Hebrews 10:32-34

As in ch. 6, the writer turns from solemn warning to encouragement, based on the past record of his readers. He reminds them of the valour they had shown in the days immediately succeeding their conversion (Hebrews 10:32, after ye were enlightened). Like strong wrestlers they had stood up to persecution, content to be themselves the object of popular contempt and hatred, while they bravely assisted their fellow-sufferers (Hebrews 10:33). They had relieved their brethren who were thrown into prison, and had borne the confiscation of their wealth with joy, in the assurance that they had wealth of another kind which made them richer than those who robbed them (Hebrews 10:34). In our ignorance of the community to which the epistle is addressed, the nature and occasion of this persecution cannot be determined. It is noteworthy that there is no allusion to actual martyrdom; and this has been held by many to exclude Rome, which had suffered the terrible persecution under Nero in A.D. 64. But it is possible that the epistle is written to a new generation of Roman Christians which had grown up in the interval.