mh_parser/vol_split/58 - Hebrews/Chapter 3.xml

<div2 id="Heb.iv" n="iv" next="Heb.v" prev="Heb.iii" progress="75.94%" title="Chapter III">
<h2 id="Heb.iv-p0.1">H E B R E W S.</h2>
<h3 id="Heb.iv-p0.2">CHAP. III.</h3>
<p class="intro" id="Heb.iv-p1">In this chapter the apostle applies what he had
said in the chapter foregoing concerning the priesthood of Christ,
I. In a serious pathetic exhortation that this great high priest,
who was discovered to them, might be seriously considered by them,
<scripRef id="Heb.iv-p1.1" osisRef="Bible:Heb.3.1-Heb.3.6" parsed="|Heb|3|1|3|6" passage="Heb 3:1-6">ver. 1-6</scripRef>. II. He then adds
many weighty counsels and cautions, <scripRef id="Heb.iv-p1.2" osisRef="Bible:Heb.3.7-Heb.3.19" parsed="|Heb|3|7|3|19" passage="Heb 3:7-19">ver. 7, to the end</scripRef>.</p>
<scripCom id="Heb.iv-p1.3" osisRef="Bible:Heb.3" parsed="|Heb|3|0|0|0" passage="Heb 3" type="Commentary"/>
<scripCom id="Heb.iv-p1.4" osisRef="Bible:Heb.3.1-Heb.3.6" parsed="|Heb|3|1|3|6" passage="Heb 3:1-6" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Heb.3.1-Heb.3.6">
<h4 id="Heb.iv-p1.5">Attention Due to Christ. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Heb.iv-p1.6">a.
d.</span> 62.)</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Heb.iv-p2">1 Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the
heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our
profession, Christ Jesus;   2 Who was faithful to him that
appointed him, as also Moses <i>was faithful</i> in all his house.
  3 For this <i>man</i> was counted worthy of more glory than
Moses, inasmuch as he who hath builded the house hath more honour
than the house.   4 For every house is builded by some
<i>man;</i> but he that built all things <i>is</i> God.   5
And Moses verily <i>was</i> faithful in all his house, as a
servant, for a testimony of those things which were to be spoken
after;   6 But Christ as a son over his own house; whose house
are we, if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the
hope firm unto the end.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Heb.iv-p3">In these verses we have the application of
the doctrine laid down in the close of the last chapter concerning
the priesthood of our Lord Jesus Christ. And observe,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Heb.iv-p4">I. In how fervent and affectionate a manner
the apostle exhorts Christians to have this high priest much in
their thoughts, and to make him the object of their close and
serious consideration; and surely no one in earth or heaven
deserves our consideration more than he. That this exhortation
might be made the more effectual, observe,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Heb.iv-p5">1. The honourable compellation used towards
those to whom he wrote: <i>Holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly
calling.</i> (1.) Brethren, not only my brethren, but the brethren
of Christ, and in him brethren to all the saints. All the people of
God are brethren, and should love and live like brethren. (2.) Holy
brethren; holy not only in profession and title, but in principle
and practice, in heart and life. This has been turned by some into
scorn: "These," say they, "are the holy brethren;" but it is
dangerous jesting with such edge-tools; <i>be not mockers, lest
your bands be made strong.</i> Let those that are thus despised and
scorned labour to be holy brethren indeed, and approve themselves
so to God; and they need not be ashamed of the title nor dread the
scoffs of the profane. The day is coming when those that make this
a term of reproach would count it their greatest honour and
happiness to be taken into this sacred brotherhood. (3.)
<i>Partakers of the heavenly calling</i>—partakers of the means of
grace, and of the Spirit of grace, that came from heaven, and by
which Christians are effectually called out of darkness into
marvelous light, that calling which brings down heaven into the
souls of men, raises them up to a heavenly temper and conversation,
and prepares them to live for ever with God in heaven.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Heb.iv-p6">2. The titles he gives to Christ, whom he
would have them consider, (1.) As the apostle of our profession,
the prime-minister of the gospel church, a messenger and a
principal messenger sent of God to men, upon the most important
errand, the great revealer of that faith which we profess to hold
and of that hope which we profess to have. (2.) Not only the
apostle, but the high priest too, of our profession, the chief
officer of the Old Testament as well as the New, the head of the
church in every state, and under each dispensation, upon whose
satisfaction and intercession we profess to depend for pardon of
sin, and acceptance with God. (3.) As Christ, the Messiah, anointed
and every way qualified for the office both of apostle and high
priest. (4.) As Jesus, our Saviour, our healer, the great physician
of souls, typified by the brazen serpent that Moses lifted up in
the wilderness, that those who were stung by the fiery serpents
might look to him, and be saved.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Heb.iv-p7">II. We have the duty we owe to him who
bears all these high and honourable titles, and that is to consider
him as thus characterized. Consider what he is in himself, what he
is to us, and what he will be to us hereafter and for ever;
consider him, fix your thoughts upon him with the greatest
attention, and act towards him accordingly; look unto Jesus, the
author and finisher of your faith. Here observe, 1. Many that
profess faith in Christ have not a due consideration for him; he is
not so much thought of as he deserves to be, and desires to be, by
those that expect salvation from him. 2. Close and serious
consideration of Christ would be of great advantage to us to
increase our acquaintance with him, and to engage our love and our
obedience to him, and reliance on him. 3. Even those that are holy
brethren, and partakers of the heavenly calling, have need to stir
up one another to think more of Christ than they do, to have him
more in their minds; the best of his people think too seldom and
too slightly of him. 4. We must consider Christ as he is described
to us in the scriptures, and form our apprehensions of him thence,
not from any vain conceptions and fancies of our own.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Heb.iv-p8">III. We have several arguments drawn up to
enforce this duty of considering Christ the apostle and high priest
of our profession.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Heb.iv-p9">1. The first is taken from his fidelity,
<scripRef id="Heb.iv-p9.1" osisRef="Bible:Heb.3.2" parsed="|Heb|3|2|0|0" passage="Heb 3:2"><i>v.</i> 2</scripRef>. He was faithful
to him that appointed him, as Moses was in all his house. (1.)
Christ is an appointed Mediator; God the Father has sent and sealed
him to that office, and therefore his mediation is acceptable to
the Father. (2.) He is faithful to that appointment, punctually
observing all the rules and orders of his mediation, and fully
executing the trust reposed in him by his Father and by his people.
(3.) That he is as faithful to him that appointed him as Moses was
in all his house. Moses was faithful in the discharge of his office
to the Jewish church in the Old Testament, and so is Christ under
the New; this was a proper argument to urge upon the Jews, who had
so high an opinion of the faithfulness of Moses, and yet his
faithfulness was but typical of Christ's.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Heb.iv-p10">2. Another argument is taken from the
superior glory and excellence of Christ above Moses (<scripRef id="Heb.iv-p10.1" osisRef="Bible:Heb.3.3-Heb.3.6" parsed="|Heb|3|3|3|6" passage="Heb 3:3-6"><i>v.</i> 3-6</scripRef>); therefore they were
more obliged to consider Christ. (1.) Christ was a maker of the
house, Moses but a member in it. By the house we are to understand
the church of God, the people of God incorporated together under
Christ their maker and head, and under subordinate officers,
according to his law, observing his institutions. Christ is the
maker of this house of the church in all ages: Moses was a minister
in the house, he was instrumental under Christ in governing and
edifying the house, but Christ is the maker of all things; for he
is God, and no one less than God could build the church, either lay
the foundation or carry on the superstructure. No less power was
requisite to make the church than to make the world; the world was
made out of nothing, the church made out of materials altogether
unfit for such a building. Christ, who is God, drew the ground-plan
of the church, provided the materials, and by almighty power
disposed them to receive the form; he has compacted and united this
his house, has settled the orders of it, and crowned all with his
own presence, which is the true glory of this house of God. (2.)
Christ was the master of this house, as well as the maker,
<scripRef id="Heb.iv-p10.2" osisRef="Bible:Heb.3.5-Heb.3.6" parsed="|Heb|3|5|3|6" passage="Heb 3:5,6"><i>v.</i> 5, 6</scripRef>. This house
is styled his house, as the Son of God. Moses was only a faithful
servant, for a testimony of those things that were afterwards to be
revealed. Christ, as the eternal Son of God, is the rightful owner
and sovereign ruler of the church. Moses was only a typical
governor, for a testimony of all those things relating to the
church which would be more clearly, completely, and comfortably
revealed in the gospel by the Spirit of Christ; and therefore
Christ is worthy of more glory than Moses, and of greater regard
and consideration. This argument the apostle concludes, [1.] With a
comfortable accommodation of it to himself and all true believers
(<scripRef id="Heb.iv-p10.3" osisRef="Bible:Heb.3.6" parsed="|Heb|3|6|0|0" passage="Heb 3:6"><i>v.</i> 6</scripRef>). <i>Whose
house we are:</i> each of us personally, as we are the temples of
the Holy Ghost, and Christ dwells in us by faith; all of us
jointly, as we are united by the bonds of graces, truths,
ordinances, gospel discipline, and devotions. [2.] With a
characteristic description of those persons who constitute this
house: "<i>If we hold fast the confidence, and the rejoicing of the
hope, firmly to the end;</i> that is, if we maintain a bold and
open profession of the truths of the gospel, upon which our hopes
of grace and glory are built, and live upon and up to those hopes,
so as to have a holy rejoicing in them, which shall abide firm to
the end, notwithstanding all that we may meet with in so doing." So
that you see there must not only be a setting out well in the ways
of Christ, but a stedfastness and perseverance therein unto the
end. We have here a direction what those must do who would partake
of the dignity and privileges of the household of Christ.
<i>First,</i> They must take the truths of the gospel into their
heads and hearts. <i>Secondly,</i> They must build their hopes of
happiness upon those truths. <i>Thirdly,</i> They must make an open
profession of those truths. <i>Fourthly,</i> They must live so up
to them as to keep their evidences clear, that they may rejoice in
hope, and then they must in all persevere to the end. In a word,
they must walk closely, consistently, courageously, and constantly,
in the faith and practice of the gospel, that their Master, when he
comes, may own and approve them.</p>
</div><scripCom id="Heb.iv-p10.4" osisRef="Bible:Heb.3.7-Heb.3.19" parsed="|Heb|3|7|3|19" passage="Heb 3:7-19" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Heb.3.7-Heb.3.19">
<h4 id="Heb.iv-p10.5">Cautions against Apostasy. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Heb.iv-p10.6">a.
d.</span> 62.)</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Heb.iv-p11">7 Wherefore (as the Holy Ghost saith, To day if
ye will hear his voice,   8 Harden not your hearts, as in the
provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness:   9
When your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my works forty
years.   10 Wherefore I was grieved with that generation, and
said, They do alway err in <i>their</i> heart; and they have not
known my ways.   11 So I sware in my wrath, They shall not
enter into my rest.)   12 Take heed, brethren, lest there be
in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the
living God.   13 But exhort one another daily, while it is
called To day; lest any of you be hardened through the
deceitfulness of sin.   14 For we are made partakers of
Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence stedfast unto
the end;   15 While it is said, To day if ye will hear his
voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation.   16 For
some, when they had heard, did provoke: howbeit not all that came
out of Egypt by Moses.   17 But with whom was he grieved forty
years? <i>was it</i> not with them that had sinned, whose carcases
fell in the wilderness?   18 And to whom sware he that they
should not enter into his rest, but to them that believed not?
  19 So we see that they could not enter in because of
unbelief.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Heb.iv-p12">Here the apostle proceeds in pressing upon
them serious counsels and cautions to the close of the chapter; and
he recites a passage out of <scripRef id="Heb.iv-p12.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.95.7" parsed="|Ps|95|7|0|0" passage="Ps 95:7">Ps. xc.
7</scripRef>, &amp;c., where observe,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Heb.iv-p13">I. What he counsels them to do—to give a
speedy and present attention to the call of Christ. "Hear his
voice, assent to, approve of, and consider, what God in Christ
speaks unto you; apply it to yourselves with suitable affections
and endeavours, and set about it this very day, for to-morrow it
may be too late."</p>
<p class="indent" id="Heb.iv-p14">II. What he cautions them
against—hardening their hearts, turning the deaf ear to the calls
and counsels of Christ: "When he tells you of the evil of sin, the
excellency of holiness, the necessity of receiving him by faith as
your Saviour, do not shut your ear and heart against such a voice
as this." Observe, The hardening of our hearts is the spring of all
our other sins.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Heb.iv-p15">III. Whose example he warns them by—that
of the Israelites their fathers in the wilderness: <i>As in the
provocation and day of temptation;</i> this refers to that
remarkable passage at Massah Meribah, <scripRef id="Heb.iv-p15.1" osisRef="Bible:Exod.17.2-Exod.17.7" parsed="|Exod|17|2|17|7" passage="Ex 17:2-7">Exod. xvii. 2-7</scripRef>. Observe,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Heb.iv-p16">1. Days of temptation are often days of
provocation.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Heb.iv-p17">2. To provoke God, when he is trying us,
and letting us see that we entirely depend and live immediately
upon him, is a provocation with a witness.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Heb.iv-p18">3. The sins of others, especially our
relations, should be a warning to us. Our fathers' sins and
punishments should be remembered by us, to deter us from following
their evil examples. Now as to the sin of the fathers of the Jews,
here reflected upon, observe,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Heb.iv-p19">(1.) The state in which these fathers were,
when they thus sinned: they were in the wilderness, brought out of
Egypt, but not got into Canaan, the thoughts whereof should have
restrained them from sin.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Heb.iv-p20">(2.) The sin they were guilty of: they
tempted and provoked God; they distrusted God, murmured against
Moses, and would not attend to the voice of God.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Heb.iv-p21">(3.) The aggravations of their sin: they
sinned in the wilderness, where they had a more immediate
dependence upon God: they sinned when God was trying them; they
sinned when they saw his works—works of wonder wrought for their
deliverance out of Egypt, and their support and supply in the
wilderness from day to day. They continued thus to sin against God
for forty years. These were heinous aggravations.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Heb.iv-p22">(4.) The source and spring of such
aggravated sins, which were, [1.] They erred in their hearts; and
these heart-errors produced many other errors in their lips and
lives. [2.] They did not know God's ways, though he had walked
before them. They did not know his ways; neither those ways of his
providence in which he had walked towards them, nor those ways of
his precept in which they ought to have walked towards God; they
did not observe either his providences or his ordinances in a right
manner.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Heb.iv-p23">(5.) The just and great resentment God had
at their sins, and yet the great patience he exercised towards them
(<scripRef id="Heb.iv-p23.1" osisRef="Bible:Heb.3.10" parsed="|Heb|3|10|0|0" passage="Heb 3:10"><i>v.</i> 10</scripRef>):
<i>Wherefore I was grieved with that generation.</i> Note, [1.] All
sin, especially sin committed by God's professing privileged
people, does not only anger and affront God, but it grieves him.
[2.] God is loth to destroy his people in or for their sin, he
waits long to be gracious to them. [3.] God keeps an exact account
of the time that people go on in sinning against him, and in
grieving him by their sins; but at length, if they by their sins
continue to grieve the Spirit of God, their sins shall be made
grievous to their own spirits, either in a way of judgment or
mercy.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Heb.iv-p24">(6.) The irreversible doom passed upon them
at last for their sins. God swore in his wrath that they should not
enter into his rest, the rest either of an earthly or of a heavenly
Canaan. Observe, [1.] Sin, long continued in, will kindle the
divine wrath, and make it flame out against sinners. [2.] God's
wrath will discover itself in its righteous resolution to destroy
the impenitent; he will swear in his wrath, not rashly, but
righteously, and his wrath will make their condition a restless
condition; there is no resting under the wrath of God.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Heb.iv-p25">IV. What use the apostle makes of their
awful example, <scripRef id="Heb.iv-p25.1" osisRef="Bible:Heb.3.12-Heb.3.13" parsed="|Heb|3|12|3|13" passage="Heb 3:12,13"><i>v.</i> 12,
13</scripRef>, &amp;c. He gives the Hebrews a proper caution, and
enforces it with an affectionate compellation.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Heb.iv-p26">1. He gives the Hebrews a proper caution;
the word is, <i>Take heed,</i> <b><i>blepete</i></b>—<i>look to
it.</i> "Look about you; be upon your guard against enemies both
within and without; be circumspect. You see what kept many of your
forefathers out of Canaan, and made their carcasses fall in the
wilderness; take heed lest you fall into the same sin and snare and
dreadful sentence. For you see Christ is head of the church, a much
greater person than Moses, and your contempt of him must be a
greater sin than their contempt of Moses; and so you are in danger
of falling under a severer sentence than they." Observe, The ruin
of others should be a warning to us to take heed of the rock they
split upon. Israel's fall should for ever be a warning to all who
come after them; for <i>all these things happened to them for
ensamples</i> (<scripRef id="Heb.iv-p26.1" osisRef="Bible:1Cor.10.11" parsed="|1Cor|10|11|0|0" passage="1Co 10:11">1 Cor. x.
11</scripRef>), and should be remembered by us. Take heed; all who
would get safely to heaven must look about them.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Heb.iv-p27">2. He enforces the admonition with an
affectionate compellation: "<i>Brethren,</i> not only in the flesh,
but in the Lord; brethren whom I love, and for whose welfare I
labour and long." And here he enlarges upon the matter of the
admonition: <i>Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an
evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God.</i> Here
observe, (1.) A heart of unbelief is an evil heart. Unbelief is a
great sin, it vitiates the heart of man. (2.) An evil heart of
unbelief is at the bottom of all our sinful departures from God; it
is a leading step to apostasy; if once we allow ourselves to
distrust God, we may soon desert him. (3.) Christian brethren have
need to be cautioned against apostasy. <i>Let those that think they
stand take heed lest they fall.</i></p>
<p class="indent" id="Heb.iv-p28">3. He subjoins good counsel to the caution,
and advises them to that which would be a remedy against this evil
heart of unbelief—that they should <i>exhort one another daily,
while it is called to-day,</i> <scripRef id="Heb.iv-p28.1" osisRef="Bible:Heb.3.13" parsed="|Heb|3|13|0|0" passage="Heb 3:13"><i>v.</i> 13</scripRef>. Observe, (1.) We should be
doing all the good we can to one another while we are together,
which will be but a short and uncertain time. (2.) Since to-morrow
is none of ours, we must make the best improvement of to-day. (3.)
If Christians do not exhort one another daily, they will be in
danger of being hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. Note,
[1.] There is a great deal of deceitfulness in sin; it appears
fair, but is filthy; it appears pleasant, but is pernicious; it
promises much, but performs nothing. [2.] The deceitfulness of sin
is of a hardening nature to the soul; one sin allowed prepares for
another; every act of sin confirms the habit; sinning against
conscience is the way to sear the conscience; and therefore it
should be the great concern of every one to exhort himself and
others to beware of sin.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Heb.iv-p29">4. He comforts those who not only set out
well, but hold on well, and hold out to the end (<scripRef id="Heb.iv-p29.1" osisRef="Bible:Heb.3.14" parsed="|Heb|3|14|0|0" passage="Heb 3:14"><i>v.</i> 14</scripRef>): <i>We are made partakers of
Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence stedfast to the
end.</i> Here observe, (1.) The saints' privilege: they are made
partakers of Christ, that is, of the Spirit, nature, graces,
righteousness, and life of Christ; they are interested in all that
is Christ's, in all that he is, in all that he has done, or can do.
(2.) The condition on which they hold that privilege, namely, their
perseverance in the bold and open profession and practice of Christ
and Christianity unto the end. Not but they shall persevere, being
kept by the mighty power of God through faith to salvation, but to
be pressed thus to it is one means by which Christ helps his people
to persevere. This tends to make them watchful and diligent, and so
keeps them from apostasy. Here observe, [1.] The same spirit with
which Christians set out in the ways of God they should maintain
and evidence to the end. Those who begin seriously, and with lively
affections and holy resolutions and humble reliance, should go on
in the same spirit. But, [2.] There are a great many who in the
beginning of their profession show a great deal of courage and
confidence, but do not hold them fast to the end. [3.] Perseverance
in faith is the best evidence of the sincerity of our faith.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Heb.iv-p30">5. The apostle resumes what he had quoted
before from <scripRef id="Heb.iv-p30.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.95.7" parsed="|Ps|95|7|0|0" passage="Ps 95:7">Ps. xc. 7</scripRef>,
&amp;c., and he applies it closely to those of that generation,
<scripRef id="Heb.iv-p30.2" osisRef="Bible:Heb.3.15-Heb.3.16" parsed="|Heb|3|15|3|16" passage="Heb 3:15,16"><i>v.</i> 15, 16</scripRef>,
&amp;c. While it is said, <i>To-day if you will hear,</i> &amp;c.;
as if he should say, "What was recited before from that scripture
belonged not only to former ages, but to you now, and to all who
shall come after you; that you take heed you fall not into the same
sins, lest you fall under the same condemnation." The apostle tells
them that though some who had heard the voice of God did provoke
him, yet all did not so. Observe, (1.) Though the majority of
hearers provoked God by unbelief, yet some there were who believed
the report. (2.) Though the hearing of the word be the ordinary
means of salvation, yet, if it be not hearkened to, it will expose
men more to the anger of God. (3.) God will have a remnant that
shall be obedient to his voice, and he will take care of such and
make mention of them with honour. (4.) If these should fall in a
common calamity, yet they shall partake of eternal salvation, while
disobedient hearers perish for ever.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Heb.iv-p31">6. The apostle puts some queries upon what
had been before mentioned, and gives proper answers to them
(<scripRef id="Heb.iv-p31.1" osisRef="Bible:Heb.3.17-Heb.3.19" parsed="|Heb|3|17|3|19" passage="Heb 3:17-19"><i>v.</i> 17-19</scripRef>):
<i>But with whom was he grieved forty years? With those that
sinned. And to whom did he swear?</i> &amp;c. Whence observe, (1.)
God is grieved only with those of his people who sin against him,
and continue in sin. (2.) God is grieved and provoked most by sins
publicly committed by the generality of a nation; when sin becomes
epidemic, it is most provoking. (3.) Though God grieves long, and
bears long, when pressed with the weight of general and prevailing
wickedness, yet he will at length ease himself of public offenders
by public judgments. (4.) Unbelief (with rebellion which is the
consequent of it) is the great damning sin of the world, especially
of those who have a revelation of the mind and will of God. This
sin shuts up the heart of God, and shuts up the gate of heaven,
against them; it lays them under the wrath and curse of God, and
leaves them there; so that in truth and justice to himself he is
obliged to cast them off for ever.</p>
</div></div2>