Hebrews 3

Hebrews 3:1

Heb. 3:1. Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our profession, Christ Jesus;

Blank Bible comment:

Both are prophecies mentioned apostle and high priest, as the author was to show that as apostle Christ was superiour to Moses: and as an High Priest to Aaron. He is called an apostle as sent from God with full commission for the important affair he came to transact, apostle signifying messenger.

Heb. 3:2-3

Hebrews 3:2-3

Heb. 3:2-3. Who was faithful to him that appointed him, as also Moses (was faithful) in all his house. For this (man) was counted worthy of more glory than Moses, inasmuch as he who hath builded the house hath more honour than the house. In the End for Which God Created the World, Edwards says that the “honour” here is derived from “glory”:

Again the word “glory,” as applied to God in Scripture, implies the view of knowledge of God’s excellency. The exhibition of glory is to the view of beholders. The manifestation of glory, the emanation or effulgence of brightness, has relation to the eye. Light or brightness is a quality that has relation to the sense of seeing: we see the luminary by its light. And knowledge is often expressed in Scripture by light. The word “glory” very often in Scripture signifies or implies honor, as any one may soon see by casting his eye on a concordance.

But honor implies the knowledge of the dignity and excellency of him who hath the honor. And this is often more especially signified by the word “glory,” when applied to God. Numbers 14:21, “But as truly as I live, all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord,” i.e. all the earth shall see the manifestations I will make of my perfect holiness and hatred of sin, and so of my infinite excellence. This appears by the context. So Ezekiel 39:21-23, “I will set my glory among the heathen, and all the heathen shall see my judgment that I have executed, and my hand that I have laid upon them. So the house of Israel shall know that I am the Lord their God.

And the heathen shall know, that the house of Israel went into captivity for their iniquity.” And ’tis manifest in many places, where we read of God’s glorifying himself, or of his being glorified, that one thing directly intended is, a manifesting or making known his divine greatness and excellency.

In Qualifications for Communion Edwards cites this text as showing that the N. T. “House” is the church, the equivalent of the temple of Eze 44:6-9 into which the “uncircumcised in heart” were not to be brought:

But we all know, that the New Testament house of God is his church. Hebrews 3:3, “For this man was counted worthy of more glory than Moses, inasmuch as he who builded the house, hath more honor than the house.” Verse 6, “But Christ as a Son over his own house, whose house are we, " etc. 2 Timothy 2:20, “In a great house there are not only vessels of gold and silver, but also of wood and of earth,” etc. 1 Timothy 3:15, “That thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God.” Ephesians 2:20; Ephesians 2:21, “And are built upon the foundation of the prophets and apostles, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone; in whom all the building, fitly framed together, groweth into a holy temple in the Lord.” 1 Corinthians 3:9, “Ye are God’s building.” Verse 1 Corinthians 3:16, “Know ye not, that ye are the temple of God?” 1 Peter 2:5, “Ye also as lively stones are built up a spiritual house.” Chap. 1 Peter 4:17, “For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God. And if it begin at us, what shall the end be?” etc. Hebrews 10:21, “And having a high priest over the house of God.” Ezekiel’s temple is doubtless the same that it is foretold the Messiah would build. Zechariah 6:12; Zechariah 6:13, “The man whose name is the Branch - he shall build the temple of the Lord, even he shall build the temple of the Lord.” And what the temple that Christ builds is, the apostle tells, us, Hebrews 2:3; Hebrews 2:6. Heb. 3:4

Hebrews 3:4

Heb. 3:4. For every house is builded by some (man); but he that built all things (is) God.

The Blank Bible comment:

By this he argues that Moses was not the builder of the house because he was a man and this house not such a house as men build but such an one only is the Builder of that builds all things.

Heb. 3:5

Hebrews 3:5

Heb. 3:5. And Moses, verily (was) faithful in all his house as a servant, for a testimony of those things which were to be spoken after;

The Blank Bible stresses a feature frequently emphasized by Jonathan Edwards:

[F]or a testimony of those things were to be spoken after] all that was said and done by Moses and indeed throughout the mosaical dispensation which we have account of in the Old T[estament] was chiefly for a testimony of the things that should be spoken after to introduce the gospel which Christ was to reveal.

Heb. 3:6

Hebrews 3:6

Heb. 3:6. But Christ was 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. Hebrews chap. 3:6 to chap. 4:11. See No. 339: [339] Hebrews 3:6-8 to chap. Hebrews 4:11. “Whose house are we, if we hold fast the confidence, and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end. Wherefore, as the Holy Ghost says, To-day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation,” etc. The apostle here supposes that when the psalmist here says, “To-day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts;” it is as much as if he had said, “Although that was a long time ago, and though their day was long since past, yet hear his voice, and do not harden your hearts now in this your day, and see that you never harden your hearts while your day lasts; for if ye do not harden your hearts, there is a rest of God, that you may enter into as well as they; but if you continue to harden your hearts, your day in a little time will be past as well as theirs.” The former part of this sense, viz. that by the expression, “To-day,” the psalmist means, In this day that you now have so long after their day is past, is evident by Hebrews 4:7, and the latter part of it, viz. that he means, Take heed that your heart be at no time hardened during your day, is evident, because in that 8th verse the words are brought in as a motive to perseverance. It is still more evident by the manner of the apostle’s bringing in the words in the 11th and 12th, as also in the 14th and 15th verses, and by the apostle’s paraphrase of the words, or gloss he puts upon them there, while it is called To-day, verse 13, and while it is said To-day, verse 15, which is the same thing as during the continuance of the day. From the psalmist exhorting us to hear God’s voice to-day, so long a time after the carcasses of the children of Israel fell in the wilderness, and so they failed of entering into God’s rest, and so long a time after others that believed entered into the temporal rest that Joshua brought them into; the apostle would argue that there remains still another rest for the people of God, to be entered into, as God spake concerning the children of Israel in the wilderness, as if there was a rest of God still to be entered into, though there had been a rest of God many ages before that, viz. that rest, or sabbatism of God, which God enjoyed on the seventh day of the creation, resting from the works of creation, which had been distinguished as God’s rest, or his sabbatism; but yet there then remained another rest of God to those that believed, viz. Christ’s rest in Canaan after the Egyptian bondage, and his redemption of his people out of Egypt, as is implied in his swearing in his wrath that those that did not believe should not enter into rest. So there still remains another rest also besides God’s rest from that redemption, as is implied in the psalmist, when speaking so long after of the unbelievers in the wilderness failing of entering into that rest, he still exhorts and says, “To-day if you will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as they did;” implying that it will not be in vain for us even now to hearken, but we shall enter into God’s rest still if we hearken, even that rest that Christ entered into in heaven, after his great bondage here on earth, and his finishing the work of redemption. By which may be understood the force of the apostle’s reasoning in verses 3-11 of the next chapter.

This verse was cited in the Justification series with which the first awakening in Northampton was associated.

And that perseverance in faith is thus necessary to salvation, not merely as sine qua non, or as a universal concomitant of it, but by reason of such an influence and dependence, seems manifest by many Scriptures; I would mention two or three: Hebrews 3:6, “Whose house are we, if we hold fast the confidence, and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end.” Verse 14: “For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast unto the end.” Chap. Hebrews 6:12, “Be ye followers of them, who through faith and patience inherit the promises.” Romans 11:20, “Well, because of unbelief they were broken off; but thou standest by faith. Be not high-minded, but fear.” And as the congruity to a final justification depends on perseverance in faith, as well as the first act, so oftentimes the manifestation of justification in the conscience, arises a great deal more from after acts, than the first act. And all the difference whereby the first act of faith has a concern in this affair that is peculiar, seems to be, as it were, only an accidental difference, arising from the circumstance of time or it being first in order of time, and not from any peculiar respect that God has to it, or any influence it has of a peculiar nature, in the affair of our salvation.

One the marks of true Religious Affections is conviction of the truth of the gospel and Edwards sees Hebrews 3:6 as so indicating:

That all true Christians have such a kind of conviction of the truth of the things of the gospel, is abundantly manifest from the Holy Scriptures. I will mention a few places of many…. “Whose house are we, if we hold fast the confidence, and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the the end” (Hebrews 3:6). “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, and the evidence of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1): together with that whole chapter.

Hebrews 3:6 is also referred to in Religious Affections as teaching “universal obedience.”

3. Every true Christian perseveres in this way of universal obedience, and diligent and earnest service of God, through all the various kinds of trials that he meets with, to the end of life. That all true saints, all those that do obtain eternal life, do thus persevere in the practice of religion, and the service of God, is a doctrine so abundantly taught in the Scripture, that particularly to rehearse all the texts which imply it would be endless. I shall content myself with referring to some in the margin.

Heb. 3:7

Hebrews 3:7

Heb. 3:7. Wherefore as the Holy Ghost saith, Today if ye will hear his voice,

During his Stockbridge period Edwards preached a little four-page MS sermon, probably to the Indians, explaining Hebrews 3:7-11 : “They that live under the gospel should take care that it ben’t with them as it was with the wicked Israelites of old that God destroyed in the wilderness.”

Heb. 3:8

Hebrews 3:8

Heb. 3:8. Harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness: Again, as often, Hebrews appears in Religious Affections: 10. ‘Tis an evidence that true religion, or holiness of heart, lies very much in the affection of the heart, that the Scriptures place the sin of the heart very much in hardness of heart. Thus the Scriptures do everywhere. It was hardness of heart, which excited grief and displeasure in Christ towards the Jews…. God’s leaving men to the power of the sin and corruption of the heart, is often expressed by God’s hardening their hearts; “Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth” (Romans 9:18). “He hath blinded their minds, and hardened their hearts” (John 12:40). And the Apostle seems to speak of an evil heart, that departs from the living God, and a hard heart, as the same thing, “Harden not your heart, as in the provocation,” etc. (Hebrews 3:8). “Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God; but exhort one another daily, while it is called Today; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin” (Hebrews 3:12; Hebrews 3:13).

Heb. 3:9-12

Hebrews 3:9-12

Heb. 3:9-12. When your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my works forty years. Wherefore I was grieved with that generation, and said, They do always err in (their) heart; and they have not known my ways. So I swore in my wrath, They shall not enter into my rest. Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God. Blank Bible:

[I]n departing and having respect to that which he quotes from the Psalmist in the 10th verse. They do always err in their hearts, etc.

Edwards cites this verse showing the essential identity of trusting in the Old Testament and faith in the New Testament in Concerning Faith: §56. That believing in the New Testament, is much the same as trusting, in the Old, is confirmed by comparing Jeremiah 17:5, “Cursed is the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the Lord;” verse 7, “Blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord, whose hope the Lord is,” - with Hebrews 3:12, “Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God.” It also is confirmed by this, that trusting in God, and hoping in him, are used in the Old Testament as expressions of the same import. So hope is often in the New Testament used to signify the same thing that, in other places is signified by faith. Romans 15:12; Romans 15:13. And again, Esaias saith, There shall be a root of Jesse, and he that shall rise to reign over the Gentiles, in him shall the Gentiles trust.” - “Now the God of peace fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope through the power of the Holy Ghost.” Compare Daniel 6:23 and Hebrews 11:33; Hebrews 11:34.

Later in the same treatise Edwards explains why it is faith which is said to justify.

Why are we not said to be justified by light as well as by faith? For is there not the same virtue in seeing things visible, as in believing things credible? Tell me then, what is faith, that it should raise men above the level of mortality, and make men become like the angels of heaven? - But further, if it be only an act of the understanding formed upon due reasons, how comes it to be described in Scripture as having its seat in the heart? The apostle in the text (Hebrews 3:12), cautions against an evil heart of unbelief; and the same notion prevails throughout the books of Scripture, and is as early as our Saviour’s first preaching. Faith, which is the principle of the gospel, respects the promises and declaration of God, and includes a sure trust and reliance on him for the performance. Beyond this, there is no further act of faith.

We are not taught to believe this, in order to our believing something else; but here, faith has its full completion, and leads immediately to the practice of virtue and holiness. For this end was the Son of God revealed, to make known the mind and will of the Father, to declare his mercy and pardon, and to confirm the promises of eternal life to mankind. He that believes and accepts this deliverance from the bondage of sin, and through patience and perseverance in well doing, waits for the blessed hope of immortality; who passes through the world as a stranger and pilgrim, looking to another country, and a city whose builder is God; this is he whose faith shall receive the promise, whose confidence shall have great recompense of reward."

The grave need of self-examination mentioned in verse 12 comes in for expected notice:

On the account of this deceitfulness of sin, and because we have so much sin dwelling in our hearts, it is a difficult thing to pass a true judgment on our own ways and practices. On this account we should make diligent search, and be much concerned to know whether there be not some wicked way in us. Hebrews 3:12; Hebrews 3:13, “Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God. But exhort one another daily, while it is called to-day, lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.” Heb. 3:13

Hebrews 3:13

Heb. 3:13. But exhort one another daily, while it is called Today; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.

Blank Bible:

while it is called today] In this expression there is probably reference to that time then at hand when the nation in general the unbelieving part of ’em were to [be] given to awful destruction when God would swear in his wrath against them as he did against their forefathers in the wilderness.

Heb. 3:14

Hebrews 3:14

Heb. 3:14. For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast unto the end. Blank Bible:

partakers of Christ] It might have been rendered as partakers for so the word metochor is used in Hebrews 1:9 and Luke 5:7 so that ’tis the same as if it had been said partakers with Christ, which is what the apostle means particularly by partakers with him. His in his rest, compare verse 11 and Hebrews 4:5; Hebrews 4:9; Hebrews 4:10.

Hebrews 3:12-14 is shown (in “The Duty of Prayer”) to teach that the promise that saints shall persevere does not preclude their taking heed lest they fall away:

Christ gives this as a distinguishing character of those that are his disciples indeed, and of a true and saving faith, that it is accompanied with perseverance in the obedience of Christ’s word. John 8:31, “Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed:” This is mentioned as a necessary evidence of an interest in Christ Hebrews 3:14 : “We are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end.” Perseverance is not only a necessary concomitant and evidence of a title to salvation; but also a necessary prerequisite to the actual possession of eternal life. It is the only way to heaven, the narrow way that leadeth to life. Hence Christ exhorts the church of Philadelphia to persevere in holiness from this consideration, that it was necessary in order to her obtaining the crown. Revelation 3:11, “Hold fast that which thou hast, that no man take thy crown.” It is necessary not only that persons should once have been walking in the way of duty, but that they should be found so doing when Christ cometh. Luke 12:43, “Blessed is that servant whom his Lord, when he cometh, shall find so doing.” Holding out to the end is often made the condition of actual salvation. Matthew 10:22, “He that endureth to the end, the same shall be saved.” And Revelation 2:10, “Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life.” 2. In order to your own perseverance in the way of duty, your own care and watchfulness is necessary. For though it be promised that true saints shall persevere, yet that is no argument that their care and watchfulness is not necessary in order to it; because their care to keep the commandments of God is the thing promised. If the saints should fail of care, watchfulness, and diligence to persevere in holiness, that failure of their care and diligence would itself be a failure of holiness. They who persevere not in watchfulness and diligence, persevere not in holiness of life, for holiness of life very much consists in watchfulness and diligence to keep the commands of God. It is one promise of the covenant of grace, that the saints shall keep God’s commandments, Ezekiel 11:19; Ezekiel 11:20.

Yet that is no argument that they have no need to take care to keep these commandments, or to do their duty. So the promise of God, that the saints shall persevere in holiness, is no argument that it is not necessary that they should take heed lest they fall away. Therefore the Scriptures abundantly warn men to watch over themselves diligently, and to give earnest heed lest they fall away: 1 Corinthians 16:13, “Watch ye, stand fast in the faith, quit you like men, be strong.” 1 Corinthians 10:12, “Let him that thinketh he standeth, take heed lest he fall.” Hebrews 3:12-14, “Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God; but exhort one another daily, while it is called to-day, lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast unto the end.” Hebrews 4:1, “Let us therefore fear, lest a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it.” 2 Peter 3:17, “Ye therefore, beloved, seeing ye know these things before, beware lest ye also, being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own steadfastness.” 2 John 1:8, “Look to yourselves that we lose not those things which we have wrought, but that we receive a full reward.” Heb. 3:16-19

Hebrews 3:16-19

Heb. 3:16-19. For some, when they had heard, did provoke: howbeit not all that came out of Egypt by Moses. But with whom was he grieved forty years? (was it) not with them that had sinned, whose carcasses fell in the wilderness? And to whom sware he that they should not enter into his rest, but to them that believed not? So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief.

Chapter 4

Heb. 4:1