Hebrews 10:35

μὴ ἀποβάλητε οὖν τὴν παρρησίαν … “Cast not away, then, your confidence, for it has great recompense of reward”. The exhortation begun in Hebrews 10:19 is resumed, with now the added force springing from their remembrance of what they have already endured and from their consciousness of a great possession in heaven. A reason for holding fast their confidence is now found in the result of so doing. It has great reward. μισθαποδοσία used in Hebrews 2:2 of requital of sin, here and in Hebrews 11:26 of reward. Cf. Clem. ad Cor. 6, γέρας γενναῖον, and Wis 3:5. Therefore, μὴ ἀποβάλητε, do not throw it away as a worthless thing you have no further need of. Retain it, ὑπομονῆς γὰρ ἔχετε χρείαν, “for ye have need of endurance,” of maintaining your hopeful confidence to the end under all circumstances. Without endurance the promise which secures to them the enduring possession cannot be enjoyed, for before entering upon its enjoyment, the whole will of God concerning them must be done and borne. ἵνα τὸ θέλημα τ. θεοῦ ποιήσαντες κομίσησθε τὴς ἐπαγγελίαν, Davidson and Weiss agree in thinking that “the will of God is His will that they should hold fast their confidence”. Rather, that accepting all privation, as they once did (Hebrews 10:32) and recognising all they were called to endure as God's will concerning them, they should thus endure to the end (cf. Hebrews 3:6) and so receive the promised good (ἐπαγγελία = the thing promised as in Hebrews 6:12; Hebrews 6:15). κομίσησθε, the verb properly means to carry off or to recover what is one's own. See Matthew 25:27; 2 Corinthians 5:10; Hebrews 11:13; Hebrews 11:19; Hebrews 11:39. And their entrance on the reward of their endurance will not long be delayed ἔτι γὰρ μικρὸν ὅσον ὅσον.… “For yet a little a very little while and He that cometh will have come and will not delay.” [“Es ist noch ein Kleines, wie sehr, wie sehr Klein” (Weiss), “noch eine kleine Zeit, ganz Klein” (Weizsäcker). “Adhuc enim modicum aliquantulum” (Vulg.). “For yet a little ever so little while” (Hayman)]. The phrase μικρὸν ὅσον ὅσον is found in Isaiah 26:20, “Go, my people … hide thyself for a very little, till the indignation be overpast”. The double ὅσον is found in Aristoph. Wasps, 213, where however Rogers thinks the duplication due to the drowsiness of the speaker. Literally it means “a little, how very, how very”. The following words from ὁ ἐρχόμενος to ἐν αὐτῷ are from Hebrews 2:3-4, with some slight alterations, the article being inserted before ἐρχόμενος, οὐ μὴ χρονίσῃ instead of the less forcible words in Hebrews, and the two clauses of Hebrews 10:4 being transposed. In Habakkuk the conditions are similar. God's people are crushed under overwhelming odds. And the question with which Habakkuk opens his prophecy is ἕως τίνος κεκράξομαι και οὐ μὴ εἰσακούσεις; The Lord assures him that deliverance will come and will not delay. By inserting the article, the writer of Hebrews identifies the deliverer as the Messiah, “the coming One”. Cf. Matthew 11:3; Luke 7:19; John 6:14. ὁ δὲ δίκαιος.… “And the just shall live by faith,” i.e., shall survive these troublous times by believing that the Lord is at hand. Cf. James 5:7-9. καὶ ἐὰν ὑποστείληται, “and if he withdraw himself” or “shrink”. The verb, as Kypke shows, means to shrink in fear, and it is thus used in Galatians 2:12. It is the very opposite of παρρησία. Accordingly it is thoroughly displeasing to God, whose purpose it is to bring men to Himself in confident hope. But the idea that any of the “Hebrews” can be in so ignominious and dangerous a position is at once repudiated. ἡμεῖς δὲ.… “But as for us we are not of those who shrink (literally of shrinking) to perdition but of faith to the gaining of the soul”. That is, we are not characterised by a timid abandonment of our confession (Hebrews 10:23) and confidence. Cf. 1 Thessalonians 5:5. What such timidity leads to (εἰς ἀπώλειαν, cf. Acts 8:20; Romans 9:22) is hopeless perdition. Cf. M. Aurelius on the δραπέτης, Hebrews 10:25. ὁ φοβούμενος δραπέτης. But we are of faith whose end is περιποίησις ψυχῆς the acquisition of one's soul. Very similar is Luke 21:19, “By your endurance win your souls”. See also James 5:20, and 1 Thessalonians 5:9. Like our word “acquisition” περιποίησις sometimes means the acquiring as in 1 Thessalonians 5:9 and 2 Thessalonians 2:14; sometimes the thing acquired as in Ephesians 1:14. [In Isocrates, 2nd Ep., occurs the expression διὰ τὸ περιποιῆσαι τὴν αὐτοῦ ψυχήν (Wetstein)].