Partakers.—Through Him who “took part” of our earthly nature (Hebrews 2:14) we are partakers of a “heavenly calling” (Hebrews 2:10) as God’s sons. God calls us through the message of the Good News (John 6:44-45). He is God’s direct ‘Sent One’, with no intervention of angels. Hebrews 3:1-19. To be the High Priest. Jesus Christ is the "Apostle" (lit. The usual New Testament meaning of this is “fellow Christians,” including both men and women. 13:1–2). That is, of the faith we confess, or profess. For they know Whom they have trusted! (Hebrews 3:1) My Christian brothers. Submitted by admin on Thu, 2010-05-20 17:45. 1 In times past, God spoke in partial and various ways to our ancestors through the prophets; 2 in these last days, he spoke to us through a son, whom he made heir of all things and through whom he created the universe, a. The word apostle means one who is sent on a mission with authority to speak and act. (53), First, the word consider, is important, for it intimates that singular attention is required, as he cannot be disregarded with impunity, and that at the same time the true knowledge of Christ is sufficient to dissipate the darkness of all errors. For some, when they had heard, did provoke: howbeit not all that came out of Egypt by Moses. Holy brethren.—United in one brotherhood in virtue of a common sonship (Hebrews 2:10) and of a common brotherhood (Hebrews 2:11) with Jesus, Him “that sanctifieth” (Hebrews 2:11). Exodus 3:10. (1-2a) Jesus brought a revelation superior to the prophets of old. as Christians; our whole confession of faith; Jesus Christ being the central figure and object in that confession and faith. Hebrews 1 – A Superior Savior A. Jesus, the superior Savior. You have been long called out of Egypt and brought into the separate place in this wilderness world: be careful to be fit for the Divine indwelling. Thus does the writer mark the Jews to whom he was writing, as belonging to the Church and as distinct from Israel. Verses 3 through 6 provide the basis for the exhortation. Genre; Hortatory. Greek. Think then much of him. ‘Partakers of a heavenly calling.’ Their being sanctified by Jesus has made them partakers of a heavenly calling. Let us now fully and steadily analyze his nature in each office. Whereas Moses was faithful as a servant in this house of God, Christ was faithful as a son set over His Father’s house. Christ is also here called our apostle, i.e. God speaks very lovingly of the bodies of his saints but see how he speaks of the bodies of apostates, “whose carcases” as if they were no better than so many brute beasts, “whose carcases fell in the wilderness.”. epouranios. Heavenly calling; by which God called and inclined them to prepare for heaven. And as humanized Sufferer (Hebrews 2:9-18) he is our High Priest. Heavenly calling is used mainly as a mark of superiority for the service under Christ over the old one. ', The Apostle and High Priest of our profession. Wherefore I was grieved with that generation, and said, They do alway err in their heart; and they have not known my ways. , “consider,” “bring your mind to bear upon,” “observe so as to see the significance,” as in Luke 12:24, , though it is sometimes, as in Acts 11:6; Acts 27:39, used in its classical sense “perceive”. And to encourage them the more to pursue this study, he reminds them of their calling; as though he had said, “God favored you with no common grace when He called you into his kingdom; (54) it now remains that you have your eyes fixed on Christ as your leader in the way.” (55) For the calling of the godly cannot be otherwise confirmed than by a thorough surrender of themselves to Christ. “But Christ as a Son” — far higher degree -- “Christ as a son over his own house,” of which he is the heir, of which he is even now the sole proprietor -- “whose house are we, if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end.” None are truly Christ’s but those who persevere in grace. "Look about you; be upon your guard against enemies both within and without; be circumspect. So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief. But with whom was he grieved forty years? New International Version (NIV) Amen. Commentary on Hebrews 11:1-3, 8-16. The true reading is Jesus simply, with special reference to His human nature and His connection with ourselves (see Hebrews 6:20, Hebrews 7:22, Hebrews 11:4; Exodus 3:10-15). Bleek quotes from Primasius: “Fratres eos vocat tam carne quam spiritu qui ex eodem genere erant”. Gospel. There is very little difference between Apostle and Prophet, thus applied; but the one brings into relief the mission, the other the office and position. is several times used in this epistle without the epithet. Lesson 9: To Endure, Consider Jesus (Hebrews 3:1-6) Related Media. The apostle, in the first chapter of this epistle, having affirmed that Jesus of Nazareth, by whom the gospel revelation was given to mankind, is God’s Son, in a peculiar sense; a sense in which no man or angel is his son; and having proved, from the Jewish Scriptures, that God had constituted this his Son the Heir or Lord of all things, because by him he made the worlds; and in the second chapter, having answered the objections which were, or might be, brought for invalidating the claim of Jesus to be God’s Son, and having thereby given full effect to the direct proofs which established his claim; he, in this third chapter, proceeds to show what is implied in Christ’s being the Heir or Lord of all things; which is the third fact on which the authority of the gospel revelation depends. 1 Therefore, The “therefore” gathers truths from chapter 2. Apostle—One sent, a legate. See also 2 Pet. As Peake remarks: “If this means profession of faith, then ‘the readers already confess Jesus as high priest, and this is not a truth taught them in this Epistle for the first time’.” [Carpzov quotes from Philo (De Somn. to consider the apostle and high priest of our profession, Christ Jesus, the Apostle and High Priest of our profession, nous), to put the mind down on a thing, to fix the mind on as in, τον αποστολον και αρχιερεα της ομολογιας ημων, The Apostle and High Priest of our confession, ton apostolon kai archierea tēs homologias hēmōn. Peter exhorts us to "grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ" (not grow "in grace," as Often wrongly quoted, but grow in the grace and experimental favor and acquaintanceship of our Lord Jesus Christ Himself). The calling, here, is used very much in the sense of 1 Corinthians 7:20, to denote the permanent state resulting from permanent obedience to the call, and which has solidified into the correlative profession soon named. And as humanized Sufferer (, ) he is our High Priest. Believers are called to follow after holiness, Hebrews 12:14; to mortify their members which are upon the earth, engrossed with earthly objects, Colossians 3:15; and we are assured that all shall be judged according to their works, Revelation 20:12; Galatians 6:7-8; 2 Corinthians 5:10. It is written of the Corinthians, who at that time were "babes in Christ," that they were "sanctified in Christ Jesus, called saints"; and that God, "Who is faithful," would also "confirm them unto the end," that they might be "unreprovable in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ" (1 Cor. He was the complete Deliverer. Study Hebrews 3 using Matthew Henry Bible Commentary (complete) to better understand Scripture with full outline and verse meaning. Hebrews 3:1. So Jesus, "the Apostle of our profession," is delegated to intercede for the Church before the Father. N.A.S.B. Let your minds penetrate deeply into the significance of these facts.” Whom God sent.Apostle means: one who is sent on an important mission. 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 was faithful in all his house. Wherefore (as the Holy Ghost saith, Today if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness: You are his house, give him rest, do not provoke him. Again I say they who do not hold on and hold out are not really partakers of Christ, but we are made partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast unto the end. We hence see that in this connection the “heavenly calling” is to be taken most suitably as a call to heaven. It is the description both of the order of life and being into which God has created a creature, and also of that order of life befitting such creation. 1 John 4:14. 1. eum qui Dei causam apud nos agit. The Apostle and High Priest of our confession, even Jesus. “Wherefore” connects generally with chaps, 1. . He ruled the new dispensation in the character of the Son of Prayer of Manasseh, having been for the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor. Hence He is termed the Apostle of our profession, and is thus contrasted with Moses, whom God sent to deliver Israel. For that is where they are now destined for, the city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God (Hebrews 11:10), the heavenly Jerusalem (Hebrews 12:22). He is the Son, and the High Priest. Sermon Bible Commentary. Hebrews 3:4-6. By wandering off, one way or another, away from the living God. Hebrews 1:8-14 Jesus Authority is Established Over All Creation. He had before exalted Christ as a teacher above all the prophets, including no doubt Moses among the rest; but here refers to Moses as the leader of the people, as one sent especially by God to conduct them from Egypt through the wilderness to the land of Canaan. Hebrews 3:16. Hebrews 3:1 New International Version (NIV) Jesus Greater Than Moses 3 Therefore, holy brothers and sisters, who share in the heavenly calling, fix your thoughts on Jesus, whom we acknowledge as our apostle and high priest. He is not designated here "angel," in order to distinguish His nature from that of angels mentioned before, through He is "the Angel of the Covenant." “For unto us was the gospel preached as well as unto them.” In the old time that gospel which was preached to them was preached to us -- “but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it.” God send us this holy mixture of the hearing and the believing, to our hour’s salvation, to his glory. Hebrews 2:1-9 God Put Jesus in Charge of Everything. The considerations alluded to are His superiority not only to the prophets but also to the angels, inasmuch as He was "over all, God blessed for ever." As he had before, by naming him a teacher and a priest, briefly compared him with Moses and Aaron, so he now includes both clauses; for he adorns him with two titles, as he sustains a twofold character in the Church of God. Commentary on Genesis 15:1-6. the very imprint of his being, and who sustains all things by his mighty word. Moses also was ‘sent’ (Exodus 3:12-15; Exodus 4:28). They are exhorted to consider Jesus Christ under the character of the Apostle and High Priest of our profession. “Think what these great truths about Jesus mean. “Think what these great truths about Jesus mean. We here see our dignity: we have a God for the apostle and high priest of our religion. , Hebrews 9:15) suggested by the latent comparison in the writer’s mind between the Israelites called to earthly advantages, a land, etc., and his readers whose hopes were fixed on things above. I. One Greek article to both: 'Him who is at once Apostle and High Priest'-Apostle, as Ambassador (higher than "angel" - messenger) sent by the Father (John 20:21), pleading the cause of God with us; High Priest, as pleading our cause with God. Hebrews 3:1–6 explains how Moses, while a powerful and faithful servant of God, is not the ultimate example for us to follow. . 3 Therefore, holy brothers and sisters, who share in the heavenly calling, fix your thoughts on Jesus, whom we acknowledge as our apostle and high priest. Temporary Christians are not really Christians. Holy brethren. God calls us through the message of the Good News (. While the saints are exhorted to "walk worthily of the calling wherewith they were called" (Eph. 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