A Study Of The Apostle Pauls Letter To The Hebrews

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AStudyOf TheApostlePauls LetterTo The
Hebrews
How can we neglect so greata salvation?
Hebrews 23
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Hebrews Christ Is Superior! Superior Person
(11413) Superior to Prophets
(11-3) Superior to Angels (14218) Superior
to Moses (31-19) Superior to Joshua
(41-13) Superior Priest (414728) Superior to
Aaron (414612) but Well only study 64-12
today. Superior to Melchizedek
(613710) Superior to Levi (711-28)
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Hebrews Christ Is Superior! Superior Pact to
Moses (811018) Superior Promises
(81-13) Superior Sanctuary (91-15) Superior
Sacrifice (916-28) Superior Results
(101-18) Superior Principle (Faith) to Moses
(10191325) Superior Things (1019-39) Superio
r Actions (111-40) Superior Relationship
(121-29) Superior Way of Life (131-25)
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In our study of 51163 we found Paul striving
to wean a 30-year old congre-gation from the milk
of the Old Testa-ment world of prophecies, types,
and shadows of the coming Christ and push them
forward deeper into the New Testament world of
their fulfillment in Jesus who would (and did)
fulfill all things in the AD 70 destruction of
Je-rusalem, Judaism, and its Temple (cf. Luke
2122).
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He ended that section saying, And this we will do
if God permits, indicating that he just hoped it
wasnt too late for themthat they werent
already too far gone to get them turned around
before the perfection or the end occurred,
be-cause theyd be destroyed (lost) right along
with the rest of the Jews if they didnt get back
on their previous course. After the statement of
63, Paul contin-ued with his warning by
discussing the despair of apostasy. Lets begin
with the root statement in ? ? ?
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For its impossible if they shall fall away, to
renew them again to repentance, since they
crucify for themselves the Son of God and put Him
to an open shame.
Hebrews 64a 6 ? ? ?
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For its impossible if they shall fall away, to
renew them again to repentance, since they
crucify for themselves the Son of God and put Him
to an open shame.
The original term for this phrase means to
deviate or turn aside from.
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For its impossible if they shall fall away, to
renew them again to repentance, since they
crucify for themselves the Son of God and put Him
to an open shame.
This word is related to one Paul used in Gal. 54
when he told those Christians (who were having a
similar problem), You have become es-tranged from
Christ, you who attempt to be justified by law
you have fallen from grace.
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For its impossible if they shall fall away, to
renew them again to repentance, since they
crucify for themselves the Son of God and put Him
to an open shame.
In Hebrews Paul wasnt talking about falling into
a moral sin not repenting of it (although that
could perhaps be in-cluded) he was re-ferring to
apostasy.
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For its impossible if they shall fall away, to
renew them again to repentance, since they
crucify for themselves the Son of God and put Him
to an open shame.
To apostatize means to abandon ones faith, which
is what Paul spoke of in 312 Beware, brethren,
lest there be in any of you an evil heart of
unbelief in de-parting from God.
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For its impossible if they shall fall away, to
renew them again to repentance, since they
crucify for themselves the Son of God and put Him
to an open shame.
The term for this word is interesting There are
two Greek words for new neos refers to
something new in time, and kainos refers to
something new in conditionto some-thing that has
been restored.
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For its impossible if they shall fall away, to
renew them again to repentance, since they
crucify for themselves the Son of God and put Him
to an open shame.
The original word here is from kainos with a
prefix added for repetition. I.e., it refers to
something which had already been reconditioned
once so to renew it was to recondition it again.
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For its impossible if they shall fall away, to
renew them again to repentance, since they
crucify for themselves the Son of God and put Him
to an open shame.
Due to the way this word is used here (as a state
or place), it brings to mind the reality that
repent-ance is a gift of God, a gift in the sense
that He chose to al-low repentance on the part of
man in order to acquire sal-vation. E.g. ? ?
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For its impossible if they shall fall away, to
renew them again to repentance, since they
crucify for themselves the Son of God and put Him
to an open shame.
In Acts 1118 we read about how God has granted
to the Gentiles repentance to life and in 2 Tim.
225 Paul spoke of being patient with quarrelers
in case God grants them re-pentance, fitting
perfectly with 63if God permits.
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For its impossible if they shall fall away, to
renew them again to repentance, since they
crucify for themselves the Son of God and put Him
to an open shame.
God is the only One who perfectly knows the heart
of a man concerning whether its possible to
change him or not, so were just to do our duty,
and let Him take care of the rest. (But lets not
for-get there are excep-tions to this rule, e.g.,
Mat. 76 1815-17.)
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For its impossible if they shall fall away, to
renew them again to repentance, since they
crucify for themselves the Son of God and put Him
to an open shame.
According to the Greek scholars, the original
word here cannot be toned down to mean
diffi-cult i.e., it really does mean
impos-sible! But why? ?
17
For its impossible if they shall fall away, to
renew them again to repentance, since they
crucify for themselves the Son of God and put Him
to an open shame.
Since God rejects those who reject Him His
teachings (as well see in 68-9) He cannot and
will not save anyone against his/her will!
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For its impossible if they shall fall away, to
renew them again to repentance, since they
crucify for themselves the Son of God and put Him
to an open shame.
Yes, a person on his own can choose to
reassociate himself with what he had previously
rejected, but he will not be forced this is why
Paul said we (v. 3) and why its impos-sible to
renew him, implying that it can not be
accomplished by someone else.
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For its impossible if they shall fall away, to
renew them again to repentance, since they
crucify for themselves the Son of God and put Him
to an open shame.
The question arises, Why did Paul speak of the
impossibility of a return? Havent we heard of
people who fell away from the church came back?
Sure. So what is the deal here?
Well ? ?
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For its impossible if they shall fall away, to
renew them again to repentance, since they
crucify for themselves the Son of God and put Him
to an open shame.
Paul said this sort of people would be
im-possible to restore because
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For its impossible if they shall fall away, to
renew them again to repentance, since they
crucify for themselves the Son of God and put Him
to an open shame.
This phrase likely means to their de-triment
see, to return to Judaism would be to renege on
Jesus being the Messiah, meaning that He was
worthy of death. Besides that ? ?
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For its impossible if they shall fall away, to
renew them again to repentance, since they
crucify for themselves the Son of God and put Him
to an open shame.
The putting Him to an open shame idea seems to
contrast the for themselves idea i.e., theyd
not only crucify Jesus to their own loss, but (by
forsaking what they once professed) theyd also
bring blasphemy shame on Him in the eyes of
others. So ?
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For its impossible if they shall fall away, to
renew them again to repentance, since they
crucify for themselves the Son of God and put Him
to an open shame.
Instead of glorying in the cross, theyd be
encouraging people to see only the shame in it,
for to be crucified as a criminal was an
ex-tremely shameful way to die (Gal. 313
511). Now Lets return to verse 4 to consider
Pauls description of this sort of people ?
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Hebrews 64b-5 ? ? ?
those who were once enlightened, and have tasted
the heavenly gift, and have become partakers of
the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good Word of
God and the powers of the age to come
25
Before defining these, let me say that I believe
these 5 subjects are not only in a staircase
series, but the last 4 also simultaneously
describe the first one. So lets consid-er the
first one, not just in the series, but also in
contextu-al significance.
those who were once enlightened, and have tasted
the heavenly gift, and have become partakers of
the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good Word of
God and the powers of the age to come
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The term for en-lightened could re-fer to two
things, either separately or simultaneously It
could refer to un-derstanding in gen-eral,
bringing in the generic idea of this word being
describ-ed by the following four subjects. Or
those who were once enlightened, and have tasted
the heavenly gift, and have become partakers of
the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good Word of
God and the powers of the age to come
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It could refer to baptism, because this Greek
word was used in the first few centuries to
indicate the result of one who came to
under-stand, bringing in the more specific
staircase idea with the first stepbap-tism.
Or ? ? ?
those who were once enlightened, and have tasted
the heavenly gift, and have become partakers of
the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good Word of
God and the powers of the age to come
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It could refer to both of these ideas
con-currently this is what I believe be-cause
the word once means once-for-all, bringing up
some-thing done only once like baptism, while
the last four use the word having, con-necting
them to the word enlightened.
those who were once enlightened, and have tasted
the heavenly gift, and have become partakers of
the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good Word of
God and the powers of the age to come
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Concerning under-standing, were re-minded of
numerous passages, and here are a couple ? ?
those who were once enlightened, and have tasted
the heavenly gift, and have become partakers of
the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good Word of
God and the powers of the age to come
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Of Jesus, Zacharias said, To give light to those
who sit in darkness (Luke 179). And Paul wrote
of the light of know-ledge in the face of
Christ (2 Cor. 46).
those who were once enlightened, and have tasted
the heavenly gift, and have become partakers of
the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good Word of
God and the powers of the age to come
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those who were once enlightened, and have tasted
the heavenly gift, and have become partakers of
the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good Word of
God and the powers of the age to come
Concerning baptism, notice a parallel passage
later in Hebrews ? ? ?
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After speaking of receiving the know-ledge of the
truth in 1026, Paul then said in verse 32,
Recall that after you were illuminated, you en-
dured a great strug-gle. When did they begin
having strug- gles? After their con-version, of
course.
those who were once enlightened, and have tasted
the heavenly gift, and have become partakers of
the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good Word of
God and the powers of the age to come
33
This phrase means that they had ex-perienced
Christ and His salvation in their lives. Were
re-minded of numerous passages here as well, but
only have time for a few ?
those who were once enlightened, and have tasted
the heavenly gift, and have become partakers of
the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good Word of
God and the powers of the age to come
34
In John 410 Jesus said of Himself, If only you
knew the gift of God. Then later in 651 He said,
I am the living bread which came down from
Heaven. If any-one eats of this bread, he will
live forever. And ? ?
those who were once enlightened, and have tasted
the heavenly gift, and have become partakers of
the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good Word of
God and the powers of the age to come
35
Speaking of Jesus, Peter wrote, You have tasted
that the Lord is gracious(1 Pet. 23).
those who were once enlightened, and have tasted
the heavenly gift, and have become partakers of
the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good Word of
God and the powers of the age to come
36
This phrase pro-bably refers to the idea found in
1 Cor. 619 Do you not know that your body is
the temple of the Holy Spirit?, remini-scent of
Eph. 113-14 which applied solely to Christians
of that initial gener-ation
those who were once enlightened, and have tasted
the heavenly gift, and have become partakers of
the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good Word of
God and the powers of the age to come
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In Christ you also trusted, after you heard the
word of truth, the Gospel of your salvation in
whom also, having believed, you were sealed with
the Holy Spirit of promise, who is the guar-antee
of our inheritance until the redemption of the
purchased posses-sion. How perfectly this passage
parallels the one were studying today!
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This phrase is inter-esting because its
suggestive of the various times just such a
phrase was used in the OT, re-ferring to positive
things. E.g. ? ?
those who were once enlightened, and have tasted
the heavenly gift, and have become partakers of
the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good Word of
God and the powers of the age to come
39
In Jsh. 2145 the promise of bringing the
children of Isra-el into the land of Canaan was
called a good word from God and in Jer. 2910
the bringing of Gods people out of capti-vity
was also called a good word. So its no wonder
that ?
those who were once enlightened, and have tasted
the heavenly gift, and have become partakers of
the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good Word of
God and the powers of the age to come
40
When the writer of Psa. 451 wrote of the coming
Messiah, he spoke of medi-tating on a good word,
which fits per-fectly here with peo-ple who were
ex-periencing the good Word of Godthe fulfilling
of the plea-sant promises of the Messianic age.
Lastly ? ?
those who were once enlightened, and have tasted
the heavenly gift, and have become partakers of
the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good Word of
God and the powers of the age to come
41
Lets consider this phrase Just as when we speak
of the powers that be, the Gk. term for
powers here was used in reference to other things
besides sup-ernatural interven-tion in the
material universe (Mat. 2429, Tts 31, 1 Pet.
322). So ?
those who were once enlightened, and have tasted
the heavenly gift, and have become partakers of
the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good Word of
God and the powers of the age to come
42
Especially in the context of Hebrews in general
(e.g. 1135 1222-28), and since he was
referring to the following agethe new covenant
ageabout to (mello) come, it seems obvious that
Paul was referring to those things which that
dawning new age would re-sult in reformation
(Heb. 99-10), re-freshing restoration (Acts
319-21), re-demption (Eph. 113-14),
resurrection (Luke 2035 Php. 38-12 in which
Paul even used the term power). Further ?
43
Since revelation would be complete and Christs
enemies would be crushed, Paul may have also been
including the fu-ture of the Gospels increase
(cf. Isa. 97 Rev. 2122, esp. 2217). Remember
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The church was in its infancy during the
transition period, so if it had tasted the
greatness of the dawning new age then (they were
in the process of receiving it after all, Heb.
1228), how great itd be when it finally arrived
with all of its glory(cf. 1 Cor. 138-12)! Now
on to Pauls illustration ? ? ?
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Hebrews 67-8 ?
For the earth that drinks in the rain that often
comes upon it and bears herbs useful for those by
whom its cultivated receives blessing from God
but if it bears briars thorns its reject- ed
near to being cursed, whose end is to be burned.
46
The term for earth means land, with primary
reference to a piece of land.
For the earth that drinks in the rain that often
comes upon it and bears herbs useful for those by
whom its cultivated receives blessing from God
but if it bears briars thorns its reject- ed
near to being cursed, whose end is to be burned.
47
The term for herbs is the word from which we get
botany, the study of plants.
For the earth that drinks in the rain that often
comes upon it and bears herbs useful for those by
whom its cultivated receives blessing from God
but if it bears briars thorns its reject- ed
near to being cursed, whose end is to be burned.
48
The term for culti-vated is the word from which
we get the name George, a name that refers to a
worker of land, a farmer, one who nutures a piece
of ground for edible produce.
For the earth that drinks in the rain that often
comes upon it and bears herbs useful for those by
whom its cultivated receives blessing from God
but if it bears briars thorns its reject- ed
near to being cursed, whose end is to be burned.
49
The term for reject-ed is the same word found in
1 Cor. 927 where, in the KJV, Paul spoke of
being a castaway.
For the earth that drinks in the rain that often
comes upon it and bears herbs useful for those by
whom its cultivated receives blessing from God
but if it bears briars thorns its reject- ed
near to being cursed, whose end is to be burned.
50
The burning here is the curse, the result of
being rejected. The question is, Why did he say
near to being cursed, when the normal thing to
say would have been its re-jected and will be
burned?
For the earth that drinks in the rain that often
comes upon it and bears herbs useful for those by
whom its cultivated receives blessing from God
but if it bears briars thorns its reject- ed
near to being cursed, whose end is to be burned.
51
I believe Paul used this time statement because
he had something in mind more general than just
an individual who re-jects Christ here i.e., the
end he had in mind was the end of Judaism that
liter- ally was near its cursing so, as mention-
ed before, whoever among the Jews rejected Jesus,
even at this late date, shouldnt think theyd
escape Gods judgment or curse. Lets read a
couple of verses here. Firstly, Heb. 23 How
shall we escape it we neglect so great a
salvation? Secondly, turn to and read Heb.
1026-29.
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The blessing from God phrase corres-ponds to God
being the Farmer (George). So in other words
For the earth that drinks in the rain that often
comes upon it and bears herbs useful for those by
whom its cultivated receives blessing from God
but if it bears briars thorns its reject- ed
near to being cursed, whose end is to be burned.
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When the farmer sees that a piece of ground
yields useful crops, he cares for it with more
water and so on but if it doesnt yield useful
crops, he wastes no more time, energy, or
re-sources on it, moving on to other ground. This
should remind us of both generic and specific
ideas. I.e. ? ?
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The general would apply to how that God had tried
and tried with the Jews and had reached the end
of His pati-ence with this in mind, Jesus once
said to the Jews, The kingdom will be taken
from you and given to a na-tion bearing the
fruits of it (Mat. 2143).
Now ? ? ?
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The specific would apply to how that Jewish
Christians had plenty of time to bear fruit or be
cursed Jesus said, Im the True Vine, and My
Father is the Vine-dresser. Every branch in Me
that doesnt bear fruit He takes away (curses)
and every branch that bears fruit He prunes
(blesses) that it may bear more fruit. If anyone
doesnt abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch
is withered and they gather them throw them
into the fire, and they are burned (John 15 1-2
6). So again ?
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This could be an either/or situation, but I
believe the more contextual way to interpret this
is as a both/and situa-tion, especially if we
keep in mind the audience and the times.
Now Just as a word of encouragement fol-lowed
the solemn warning in the paral-lel passage
(1026-39), so the same is true here.
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But, beloved, we are confident of better things
con-cerning you, yes, things that accom-pany
salvation, though we speak in this manner.
Hebrews 69 ?
58
By saying this, Paul made it clear that he wasnt
saying that he believed they were presently in
the state of being rejected rather he was trying
to head them off,as it were, to point them back
in the right direction (cf. 3 12 41).
But, beloved, we are confident of better things
con-cerning you, yes, things that accom-pany
salvation, though we speak in this manner.
59
This phrase describes the better things i.e.,
not only does this indicate that Paul believed
them to still be in a saved condition, but it
also and primarilyin-dicates that theyd bear a
lot of fruit, much like what he mentioned in the
next verse.
But, beloved, we are confident of better things
con-cerning you, yes, things that accom-pany
salvation, though we speak in this manner.
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For God is not un-just to forget your work and
labor of love which you have shown to-ward His
name in that you have ministered to the saints
and do minister.
Hebrews 610 ?
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For God is not un-just to forget your work and
labor of love which you have shown to-ward His
name in that you have ministered to the saints
and do minister.
Theres no word for labor in the original so it
should read more like the RSV For God is not
unjust as to overlook your work and the love
which you showed for His sake in serv-ing the
saints.
62
This verse demonstrates that just as Christ is
persecuted when His people are persecuted (cf.
Acts 94), so God is served when His people are
served (cf. Mat. 2540) and a personal example
of this is found in 1034 where Paul spoke of
their ministering to his needs. By the way, if
this is indeed the church in Jerusalem, Paul
might even have had all the benevolent deeds of
Acts 244-45, 432-37, and 61-6 in mind.
63
And we desire that each one of you show the same
dili- gence to the full assurance of hope until
the end, that you do not become sluggish, but
imi-tate those who through faith and patience
inherit the promises.
Hebrews 611-12 ? ? ?
64
The term for desire here is a very strong word,
meaning that this is what Paul really wanted for
them!
And we desire that each one of you show the same
dili- gence to the full assurance of hope until
the end, that you do not become sluggish, but
imi-tate those who through faith and patience
inherit the promises.
65
This phrase refers back to verse 10 i.e., Paul
was en-couraging them to work just as hard at
securing their hope to the end as they had worked
in serv-ing their brethren.
And we desire that each one of you show the same
dili- gence to the full assurance of hope until
the end, that you do not become sluggish, but
imi-tate those who through faith and patience
inherit the promises.
66
The end is equal to the time when they would
inherit the promises, which well get to
momentarily.
And we desire that each one of you show the same
dili- gence to the full assurance of hope until
the end, that you do not become sluggish, but
imi-tate those who through faith and patience
inherit the promises.
67
Sluggish is an anto-nym for diligence to the
Romans Paul once wrote (in para-phrase), Dont be
slothful in diligence, but be zealous in spirit,
serving the Lord (Rom. 1211).
And we desire that each one of you show the same
dili- gence to the full assurance of hope until
the end, that you do not become sluggish, but
imi-tate those who through faith and patience
inherit the promises.
68
The term for imitate is the word from which we
get our word mimic.
And we desire that each one of you show the same
dili- gence to the full assurance of hope until
the end, that you do not become sluggish, but
imi-tate those who through faith and patience
inherit the promises.
69
Patience would probably be better translated here
as long-suffering or en-durance (cf. 1032).
And we desire that each one of you show the same
dili- gence to the full assurance of hope until
the end, that you do not become sluggish, but
imi-tate those who through faith and patience
inherit the promises.
70
This phrase more literally reads, those who are
inheriting the promises (cf. 1228) i.e., they,
un-like those of 1113 39, had the privi-lege
of living when the promises were being fulfilled.
And we desire that each one of you show the same
dili- gence to the full assurance of hope until
the end, that you do not become sluggish, but
imi-tate those who through faith and patience
inherit the promises.
71
In 1036 Paul simi-larly said, You have need of
endurance so that after you have done the will of
God, you may receive the promise.
And we desire that each one of you show the same
dili- gence to the full assurance of hope until
the end, that you do not become sluggish, but
imi-tate those who through faith and patience
inherit the promises.