Cambridge Greek Testament Commentary

Hebrews 3:12

Βλέπετε. It is evident that deep anxiety mixes with the warning.

ἔσται. The fut. ind. implies a dread that this will be the case. Comp. Luke 11:35, σκόπει μὴ τὸ φῶς … σκότος ἔσται. Colossians 2:8; Galatians 4:11.

ἔν τινι ὑμῶν. The warning is expressed indefinitely; but if the Epistle was addressed to a small Hebrew community the writer may have had in view some special person who was in danger (comp. Hebrews 10:25; Hebrews 12:15). In any case the use of the singular might lead to individual searching of hearts. He here begins a homily founded on the quotation from the Psalm.

καρδία πονηρὰ ὀπιστίας. Unbelief has its deep source in the heart more often perhaps than in the mind.

ἐν τῷ�, “in the apostatising from.” In that one word—Apostasy—the moral peril of his Hebrew readers was evidently summed up. To apostatise after believing is more dangerous than not to have believed at all.

ἀπὸ θεοῦ ζῶντος. The epithet is not idle. It conveys directly the warning that God would not overlook the sin of apostasy, and indirectly the thought that Christ was in heaven at the right hand of God.

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Cambridge Greek Testament Commentary

Hebrews 3:12

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