Hebrews 10:35-36

Μὴ ἀποβάλητε ου῏ν τὴν παῤῥησίαν ὑμῶν, ἥτις ἔχει μισθυποδοσίαν μεγάλην ῾Υπομονῆς γὰρ ἔχετε χρείαν· ἵνα τὸ θέλημα τοῦ Θεοῦ ποιήσαντες, κομίσησθε τὴν ἐπαγγελίαν.

Hebrews 10:35. Cast not away therefore your confidence, which hath great recompence of reward. For ye have need of patience, that after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise.

In these two verses there is an inference from his former argument, and a confirmation of it from the necessity of what is required thereunto. The first is in verse 35, wherein the apostle gives us the peculiar design, use, and force of the preceding exhortation unto the consideration of what they had suffered in and for the profession of the gospel. And there are in the words,

1. A note of inference from the foregoing discourse, ου῏ν, “therefore.”

2. A grace and duty which in this inference he exhorts them to retain; and that is παῤῥησίαν.

3. The manner of their retaining it; “cast not away.”

4. The reason of the exhortation not to cast it away; because “it hath great recompence of reward.”

1. The inference is plain: ‘Seeing you have suffered so many things in your persons and goods, seeing God by the power of his grace bath carried you through with satisfaction and joy, do not now despond and faint upon the approach of the same difficulties, or those of a like nature.'The especial force of the inference the words themselves do declare.

2. That which he exhorts them thus unto by this argument, is the preservation and continuance of their “confidence.” This παῤῥησία, whatever it be, was that which engaged them in and carried them through their sufferings; which alone was praiseworthy in them. For merely to suffer is ἐκ τῶν μέσων, and may be good or evil, as its causes and occasions and circumstances are. Now, this was absolutely neither their faith nor profession; but, as we have had occasion to mention several times, it is a fruit and effect of faith, whereby the minds of believers are made prompt, ready, free unto all duties of profession, against all difficulties and discouragements. It is a boldness of mind, with freedom from bondage and fear, in the duties of religion towards God and man, from a prevailing persuasion of our acceptance with God therein. In this frame of spirit, by this fruit and effect of faith, these Hebrews were carried cheerfully through all their sufferings for the gospel And indeed without it, it is impossible that we should undergo any great sufferings unto the glory of God, or our own advantage. For if we are made diffident of our cause by unbelief; if the helps and succours tendered in the gospel and promises thereof be betrayed by fear; if the shame of outward sufferings and scorns do enfeeble the mind; if we have not an evidence of “better things” to lay in the balance against present evils; it is impossible to endure any “great fight of afflictions” in a clue manner. Unto all these evil habits of the mind is this “confidence” opposed. This was that grace, that exercise of faith, which was once admired in Peter and John, Acts 4:13. And there can be no better account given of it, than what is evident in the behavior of those two apostles in that season. Being in bonds, under the power of their enraged enemies, for preaching the gospel, yet without fear, tergiversation, or hesitation; without at, all questioning what would be the issue, and how they would deal with them whom they charged to have murdered the Lord Jesus; with all boldness and plainness of speech they gave an account of their faith, and testified unto the truth. Wherefore those things that I have mentioned are plainly included in this confidence, as to invincible constancy of mind and boldness in the profession of the gospel, in the face of all difficulties, through a trust in God and a valuation of the eternal reward, which are the foundation of it. This frame of spirit they ought to labor to confirm in themselves, who are or may be called unto sufferings for the gospel. If they are unprepared, they will be shaken and cast down from their stability.

3. This confidence, which had been of such use unto them, the apostle exhorts them now “not to cast away;” μή ἀποβάλητε. He doth not say, leave it not, forego it not; but, “cast it not away.” For where any graces have been stirred up unto their due exercise, and have had success, they will not fail not be lost without some positive act of the mind in rejecting of them, and the refusal of the succours which they tender unto us. And this rejection may be only as unto its actual exercise, not as unto its radical inbeing in the soul. For as I look on this confidence as a grace, so it is not the root, but a branch from it: faith is the root, and confidence is a branch springing out of it. Wherefore it may, at least for a season, be cast away, while faith abides firm. Sometimes failing in faith makes this confidence to fail; and sometimes failing in this confidence weakens and impairs faith. When faith on any occasion is impaired and ensnared, this confidence will not abide; and so soon as we begin to fail in our confidence, it will reflect weakness on faith itself. Now unto the casting away of this confidence these things do concur:

(1.) That it do, as it were, offer itself unto us for our assistance, as in former times. This it doth in the reasonings and arguings of faith for boldness and constancy in profession; which are great and many, and will arise in the minds of them that are spiritually enlightened.

(2.) Arguments against the use of it, especially at the present season when it is called for, are required in this case. And they are of two sorts:

[1.] Such as are suggested by carnal wisdom,, urging men unto this or that course, whereby they may spare themselves, save their lives, and keep their goods, by rejecting this confidence, although they continue firm in the faith;

[2.] From carnal fears, representing the greatness, difficulties, and dangers that lie in the way of an open profession with boldness and confidence.

(3.) A resolution to forego this confidence, upon the urgency of these arguings.

(4.) An application unto other ways and means inconsistent with the exercise of this grace in the discharge of this duty.

And hence it appears how great is the evil here dehorted from, and what a certain entrance it will prove into the apostasy itself so judged as before, if not timely prevented. And it is that which we ought continually to watch against; for he that was constant in this grace yet did once make a forfeiture of it unto his unutterable sorrow, namely, the apostle Peter. And it is not lost but upon the corrupt reasonings which we have now mentioned, that aggravate its guilt. He that casts away his confidence as unto his present profession, and the duties thereof, doth what lies in him cast away his interest in future salvation. Men in such cases have a thousand pretences to relieve themselves; but the present duty is as indispensably required as future happiness is faithfully promised. Wherefore the apostle adds,

4. The reason why they should be careful in the preservation of this confidence; which is, that it hath a “great recompence of reward.”

That which the apostle as unto the matter of it calls here “a recompence of reward,” in the end of the next verse, from the formal cause of it he calls “the promise,” and that promise which we receive “after we have done the will of God.” Wherefore the recompence of reward here intended is the glory of heaven, proposed as a “crown,” a reward in way of recompence unto them that overcome in their sufferings for the gospel. And the future glory, which, as unto its original cause, is the fruit of the good pleasure and sovereign grace of God, whose pleasure it is to give us the kingdom; and as unto its procuring cause, is the sole purchase of the blood of Christ, who obtained for us eternal redemption; and on both accounts a free gift of God, for “the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life, through Jesus Christ,” so as it can be no way merited nor procured by ourselves, by virtue of any proportion by the rules of justice between what we do or suffer and what is promised; is yet constantly promised unto suffering believers under the name of a “recompence” and “reward.” For it doth not become the greatness and goodness of God to call his own people unto sufferings for his name, and unto his glory, and therein the loss of their lives many times, with all enjoyments here below, and not propose unto them, nor provide for them, that which shall be infinitely better than all that they so undergo. See Hebrews 6:11-12, and the exposition of that place; Revelation 3:3. Wherefore it is added,

That this confidence hath this “recompence of reward,” that is, it gives a right and title unto the future reward of glory; it hath it in the promise and constitution of God. Whoever abides in its exercise shall be no loser in the issue. They are as sure in divine promises as in our own possession. And although they are yet future, faith gives them a present subsistence in the soul, as unto their power and efficacy.

Obs. 1. In the times of suffering, and in the approaches of them, it is the duty of believers to look on the glory of heaven under the notion of a refreshing, all-sufficient reward.

Hebrews 10:36. “For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise.” The apostle in these words confirms the necessity of the exhortation he had insisted on. He had pressed them unto nothing but what was needful for them. For whereas there were two things proposed unto them; one in the way of duty, namely, that they should do the will of God; the other in the way of reward, or what they should receive upon their so doing; things were so ordered in the sovereign pleasure and will of God that they could believe neither of them, not only without the duty which he exhorted them unto, but without a continuance therein. And indeed the exhortation not to cast away their confidence, that is, to abide in it, and to improve it against all difficulties and dangers, doth include in it that patience which he affirms that they stand in need of. Wherefore there are three things in the words:

1. The confirmation of the preceding exhortation by this reason, that “they had need of patience.”

2. The time and season wherein that patience was so needful as unto them; and that was whilst they were doing the will of God. 3. The end whereunto it was necessary; which is the receiving of the promise.

1. The rational enforcement is introduced by the redditive γάρ, “for.” ‘This is that which you must apply your minds unto, or you cannot attain your end.'

2. That which he asserts in this reason is, that “they had need of patience.” He doth not charge them with want of patience, but declares the necessity of it as unto its continual exercise. ῾Υπομονή, is “a bearing of evils with quietness and complacency of mind, without raging, fretting, despondency, or inclination unto compliance with undue ways of deliverance.” “In patience possess your souls.” Παῤῥησία , or “confidence,” will engage men into troubles and difficulties in a way of duty; but if patience take not up the work and carry it on, confidence will flag and fail See Hebrews 6:11-12, and our exposition thereon. Patience is the perfecting grace of suffering Christians, James 1:4-5; and that which all tribulations do excite in the first place unto its proper actings, whereon the exercise of other graces doth depend, Romans 5:4-5.

‘This,'saith the apostle, ‘you have need of.'He speaks not absolutely of the grace itself, as though they had it not; but of its continual exercise in the condition wherein they were, or whereinto they were entering. Men for the most part desire such a state wherein they may have as little need and use of this grace as possible; for it supposeth things hard and difficult, about which alone it is conversant. But this is seldom the estate of the professors of the gospel; for besides the troubles and afflictions which are common unto, and almost inseparable from this life, they are for the most part continually exposed unto all sorts of troubles and miseries, on the account of their profession. He that will be the disciple of Christ must take up his cross. The necessity here intimated of patience is grounded on these two suppositions:

(1.) That those who profess the gospel in sincerity shall ordinarily meet with trials, tribulations, and sufferings, upon the account of that profession. This the Scripture and the experience of all ages do abundantly testify; and in particular, it was the condition of these Hebrews, as it was of all the primitive churches.

(2.) That without the constant exercise of patience, none can pass through those tribulations unto the glory of God, and their own advantage, as unto the great end of the obtaining the promise of eternal life. For without it men will either faint and give way to temptations that shall turn them aside from their profession; or will misbehave themselves under their sufferings, unto the dishonor of God and the ruin of their own souls. Patience is not a mere endurance of trouble, but it is indeed the due exercise of all graces under sufferings; nor can any grace be acted in that condition where patience is wanting. The exercise of faith, love, and delight in God; the resignation of ourselves to his sovereign will and pleasure; the valuation of things eternal above all things of this present life; whereby the soul is kept quiet and composed, free from distractions, fortified against temptations, resolved for perseverance to the end: this is patience. It is therefore indispensably necessary unto this condition.

Obs. 2. He that would abide faithful in difficult seasons, must fortify his soul with an unconquerable patience.

(1.) Then pray for it.

(2.) Give it its due exercise in the approaches of troubles, that it be not pressed and overwhelmed by thoughts contrary unto it

(3.) Take care to keep faith vigorous and active; it will grow on no other root but that of faith.

(4.) Especially exercise faith unto a view of eternal things; which will engage the aid of hope, and administer the food that patience lives upon. Wherefore in this case,

(5.) Remember,

[1.] That the want of it lays the soul open unto the power and efficacy of all sorts of temptations, for this is the only armor of proof against the assaults of Satan and the world in a suffering season.

[2.] It is that alone which will assuage the pain of sufferings, ease the burden of them, rebate their edge, and make them easy to be borne. All other things will fall before the sharpness of them, or give relief that shall end in ruin.

[3.] It is this alone whereby God is glorified in our sufferings, and honor given to Jesus Christ in the gospel.

3. The next thing in the words is the season of the necessity of the continuance of the exercise of this grace and obedience; until we have done the will of God. There is no dismission from the discharge of this duty until we have done the whole will of God. The will of God is twofold:

(1.) The will of his purpose and good pleasure, the eternal act of his counsel, which is accompanied with infinite wisdom, concerning all things that shall come to pass.

(2.) The will of his command, presenting unto us our duty, or what it is that he requireth of us. Respect may be, and I judge is had, unto the will of God in both these senses in this place. For respect is had unto the will of God disposing the state of the church and all believers therein into troubles, sufferings, and temptations, 1 Peter 3:17. He could, if it had seemed good unto him, have placed the church in such a condition in the world as that it should have been free from all outward troubles and distresses; but it is his will that it should be otherwise, and it is for the ends of his own glory, as also the good of the church in that state wherein they are to continue in this world. This, therefore, is that which we are to acquiesce in, as unto all the sufferings we may be exposed unto in this world: It is the will of God that it should be so. And he seldom leaves us destitute, without a prospect into those holy reasons and ends of it for which it is necessary that it should be so. But whereas this principally respects sufferings, it will be said, ‘How can we do this will of God, when nothing is required of us but patiently to endure what we do undergo?'I answer,

(1.) Though sufferings be principally intended in this place, yet they are not so only. The whole state and condition of our lives in this world depends on this will of God: the time of our doing and suffering, of living and dying, with all our circumstances, is resolved into his will concerning them. And it is weariness of the effects,of this will of God that is ha the most the cause of their departure from their profession. Wherefore this sense is not to be excluded. See Acts 13:36. But,

(2.) The will of God is that whereby our whole duty is presented unto us, as unto our faith, obedience, and worship; as our Lord Christ “came to do the will of him that sent him,” according to the commandment he received of him. The whole of our duty is resolved into the will of God, that is, the will of his command; and so, to “do the will of God” in this sense, is to abide constant in all the duties of faith and obedience, worship and profession, which he requireth of us. And there is no release in this matter whilst we are.in this world. Wherefore says the apostle, ‘You have need of patience, during the whole course of obedience presented unto you, as that without which you cannot pass through it, so as thereon to inherit the promises.'

4. What is meant here by “the promise” is evident from the context. All the promises of grace and mercy in the covenant they had already received; God had not only given them the promises of all these things, but he had given them the good things themselves that were promised, as to the degrees and measures of their enjoyment in this world. And as unto the promise of eternal life and glory, they had received that also, and did mix it with faith; but the thing promised itself they had not received. This different notion of the promises the apostle declares Hebrews 11, as we shall see, God willing.

Obs. 3. The glory of heaven is an abundant recompence for all we shall undergo in our way towards it.

Obs. 4. Believers ought to sustain themselves in their sufferings with the promise of future glory.

Obs. 5. The future blessedness is given unto us by the promise, and is therefore free and undeserved.

Obs. 6. The consideration of eternal life as the free effect of the grace of God and Christ, and as proposed in a gracious promise, is a thousand times more full of spiritual refreshment unto a believer, than if he should conceive of it or look upon it merely as a reward proposed unto our own doings or merits.