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

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

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 get to verses 1-6 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)

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)

Our last six studies have concerned The Superiorityof Christ’sPersoninrelation to the prophets&angels. Now Hebrews Chapter 3 initiates the study of Christ’s SuperioritytotheOldTestamentPriest-hood by beginning with Moses (who, incidentally, was a priest, Psa. 99:6). He-brews 3 could be outlined as follows:

Christ is greater than Moses in office (3:1-2). Christ is greater than Moses in ministry (3:3-6). And… Christ is greater than Moses in reward (3:7-19). See… If Paul could prove that Jesus was/is superior to Moses, then how could they turn back to Judaism when what Christ offered was so much greater than what Moses offered?

Hebrews 3:1  Therefore holy brethren, partak-ers of the heaven-ly calling, consid-er the Apostle and High Priest of our confession, Christ Jesus…

Here holydescribessomeone set apart by, for, and to God—a saint, someone who has been sanc-tified (cf. 2:11). An interesting point here is that NT peo-plebecomebrethren voluntarily through their decision to be-come holy, while OT people were born as brethren. (Wegetinto this more at 8:10-11.) Therefore holy brethren, partak-ers of the heaven-ly calling, consid-er the Apostle and High Priest of our confession, Christ Jesus…

Thisword(asdiscuss-ed in 2:14) is the par-ticular Greek term referring to people who voluntarily take something upon themselves; i.e., they weren’t saved against their will—they chose to accept God’s call. (This same term is used in Luke 5:7 in reference to partners in a fishing venture; cf. Heb. 3:14.) Therefore holy brethren, partak-ers of the heaven-ly calling, consid-er the Apostle and High Priest of our confession, Christ Jesus… Eph. 5:30 reads, We are members of His body, of His flesh, and of His bones.

This phrase has re-ference to the idea foundin2The. 2:13-14 where Paul said that God … for sal-vation … called you by the Gospel. And God, via the Gospel, called them to what? To a heavenly coun-try (11:16) or the heavenly Jerusalem (12:22), rendering them citizens of Heaven (Php. 3:20). Therefore holy brethren, partak-ersof the heaven-ly calling, consid-er the Apostle and High Priest of our confession, Christ Jesus…

This word means to fix one’s eyes upon (cf. NIV). As we dis-cussed back in 2:1, they were gradually removing their eyes from Jesusandturn-ing them back to Moses.Later,in12:2, Paul told them to look to Jesus, the Author & Finisher of their faith, corres-ponding to 2:10. Therefore holy brethren, partak-ersof the heaven-ly calling, consid-er the Apostle and High Priest of our confession, Christ Jesus…

So… This refers to some-one who has been sent on a commis-sion; so just as Mos-es was sent by God to lead the people to the promised land of Canaan (Exo. 3:10 where,in the Greek OT, the term for “apostle” was used),Jesus was sent by God (1 John 4:14) to lead people to the promisedland ofsalvation(cf.2:10). Therefore holy brethren, partak-ersof the heaven-ly calling, consid-er the Apostle and High Priest of our confession, Christ Jesus…

As Paul indirectly contrasted the first Adam with the se-cond Adam in chap-ter 2, here in chap-ter 3 he contrasted the first apostle—Moses—with the se-cond apostle—Jesus. Therefore holy brethren, partak-ersof the heaven-ly calling, consid-er the Apostle and High Priest of our confession, Christ Jesus…

This is said of Jesus, meaning that He was the One they named in their confession when they were saved; in Rom.10: 9-10 Paul wrote, If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus … you will be saved. For … with the mouth confes-sion is made unto salvation. Therefore holy brethren, partak-ersof the heaven-ly calling, consid-er the Apostle and High Priest of our confession, Christ Jesus…

This word means to agree with another, which is what we do in our confessionforsalvation; i.e., God called Jesus His Son at His baptism and transfiguration, and we agree with God’s claim when we say, I believe that Jesus is the Son of God.1 John 4:15 reads: Therefore holy brethren, partak-ersof the heaven-ly calling, consid-er the Apostle and High Priest of our confession, Christ Jesus… Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him andheinGod.

A passage that cor-responds very well tothis verse is1Tim. 6:12wherePaultold Timothy to lay hold on eternal life to whichyouwerecalled and have con-fessedthegoodcon-fession in the pre-sence of many wit-nesses. Therefore holy brethren, partak-ersof the heaven-ly calling, consid-er the Apostle and High Priest of our confession, Christ Jesus…

Paul made it a point to refer to their pre-vious confession of Jesus as the Christ—the Messiah, so now they were being urged to stick to it! Therefore holy brethren, partak-ersof the heaven-ly calling, consid-er the Apostle and High Priest of our confession, Christ Jesus…

Hebrews 3:2  …who was faith-ful to Him who appointed Him, as Moses also was faithful in all His house.

The original term for was here should be translated is—Jesus is faithful. (I don’t know why it’s trans-lated was as if Christ’s work were finished at the time of this writing when it clearly wasn’t.) …who was faith-ful to Him who appointed Him, as Moses also was faithful in all His house.

The original term for appointed here lit-erally means to make; i.e., just as God made Moses the apostle to the Jews and Aaron the High Priest for the Jews (1Sam.12:6), so God made Jesus both our Apostle and High Priest. …who was faith-ful to Him who appointed Him, as Moses also was faithful in all His house.

Moses was referred to here, not only be-cause he was the most revered charac- ter of the OT, but also because he was the representative of the OT just as Jesus is the repre-sentative of the NT. …who was faith-ful to Him who appointed Him, as Moses also was faithful in all His house.

This pronoun refers toGod,not to Moses;i.e., Moses was faithful in fulfilling his apostolic duties in God’s OT house (or church, Acts 7:38) which was the house or family of Israel. We can be sure of this since verse 2b isbasedonNum.12: 7 where God said of Moses, he is faithful in allMyhouse. …who was faith-ful to Him who appointed Him, as Moses also was faithful in all His house.

Because this verse and verse 5 refer to God’s OT house that Moses was a part of, and because verse 6 refers to the NT house that Jesus reigns over, then verse 2a here must refer to the faithful-ness of Jesus who was set in position over God’s NT house. So…    …who was faith-ful to Him who appointed Him, as Moses also was faithful in all Hishouse.

They needed to fix their eyes upon Jesus, who (because He never sinned) was even more faithful than their beloved Moses. Why? To encourage them to remain faithful, of course! …who was faith-ful to Him who appointed Him, as Moses also was faithful in all His house.

Hebrews 3:3  For this One has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses, inasmuch as he who built the house has more honor than the house.

This is Jesus; i.e., Paul was saying, consider Jesus (v. 1) … because He has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses. For this One has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses, inasmuch as he who built the house has more honor than the house.

Astheverseitselfin-dicates, these words (thoughdifferentGreek terms)aresynonyms; the only difference here seems to be that honor is pos-sessed because praise is received. For this One has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses, inasmuch as he who built the house has more honor than the house.

Thiswordcouldsim-ply be replaced by the word just. More literally, then, verse 3b could read, just as thebuilderhasmore honor than the house be builds. The NLT reads, just as a person who builds a fine house deserves more praise than the house itself. For this One has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses, inasmuch as he who built the house has more honor than the house.

Hebrews 3:4  For every house is built by someone, but He who built all things is God.

After wrestlingquite a while with verses 3-4, I’ve concluded that verses 3b-4 are merely a parenthe-tical analogy that came into Paul’s mind by his refer-ence to a house in verse 2. I mention this because…   For every house is built by someone, but He who built all things is God.

I don’t believe Paul was trying to teach anything doctrinal, such as the notion that Jesus built the OT house of Israel; rather, I believe he wasmerelyillustrat-ing how (not why, but how) Jesus was worthy of more honor than Moses. Besides…   For every house is built by someone, but He who built all things is God.

Verses 5-6 are what actually follow verse 3a in the flow of thought which is that Jesus is a sonover God’s house, while Moses was a mere servantin God’s house.Furthermore…   For every house is built by someone, but He who built all things is God.

Although he always came right back to it, Paul often digressed from his main point, which is what I be-lieve verse 4 here is: it’s a short & slight digression of his flow of thought which brought glory for everything (old and new) ultimately to God. So it might read like this: For every house is built by someone, but He who built all things is God. Consider Jesus who is worthy of more respect than Moses (just as the builderismoreworthyof honor than his building; after all, every house is built by someone, even though in the end all things are of God).

Hebrews 3:5  And Moses indeed was faithful in all Hishouseasaser-vant, for a testi-mony of those things that would be spoken of afterward…

In verse 2 he point-ed his readers to Num. 12:7 where God said that Moses was faithful in His house; so now in verse5Paul wenton to bring Num. 12:8 to mind, because there God went on to describe the posi-tion Moses held in God’s house—he was a servant. And Moses indeed was faithful in all Hishouseasaser-vant, for a testi-mony of those things that would be spoken of afterward…

The original term for servant here is not the usual one for slave; rather, this one carries with it the idea that Moses was what he was and did what he did voluntarily and con-scientiously. And Moses indeed was faithful in all Hishouseasaser-vant, for a testi-mony of those things that would be spoken of afterward…

Since this word will come up various times in Hebrews, let’s be sure we un-derstand the history of the word & what it meant to Paul’s readers—the Jews. To do that we must go back 4,000 years to Abraham, the first man ever to be circumcised. (To cir-cumcise means to cut around). So…   And Moses indeed was faithful in all Hishouseasaser-vant, for a testi-mony of those things that would be spoken of afterward…

Why did God con-trive this idea of cir-cumcision anyway? Because (to be brief for time’s sake) He made a promise to or a covenant with Abraham that via hisseedtheMessiah would eventually arise (Gen. 15); so the cutting off of some unnecessary skin on his reproductive organ was logical (Gen. 17). And Moses indeed was faithful in all Hishouseasaser-vant, for a testi-mony of those things that would be spoken of afterward… (By the way, the word generation is from the word genital.)

So because that or-gan carried the sign of a promise of God Himself, to the anci-ents there seemed to be nothing better upon which to make an oath. So…   And Moses indeed was faithful in all Hishouseasaser-vant, for a testi-mony of those things that would be spoken of afterward…

This is why we have the incident in Gen. 24:2-3 which, ironi-cally, concerned Abraham’s lineage: Abe said to his ser-vant, put your hand under my thigh, and I’ll make you swear by the Lord … that you will not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites. Now… And Moses indeed was faithful in all Hishouseasaser-vant, for a testi-mony of those things that would be spoken of afterward…

Some of you may be wondering how this connects to the wordtestimony. Well the answer is actually quite logical: words like testify & testi-mony are rooted in the word testes, the term for the male reproductive glands that produce seed. In fact, one can find a law against male genital mutilation in Deu. 25:11-12. And Moses indeed was faithful in all Hishouseasaser-vant, for a testi-mony of those things that would be spoken of afterward…

Moving on… The whole point here is that testimony or to testify was con- sidered to be a very serious matter to God since it was con- nected to an oath made on a sign of God’s covenant; the equivalent today, of course, is found when the right hand is placed on the Bible in our courts. And Moses indeed was faithful in all Hishouseasaser-vant, for a testi-mony of those things that would be spoken of afterward…

Although much of Hebrews deals with it, verse 5b is the first time the typo-logy found within the Law of Moses is directly alluded to. And Moses indeed was faithful in all Hishouseasaser-vant, for a testi-mony of those things that would be spoken of afterward…

Speaking again of the tabernacle… Hebrews 8:5 speaks of the OT priests who served the copy and shadow of the heavenly things, as Moses was divinely instructed when he was about to make the tabernacle. For God said, “See that you make all things according to the pattern shown to you,” and he did … conscientiously. And Moses indeed was faithful in all Hishouseasaser-vant, for a testi-mony of those things that would be spoken of afterward…

This is reminiscent of something Jesus once said: Hebrews 9:9 says that it was symbolic for the present time. And 10:1 says that the Law was a shad-ow of good things to come. And even Col. 2:17 speaks of the Law as a shadow of good things to come, but the substance (that which casts a shadow) is of Christ. And Moses indeed was faithful in all Hishouseasaser-vant, for a testi-mony of those things that would be spoken of afterward…

In John 5:46 Jesus said, If you believed Moses, you would believe Me, for he wrote about Me. In Deu. 18:15 Moses said, The Lord your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me. So…   And Moses indeed was faithful in all Hishouseasaser-vant, for a testi-mony of those things that would be spoken of afterward…

Jesus shined the light (2 Tim. 1:10), while Moses worked in its shadow (Heb. 8:5); we could even say that Jesus was the light (John 9:5), while Moses was His shadow. Well…  And Moses indeed was faithful in all Hishouseasaser-vant, for a testi-mony of those things that would be spoken of afterward…

Anyway… Here’s Paul’s query: If Moses created things that typified Jesus & His church, and if Moses pro-phesied of Jesus & His new way, and if Moses himself was a type of the very Jesus who you con-fessed as the Christ, why are you even considering the no-tion of going back to Judaism? And Moses indeed was faithful in all Hishouseasaser-vant, for a testi-mony of those things that would be spoken of afterward…

The main point here is that, although Moses was faithful to God, he was just a servant. And Moses indeed was faithful in all Hishouseasaser-vant, for a testi-mony of those things that would be spoken of afterward…

Hebrews 3:6  …but Christ as a Son over His own house, whose houseweareifwe hold fast the con-fidence and the rejoicing of the hope to the end.

While Moses was a servant in God’s house, Jesus is a Son over it. …but Christ as a Son over His own house, whose houseweareifwe hold fast the con-fidence and the rejoicing of the hope to the end.

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