It is kinda of interesting to me how when Hebrews was divided into chapters, major themes carry over from the previous chapter.
We are told to move on from basic teaching - i.e. Sunday School answers - and go on to advanced things. Advanced teachings mean that we have to read the Word, meditate on it, wrestle with it, try to understand what God wants us to - not just reading it - but relating to it and telling others about it.
The writer goes on to say that there are those who we have shared with who have rejected the Word. I like what the Message says - "if then they turn their backs on it, washing their hands of the whole thing, well, they can't start over as if nothing happened." It is one thing to question God's Word - to try and understand it better, to compare it to other religions (even false ones) to see how they stack up to God's Word (they don't) - but there are consequences for outright rejection.
Vs12 (and following) - "We do not want you to become lazy, but to imitate those who through faith and patience inherit what has been promised."
We must demonstrate patience by wanting God's timing - not ours. Easier said than done. But the writer continues on to tell us to grab hold of the hope promised to us and never let go. Because Jesus has gone before us and - here's the tie in back to chp4 - has taken His permanent post as our High Priest to the Father. (a lot of this I got from the Message)
We are given a lot of encouragement here - we have someone who speaks for us - the only one capable of doing so. How cool is that...
Peace,
james
1 comment:
In reading this text, one can become very scared. This is the case because it seems as though one can lose their salvation if not careful. But upon further studying the text, one begins to conclude a different understanding, while remaining scared. In the greek context, the first word we see in v. 6 is "if..." in reference to the phrase "if they fall away." Looking at the ESV (as Brandon dubs the Holiest of all translations) this translation uses the phrase "and then have fallen away." This is important to notice, because there is a significant difference between "if" and "then". One states chance. The other states certainty. On the one hand, one text says "on the chance that they fall away." The other says, "when they fall away, because they never had a chance to begin with." When studying the text in it's original Greek, one can find that the phrase showing certainty is more appropriate for this phrase than the phrase showing chance. "If" and "then" both share the same greek word, but one has to look at the surrounding greek text to determine which is more appropriate. The other reason the translation of certainty makes sense is this: Hebrews talks about "God making perfect for all time being made Holy" (Heb. 10:14). When God does something, he doesn't fail. He will go as far as preventing people from sinning. (See story of King and Abraham. Abraham introduced his wife as his sister, and when the King tried to take in Abraham's "sister", God came in and said "Don't touch her...") All in all, I believe this text speaks this on salvation: losing your salvation is impossible. Rather, those who made took the step and didn't follow through on it were never saved from the beginning. Salvation is fool proof to where if you accept Christ and take the right steps, YOU WILL SUCCEED! If not, you missed a step somewhere, and weren't doing it right from the get go. Confessing Christ is you saying, "I want to play Monopoly." But at the end of the day, there must come a point where you roll and play! By the grace of God, you are allowed to put your piece on the gaming board. But you still have to roll...
Post a Comment