Hebrews 11:39-40

Καὶ οὗτοι πάντες ¸ μαρτυρηθέντες διὰ τῆς πίστεως, οὐκ ἐκομίσαντο τὴν ἐπαγγελίαν· τοῦ Θεοῦ περὶ ἡμῶν κρεῖττόν τι προβλεψαμένου, ἵνα μὴ χωρὶς ἡμῶν τελειωθῶσι.

Hebrews 11:39. And these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise; God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect.

There are, in this close of the apostle's discourse, which is an observation concerning all the instances of the faith of believers under the old testament, and his judgment concerning their state, four things considerable:

1. Who they are of whom he speaks; and that is, “All these.”

2. What he allows and ascribes unto them: “They obtained a good report through faith.”

3. What he yet denies unto them; which is the receiving of the promise: “They received not the promise.”

4. The reason of it; which is God's sovereign disposal of the states, times, seasons, and privileges of the church: “God having provided,” etc.

There is not any passage in this whole epistle that gives a clearer and more determinate sense of itself than this doth, if the design and phraseology of the apostle be attended unto with any diligence. But because some have made it their business to bring difficulties unto it, that it might seem to comply with other false notions of their own, they must in our passage be discarded and removed out of the way.

1. The persons spoken of are, “All these.” “That is,” saith Schlichtingius, “all these last spoken of, who underwent such hardships, and death itself. For they received not any such promises of deliverance as those did before mentioned, who had great success in their undertakings.” He is followed in his conjecture (as almost constantly) by Grotius: “Others,” saith he, “received promises, verse 33; but these did not, who could not abide peaceably in the promised land.” To which Hammond adds, “They did not in this life receive the promise made to Abraham, had no deliverance in this life from their persecution.” But, under favor, there cannot be a more fond interpretation of the words, nor more contrary unto the design of the apostle. For,

(1.) Those of whom he speaks in this close of his discourse, that “they obtained a good report through faith,” are the same of whom he affirms in the beginning of it, verse 2, that “by faith they obtained a good report;” that is, all those did so whom at the beginning he intended to enumerate; and all those did so whom in the close he had spoken of: of any distinction to be made between them, there is not the least intimation.

(2.) It is said expressly of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, that “they received not the promises,” verse 13, as well as of those now mentioned.

(3.) It is one thing to “obtain promises,” ἐπαγγελίας, indefinitely, promises of any sort, as some are said to do, verse 33, and another to receive τὴν ἐπαγγελίαν, that signal promise which was made unto the fathers.

(4.) Nothing can be more alien from the design of the apostle, than to apply the promise intended unto temporal deliverance and freedom from suffering. For if it be so, God did not “provide some better thing for us,” that is, the Christian church, than for them; for the sufferings of Christians, without deliverance from their persecutions, have been a thousand times more than those of the Jewish church under Antiochus, which the apostle hath respect unto.

Wherefore the “all these” intended, are all those who have been reckoned up and instanced in from the beginning of the world, or the giving out of the first promise concerning the Savior and Redeemer of the church, with the destruction of the works of the devil.

2. Of all these it is affirmed, that they “obtained a good report through faith.” They were “well testified unto.” They were God's martyrs, and he was theirs, he gave witness unto their faith. See the exposition of verse 2. That they were all of them so testified unto upon the account of their faith, we need no other testimony but this of the apostle; yet is there no doubt but that, in the several ages of the church wherein they lived, they were renowned for their faith and the fruits of it in what they did or suffered. And,

Obs . It is our duty also, not only to believe, that we may be justified before God, but so to evidence our faith by the fruits of it, as that we may obtain a good report, or be justified before men.

3. That which he denies concerning them, is the receiving of the promise: “They received not the promise.” And what promise this was we must inquire.

(1.) It is affirmed of Abraham, that “he received the promise,” verse 17. And that promise which was given, which was made unto him, is declared by the apostle to be the great fundamental promise of the gospel, Hebrews 6:13-18; the same promise which is the object of the faith of the church in all ages. Whereas, therefore, it is said here that “they received not the promise,” the promise formally considered, as a promise, must in the first place be intended; and in the latter it is considered materially, as unto the thing itself promised. The promise, as a faithful engagement of future good, they received; but the good thing itself was not in their days exhibited.

(2.) Some say, the promise here intended is the promise of eternal life. Hereof, they say, believers under the old testament had no promise; none made unto them, none believed by them. So judgeth Schlichtingius; who is forsaken herein by Grotius and his follower. But this we have before rejected, and the folly of the imagination hath been sufficiently detected.

(3.) Others, as these two mentioned, fix on such an account of the promise as I would not say I cannot understand, but that I am sure enough they did not understand themselves, nor what they intended; though they did so as to what they disallowed. So one of them explains, or rather involves himself, on verse 40, after he had referred this promise which they received not unto deliverance from their persecutors: “God having determined this as the most congruous time, in his wisdom, to give the utmost completion to all those prophecies and promises, to send the Messiah into the world, and, as a consequent of his resurrection from the dead, to grant us those privileges and advantages that the fathers had not enjoyed, a rest after long persecution, a victory over all opposers of Christ's church; that so what was promised unto Abraham's seed, Genesis 22:17, that “they should possess the gates of their enemies,” being but imperfectly fulfilled to the fathers, might have the utmost completion in the victory and flourishing of the Christian faith over all the enemies thereof.” Besides what is insinuated about the effects of Christ's mediation, or consequent of his resurrection, which whose shop it comes from we well know, the promise here intended is expounded not to be the promise made to Abraham, which it was, but that made to his seed, of victory over all their enemies in this world; which, as it seems, they received not, because it was not completely fulfilled towards them, but is to be so unto the Christian church in the conquest of all their adversaries. And this in the verse foregoing is called a deliverance from their persecutors. But whatever this promise be, the apostle is positive that they did not receive it, but that the Christians or believers in Christ in those days had received it. But we know, that not only then, but nearly three hundred years after, Christians were more exposed to persecutions than ever the church of the Jews was; and so did less receive that promise, if any such there were, than they. Something is indeed interposed about the coming of Christ, further to cloud the business; but this is referred only unto the time and season of the accomplishment of this promise, not unto the promise itself. Wherefore such paraphrases are suited only to lead the mind of the readers from a due consideration of the design of the Holy Ghost.

(4.) It is therefore not only untrue and unsafe, but contrary unto the fundamental principles of our religion, the faith of Christians in all ages, and the design of the apostle in this whole epistle, to interpret this promise of any thing but that of the coming of Christ in the flesh, of his accomplishment of the work of our redemption, with the unspeakable privileges and advantages that the church received thereby. That this promise was made unto the elders from the beginning of the world; that it was not actually accomplished unto them, being necessarily confined unto one season, called “the fullness of time,” only they had by faith the benefit of it communicated unto them; and that herein lies the great difference of the two states of the church, that under the old testament, and that under the new, with the prerogative of the latter above the former; are such sacred truths, that without an acknowledgment of them, nothing of the Old Testament or the New can be rightly understood.

This, then, was the state of believers under the old testament, as it is here represented unto us by the apostle: They had the promise of the exhibition of Christ, the Son of God, in the flesh, for the redemption of the church. This promise they received, saw afar off as to its actual accomplishment, were persuaded of the truth of it, and embraced it, verse 13. The actual accomplishment of it they desired, longed for, looked after and expected, Luke 10:24; inquiring diligently into the grace of God contained therein, 1 Peter 1:10-11. Hereby they enjoyed the benefits of it, even as we, Acts 15:11. Howbeit they received it not as unto its actual accomplishment in the coming of Christ. And the reason hereof the apostle gives in the next verse.

Hebrews 11:40. “God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect.”

Having declared the victorious faith of believers under the old testament, with what it enabled them to do and suffer, and given an account of their state as unto the actual accomplishment of that promise which they lived on and trusted unto, in this last verse of this chapter he compares that state of theirs with that of believers under the gospel, giving the preeminence unto the latter, with the reason whence so it was. And there is in the words,

1. The reason of the difference that was between the two states of the church; and this was God's disposal of things in this order: “God having provided.”

2. The difference itself, namely, “some better thing” that was so provided for us.

3. A declaration of that better thing, in a negation of it unto them: “That they without us should not be made perfect.”

In the exposition of these words, Schlichtingius proceeds on sundry principles, some whereof are embraced by his followers, as others of them are rejected by them:

1. That the promise intended, verse 39, is the promise of eternal life.

2. That under the old testament believers had no such promise, whatever hopes or conjectures they might have of it.

3. That both they and we at death do cease to be, in soul and body, until the resurrection, none entering before into eternal life.

4. He inquires hereon how God did provide some better thing for us than for them; which he pursues with such intricate curiosities as savor more of the wit of Crellius than his own.

But the whole of it is senseless and foolish. For if when any one dies he is nothing, or as nothing, so as that unto him it is but as one moment between death and the resurrection, as he contends, the state of all as unto eternal life and an entrance thereinto is absolutely the same, nor is the one in any thing better than the other, although they should die thousands of years one before another. But as all these things are openly false, and contrary to the chief principles of Christian religion, so they are utterly remote from the mind of the apostle, as we shall see in the exposition of the words.

Those of the church of Rome do hence fancy a limbus, a subterraneous receptacle of souls, wherein they say the spirits of believers under the old testament were detained until after the resurrection of Christ, so as that they without us were not made perfect. But that the saints departed from the beginning of the world were excluded from rest and refreshment in the presence of God, is false and contrary unto the Scripture. However, the apostle treats not here at all about the difference between one sort of men and another after death, but of that which was between them who lived under the old testament church-state whilst they lived, and those that live under and enjoy the privileges of the new; as is evident in the very reading of the epistle, especially of the seventh chapter, and is expressly declared by himself in the next chapter to this, verses 18-24, as, God willing, we shall see on the place.

These open corruptions of the sense of the words being rejected, we may be the more brief in the exposition of them.

1. The first thing in them is the reason of the difference asserted. And that is, God's providing things in this order. The word properly signifies “foreseeing.” But God's prevision is his provision, as being always accompanied with his preordination: his foresight with his decree. For “known unto him are all his works from the foundation of the world,”

Acts 15:18. Now this provision of God is the οἰκονομία τοῦ πληρώματος τῶν καιρῶν, Ephesians 1:10, the dispensation or ordering of the state, times, and seasons of the church, and the revelation of himself unto it; which we have opened at large on the first verse of the epistle, whereunto the reader is referred. And,

Obs. 1. The disposal of the states and times of the church, as unto the communication of light, grace, and privileges, depends merely on the sovereign pleasure and will of God, and not on any merit or preparation in man. The coming of Christ at that time when he came was as little deserved by the men of the age wherein he came as of any age from the foundation of the world.

Obs. 2. Though God gives more light and grace unto the church in one season than in another, yet in every season he gives that which is sufficient to guide believers in their faith and obedience unto eternal life.

Obs. 3. It is the duty of believers, in every state of the church, to make use of and improve the spiritual provision that God hath made for them; always remembering, that unto whom much is given, of them much is required.

2. That which God hath thus provided for us, that is, those who in all ages do believe in Christ as exhibited in the flesh, according to the revelation made of him in the gospel, is called “something better; ” that is, more excellent, a state above theirs, or all that was granted unto them. And we may inquire,

(1.) What these “better things,” or this “better thing” is;

(2.) How with respect thereunto “they were not made perfect without us.”

(1.) For the first, I suppose it ought to be out of question with all Christians, that it is the actual exhibition of the Son of God in the flesh, the coming of the promised Seed, with his accomplishment of the work of the redemption of the church, and all the privileges of the church, in light, grace, liberty, spiritual worship, with boldness in an access unto God, that ensued thereon, which are intended. For were not these the things which they received not under the old testament? were not these the things which were promised from the beginning; which were expected, longed for, and desired by all believers of old, who yet saw them only afar off, though through faith they were saved by virtue of them? and are not these the things whereby the church-state of the gospel was perfected and consummated, the things alone wherein our state is better than theirs? For as unto outward appearances of things, they had more glory, and costly, ceremonious splendor in their worship, than is appointed in the Christian church; and their worldly prosperity was for a long season very great, much exceeding any thing that the Christian church doth enjoy. To deny, therefore, these to be the “better things” that God provided for us, is to overthrow the faith of the old testament and the new.

(2.) We may inquire how, with respect hereunto, it is said that “they without us were not made perfect.” And I say,

[1.] “Without us,” is as much as without the things which are actually exhibited unto us, the things provided for us, and our participation of them.

[2.] They and we, though distributed by divine provision into distinct states, yet with respect unto the first promise and the renovation of it unto Abraham, are but one church, built on the stone foundation, and enlivened by the same Spirit of grace. Wherefore, until we came in unto this church- state, they could not be made perfect, seeing the church-state itself was not so.

[3.] All the advantages of grace and mercy which they received and enjoyed, it was by virtue of those better things which were actually exhibited unto us, applied by faith, and not by virtue of any thing committed unto them and enjoyed by them. Wherefore,

[4.] That which the apostle affirms is, that they were never brought unto, they never attained, that perfect, consummated spiritual state which God had designed and prepared for his church in the fullness of times, and which they foresaw should be granted unto others, and not unto themselves, 1 Peter 1:11-12.

[5.] What this perfect, consummated state of the church is, I have so fully declared in the exposition of the seventh chapter, where the apostle doth designedly treat of it, that it must not be here repeated; and thereunto I refer the reader.

I cannot but marvel that so many have stumbled, as most have done, in the exposition of these words, and involved themselves in difficulties of their own devising. For they are a plain epitome of the whole doctrinal part of the epistle; so as that no intelligent, judicious persons can avoid the sense which they tender, unless they divert their minds from the whole scope and design of the apostle, fortified with all circumstances and ends; which is not a way or means to assist any one in the right interpretation of the Scripture. And to close this chapter, we may observe,

Obs. 4. God measures out unto all his people their portion in service, sufferings, privileges, and rewards, according to his own good pleasure. And therefore the apostle shuts up this discourse of the faith, obedience, sufferings, and successes of the saints under the old testament, with a declaration that God had yet provided more excellent things for his church than any they were made partakers of. All he doth in this way is of mere grace and bounty; and therefore he may distribute all these things as he pleaseth.

Obs. 5. It was Christ alone who was to give, and who alone could give, perfection or consummation unto the church. He was in all things to have the pre-eminence.

Obs. 6. All the outward glorious worship of the old testament had no perfection in it; and so no glory comparatively unto that which is brought in by the gospel, 2 Corinthians 3:10.

Obs. 7. All perfection, all consummation, is in Christ alone. For “in him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily; and we are complete in him, who is the head of all principality and power.”