Hebrews 12:16

Hebrews 12:16. Lest there be any fornicator (taken literally, as is the uniform meaning in the New Testament except in Revelation), or profane person (rather, worldly person; one who has no sense of the value or glory of Divine things) as Esau, who for a single meal sold his own birthright (the double portion which was his share as the eldest son (Deuteronomy 21:17), together with the precious inheritance of the great promise that in his seed the nations of the earth were to be blessed). These three clauses are often regarded as describing one character; but it seems better to regard them as describing three. For want of faith men give up the Gospel; for want of faith roots of bitterness spring up in the Church and defile it; and faithless persons become so selfish and so low-minded, that the smallest worldly advantages tempt them successfully to abandon their principles: and yet the course of even the least favoured of them may end in despair