Analysis Of The Chapter The apostle having illustrated the nature and power of faith in the previous chapter Hebrews 11, proceeds in this chapter Hebrews 12, to exhort those to whom he wrote to apply the same principles to their own case, and to urge them to manifest the same steady confidence in G... [ Continue Reading ]
WHEREFORE - In view of what has been said in the previous chapter. SEEING WE ALSO ARE ENCOMPASSED ABOUT WITH SO GREAT A CLOUD OF WITNESSES - The apostle represents those to whom he had referred in the previous chapter, as looking on to witness the efforts which Christians make, and the manner in whi... [ Continue Reading ]
LOOKING UNTO JESUS - As a further inducement to do this, the apostle exhorts us to look to the Saviour. We are to look to his holy life; to his patience and perseverance in trials; to what he endured in order to obtain the crown, and to his final success and triumph. THE AUTHOR AND FINISHER OF OUR F... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR CONSIDER HIM - Attentively reflect on his example that you may be able to bear your trials in a proper manner. THAT ENDURED SUCH CONTRADICTION OF SINNERS - Such opposition. The reference is to the Jews of the time of the Saviour, who opposed his plans, perverted his sayings, and ridiculed his c... [ Continue Reading ]
YE HAVE NOT YET RESISTED UNTO BLOOD, STRIVING AGAINST SIN - The general sense of this passage is, “you have not yet been called in your Christian struggles to the highest kind of sufferings and sacrifices. Great as your trials may seem to have been, yet your faith has not yet been put to the severes... [ Continue Reading ]
AND YE HAVE FORGOTTEN THE EXHORTATION - This exhortation is found in Proverbs 3:11. The object of the apostle in introducing it here is, to show that afflictions were designed on the part of God to produce some happy effects in the lives of his people, and that they ought, therefore, to bear them pa... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR WHOM THE LORD LOVETH HE CHASTENETH - This is also a quotation from Proverbs 3. It means that it is a universal rule that God sends trials on those whom he truly loves. It does not, of course, mean that he sends chastisement which is not deserved; or that he sends it “for the mere purpose” of inf... [ Continue Reading ]
IF YE ENDURE CHASTENING - That is, if you undergo, or are called to experience correction. It does not mean here, “if you endure it patiently; or if you bear up under it;” but “if you are chastised or corrected by God.” The affirmation does not relate to the manner of bearing it, but to the fact tha... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT IF YE BE WITHOUT CHASTISEMENT - If you never meet with anything that is adapted to correct your faults; to subdue your temper; to chide your wanderings, it would prove that you were in the condition of illegitimate children - cast off and disregarded by their father. WHEREOF ALL ARE PARTAKERS -... [ Continue Reading ]
FURTHERMORE - As an additional consideration to induce us to receive chastisement with submission. The argument in this verse is derived from the difference in the spirit and design with which we are corrected by God and by an earthly parent. In God everything is without any intermingling of passion... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR THEY VERILY FOR A FEW DAYS - That is, with reference to a few days (πρὸς pros}; or it was a chastisement that had reference mainly to this short life. The apostle seems to bring in this circumstance to contrast the dealings of earthly parents with those of God. One of the circumstances is, that... [ Continue Reading ]
NOW NO CHASTENING FOR THE PRESENT SEEMETH TO BE JOYOUS, BUT GRIEVOUS - It does not impart pleasure, nor is this its design. All chastisement is intended to produce pain, and the Christian is as sensitive to pain as others. His religion does not blunt his sensibilities and make him a stoic, but it ra... [ Continue Reading ]
WHEREFORE - In view of the facts which have been now stated - that afflictions are sent from God, and are evidences of his paternal watchfulness. LIFT UP THE HANDS WHICH HANG DOWN - As if from weariness and exhaustion. Renew your courage; make a new effort to bear them. The hands fall by the side w... [ Continue Reading ]
AND MAKE STRAIGHT PATHS FOR YOUR FEET - Margin, “even.” The word used here means properly straight, in the sense of upright, erect; Acts 14:10; but it is used here in the sense of straight horizontally, that is, level, plain, smooth. The meaning is, that they were to remove all obstacles out of the... [ Continue Reading ]
FOLLOW PEACE WITH ALL MEN - Do not give indulgence to those passions which lead to litigations, strifes, wars; see the notes on Romans 14:19. The connection here requires us to understand this mainly of persecutors. The apostle is referring to the trials which those whom he addressed were experienci... [ Continue Reading ]
LOOKING DILIGENTLY - This phrase implies close attention. It is implied that there are reasons why we should take special care. Those reasons are found in the propensities of our hearts to evil; in the temptations of the world; in the allurements to apostasy presented by the great adversary of our s... [ Continue Reading ]
LEST THERE BE ANY FORNICATOR - The sin here referred to is one of those which would spread corruption in the church, and against which they ought to be especially on their guard. Allusion is made to Esau as an example, who, himself a corrupt and profane man, for a trifle threw away the highest honor... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR YE KNOW HOW THAT AFTERWARD ... - When he came to his father, and earnestly besought him to reverse the sentence which he had pronounced; see Genesis 27:34. The “blessing” here referred to was not that of the birth-right, which he knew he could not regain, but that pronounced by the father Isaac... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR YE ARE NOT COME - To enforce the considerations already urged, the apostle introduces this sublime comparison between the old and new dispensations; Hebrews 12:18. The object, in accordance with the principal scope of the Epistle, is, to guard them against apostasy. To do this, he shows that und... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THE VOICE OF A TRUMPET - Exodus 19:19. The sound of the trumpet amidst the tempest was suited to increase the terror of the scene. AND THE VOICE OF WORDS - Spoken by God; Exodus 19:19. It is easy to conceive what must have been the awe produced by a voice uttered from the midst of the tempest s... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR THEY COULD NOT ENDURE THAT WHICH WAS COMMANDED - They could not sustain the awe produced by the fact that God uttered his commands himself. The meaning is not that the commands themselves were intolerable, but that the manner in which they were communicated inspired a terror which they could not... [ Continue Reading ]
AND SO TERRIBLE WAS THE SIGHT, THAT MOSES SAID ... - This is not recorded in the account of the giving of the Law in Exodus, and it has been made a question on what authority the apostle made this declaration respecting Moses. In Deuteronomy 9:19, Moses indeed says, of himself, after he had come dow... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT YE ARE COME UNTO MOUNT SION - You who are Christians; all who are under the new dispensation. The design is to “contrast” the Christian dispensation with the Jewish. and to show that its excellencies and advantages were far superior to the religion of their fathers. It had more to win the affect... [ Continue Reading ]
TO THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY - see the notes on Hebrews 12:22. AND CHURCH OF THE FIRST-BORN - That is, you are united with the church of the first-born. They who were first-born among the Hebrews enjoyed special privileges, and especially pre-eminence of rank; see the notes on Colossians 1:15. The refere... [ Continue Reading ]
AND TO JESUS THE MEDIATOR OF THE NEW COVENANT - This was the crowning excellence of the new dispensation in contradistinction from the old. They had been made acquainted with the true Messiah; they were united to him by faith; they had been sprinkled with his blood; see the notes on Hebrews 7:22, an... [ Continue Reading ]
SEE THAT YE REFUSE NOT - That you do not reject or disregard. HIM THAT SPEAKETH - That is, in the gospel. Do not turn away from him who has addressed you in the new dispensation, and called you to obey and serve him. The meaning is, that God had addressed “them” in the gospel as really as he had do... [ Continue Reading ]
WHOSE VOICE THEN SHOOK THE EARTH - When he spake at Mount Sinai. The meaning is, that the mountain and the region around quaked; Exodus 19:18. The “voice” here referred to is that of God speaking from the holy mount. BUT NOW HATH HE PROMISED, SAYING - The words here quoted are taken from Haggai 2:6... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THIS WORD, YET ONCE MORE - That is, this reference to a great agitation or commotion in some future time. This is designed as an explanation of the prophecy in Haggai, and the idea is, that there would be such agitations that everything which was not fixed on a permanent and immovable basis woul... [ Continue Reading ]
WHEREFORE WE RECEIVING A KINGDOM WHICH CANNOT BE MOVED - We who are Christians. We pertain to a kingdom that is permanent and unchanging. The meaning is, that the kingdom of the Redeemer is never to pass away. It is not like the Jewish dispensation, to give place to another, nor is there any power t... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR OUR GOD IS A CONSUMING FIRE - This is a further reason why we should serve God with profound reverence and unwavering fidelity. The quotation is made from Deuteronomy 4:24. “For the Lord thy God is a consuming fire, even a jealous God.” The object of the apostle here seems to be, to show that th... [ Continue Reading ]