_THE REST OF CHRISTIANS IS ATTAINED BY FAITH. THE POWER OF GOD'S WORD. BY OUR HIGH-PRIEST JESUS, THE SON OF GOD, WHO ON EARTH WAS SUBJECT TO INFIRMITIES, BUT NOT TO SIN, WE MUST AND MAY GO BOLDLY TO THE THRONE OF GRACE._ _Anno Domini 63._ THE apostle in this chapter enforces his exhortation to the... [ Continue Reading ]
LET US THEREFORE FEAR, &C.— The promise of God's _rest,_ signifies such a rest as his is; namely, a state of peace and enjoyment, and freedom from labour. When a rest was promised to the children of Israel, it was a freedom from the uneasinesses and dangers of the wilderness; God's rest, when promis... [ Continue Reading ]
UNTO US WAS THE GOSPEL PREACHED, &C.— _For we are made partakers of the good tidings, as they also were: But the word which they heard, did not profit them,_ &c. The children of Israel had a promise of rest made to them; and so have we, as well as they. The word _gospel_ signifies properly, as we ha... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR WE WHO HAVE BELIEVED, &C.— This stands connected with the former part of the preceding verse: "Unto us was the good tidings of a rest preached, as well as unto them: _For all we who have believed,_—or, _all who do believe, do enter into rest."_ Faith is the way by which men must expect to enter... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR HE SPAKE IN A CERTAIN PLACE, &C.— The supplemental nominative case here is Γραφη, the _scripture,_ not _he:_ or it is to be understood impersonally, as in other citations in this epistle,—_It is said concerning the seventh day._ It was not customaryfor the Jews, when they quoted scripture, to me... [ Continue Reading ]
SEEING THEREFORE IT REMAINETH, &C.— The difficulty here is, how does it appear, from the passages cited, that any were to enter into God's rest? That the incredulous and disobedient children of Israel were not to enter into Canaan, the place of their rest, appears, because God had declared that that... [ Continue Reading ]
AGAIN, HE LIMITETH A CERTAIN DAY,— "The scripture mentions _God's rest_ again, with a strong exhortation to the people in David's days; and he gives a strong encouragement to them not to harden their hearts: and even so many years after Moses was dead, he uses the expression _to-day;_ which implies... [ Continue Reading ]
THERE REMAINETH THEREFORE A REST— The word hitherto used for _rest_ had been καταπαυσιν, _cessation from labour:_ here a new term is introduced σαββατισμος, such a rest as was proper to the seventh day, on which God rested. The apostle had said, Hebrews 4:6 that the rest of God was left unpossessed;... [ Continue Reading ]
HATH CEASED— _Hath rested._... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR THE WORD OF GOD IS QUICK, &C.— "The word of God, which promised to the faithful an entrance into God's rest in David's time, and now to us, is not a thing which died, or was forgotten, as soon as it was uttered; but it continues one and the same to all generations. It is Ζων, _quick,_ or _living... [ Continue Reading ]
NEITHER IS THERE ANY CREATURE, &C.— It has been greatly debated among commentators, whether this and the preceding verse are to be understood of _Christ,_ the divine _Logos,_ or of the gospel and scripture revelation. The interpretation given of the preceding verse, shews the idea that we have of it... [ Continue Reading ]
_HEBREWS 4:14_.— The apostle having finished the digression about the _rest_ of God, and havingshewn,whathealwayskeeps in view, the infinitely superior advantage of what is to be had by Christ, above what is to be had in or by the law; he returns to what he had been saying, ch. Hebrews 2:17 Hebrews... [ Continue Reading ]
WHICH CANNOT BE TOUCHED WITH THE FEELING, &C.— _With a fellow feeling,_ &c. See ch. Hebrews 10:34. The Greek of the next clause is literally, _but in all things tempted according to a likeness;_ that is, with _us._ Compare ch. Hebrews 2:17.—_Yet without sin;_—we have added the word _yet_ in our vers... [ Continue Reading ]
TO THE THRONE OF GRACE,— That throne on which God the Father, who hath shewn us so great favour through Jesus Christ, sits. "Let us come, not fearful or distrustful, nor under any concern or anxiety, but with freedom and boldness, to this throne of God the Father, through our great High-priest, who... [ Continue Reading ]