knows what is in man; he is the searcher of the hearts, and the trier of the reins of the children of men; and this will be more apparent at the last day, when he will make manifest the counsels of the heart, and will critically inquire, and accurately judge of them.

(m) Zohar in Cab. Lex. p. 364. (n) De Cherubim, p. 112. (o) Onis rerum divin. Haeres, p. 499, 500, 510, 511, 513. (p) Zohar in Gen. fol. 55. 2. & 113. 1, 2. & is Exod. fol. 58. 3, 4. & in Lev. fol. 29. 2. T. Hieros. Celaim, fol. 31. 3. Tzeror Hammor, fol. 2. 1.

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

11 Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief.

Ver. 11. Let us labour] Here he resumes and re-inforces his former exhortations; that his words may be as nails and goads fastened by the masters of the assemblies. The judgment is first to be illightened by doctrine, and then the affections to be inflamed by exhortation; like as, in the law, first the lamps were lighted, and then the incense burned.

Fall after the same example] God hangs up some malefactors, as it were in gibbets, for a warning to others. {a} Jethro grew wise by the plagues that befell his neighbour, prince Pharaoh, as Rabbi Solomon observeth. And Belshazzar is destroyed for not profiting by his father’s calamities; Dan 5:22, "Thou hast not humbled thy heart, though thou knewest all this."

{a} Exemplo alterius qui sapit, ille sapit.

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.

Let us therefore labour - Let us earnestly strive. Since there is a rest whose attainment is worth all our efforts; since so many have failed of reaching it by their unbelief, and since there is so much danger that we may fail of it also, let us give all diligence that we may enter into it. Heaven is never obtained but by diligence; and no one enters there who does not earnestly desire it, and who does not make a sincere effort to reach it.

Of unbelief - Margin, “disobedience.” The word “unbelief” best expresses the sense, as the apostle was showing that this was the principal thing that prevented people from entering into heaven; see the notes at Heb 3:12.

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

Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest: this is the use of the former doctrine, that since many through unbelief fall short of God’s rest, therefore let us labour: σπουδασωμεν imports study of mind, earnestness of affection, diligence of endeavour, with all the powers of soul and body to intend this work: so is it used, 2Pe 1:10. This is the most necessary, excellent, and important one to us in this world, our single great business in it; and therefore, as students, our minds must be bent on it, and our wills fixed and resolved about it, and the operations of all the executive powers of our persons put forth to the utmost degree, so as all the duties necessary thereunto, as attendance on all ordinances, and the constant exercise of faith and obedience, must be fitting us for, and bringing us into, the full possession of the eternally blessed and glorious rest of God, 2Pe 1:5-11.

Lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief; that not any particular person may fall into sin and the consequences of it. The particle εν may be read, into, and then it implies, lest any of you prove rebels and apostates. Or it is read, by, or after, and then it is a fall to destruction and hell, with all the miseries that those feel who are shut out of God’s rest, as their unbelieving forefathers were. God spared neither apostate men nor angels, and will not spare others if they sin as those did. Our judgments may be rather sorer, being warned by their example, 1Co 10:11; compare Heb 10:26,27,29. They were contumacious and disobeyed the gospel of God’s rest, therefore he destroyed them in the wilderness, and thrust them down to hell for ever: avoid you their sin, as you would labour to avoid their punishment.

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

11. Therefore—The doctrine of the divine rest has been stated; now for the solemn inference as to practice.

Labour—God laboured, so let us labour.

Unbelief—Still the key-word; the fatal secret of Israel’s fall, the fearful token of our fall.

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

Let us therefore do our diligence (spoudaswmen , so translated in A.V 2Ti_4:9, 2Ti_4:21) to enter into that rest, lest any one fall after the same example of disobedience (apeiyeiav : not apistiav , which means "unbelief"). It is a question, though not at all affecting the general sense of the passage, whether en tw autw upodeigmati pesh should not he translated "fall into tide same example." Piptein en has undoubtedly the sense of "to fall into," and is frequently so used in the LXX, and the subordinate position of pesh in the sentence between upodeigpati and thv apeiyeiav is against its being used absolutely as the emphatic word. If so, the meaning will be "fall into the same exemplar of disobedience," i.e. the kind of disobedience of which that of the Israelites was a sample. This interpretation of the phrase, being that of the Vulgate, is supported by Alford, Davison, Lunemann; though most modern commentators (Bengel, Bleek, De Wette, Tholuck, Delitzsch, Wordsworth), with Chrysostom, take pesh absolutely, as in Rom_11:11 (ruat, Bengel), and en tw autw upodeigmati as meaning, "so as to present the same (i.e. a like) example of disobedience," the en , according to Delitzsch, being the en of state or condition. The warning is next enforced by a vivid representation of the penetrating and resistless power of the "Word of God." The question arises whether "the Word of God" is here to be understood in St. John"s sense of the Hypostatic Word, i.e. the Second Person of the holy Trinity, who became incarnate in Christ. It is so understood by the Fathers generally; and the fact of this Epistle being tinged generally with the thought and terminology of Philo (whoso use of the word logov , derived from the Platonic philosophy in combination with Jewish theology, seems to anticipate in some degree, however vaguely, the doctrine of St. John) gives some countenance to the view. But against it are the following considerations:

(1) Christ is net elsewhere in this Epistle designated as "the Wear" but as" the SON." His eternal relation to the Father, though otherwise plainly intimated, is not expressed by this term, as it was by St. John.

(2) The description of the Word, as sharper than any two-edged sword," is not suitable to the Hypostatic Word himself, but rather to the utterance of his power. Thus in Rev_1:16, the Son of man, " and in Rev_19:15, he whose name is called the Word of God," has a sharp two-edged sword proceeding out of his mouth." The sword is not himself, but that which "came forth out of his mouth." Cf. Isa_11:4, "He shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked;" cf. also Eph_6:17, "The sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God." Hence, notwithstanding the prevailing view of the Fathers, it seems best to understand the term here as meaning generally the Divine utterance, without definite reference to the Hypo-static Word. It was the Word of God, in this sense, that debarred the ancient Israelites from their rest, and doomed them in the wilderness; it is the same Word which still more, as being uttered in the Son, is so searching and resistless now. True, it is through the Hypostatic Word that the Godhead has ever operated, of old as well as now, being God"s eternal utterance of himself: the only question is whether this truth is here intended to be expressed, or, in other words, whether logov has here the personal sense in which St. John uses the term. It is possible that the writer passes in thought to a personal sense in the enwpion autou of ver. 13, where autou may refer to o logov preceding, rather than to tou Yeou . But certainly at the beginning of the passage this specific sense does not seem to be suggested either by the context or the language used. Ver. 12. For living is the Word of God, and powerful, (or, effectual; cf. 1Co_16:9) and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing even to the dividing of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. Observe how the predicates form a climax. The Word of God is, first, living, instinct with the life of the living God who utters it, itself a living power; (cf. logia zwnta , Act_7:38) then, not only so, but also operative, effective of its purpose; then, in this its operation, more keenly cutting than any sword; cutting so as to perpetrate through and through through the whole inner being of man to its inmost depths; then, in doing so, discerning and opening to judgment all the secrets of his consciousness. This description of the power of the Word of God is given as a reason fur the warning, spoudaswmena etc., "Let us give diligence," etc.; for, if we slight the Word of God, we can have no escape from its irresistible operation; we shall be thoroughly exposed and inevitably judged. The view of the Word of God having a sharply cutting operation is found in Philo, from whom Bleek cites a series of passages cognate to this in the Epistle. Cf. especially one in the treatise, "Quis Rerum Divinorum Haeres.:" Tw tomei twn sumpantwn autou logw ov eiv ththv akonhyeigei ta aisyhta panta epeida mecri twn atomwn kai legomenwn amerwn diexelyh , etc. And for the comparison to a sword, cf. (as above referred to) Eph_6:17; Rev_1:16; Rev_19:15; and Isa_11:4. The true reading of the part of the sentence, "of soul and spirit," etc., is quchv kai pneumatov armwn te kai muelwn , the te of the Textus Receptus after quchv being ill supported. The second te , after armwn , is therefore most naturally taken, and so as to give the best sense, in the sense of "both," not "and;" i.e. the second clause is not to be taken as denoting a further dividing of the bodily parts as well as of the soul and spirit, but as expressing, by recurrence to the figure of a sword, the thoroughness of the division of soul and spirit. Further, the division spoken of is surely not of the soul from the spirit, as some have taken it. Delitzsch, e.g., explains to this effect that in fallen man his pneuma , which proceeded from God and carries in itself the Divine image, has become, "as it were, extinguished;" that "through the operation of grace man recalls to mind his own true nature, though shattered by sin;" "that heavenly nature or" man reappears when Christ is formed in him;" and thus the Word of God "marks out and separates" the pneuma in him from the quch in which it had been, as it were, extinguished. " Then, taking the clause, armwn te kai muelwn , to express a further process of dissection, he explains by saying that the Word of God "exhibits to man the fact that ungodly powers are working also in his bodily frame, which has now in every joint and chord and marrow become the seat of sin and death, and so goes on to scrutinize" his bodily as well as his spiritual part," and "lays bare before the eyes of God and before his own the whole man thus described." But the idea of the separation, in the above sense, of the pneuma from the quch , even if tenable, is certainly far-fetched, and that of the corporeal dissection supposed is hardly intelligible. Further, the "dividing" of the bodily parts spoken of in the text (whether an illustration or a further process) does not suggest the separation of one part from another, since a sword does not divide the joints or the limbs (whichever be meant by apathy) from the marrow, though it may penetrate both. We may explain thus: It is well known that St. Paul divides man"s complex nature into body, soul, and spirit swma quch pneuma . (1Th_5:23) His bodily organization (swma) is not apparently here under consideration, except in regard to the figure of the sword; the quch is his animal life or soul, the seat (so to speak) of his sensations, and of his natural affections and desires; his pneuma is the more Divine part of his nature, in virtue of which he has a conscience, aspires after holiness, apprehends spiritual mysteries, holds communion with God, and is influenced by the Divine Spirit. The idea, then, is that, as a very keen sword not only cuts through the joints dividing bone from bone, but also through the bones themselves into the marrow within them, so the Word of God penetrates and discloses not, only the qoch but the pneuma too, "piercing through soul and spirit, yea with reference to the illustration used through both joints or, "limbs and marrow." Ebrard, taking armwn in the sense of "limbs" (a sense in which the word is used, though that of "joints" is its proper and more usual one), regards these and the "marrow" as corresponding respectively to the quch and the nepuma : the quch being understood as "something lying deep in man, the pneuma lying still deeper." Thus as a very trenchant sword cuts through, not only the limbs, but also the marrow within them, so the Word of God penetrates, not only that part of human consciousness which is expressed by quch , but also that deeper and more inward part which is expressed by pneuma . But the general sense of the passage is plain enough without our supposing this strict analogy to have been intended. Expositors, in their analysis of the meaning of passages, may often detect more than the author thought of. On kritikosewn (translated "a discerner of"), cf. 1Co_14:24, 1Co_14:25, where the effects of the Word of God, brought to bear through the gift of prophecy on one without the gift entering into a congregation of prophesying Christians, are thus described: he is convinced of all, he is judged rather, "examined," "scrutinized," anakrinetai of all; the secrets of his heart are made manifest; and so falling down on his face he will worship God, and report that God is in you or, "among you of a truth." So searching and judicial is the power of the Word of God, that it reaches and discloses the inmost depths of a man"s consciousness discloses them to himself, and, though he should resist, leaves him without escape, exposed and judged.

Vers. 11-13. Success.

I THE EXHORTATION TO EARNEST ENDEAVOR TO AVOID FAILURE AND SECURE SUCCESS. The believers to whom these words were addressed were halting between two opinions. The question was whether they should go back to the synagogue and the temple, and thus evade trial, or go forward in the brave and successful profession of Jesus Christ, and each should say, "Let no man trouble me: for I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus." No other subjects could approach these in importance, because they related to the life of the spirit, its power and safety now, and its eternal happiness in the life to come. The alternative is imaged by the fall and overthrow in the wilderness, and its lost labor, and the happy and successful entrance into the Promised Land. It was not a vain thing; it was for their life. The writer urges believers to labor, which term sets forth the arduousness of the enterprise and involves the exercise of watchfulness against the approach of foes, resolute self- repression, frequent prayer, and an ample and constant use of all divinely prescribed means for the preservation and furtherance of the spiritual life. "The kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force." With this view agrees the counsel of Paul, who reminds us of the strife of men in the arena for an earthly and fading crown, and hints at the severe training through which the runners pass, the rigor of their effort, which taxes all their strength of limb and speed of foot; and therefore believers should, in view of an immortal prize, labor to gain the approbation of the Judge, and realize the blessedness of Divine success.

II THE SOLEMN FACT WITH WHICH THE EXHORTATION IS ENFORCED. This is the weighty and all-concerning truth, that the Word of God with which ancient Israel had to do is the Word which affects the life and career of all Christians. It is believed by able expounders of the Scriptures that as every word must have a speaker, it is reasonable to apply this passage to Jesus Christ, who is the Word, and out of whose mouth there goes the sharp two-edged sword. (Rev_1:16) It is quick, or living, because it is the abiding and unchangeable will of our Lord, and, when written, represents his mind concerning God, our sinfulness, our opportunity of salvation by believing in him, and our prospects of eternal life. Men die, and the prophets, apostles, and confessors are removed by death; but the Word of the Lord endureth forever. It is active and powerful, and produces changes of view and life. It awakens prayer, and elicits cheerful and efficient service for Christ. The Word which dwells richly in believers awakens melody in the heart as unto the Lord. It is divinely penetrative, and enters into the secret places of the soul. There is an impressive example in 1Co_14:24, where "one unlearned enters the assembly and "he is convinced of all, he is judged of all and thus the secrets of his heart being made manifest; and so falling down on his face he wilt worship God, and report that God is in you of a truth." This passage has an admonitory aspect, which is drawn from the history of Israel. The word of condemnation was spoken, and the unbelieving generation died in the wilderness, and funeral after funeral passed through the camp to the wilderness beyond; and Moses said, Thou hast set our iniquities before thee, our secret sins in the light of thy countenance". (Psa_90:8) It reminds of some truths regarding ourselves and our condition of exposure to the constant observation of Jesus Christ, with whom we have to do. It declares to thoughtful minds that while we are what we are only as we appear to him, and that we should be content with his perfect knowledge of us, there is to be a final and solemn appearance before him to whom we must give an account. Apostles, evangelists, pastors, and all Christians must appear before him, to present our life for his inspection and final decision. If we have sought first the kingdom of God and his righteousness; if we have been merciful to his poor and persecuted followers; if we have maintained our hold of the gospel amid changes of public opinion; if we have been faithful stewards of the manifold grace of God, we shall give up our account with joy and not with grief. B.

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

Lest any one should fall - Into perdition.

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

Boldness in Faith in Our High Priest.

The power of God’s Word in the face of unbelief:

v. 11. Let us labor therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief.

v. 12. For the Word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

v. 13. Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in His sight; but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of Him with whom we have to do.

The exhortation follows naturally from the exposition: Let us, then, earnestly strive to enter into that rest, lest anyone fall in the same sort of unbelief. Christians should be eager, they should make every effort, they should strive with all the power of their regenerated heart to enter into that rest which is held out before them by the promise of God. The children of Israel in the wilderness had the Word of God proclaimed to them; the promise of salvation had been held out to them by Moses, but they had refused to heed and obey, they had not believed the precious and glorious message. Their behavior, therefore, will serve as a warning example for all times, to keep men from becoming guilty of a like transgression and being rejected by God as disobedient and unbelieving children.

For this matter is not to be thought of lightly, as the sacred writer proceeds to show: For living is the Word of God and effective and sharper than any two-edged sword, and penetrating to the very division of soul and spirit, joints and marrow, and judging the conceptions and ideas of the heart. If the message of salvation were a dead, ineffective sound, an unbeliever might have the excuse that he had gotten no value out of his hearing the Word. But we are told that the Word of God is living, instinct with the wonderful life of its source, full of quickening power, Joh 6:63; 1Pe 1:23. It is in itself active, effective, energetic, able to carry out the work which it was intended to do, Jer 23:29; Rom 1:16. It is keener, sharper than any two-edged sword, Rev 1:16; Rev 2:12; Eph 6:17. Its penetrating power is so great that it pierces to the very division of soul and spirit: it cuts apart, it makes a clear line of division between the old natural and the new spiritual life of a man, just as a Damascus blade will cleave the joints and lay bare the marrow of the bones, Act 2:37. The entire passage is figurative, of course, the writer’s object being to produce an effect by the rhetorical fullness of the expression. In plain words, as he adds, the Word of God judges the conceptions and ideas of the heart. The innermost ideas and deepest movements of the heart are open before the all-seeing eye of God and before the omniscience of His Word, Joh 3:20-21; 1Co 14:24-25. There is nothing hidden before the proclamation of God’s will, both the holy and just will and the good and gracious will; He knows our hearts far better than we ourselves know them, and His Word opens up to us hidden depths of which we ourselves never dreamed.

The emphasis is continued in the next verse: And no created thing is unrevealed before Him, but all things lie naked and exposed before His eyes with whom is our reckoning. The figure used by the inspired writer at this point is that of a sacrificial animal whose head was bent back and then cut open, exposing the interior to the inspection of the priest. The person who fatuously believes that he is able to keep some transgression, some sinful condition hidden before the eyes of God and the penetrating power of His Word, is deceiving himself. No man may forget for any length of time that there will be a final reckoning, at which time all the hypocrisy and deceit practiced by men will be exposed and laid bare in all its hideous nakedness. Knowing this, we Christians will certainly abstain from all attempts at deceiving the omniscient Lord and strive with all earnestness to enter into that rest which is prepared for us in the mansions of our Lord. For how can we escape if we neglect so great salvation? Heb 2:3.

Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

As if our apostle had said, "Seeing there is such and eternal glorious rest prepared for, and promised to believers then it is the duty, and ought to be the endeavour of everyone of us to secure our title to it, and our interest in it, by a stedfast faith, and persevering obedience, lest, following the example of our forefathers in the wilderness, we fall and perish as they did."

Learn hence, 1. That there is a rest promised to us uder the gospel, as there was to the Jews of old under the dispensation of the law.

Learn, 2. That the Jews heretofore, by sin in general, by unbelief and disobedience in particular, did fall short of the rest proposed to them, and never entered into it, but were destroyed by the just indignation of God.

Learn, 3. That in the Israelites’ sin and God’s displeasure, in the event of the one, and in the effects of the other, there was an example set forth, of what would be our own lot and portion if through unbelief we fall short of the rest which the gospel proposed to us: Let us labour to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief. It is our duty to improve examples, lest we be made examples of divine displeasure.

Learn, 4. That we cannot rationally have tha least expectation of escaping vengeance under the guilt of those sins, which others, in like manner, being guilty of, having not escaped; for with God there is no respect of persons. Did the Israelites miss of the earthly Canaan? So shall we of the heavenly, through unbelief.

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

11. Let us labor therefore. Since this glorious rest, the heavenly rest, remains for faithful believers, we should seek to enter upon it, and especially take heed that we do not come short through unbelieving disobedience as did Israel.

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.

11. Σπουδάσωμεν. Not “festinemus” (Vulg.) but “let us be zealous,” or “give diligence” (2Pe 1:10-11; Php 3:14).

μὴ … τις. See note on Heb 4:1.

τῆς ἀπειθείας, “of disobedience.”

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.

11-13.] Exhortation, so frequently interspersed in the midst of the argument: see on ch. 3:1. Let us therefore (consequence from vv. 3-7; seeing that the promise is held out to us, as it was to them, and that they failed of it through disobedience) earnestly strive (not, as vulg., “festinemus:” see reff.) to enter into that rest (viz. that mentioned in ver. 10, into which Christ has entered before, cf. ver. 14; ch. 6:20), lest any one fall into (so vulg., Luth., Beza, Corn. a-Lap., Grot., Abresch, Lünemann, Delitzsch, al., and rightly, both from usage and from the position of the verb. Had πέσῃ been absolute, ‘fall,’ = ἐκπέσῃ, as Chrys, Œc., Thl., Calv., Schlichting, Wolf, Bengel, Bleek, De W., Thol., al., its position in the sentence certainly must have been more prominent. As it stands, it holds the most insignificant place, between the genitive in government and the word governing it. And usage abundantly justifies the idiom πίπτειν ἐν, for ‘to fall into.’ Cf. πεσεῖν ἐν ὕπνῳ, Pind. Isthm. iv. 39: ἐν ὀρφανίᾳ, Isthm. viii. 14: ἐν ἀφύκτοισι γυιοπέδαις πεσών, Pyth. ii. 75: τίνων ποτʼ ἀνδρῶν ἐν μέσοις ἀρκυστάτοις πέπτωχʼ ὁ τλήμων; Soph. El. 1475: ἐν κλύδωνι καὶ φρενῶν ταράγματι πέπτωκα δεινῷ, Eurip. Herc. Fur. 1092. The construction is simply a pregnant one—πίπτειν εἰς, so as to be ἐν) the same example (ὑπόδειγμα is found fault with by the Atticists: παράδειγμα λέγε, μὴ ὑπόδειγμα, Thom. Mag.: and similarly Phrynichus. But Bleek shews that it is in frequent use, from Xenophon downwards. Its proper meaning is, something shewn in a light and merely suggestive manner: so in ch. 8:5, οἵτινες ὑποδείγματι καὶ σκιᾷ λατρεύουσιν τῶν ἐπουρανίων. But it is oftener used, as here, to signify a pattern or example, good or bad: cf. besides reff., Jos. B. J. 6:1, καλὸν ὑπόδειγμα βουλομένῳ σώζειν τὴν πατρίδα σοι πρόκειται βασιλεὺς Ἰουδαίων Ἰεχονίας: and other examples in Bleek) of disobedience (not, unbelief: see on ch. 3:18. It was οἱ ἀπειθήσαντες who failed to enter in).

12,

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

This promise of rest carries with it a special responsibility for the people of God.

Let us labor therefore [σπουδασωμεν ουν] . For the verb, see on Eph 4:3. Give diligence, not hasten, which is the primary meaning. That rest [εκεινην την καταπαυσιν] . The Sabbath - rest of God, instituted at creation, promised to the fathers, forfeited by their unbelief, remaining to us on the condition of faith.

Lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief [ινα μη εν τω αυτω τις υποδειγματι πεση της απειθειας] . Pesh fall is to be taken absolutely; not, fall into the same example. jUpodeigma example, mostly in Hebrews. Rejected as unclassical by the Attic rhetoricians. Originally a sign which suggests something : a partial suggestion as distinct from a complete expression. See ch. Heb 8:5; Heb 9:23. Thus Christ 's washing of the disciples ' feet (Joh 13:15) was a typical suggestion of the whole field and duty of ministry. See on 1Pe 2:6. It is not easy to give the exact force of ejn in. Strictly speaking, the "example of disobedience" is conceived as that in which the falling takes place. The fall is viewed in the sphere of example. Comp. 2 Macc. 4 30; 1Co 2:7. Rend. that no man fall in the same example of disobedience : the same as that in which they fell.

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

11, σπουδάσωμεν οὖν... Let τῷ give diligence (Latt. Festinemus), strivo carncetly...bocause ‘the prize is noble and the peril is great.’ Thero is need of active exertion that wo may securo what God has promised. So σωτήριον καὶ ταύτης ἄνευ οὐκ ἔνι σωθῆναί τινα. ἀλλ᾽ οὐκ ἀρκεῖ καθ᾽ ἑαντὴν τοῦτο ἐργάσασθαι ἀλλὰ δεῖ καὶ πολιτείας ὀρθῆς. And Primasius, following him: Festinomus inquit quoniam non sufficit sola fides sed debet addi et vita fidei condigna... Herveius marks the situation of the IIobrows more exactly : Festinemus ingredi nec in his torronis quro nos impediunt immoremur. Festinemus fide et bonis operibus, quod illi non faciunt qui carnaliter adhuo legem observant ot erga fidem et spiritnalem conversationem negligontos oxistunt,

The language is not directly applicable to the Personal Word Himself. He cannot properly be likened to the sword. The sword ‘issues from his mouth’ (Apoc. i. 16); and it may bo concluded yot further that the author of the Epistle did not directly identify the divine Λόγος with the Son (i. 2). At the same time. the truth that Christ is the Gospel which He brings is present to the writer's mind and influences his form of expression. Thus the pnssago shows how naturally the transition was mado from tho revelation of God to Him Who was at once the Revelation and the Revealer. Oomp. 1 John i. 1 f. noto.

It is not howoror surprising that tho passage was cominonly understood of tho Personal Word by the Fathers: eg. Eusebius Theoph. Oram. Cat. p. 460; Athanasius c. Ar. ii. §§ 35, 72; Isidore, Cat. p. 459; Œcumenius; Theophylact; Primasius; Herveius. The transition to this sense is given in Apoc. xix. 13.

of the Epistle the divine word (the λόγος wpodopixds), δὲ it is with St John.

The action of the word is regarded in relation to (1) man (0. 12), and (2) to all created things. It deals with man in respect (a) to his constitution,

both immaterial and material, and G) to his activity, in feeling and fengon.

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