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The Bible Study New Testament

Hebrews 4:12

The word of God. The Israelites were turned away when they refused to hear and believe. The message of the Good News calls us to go into God's Rest. This word is alive and active, because of its influence on us (compare 1 Peter 1:22-23). It is sharper. It cuts in all directions. Phocylides said: "Reason is a weapon that penetrates deeper into a man than a sword." To where soul and spirit meet. We ordinarily say soul when we mean spirit. PSUCHE means: soul, self, inner life, one's inmost being: (physical) life; that which has life, living creature, person, human being. The writer of this Letter sees man as a triune being, as does Paul in 1 Thessalonians 5:23. These three parts are: a body of flesh and blood; a sentient soul ["In whose hand is the soul of everything living, and the spirit of all human flesh." Job 12:10 from Zamenhof's version of the Masoretic Hebrew]; a rational spirit. The meaning of this whole verse is: "The word of God coming to men in the message of the Good News, offering the highest kind of good, tests their real desires, motivations, and goals. This is an infallible test of whether a person truly loves and searches for the good; or repudiates it as his eternal inheritance."

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See also Hebrews 4:12 in other biblical comments:

  • Adam Clarke Bible Commentary

    Verse Hebrews 4:12. _FOR THE WORD OF GOD_ is _quick, and powerful_] Commentators are greatly divided concerning the meaning of the phrase 'ολογοςτοςθεου, _the word of God_; some supposing the whole o...

  • Albert Barnes' Bible Commentary

    FOR THE WORD OF GOD - The design of this and the following verse is obvious. It is to show that we cannot escape the notice of God; that all insincerity, unbelief, hypocrisy, will be detected by him;...

  • Annotated Bible by A.C. Gaebelein

    CHAPTER 4 _ 1. What the rest of God is (Hebrews 4:1)_ 2. The power of the Word of God (Hebrews 4:12) Hebrews 4:1 “Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left of entering into His rest, any on...

  • Arthur Peake's Commentary on the Bible

    HEBREWS 4:1 continues the exposition of Psalms 95. The writer has already dealt with the warning contained therein; now he shows that this very warning implies a promise. In declaring that His rest is...

  • Barclay Daily Study Bible (NT)

    Let us then be eager to enter into that rest, lest we follow the example of the Israelites and fall into the same kind of disobedience. For the word of God is instinct with life; it is effective; it i...

  • Barclay Daily Study Bible (NT)

    THE REST WE DARE NOT MISS (Hebrews 4:1-10)...

  • Bullinger's Companion Bible Notes

    QUICK. living. Greek. _zao._ Compare App-170. POWERFUL. Greek. _energes._ See 1 Corinthians 16:9, and compare App-172. SHARPER. Greek. _tomoteros._ Only here. THAN. above. Greek. _huper._ App-104....

  • Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

    _For the word of God is quick_ "Quick" is an old English expression for "living;" hence St Stephen speaks of Scripture as "the living oracles" (Acts 7:38). The "word of God" is not here the personal L...

  • Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges Commentary

    CONTINUED EXHORTATION TO EMBRACE THE YET OPEN OFFER OF GOD’S REST...

  • Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges Commentary

    CH. 4. CONTINUED EXHORTATION TO EMBRACE THE YET OPEN OFFER OF GOD’S REST (1–13). EXHORTATION FOUNDED ON THE HIGH PRIESTHOOD OF CHRIST (14–16)...

  • Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges Commentary

    ΨΥΧΗ͂Σ ΚΑΊ. The τε before the καὶ in the rec. (DEK) is not found in אABCHL and was probably suggested by the following ἁρμῶν τε καί. 12. ΖΩ͂Ν ΓᾺΡ Ὁ ΛΌΓΟΣ ΤΟΥ͂ ΘΕΟΥ͂. The writer feels the force of the...

  • Charles Box Commentaries

    _GREAT MOTIVATION FOR SERVING GOD -- HEBREWS 4:9-13:_ We must take heed to live our lives by the word of God, or doctrine of Jesus Christ. The gospel will quickly find you out if you are guilty of dis...

  • Charles Rose Commentaries

    ΖΏΝ _praes. act. part. (adj.) от_ ΖΆΩ (G2198) быть живым, жить; без артикля подчеркивает особенность. Это слово эмфатическое по своему положению, ΈΝΕΡΓΉΣ (G1756) энергичный, активный, продуктивный. Э...

  • Charles Simeon's Horae Homileticae

    DISCOURSE: 2284 THE WORD OF GOD QUICK AND POWERFUL Hebrews 4:12. _The word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spiri...

  • Coke's Commentary on the Holy Bible

    FOR THE WORD OF GOD IS QUICK, &C.— "The word of God, which promised to the faithful an entrance into God's rest in David's time, and now to us, is not a thing which died, or was forgotten, as soon as...

  • College Press Bible Study Textbook Series

    Exhortation and warnings. Hebrews 4:11-13. _TEXT_ Hebrews 4:11-13 Hebrews 4:11 Let us therefore give diligence to enter into that rest, that no man fall after the same example of disobedience....

  • Combined Bible Commentary

    CHRIST SUPERIOR TO JOSHUA. (Hebrews 4:11-16) The verses which are to be before us complete the present section of our Epistle, a section which begins at Hebrews 3:1 and which has two main divisions:...

  • Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

    For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thou...

  • Concordant Commentary on the New Testament by A. E. Knoch

    7 The Hebrew of Psa_95:7-11 reads ''as at Meribah" and "the day of Massah", and the passage refers to the twentieth of Numbers. The quotation substitutes their meanings. Meribah is "contention," or "b...

  • Darby's translation notes (1890)

    4:12 division (g-20) The passage has, I judge, the sense of dividing between each pair of objects and not of dividing each of the things by itself....

  • Dummelow's Commentary on the Bible

    THE SUPREMACY OF CHRIST. The OT. itself testifies to His supremacy as God's Son over its own chief personages: (a) first the angels, through whom the Jews believed that creation had been effected and...

  • Dummelow's Commentary on the Bible

    JESUS CHRIST, GIVER OR THE PROMISED REST, AND HIGH PRIEST TO BEING MEN TO GOD 1-13. Israel through unbelief failed to enter into the promised rest. The rest, therefore, remains open and a promise of...

  • EasyEnglish Bible Commentaries

    HOW CAN I GET TO HEAVEN? HEBREWS _IAN MACKERVOY_ CHAPTER 4 WARNING TO OBEY 3:7-4:2 4V1 The same promise of entering the place of God's rest is still there for us. We should be afraid that some...

  • Ellicott's Commentary On The Whole Bible

    As in Hebrews 3:12 the warning against the “evil heart of unbelief” is solemnly enforced by the mention of the “Living God,” so here, in pointing to the peril of disobedience, it is to the living powe...

  • Expositor's Bible Commentary (Nicoll)

    CHAPTER III. FUNDAMENTAL ONENESS OF THE DISPENSATIONS. Hebrews 3:1 - Hebrews 4:13 (R.V.). "Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of a heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High-priest of our conf...

  • Expositor's Greek Testament (Nicoll)

    to Hebrews 4:13. Chapter s 3 and 4 as far as Hebrews 3:13, form one paragraph. The purpose of the writer in this passage, as in the whole Epistle, is to encourage his readers in their allegiance to Ch...

  • Frederick Brotherton Meyer's Commentary

    ENTERED BY FAITH AND PRAYER Hebrews 4:11 There is no escape for disobedience and unbelief, because we have to do with the omniscience of God. The conception of Hebrews 4:12 is of a victim appointed f...

  • G. Campbell Morgan's Exposition on the Whole Bible

    The picture of the whole generation who perished in the wilderness is brought to mind, and the question is, What did they lack, and why did they perish? They did not lack the message of "good tidings....

  • Gary Hampton Commentaries

    GOD SEES US AS WE ARE Some might think they can deceive God by pretending to be diligent. However, His powerful insight into the depths of man's soul is clearly seen in a full understanding of the nat...

  • Geneva Study Bible Commentary

    (4) For the (e) word of God [is] (f) quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of (g) soul and (h) spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and [is]...

  • George Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary

    For the word of God is living, &c. Some understand by the word of God, the eternal word, or Son of God: (to whom may apply all in the 12th and 13th verses) but others rather expound it of the words, p...

  • Hawker's Poor man's commentary

    (12) For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the...

  • Introductory Lectures - Commentary by William Kelly

    The epistle to the Hebrews differs in some important respects from all those which have been before us; so much so that many have questioned whether it be the writing of the apostle Paul, of Apollos,...

  • John Calvin's Bible Commentary

    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...

  • John Darby's Synopsis

    The apostle goes on to apply this part of Israel's history to those whom he was addressing, laying stress on two points:1st, That Israel had failed of entering into rest, through unbelief; 2nd, That t...

  • John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

    FOR THE WORD OF GOD IS QUICK AND POWERFUL,.... This is to be understood of Christ, the essential Word of God; for the Word of God was a known name of the Messiah among the Jews; John 1:1 and therefore...

  • John Owen’s Exposition of the Epistle to the Hebrews(7 vols)

    These next verses contain as new enforcement of the precedent exhortation, taken from the consideration of the means of the event threatened in case of unbelief. Two things are apt to arise in the min...

  • John Trapp Complete Commentary

    For the word of God _is_ quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and _is_ a discerner of the t...

  • Jonathan Edwards' Notes On The Scriptures

    HEB. 4:12. FOR THE WORD OF GOD (IS) QUICK, AND POWERFUL, AND SHARPER THAN ANY TWO-EDGED SWORD, PIERCING EVEN TO THE DIVIDING ASUNDER OF SOUL AND SPIRIT, AND OF THE JOINTS AND MARROW, AND (IS) A DISCER...

  • Joseph Benson’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

    _For the word of God_ As if he had said, Take heed of unbelief, _for the word of God_ will try and condemn you if you be guilty of it. It is greatly debated among commentators whether this is to be un...

  • Justin Edwards' Family Bible New Testament (1851)

    THE WORD OF GOD; all his declarations, whether of law or grace, whether of promise or threatening. God, who is its author, imparts to it his own divine energy. It lays open every heart, and detects al...

  • Kretzmann's Popular Commentary of the Bible

    FOR THE WORD OF GOD IS QUICK, AND POWERFUL, AND SHARPER THAN ANY TWO-EDGED SWORD, PIERCING EVEN TO THE DIVIDING ASUNDER OF SOUL AND SPIRIT, AND OF THE JOINTS AND MARROW, AND IS A DISCERNER OF THE THOU...

  • Kretzmann's Popular Commentary of the Bible

    BOLDNESS IN FAITH IN OUR HIGH PRIEST. The power of God's Word in the face of unbelief:...

  • Leslie M. Grant's Commentary on the Bible

    "Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into His rest, any of you should seem to come short of it." This admonition is a continuation of Ch. 3. The promise has been left us,...

  • Matthew Henry Commentary on the Whole Bible

    11-16 Observe the end proposed: rest spiritual and eternal; the rest of grace here, and glory hereafter; in Christ on earth, with Christ in heaven. After due and diligent labour, sweet and satisfying...

  • Matthew Poole's Concise Commentary On The Bible

    OLBGrk; FOR THE WORD OF GOD: the efficacy of the word of God is a further enforcement of their studious labour to enter into God's rest, for that calleth us thereunto; even the law and doctrine of the...

  • NT Verse References in the Ante-Nicene Fathers

    Clement of Alexandria Stromata Book VII But we say that the fire sanctifies[54] Origen de Principiis Book I ,[30] Origen Commentary on John Book I that His mouth had been set by His Father as a sh...

  • Patchworkid's Personal Study Bible Notes

    Hebrews 4:12 For G1063 word G3056 God G2316 living G2198 (G5723) and G2532 powerful G1756 and G2532 sharper...

  • Philip Schaff's Popular Commentary on the NT (4 vols)

    Hebrews 4:12-13 give a fresh reason for this warning. FOR THE WORD OF GOD IS QUICK (_i.e_ living) AND POWERFUL. But what is ‘the word of God'? The common Patristic interpretation refers it to the Wor...

  • Robertson's Word Pictures of the New Testament

    THE WORD OF GOD (ο λογος του θεου). That just quoted about the promise of rest and God's rest, but true of any real word of God.LIVING (ζων). Cf. the Living God (Hebrews 3:12). In Philo and the Bo...

  • Sermon Bible Commentary

    Hebrews 4:12 I. The Word of God judges the Christian below. We are familiar with the Word of God. Like Israel, we possess the treasure in our country, in our families. Do we know that in possessing, r...

  • Sermon Bible Commentary

    Hebrews 4:12 Life a Dialogue. There is a Word of God to us; there is also a word of ours to God. The Divine word and the human. The word which speaks, and the word which answers and makes reply. I....

  • Spurgeon's Bible Commentary

    Hebrews 4:1. _Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into his rest any of you should seem to come short of it._ Not only dread coming short, but dread the very appearance of...

  • Summarized Bible Commentary

    CONTENTS: The better rest for the believer. The perfect work of redemption. CHARACTERS: God, Christ, David. CONCLUSION: The privileges by Christ under the Gospel are far greater than those enjoyed un...

  • Sutcliffe's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

    Hebrews 4:1. _Let us therefore fear, lest a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it._ This caution is repeated from the preseding chapter, but the r...

  • The Biblical Illustrator

    _The Word of God is quick and powerful_ THE WORD A SWORD It may be most accurate to interpret this passage as relating both to the Word of God incarnate, and the Word of God inspired. Christ and Hi...

  • The ESV Global Study Bible's Study Notes

    HEBREWS—NOTE ON HEBREWS 4:12 The warning continues: faithless disobedience will not go unnoticed. WORD OF GOD. Usually this phrase in Hebrews 1:1 refers to the message

  • The ESV Global Study Bible's Study Notes

    HEBREWS—NOTE ON HEBREWS 4:1 Continuing to use Psalms 95:1, the author focuses on the word “rest.” The section makes most sense if the rest is understood as having begun but still awaiting completion.

  • The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary

    _CRITICAL AND EXEGETICAL NOTES_ Hebrews 4:12. WORD OF GOD.—Either (1) the personal Word, the Λόγος; or (2) the revealed word, to which the writer has been appealing; or (3) the spoken word of God, w...

  • The Pulpit Commentaries

    EXPOSITION A REST STILL OFFERED TO CHRISTIANS. HEBREWS 4:1 LET US FEAR, THEREFORE, LEST, A PROMISE BEING STILL LEFT OF ENTERING INTO HIS REST, ANY ONE OF YOU SHOULD SEEM TO HAVE COME SHORT. This ve...

  • Through The Bible C2000 Serie by Chuck Smith

    Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it (Hebrews 4:1). As you look at your own heart tonight, is it at rest? Have you...

  • Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

    1 Corinthians 1:24; 1 Corinthians 14:24; 1 Corinthians 14:25; 1 Peter 1:23;...

  • Vincent's Word Studies in the New Testament (4 Volume Set)

    The exhortation is enforced by reference to the character of the revelation which sets forth the rest of God. The message of God which promises the rest and urges to seek it, is no dead, formal precep...

  • Wells of Living Water Commentary

    LET US Hebrews 4:1 INTRODUCTORY WORDS Every book in the Bible is correlated with every other book. The Bible is a perfect whole. No book can be taken away without its unity and continuity being bro...

  • Wesley's Explanatory Notes

    For the word of God — Preached, Hebrews 4:2, and armed with threatenings, Hebrews 4:3. Is living and powerful — Attended with the power of the living God, and conveying either life or death to the hea...

  • William Burkitt's Expository Notes

    As if the apostle had said, "Take heed especially of unbelief: for the word of God, or doctrine of the gospel will quickly find you out, if you be guilty of it." There is. piercing power in the word o...

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Old Testament