Hebrews 4:1-13
CONTINUED EXHORTATION TO EMBRACE THE YET OPEN OFFER OF GOD’S REST... [ Continue Reading ]
CONTINUED EXHORTATION TO EMBRACE THE YET OPEN OFFER OF GOD’S REST... [ Continue Reading ]
CH. 4. CONTINUED EXHORTATION TO EMBRACE THE YET OPEN OFFER OF GOD’S REST (1–13). EXHORTATION FOUNDED ON THE HIGH PRIESTHOOD OF CHRIST (14–16)... [ Continue Reading ]
ΦΟΒΗΒΩ͂ΜΕΝ. The fear to which we are exhorted is not any uncertainty of hope, but _solicitude against careless indifference_. It is a wholesome fear taught by wisdom (Philippians 2:12). We have the same use of φοβοῦμαι μὴ to express spiritual anxiety about the state of a Christian community in 2 Cor... [ Continue Reading ]
ΣΥΝΚΕΚΕΡΑΣΜΈΝΟΥΣ. Rec. συγκεκραμένος. The _accusative_, with variations in the spelling, is supported by ABCDM. συγκεκραμένους EKL. See the note. ΤΟΙ͂Σ�. This is the best supported reading, but among the many variations Nösselt conjectured τοῖς�. 2. ΚΑῚ ΓΆΡ ἘΣΜΕΝ ΕΥ̓ΗΓΓΕΛΙΣΜΈΝΟΙ ΚΑΘΆΠΕΡ ΚἈΚΕΙ͂ΝΟΙ.... [ Continue Reading ]
ΕἸΣΕΡΧΌΜΕΘΑ ΓᾺΡ … ΟἹ ΠΙΣΤΕΎΣΑΝΤΕΣ. “_For we who believed_” (i.e. we who have accepted the word of hearing) “are entering into that rest.” The present implies a continuous process. ΕἸ ΕἸΣΕΛΕΎΣΟΝΤΑΙ, “_They shall not enter_,” as in Hebrews 3:11. The argument of the verse is (1) God promised a rest to... [ Continue Reading ]
ΕἼΡΗΚΕΝ … ΠΟΥ. “_He_ HATH SAID SOMEWHERE.” By the indefinite “He” is meant “God,” a form of citation not used in the same way by St Paul, but common in Philo and the Rabbis. We have similar impersonal forms of citation λέγει, φησί, μαρτυρεῖ, &c. in 1 Corinthians 6:16; Hebrews 7:17; Hebrews 8:5, &c.... [ Continue Reading ]
ἈΠΟΛΕΊΠΕΤΑΙ. The promise is still left open, is unexhausted. ΔΙʼ ἈΠΕΊΘΕΙΑΝ. Not “because of _unbelief_” as in A. V., but “_because of_ DISOBEDIENCE.” It was not the Israelites of the wilderness, but their descendants, who came to Shiloh, and so enjoyed a sort of earthly type of the heavenly rest (J... [ Continue Reading ]
ΠΆΛΙΝ ΤΙΝᾺ ὉΡΊΖΕΙ ἩΜΈΡΑΝ. There is no reason whatever for the parenthesis in the A. V., of which the reading, rendering, and punctuation are here alike infelicitous to an extent which destroys for ordinary readers the meaning of the passage. It should be rendered (putting only a comma at the end of... [ Continue Reading ]
ἸΗΣΟΥ͂Σ, i.e. Joshua. The needless adoption of the Greek form of the name (“Jesus”) by the A.V. is here most unfortunately perplexing to uninstructed readers, as also in Acts 7:45. ΚΑΤΈΠΑΥΣΕΝ. He did, indeed, give them _a_ rest and, in some sense (Deuteronomy 12:9), _the_ rest partially and primaril... [ Continue Reading ]
ἌΡΑ. In classical Greek ἄρα can never occupy the first place in a clause, but this rule is frequently violated in the N.T. (Luke 11:48; Romans 10:17, &c.); and, indeed, in Hellenistic Greek the delicate ironic use of ἄρα to express surprise (“it seems,” “after all”) is almost obliterated. ΣΑΒΒΑΤΙΣΜΌ... [ Continue Reading ]
Ὁ ΓᾺΡ ΕἸΣΕΛΘῺΝ Κ.Τ.Λ. This is not a special reference to Christ, but to any faithful Christian who rests from his labours. The verse is merely an explanation of the newly-introduced term “Sabbath-rest.” ΚΑΤΈΠΑΥΣΕΝ is a _gnomic_ and general aorist.... [ Continue Reading ]
ΣΠΟΥΔΆΣΩΜΕΝ. Not “_festinemus_” (Vulg.) but “let us be zealous,” or “give diligence” (2 Peter 1:10-11; Philippians 3:14). ΜῊ … ΤΙΣ. See note on Hebrews 4:1. ΤΗ͂Σ�, “_of disobedience_.”... [ Continue Reading ]
ΨΥΧΗ͂Σ ΚΑΊ. The τε before the καὶ in the rec. (DEK) is not found in אABCHL and was probably suggested by the following ἁρμῶν τε καί. 12. ΖΩ͂Ν ΓᾺΡ Ὁ ΛΌΓΟΣ ΤΟΥ͂ ΘΕΟΥ͂. The writer feels the force of the word ζῶν which he four times applies to God, Hebrews 3:12; Hebrews 9:14; Hebrews 10:31; Hebrews 12:2... [ Continue Reading ]
ἘΝΏΠΙΟΝ ΑΥ̓ΤΟΥ͂, i. e. in the Sight of God, not of “the Word of God.” “He seeth all man’s goings,” Job 34:21. “Thou hast set our … secret sins in the light of Thy countenance,” Psalms 90:8; comp. Psalms 139:1-12. ἐνώπιον like _coram_ is only used of _persons_. ΠΆΝΤΑ ΔΈ. The δὲ is emphatic as in Heb... [ Continue Reading ]
ἜΧΟΝΤΕΣ ΟΥ̓͂Ν�. These verses refer back to Hebrews 2:17; Hebrews 3:1, and form the transition to the long proof and illustration of Christ’s superiority to the Levitic Priesthood which occupies the Epistle to Hebrews 10:18. The writer here reverts to his central thought, to which he has already twic... [ Continue Reading ]
EXHORTATION FOUNDED ON CHRIST’S HIGH PRIESTHOOD... [ Continue Reading ]
ΠΕΠΕΙΡΑΣΜΈΝΟΝ. This perf. part. of πειράζεσθαι is supported by אABDE, and gives a better sense (“having been tempted”) and one more in accordance with the usage of the writer (Hebrews 2:18; Hebrews 11:17; Hebrews 11:37) than πεπειραμένον from πειράω (“having made trial”). 15. ΓΆΡ. He gives the reas... [ Continue Reading ]
ἜΛΕΟΣ אABCD, a less correct form than ἔλεον but the one which is most common in the LXX. and N.T. (where ἔλεος is made neut.). 16. ΠΡΟΣΕΡΧΏΜΕΘΑ ΟΥ̓͂Ν ΜΕΤᾺ ΠΑΡΡΗΣΊΑΣ, “_let us then approach with confidence_.” The notion of “approach” to God (προσέρχεσθαι) in the Levitical service (Leviticus 21:17; Le... [ Continue Reading ]