Hebrews 12:16

Lest there be any fornicator, or profane person, as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright. FORNICATOR (Hebrews 13:4; 1 Corinthians 10:8). OR PROFANE. Fornication is nearly akin to gluttony, Esau's sin. He profanely cast away his spiritual privilege for the gratification of his palate. Genesis 25:34 graphically portrays his reckless, self-indulgent levity. An example well fitted to strike horror into those Hebrews, whosoever, like Esau, were only sons of Isaac according to the flesh (Bengel). FOR ONE MORSEL. The smallness of the inducement aggravates the guilt of casting away eternity for a trif...

16._Lest there be any fornicator or profane person, etc. _As he had before exhorted them to holiness, so now, that he might reclaim them from defilements opposed to it, he mentions a particular kind of defilement, and says, “Lest there be any fornicator.” But he immediately comes to what is general, and adds, “or a profane person;” for it is the term that is strictly contrary to holiness. The Lord calls us for this end, that he may make us holy unto obedience: this is done when we renounce the world; but any one who so delights in his own filth that he continually rolls in it, profanes himself. We may at the same time regard the profane as meaning generally all those who do not value God’s grace so much as to seek it and despise the world. But as men become profane in various ways, the more earnest we ought to strive lest an opening be left for Satan to defile us with his corruptions. An...

12-17 A burden of affliction is apt to make the Christian's hands hang down, and his knees grow feeble, to dispirit him and discourage him; but against this he must strive, that he may better run his spiritual race and course. Faith and patience enable believers to follow peace and holiness, as a man follows his calling constantly, diligently, and with pleasure. Peace with men, of all sects and parties, will be favourable to our pursuit of holiness. But peace and holiness go together; there can be not right peace without holiness. Where persons fail of having the true grace of God, corruption will prevail and break forth; beware lest any unmortified lust in the heart, which seems to be dead, should spring up, to trouble and disturb the whole body. Falling away from Christ is the fruit of preferring the delights of the flesh, to the blessing of God, and the heavenly inheritance, as Esau...

Verse 16. _LEST THERE_ be _any fornicator_] Any licentious person who would turn the Gospel of the grace of God into lasciviousness. _OR PROFANE PERSON, AS ESAU_] It is not intimated that Esau was a _fornicator_; and the disjunctive η, _or_, separates the _profane_ _person_ from the _fornicator_. And Esau is here termed _profane_, because he so far disregarded the spiritual advantages connected with his rights of primogeniture, that he alienated the whole for a single mess of pottage. _See the note on "_Genesis 25:34_"_. The word βεβηλος, which we translate _profane_, is compounded of βε, which in composition has a _negative_ signification, and βηλος, _the_ _threshold of a temple_ or _sacred edifice_; and was applied to those who were not _initiated_ into the sacred mysteries, o

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 which as a son he could have. Many have regarded the word used here as referring to idolatry, or defection from the true religion to a false one - as the word is often used in the Old Testament - but it is more natural to understand it literally. The crime here mentioned was one which abounded everywhere in ancient times, as it does now, and it was important to guard the church against it; see the Acts 15:20 note; 1 Corinthians 6:18 note....

EXPOSITION The exhortation, begun at Hebrews 10:19, but interrupted at Hebrews 11:1. I by the chapter on faith, is now taken up again with increased force from the array of examples that have been adduced to support it. Observable in the Greek is the fine roll of the majestic and well-ordered phrases with which this chapter begins, as if the writer had felt the dignity of his subject, and the commanding power with which he can now approach it. Even the initiatory word τοιγαροῦν,_ _rather than the usual ὅθεν,_ _or οὖν, or διό,_ adds _to the effect. HEBREWS 12:1 WHEREFORE LET US TOO ("we also," in the A.V.,_ is _wrongly placed

LEST THERE BE ANY FORNICATOR OR PROFANE PERSON,.... The first of these is guilty of a sin against the second table of the law, as well as against his own body; and which is opposed to the holiness the apostle had before exhorted to; such who are guilty of it, are not to be continued in the communion of the church; and it is a sin, which, lived in not repented of, excludes from the kingdom of heaven: the latter is one who is a transgressor of the first table of the law; who is an idolater, a swearer, a despiser of public worship and ordinances, and who behaves irreverently in divine service, and mocks at the future state, as Esau; to whom both these characters seem to belong: and this agrees with what the Jews say concerning him: they have a tradition w, that he committed five transgressions on the day he came out of the field weary. "He committed idolatry: he shed innocent blood; and la...

May the Spirit of God graciously instruct us while we read this chapter! You know that, in the eleventh chapter, the apostle has pictured the ancient worshipers and their victories. Imagine that you see them mounting in their chariots of fire up to their seats in heaven; behold them going from the mouths of lions, from the deserts, and mountains, and dens and caves of the earth, up to their glorious thrones on high where they recline in ease and honour. The apostle then introduces us to a race-course, in which he represents all these conquerors as sitting upon seats all round the course, watching those who are about to run; and thus he begins:-Verse Hebrews 12:1. Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race tha

CHAPTER 12 _ 1. Looking away unto Jesus (Hebrews 12:1)_ 2. The Contradiction of sinners (Hebrews 12:3) 3. Chastened as sons (Hebrews 12:5) 4. Exhortations (Hebrews 12:12) 5. The end of faith (Hebrews 12:18) 6. The final warning (Hebrews 12:25) Hebrews 12:1 “Therefore seeing we also are compassed about with so grea

As the community is to bear up bravely under persecution, so it is to watch carefully over the purity of its own life. There must be no strife or dissension; above all, there must be moral consecration, for without this it is impossible to hold fellowship with Christ (Hebrews 12:14)_._ The church must therefore keep anxious guard over its members, and make sure that each one of them lives up to his Christian profession. Even a single unworthy member may be like a poisonous weed, tainting the whole atmosphere round about (Hebrews 12:15). The Church must be specially watchful against men who indulge in sensual sins, or who live solely for worldly and material interests, careless, like Esau, of that higher destiny to which God has called them. Esau's later repentance did not avail him, and when he would fain