A Study Of The Apostle Paul’s Letter To The Hebrews

1. Don’t fall away! Don’t Depart! Don’t neglect your salvation! Don’t cast away your confidence! Don’t harden your heart! Don’t drift away! AStudyOf TheApostlePaul’s LetterTo The Hebrews How can we neglect so greata salvation? ~ Hebrews 2:3

2. Hebrews: Christ Is Superior! Superior Person (1:1—4:13) Superior to Prophets (1:1-3) Superior to Angels (1:4—2:18) Superior to Moses (3:1-19) but… We’ll only study verses 7-19 today. Superior to Joshua (4:1-13) Superior Priest (4:14—7:28) Superior to Aaron (4:14—6:12) Superior to Melchizedek (6:13—7:10) Superior to Levi (7:11-28)

3. Hebrews: Christ Is Superior! Superior Pact to Moses’ (8:1—10:18) Superior Promises (8:1-13) Superior Sanctuary (9:1-15) Superior Sacrifice (9:16-28) Superior Results (10:1-18) Superior Principle (Faith) to Moses’ (10:19—13:25) Superior Things (10:19-39) Superior Actions (11:1-40) Superior Relationship (12:1-29) Superior Way of Life (13:1-25)

4. In our study of 3:1-6, we examined Christ’s Superiority to the Old Testa-ment Priesthood beginning with Moses, notingthat Jesus isgreaterinHis office (vv. 1-2) and greater in Hisministry (vv. 3-6); now (vv. 7-19) we’ll see that Paul wrote concerning Jesus being greater in His reward. This passage also includes the second of the seven warnings: 2:1-4 warned against neglect, and now 3:7-19 warn against unbelief.

5. Hebrews 3:7-9  Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says, “Today, if you will hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, in the day of trial in the wilderness where your fathers test-ed Me, proved Me, and saw My works forty years…”

6. As mentioned in our last study, Paul often used parenthetical thoughts in his writ-ings, so we must be sure to interpret passages with that in mind;for example, the word therefore here actually joins directly to verse 12, making it say, Since Jesus is greater (& if you wish to remain in God’s house), beware lest you apostatize. Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says, “Today, if you will hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, in the day of trial in the wilderness where your fathers test-ed Me, proved Me, and saw My works forty years…”

7. Notice that although verses 7-11 are tak-en from a Psalm of David (Psa. 95, ironi-cally also verses 7-11), Paul here attributed these words to the Holy Spirit, then later to David (4:7). Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says, “Today, if you will hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, in the day of trial in the wilderness where your fathers test-ed Me, proved Me, and saw My works forty years…”

8. Although the pro-noun His in Psalm 95 refers back to God, the pronoun His here refers back to Jesus who, of course, is also God; so we have God, Jesus, and the Spirit all found in this passage. Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says, “Today, if you will hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, in the day of trial in the wilderness where your fathers test-ed Me, proved Me, and saw My works forty years…”

9. For this phrase the Hebrew of Psalm 95 has Oh that you’d hear His voice!, em-phasizing the eter-nal significance of listening to God; Paul put it as a con-ditional statement, meaning that they wouldn’t be able to hear God if their hearts were hard. Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says, “Today, if you will hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, in the day of trial in the wilderness where your fathers test-ed Me, proved Me, and saw My works forty years…”

10. The idea of harden-ing one’s heart is very well illustrated by the custom of animal branding: things such as need-les will pierce the cow’s hide until it’s branded; after that it’s nearly impossible to do so. Likewise… Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says, “Today, if you will hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, in the day of trial in the wilderness where your fathers test-ed Me, proved Me, and saw My works forty years…”

11. Since God created man with free will, he can’t penetrate the heart of a person who has chosen to harden it against His will for him. To Timothy Paul wrote of people who’d have their consci-ences seared with a hot iron (1 Tim. 4:2). Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says, “Today, if you will hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, in the day of trial in the wilderness where your fathers test-ed Me, proved Me, and saw My works forty years…”

12. This word comes from a term meaningto irritate, exasper-ate, or aggravate; i.e., by means of their hardened hearts, those Jews stirred up God’s wrath against them. Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says, “Today, if you will hear His voice, do notharden your hearts as in the rebellion, in the day of trial in the wilderness where your fathers test-ed Me, proved Me, and saw My works forty years…”

13. This word actually has the definite ar-ticle (the) before it in the Greek (literal-ly, the day of the trial), meaning that Paul had a specific ac-count in mind; that account was when the Jews complained to Moses concerning their lack of water (Exo. 17:1-7). Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says, “Today, if you will hear His voice, do notharden your hearts as in the rebellion, in the day of trial in the wilderness where your fathers test-ed Me, proved Me, and saw My works forty years…”

14. The Greek terms for these words are in-teresting: when put together they mean that those Jews put God to the test to see what evil or good there was in Him when they put Him to the test for the purpose of ap-proving Him if He should pass their tests. Talk about insult and unbelief! Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says, “Today, if you will hear His voice, do notharden your hearts as in the rebellion, in the day of trial in the wilderness where your fathers test-ed Me, proved Me, and saw My works forty years…”

15. They seemed like children who test their parents to see how far they can be pushed before they explode. Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says, “Today, if you will hear His voice, do notharden your hearts as in the rebellion, in the day of trial in the wilderness where your fathers test-ed Me, proved Me, and saw My works forty years…”

16. Accordingto Vincent, this conjunction should probably be translated and yet; i.e., the idea seems to be that even tho they continually put God to the test, He still worked with them for 40 years! Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says, “Today, if you will hear His voice, do notharden your hearts as in the rebellion, in the day of trial in the wilderness where your fathers test-ed Me, proved Me, and saw My works forty years…”

17. Hebrews 3:10-11    Therefore I was angry with that generation and said, “They always go astray in their heart, and they have not known My ways.” So I swore in My wrath, “They shall not enter My rest.”

18. This word means to reject due to being disgusted with. Therefore I was angry with that generation and said, “They always go astray in their heart, and they have not known My ways.” So I swore in My wrath, “They shall not enter My rest.”

19. Notice that the Bible here (vv. 9-10) de-fines a generation as forty years. Therefore I was angry with that generation and said, “They always go astray in their heart, and they have not known My ways.” So I swore in My wrath, “They shall not enter My rest.”

20. This phrase means to wander; so just as they wandered in the wilderness, their hearts wandered away from God. You think maybe that’s one reason God had them experience it? Therefore I was angry with that generation and said, “They always go astray in their heart, and they have not known My ways.” So I swore in My wrath, “They shall not enter My rest.”

21. The original term for heart here is where we get our word “cardiac”; this word, however, is obvi-ously not speaking of the literal blood pump, but of what it represented to the Jews—the mind, the seat of the affec-tions, the will, & the understanding, such as when we speak of someone’s under-standing heart. Therefore I was angry with that generation and said, “They always go astray in their heart, and they have not known My ways.” So I swore in My wrath, “They shall not enter My rest.”

22. They had not known God’s ways because they had practically forsaken Him while in captivity; then, to top it off, they turn-ed back to Egypt in their hearts, Steph-en said to their de-scendants in Acts 7:39 before they stoned him to death. Therefore I was angry with that generation and said, “They always go astray in their heart, and they have not known My ways.” So I swore in My wrath, “They shall not enter My rest.”

23. This word refers to a termination of nervous activity and struggle; for them it was the end of their physical struggle from oppression and wanderings in the wilderness, while for us it’s the end of the spiritual struggle from attempts to be free from sin. Therefore I was angry with that generation and said, “They always go astray in their heart, and they have not known My ways.” So I swore in My wrath, “They shall not enter My rest.”

24. The rest of physical Canaan was their inheritance (Deu. 12:9), while the rest of spiritual Canaan is our inheritance, fitting corresponding with the subject of Hebrews (e.g.1:14,6:12,9:15,11:8,&12:17). See, during that time… Christ, as a second Moses, was leading His people on a forty-year exodus out from under the law of sin and death into the promised rest from sin and death; Abraham even looked beyond the physical land to a better, heavenly one (11:8-16).

25. The church was on an exodus to the promised land: Christ was liberating & redeeming God’s new covenant people, transferring them into a new city—the new spiritual, heavenly Jerusalem—which would soon come (13:14) and be the permanent home of the redeemed. Before moving on toverse 12,I want to point out that Paul gave three ex-hortations based on3:7-11:take heed(3:12-19),fear(4:1-10),&labor(4:11-13).

26. Hebrews 3:12  Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God.

27. This word, of course, implies danger, and the idea behind its present tense is to be constant in keep-ing a watchful eye open. Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God.

28. This word refers to a fear that an event may occur, but it also carries with it the suspicion that it will occur, especially sincetheywereturn- ing back one by one. Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God.

29. This phrase appealed to them as individu-als; i.e., out of those of you who are left, take heed, beware! Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God.

30. By connecting an evil heart with de-parting from God, Paul accused those who had already left as being evil to the core—the heart. Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God.

31. By the way… This phrase means that disbelief is what causesanevilheart, a heart that has left God takes the body with it. I employed theworddisbelief here because the original term actual-ly carries with it the idea of a refusal to continue to believe or trust. Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God.

32. There are two Greek terms for evil: one (kakos) which is evil in the abstract, and another stronger one (poneros) which is evil in active op-position to good; the one Paul used here is the stronger onemeaninghesus-pected that… Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heartof unbelief in departing from the living God. …there were some among them who were about to act on their evil hearts and follow previous ones whohadalreadyleft.

33. This word is the Greek term from which we get our word apostasy, a word which means to step away and stand aloof from. Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heartof unbelief in departing from the living God.

34. This is the result of a heart of unbelief, and it’s reminiscent of the Jews who said, Let us select a leader and return to Egypt (Num. 14:4). Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heartof unbelief in departing from the living God.

35. Paul likely used this adjective forGod in order to indicate that life is only in God, so if they leave His household (v. 6), they’d be rejecting the promised life— the inheritance of that household. Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heartof unbelief in departing from the living God.

36. Hebrews 3:13  But exhort one anotherdailywhileit is called “today,” lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.

37. This word means to entreat, beseech, or beg; i.e., they were to beg one another daily to not go back-ward but forward. Notice how Christian fellowship is associ-ated with keeping people from aposta-tizing. But exhort one anotherdailywhileit is called “today,” lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.

38. Since they would very likely be killed by the Romans or at the very least be taken captive into foreign lands if they went back to Judaism, they had the choice of being saved from all that along with all Christians then and only then; that’s the primary application of the word today here, but there’s the obvious principle that God has always expected people to obey Him immedi-ately, not when they feel like getting around to it, especially since no one knows when his time is up.

39. I like what Milligan wrote about this:God never says to anyone, Hearken to my voice and obey my precepts tomorrow. His com-mand is, Do it now; at the very moment that you hear his voice and know his will. Andhencetheorderof theprimitivechurch was(1)to preach the Gospel to sinners;(2)to receive theconfessionof such asbecame penitent believers;(3)to baptize them on the same day, or even at the same hour of the night…. But now[100+ years ago when Milligan wrote],how very different is the practice of the church. It is amazing how both saints and sinners now procrastinate & trifle with the word and the ordinances of God. (A Commentary on the Epistle to the Hebrews, Robert Milligan, 3:7.)

40. Because the definite article (the) is be-fore the word sin in the original, this phrase refers to the deceit found in the thinking that the right thing would be to apostatize from Christ and return to Moses, the sort of thinking that de-ceived some Gala-tians as well (1:6ff). But exhort one anotherdailywhileit is called “today,” lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of [the] sin.

41. Isn’t it interesting how unbelief and hardness of heart seem to go hand-in-hand in the Bible(cf. Mark 16:14, Acts 19:9, et. al.)? But exhort one anotherdailywhileit is called “today,” lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.

42. Hebrews 3:14-15    For we have be-come partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end, while it is said, “Today, if you will hear His voice, do not hard- en your hearts as in the rebellion.”

43. Notice how verse 14parallels verse 6: the primary difference is that in verse 6they were said to be- long to Christ, while here Christ is said to belong to them, which leads to our next thought:   For we have be-come partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end, while it is said, “Today, if you will hear His voice, do not hard- en your hearts as in the rebellion.”

44. This word here is the sameasin1:9,2:14, and 3:1 where we noted that it refers to a voluntary shar-ing in something with someone; the idea here is that they chose, of their own free will, to be fellow-ownersofthe Christ (cf. Col. 1:12). For we have be-come partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end, while it is said, “Today, if you will hear His voice, do not hard- en your hearts as in the rebellion.”

45. As in verse 6, this word is translated from a term which means more than just a termination of something—it refers to a consummation, ultimate goal, or ful-fillment of some-thing that has been in the works. I.e…. For we have be-come partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end, while it is said, “Today, if you will hear His voice, do not hard- en your hearts as in the rebellion.”

46. Itisn’t merelyareferencetoone’sdeath, buthowthateverythinginhishistory, including what he was experiencing at this time, had a purpose, a purpose which found its fulfillment in AD 70; this is what Paul alluded to in6:11-12: Show … diligence to the full assurance of hope until the end …; imitate those who,through faithandpatience,inherit the promises, the promises made to Abraham(6:13-20, cf.10:35-38).

47. Peter, also writing to suffering Jewish Christians, encouraged them in much the same way, telling them to hold fast because soon they would receive the end of their faith—the salvation of their souls(1 Pet. 1:9)—the fulfillment of the promise to Abraham through the New Covenant (Gal. 3:15-29&4:21-31). So, again, what wasthe endin mind here?

48. It was the sameendas spoken of by Jesus inMatthew 24:3,13, &34when HetoldHisdisciples that theoldheaven and earth, the Old Covenant, would be destroyed. Why? Because that would bring an end to that which could not fulfill the promise to Abraham of a sal-vation/rest, that which Paul went on to discuss in Hebrews chapter 4. So… 

49. They needed to hold on to the beginning of their confidence— that faith with which they started their Christian lives; since the term for confi- denceisfoundin11: 1, and since the idea there fits here, let’s read it: Faith is the substanceof things hoped for, the evi-dence of things not seen. So…    For we have be-come partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end, while it is said, “Today, if you will hear His voice, do not hard- en your hearts as in the rebellion.”

50. They were urged by Paul to make the determination to hold fast while they had the opportunity. For we have be-come partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end, while it is said, “Today, if you will hear His voice, do not hard- en your hearts as in the rebellion.”