1._Let us therefore fear, etc. _He concludes that there was reason to fear lest the Jews to whom he was writing should be deprived of the blessing offered to them; and then he says, _lest anyone, _intimating that it was his anxious desire to lead them, one and all, to God; for it is the duty of a go... [ Continue Reading ]
2._For to us, etc. _He reminds us that the doctrine by which God invites us to himself at this day is the same with that which he formerly delivered to the fathers; and why did he say this? That we may know that the calling of God will in no degree be more profitable to us than it was to them, excep... [ Continue Reading ]
He now begins to embellish the passage which he had quoted from David. He has hitherto taken it, as they say, according to the letter, that is, in its literal sense; but he now amplifies and decorates it; and thus he rather alludes to than explains the words of David. This sort of decoration Paul em... [ Continue Reading ]
7.But there is some more difficulty in what he immediately subjoins, that there is another today appointed for us in the Psalm, because the former people had been excluded; but the words of David (as it may be said) seem to express no such thing, and mean only this, that God punished the unbelief of... [ Continue Reading ]
8._For if Jesus had given them rest, _or, _had obtained rest for them, etc. _He meant not to deny but that David understood by rest the land of Canaan, into which Joshua conducted the people; but he denies this to be the final rest to which the faithful aspire, and which we have also in common with... [ Continue Reading ]
10._For he that is entered into his rest, _or, _For he who has rested, etc. _This is a definition of that perpetual Sabbath in which there is the highest felicity, when there will be a likeness between men and God, to whom they will be united. For whatever the philosophers may have ever said of the... [ Continue Reading ]
Having pointed out the goal to which we are to advance, he exhorts us to pursue our course, which we do, when we habituate ourselves to selfdenial. And as he compares entering into rest to a straight course, he sets falling in opposition to it, and thus he continues the metaphor in both clauses, at... [ Continue Reading ]
12._For the word of God is quick, _or _living, etc. _What he says here of the efficacy or power of the word, he says it, that they might know, that it could not be despised with impunity, as though he had said, “Whenever the Lord addresses us by his word, he deals seriously with us, in order that he... [ Continue Reading ]
13._Neither is there any creature, etc. _The conjunction here, as I think, is causal, and may be rendered _for; _for in order to confirm this truth, that whatever is hid in man is discerned and judged by God’s word, he draws an argument from the nature of God himself. There is no creature, he says,... [ Continue Reading ]
14._Seeing then that we have, _or, _Having then, etc. _He has been hitherto speaking of Christ’s apostleship, But he how passes on to his second office. For we have said that the Son of God sustained a twofold character when he was sent to us, even that of a teacher and of a priest. The Apostle, the... [ Continue Reading ]
15._For we have not, etc. _There is in the name which he mentions, _the Son of God, _such majesty as ought to constrain us to fear and obey him. But were we to contemplate nothing but this in Christ, our consciences would not be pacified; for who of us does not dread the sight of the Son of God, esp... [ Continue Reading ]
16._Let us therefore come boldly, _or, _with confidence, etc. _He draws this conclusion, — that an access to God is open to all who come to him relying on Christ the Mediator; nay, he exhorts the faithful to venture without any hesitation to present themselves before God. And the chief benefit of di... [ Continue Reading ]