Hebrews 4:11

Hebrews 4:11. Let us therefore begins the practical exhortation based on Hebrews 4:6, of which it is the completion.

Labour, give diligence (as in 2 Peter 1:10), seek earnestly, strive to enter into that rest, lest any man fall and form part of the same example of disobedience or unbelief; lest through unbelief like theirs we like them come short of the promise. The earnest striving, the eager seeking of which the writer speaks, is well described by St. Paul in Philippians 3:7-14, and in 2 Peter 1:5-12. In one sense faith is ceasing to work and beginning to trust; in another sense it is the most difficult of all works, requiring the energy of the whole nature, and the help of the blessed God besides. It is at once a gift and a duty, the easiest and the hardest ‘way of life.'

Lest they fall into and so become another example of unbelief a pregnant construction. Whether fall has its lighter meaning, as Luther and Delitzsch hold, or is used absolutely, fall away and perish (as Calvin, Bengel, and Bleek hold), we need not discuss here. The word is probably suggested by the doom of the Israelites who fell in the wilderness and perished (Hebrews 3:17); and it is used in the same deep sense in Romans 11:11. The fact that the Hebrews are cautioned lest they should fall through a disbelief that proved ruinous to those who yielded to it before, shows that the word has probably its deeper meaning; it is the opposite state of entering into rest. Of course it is true also that in proportion as they fall, whether in degree or duration, they miss peace and swell the number of those who are warnings to all who witness them. But here the warning seems permanent, and the fall, therefore, complete.