Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset _us_, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, Ver. 1. _With so great a cloud_] Or, cluster of witnesses, whose depositions we s... [ Continue Reading ]
Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of _our_ faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. Ver. 2. _Looking unto Jesus_] Gr. αφορωντες, looking off those things that may either divert or discoura... [ Continue Reading ]
For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds. Ver. 3. _For consider him_] Gr. αναλογισασθε, _comparationem instituite._ Make the comparison betwixt Christ and yourselves, betwixt his sufferings and yours, and then you will s... [ Continue Reading ]
Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin. Ver. 4. _Ye have not yet resisted_] q.d. You may do, and must look to do. And if you cannot endure words for Christ, how will you endure wounds? If you have run with the footmen, and they have tired you, how can ye contend with horses? Jere... [ Continue Reading ]
And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him: Ver. 5. _And ye have forgot the exhortation_] Or, have ye forgot the consolation? _a_ Are the consolations of God small unto y... [ Continue Reading ]
For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. Ver. 6. _For whom the Lord loves_] Whom he entirely loveth and cockereth above the rest of his children. That son in whom he is well pleased, saith Mercer onProverbs 3:12, whom he makes his white boy, saith Theophyla... [ Continue Reading ]
If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not? Ver. 7. _God dealeth with you, &c._] Corrections are pledges of our adoption and badges of our sonship. One Son God hath without sin, but none without sorrow. As God corrects none but his... [ Continue Reading ]
But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons. Ver. 8. _Then are ye bastards_] _Qui exclpitur a numero flagellatorum, excipitur a numero filiorum, _ saith one. He that escapes affliction may well suspect his adoption. I have no stronger argument ag... [ Continue Reading ]
Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected _us_, and we gave _them_ reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live? Ver. 9. _And we gave them reverence_] _Pater est, si pater non esses, &c., _ It is my father, &c. This cooled the boiling... [ Continue Reading ]
For they verily for a few days chastened _us_ after their own pleasure; but he for _our_ profit, that _we_ might be partakers of his holiness. Ver. 10. _After their own pleasure_] To ease their stomachs, vent their choler, discharge themselves of that displeasure they have (and perhaps without caus... [ Continue Reading ]
Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby. Ver. 11. _The peaceable fruit of righteousness_] That crown of righteousness wrought out unto us by afflictions,2 Cori... [ Continue Reading ]
Wherefore lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees; Ver. 12. _Lift up the hands_] Pluck up your good hearts, and buckle close to your business; how else will you run the race that is set before you? Hebrews 12:1. Gird up the loins of your minds; a drooping spirit makes no riddance of... [ Continue Reading ]
And make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way; but let it rather be healed. Ver. 13. _Make straight paths_] Seek not byways (those highways to hell), leap not over the hedge of any commandment, so to escape any piece of foul way; but as those kine of the Ph... [ Continue Reading ]
Follow peace with all _men_, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord: Ver. 14. _Follow peace_] Gr. pursue it, though it flee from you. I am for peace (saith David), but when I speak of it, they are for war, Psalms 120:7 . _ And holiness_] Or chastity, 1 Thessalonians 4:4; such a holi... [ Continue Reading ]
Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble _you_, and thereby many be defiled; Ver. 15. _Lest any man fail_] Or, fall short, asHebrews 4:1; see the note there. Short shooting loseth many a game. He that in a race lieth down ere he come... [ Continue Reading ]
Lest there _be_ any fornicator, or profane person, as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright. Ver. 16. _Fornicator or profane_] He instanceth in some roots of bitterness. Esau's profaneness appeared in these particulars: 1. In that he was no sooner asked for the birthright but he yiel... [ Continue Reading ]
For ye know how that afterward, when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected: for he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears. Ver. 17. _For ye know how that afterward_] _Sero inquit Nero,_ Ad praerepta venit possessaque gaudia sero. (Sueton. Ner. c. 49... [ Continue Reading ]
For ye are not come unto the mount that might be touched, and that burned with fire, nor unto blackness, and darkness, and tempest, Ver. 18. _For ye are not come, &c._] q.d. You are not under the law, but under grace, beware therefore of profaneness and licentiousness. For think you that God hath h... [ Continue Reading ]
And the sound of a trumpet, and the voice of words; which _voice_ they that heard intreated that the word should not be spoken to them any more: Ver. 19. _And the sound of a trumpet_] Showing the nature of God's law, to manifest God's will, men's sins, and to warn them of the wrath deserved; likewi... [ Continue Reading ]
(For they could not endure that which was commanded, And if so much as a beast touch the mountain, it shall be stoned, or thrust through with a dart: Ver. 20. _For they could not endure_] This shows the nature and use of the law, contrary to that of the gospel. It is a killing letter, written in bl... [ Continue Reading ]
And so terrible was the sight, _that_ Moses said, I exceedingly fear and quake:) Ver. 21. _Moses said, I exceedingly_] This Paul might have by tradition, or rather by revelation, unless he gathered it from Exodus 19:19, compared withDaniel 10:8; Daniel 10:16,17; Daniel 10:19 .... [ Continue Reading ]
But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, Ver. 22. _But ye are come to Mount_] And the blessings that come out of Sion (grace and peace that come by Jesus Christ) are better than all other blessings of heav... [ Continue Reading ]
To the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, Ver. 23. _To the general assembly_] Or public meeting of a whole country, as at a great assize, or some solemn celebrity. The Roman emperors ra... [ Continue Reading ]
And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than _that of_ Abel. Ver. 24. _That speaketh better things_] Every drop whereof had a tongue to cry for vengeance; whence it is called bloods, in the plural, Genesis 4:10. But the blood of spr... [ Continue Reading ]
See that ye refuse not him that speaketh. For if they escaped not who refused him that spake on earth, much more _shall not_ we _escape_, if we turn away from him that _speaketh_ from heaven: Ver. 25. _See that ye refuse not, &c._] Gr. παραιτησησθε, that ye shift him not off by frivolous pretences... [ Continue Reading ]
Whose voice then shook the earth: but now he hath promised, saying, Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven. Ver. 26. _Whose voice then shook, &c._] viz. When he gave the law; what shall he do when he comes to judgment? _ Not the earth only, &c._] Not men only, but angels, who st... [ Continue Reading ]
And this _word_, Yet once more, signifieth the removing of those things that are shaken, as of things that are made, that those things which cannot be shaken may remain. Ver. 27. _And this word, yet once more_] The apostle commenteth upon the prophet whom he citeth, and from that word of his, Yet o... [ Continue Reading ]
Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear: Ver. 28. _A kingdom which cannot be moved_] As the mighty monarchies of the world could; for those had their times and their turns, their ruin as well as the... [ Continue Reading ]
For our God _is_ a consuming fire. Ver. 29. _A consuming fire_] viz. To profligate professors, ungirt Christians, Isaiah 33:14. And whereas the apostle saith Our God, he means the God of Christians also (as well as of Jews) is a consuming fire, see Exodus 23:20, with the note. As he is _Pater miser... [ Continue Reading ]