Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection; not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God, Ver. 1. _Let us go on unto perfection_] Gr. φεοωμεθα, let us be carried on, as with a force, Acts 2:2, breaking through a... [ Continue Reading ]
Of the doctrine of baptisms, and of laying on of hands, and of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment. Ver. 2. _Doctrine of baptisms_] Inward and outward. _Flaminis et fluminis, _ of water and of the Spirit, that "washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost," Titus 3:5. Calvin... [ Continue Reading ]
And this will we do, if God permit. Ver. 3. _If God permit_] If God give me life and ability, and you capacity and stability; for many fall away, whose damnation sleepeth not.... [ Continue Reading ]
For _it is_ impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, Ver. 4. _Who were once enlightened_] φωτισθεντες, as with a flash of lightning. Knowing persons, and those they call the wits of the world, are in the greates... [ Continue Reading ]
And have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come, Ver. 5. _And have tasted the good word_] Catching at the promises, as children do at sweetmeats, rejoicing therein, as the stony ground hearers did, conceiving a rolling opinion, as Haman did, that they are the men whom the... [ Continue Reading ]
If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put _him_ to an open shame. Ver. 6. _If they shall fall away_] Totally and finally, as Judas and Julian did, and as Mr John Glover thought he had done, and did therefore eat hi... [ Continue Reading ]
For the earth which drinketh in the rain that cometh oft upon it, and bringeth forth herbs meet for them by whom it is dressed, receiveth blessing from God: Ver. 7. _And bringeth forth herbs_] So the fruitful Christian (that, watered with the word and Spirit, bringeth forth a harvest of holiness) s... [ Continue Reading ]
But that which beareth thorns and briers _is_ rejected, and _is_ nigh unto cursing; whose end _is_ to be burned. Ver. 8. _Is rejected, and is nigh to cursing_] The sin against the Holy Ghost is therefore unpardonable, because God (not suffering himself to be derided, or his Spirit of truth to be fo... [ Continue Reading ]
But, beloved, we are persuaded better things of you, and things that accompany salvation, though we thus speak. Ver. 9. _But, beloved, we are persuaded_] He would not be mistaken. Zuinglius, when he had inveighed against vice, would usually close up his discourse with _Probe vir, haec nihil ad te._... [ Continue Reading ]
For God _is_ not unrighteous to forget your work and labour of love, which ye have shewed toward his name, in that ye have ministered to the saints, and do minister. Ver. 10. _For God is not unrighteous_] That is, unfaithful, 1 John 1:9. There is a justice of fidelity as well as of equity. _ To fo... [ Continue Reading ]
And we desire that every one of you do shew the same diligence to the full assurance of hope unto the end: Ver. 11. _Do show the same diligence_] A man may as truly say the sea burns, or fire cools, as that certainty of salvation breeds security and looseness. _ To the full assurance_] All duties... [ Continue Reading ]
That ye be not slothful, but followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises. Ver. 12. _That ye be not slothful_] A ready heart makes riddance of God's work. Shake off sloth. _Spontaneae lassitudines morbos loquuntur, _ saith Hippocrates. Sure I am that dulness and luskishness... [ Continue Reading ]
For when God made promise to Abraham, because he could swear by no greater, he sware by himself, Ver. 13. _For when God made promise_] Of those many that by faith and patience had inherited the promises, the apostle instanceth in Abraham, famous both for his faith in God's promise, Hebrews 6:13, an... [ Continue Reading ]
Saying, Surely blessing I will bless thee, and multiplying I will multiply thee. Ver. 14. _Bleasing I will bless thee_] Now he whom God blesseth shall be blessed, as Isaac said of Jacob,Genesis 27:33 .... [ Continue Reading ]
And so, after he had patiently endured, he obtained the promise. Ver. 15. _After he had patiently endured_] Waited many years for an Isaac, and yet longer for eternal life. "I have waited for thy salvation, O Lord," saith dying Jacob, Genesis 49:18 .... [ Continue Reading ]
For men verily swear by the greater: and an oath for confirmation _is_ to them an end of all strife. Ver. 16. _Swear by the greater_] So do not they that swear by sundry creatures and qualities, God can hardly spare such, Jeremiah 5:7. That passage, "As thy soul liveth," is not an oath, but an asse... [ Continue Reading ]
Wherein God, willing more abundantly to shew unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, confirmed _it_ by an oath: Ver. 17. _God willing more abundantly_] His word is sufficient, yet tendering our infirmity he hath bound it with an oath, and set to his seal. His word cannot be made... [ Continue Reading ]
That by two immutable things, in which _it was_ impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us: Ver. 18. _We might have strong_] Such as swalloweth up all worldly griefs, as Moses' serpent did the sorcerers' serpents,... [ Continue Reading ]
Which _hope_ we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast, and which entereth into that within the veil; Ver. 19. _Both sure and stedfast_] _Spes in terrents, incerti nomen boni: Spes in divinis, nomen est certissimi._ And which entereth into that] This anchor is cast upward, and faste... [ Continue Reading ]
Whither the forerunner is for us entered, _even_ Jesus, made an high priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec. Ver. 20. _Whither the forerunner_] Like as the high priest once a year entered into the holy of holies to pray for the people.... [ Continue Reading ]