Hebrews 4:13

Hebrews 4:13. The power of this word comes really from Him whose it is. More accurately, the Word of God is God Himself speaking. The writer, therefore, naturally turns from the instrument to the author.

Neither is there any creature any created thing visible or invisible (Colossians 1:16; even, perhaps, thought, the creature of the mind: Michaelis).

that is not manifest in his, i.e God's, sight (a Hebraism common in St. Luke, in St. Paul, and in Alexandrian writers).

But all things are naked and l aid bare to the eyes of him with whom we have to do. These phrases, though their general meaning is clear, have been variously explained. ‘Laid bare' may refer to the victims which were hung up by the neck, opened, and the backbone cleft from the neck downwards, so that the priest might see any blemish which made the victim unfit for sacrifice (so the ancient Greek Fathers explained it); but there are no known instances of this meaning of the word: others say the reference is to the athlete caught by the neck and thrown prostrate on his back for all to see his defeat. The first of these interpretations is on the whole the more probable, the words being addressed to Jews who were more familiar with sacrifices than with the games. Anyhow, the general meaning is clear, that before God we are all manifest, stripped of every covering and concealment, our very thoughts, our ‘secret faults,' revealed to the eyes of him with whom we have to do, i.e with whom our business is (a sense that may be seen in Judges 8:7; Judges 8:28). The Greek Fathers give the words a narrower meaning.

to whom our account is to be given; but the English Version is at once idiomatic and accurate. All this description applies, of course, to our relation to Christ, and many commentators regard the words as applied to Him in this passage; but unless we accept the explanation that the Word of God is the personal Logos Christ Himself (not a natural interpretation) it is more grammatical and more accurate to regard the verse as applicable primarily to God who is Judge of all, though at the last He gives all judgment to the Son.