Hebrews 3

Robert Milligan Commentary On Hebrews 3Near the close of the last section (2: 17), the Apostle, while dis­cussing the question of Christ’ s humanity, refers for the first time to his priesthood. And hence we might reasonably expect that this would be made the next topic of discussion. But connected with this, and naturally and historically antecedent to it, is the apostle- ship of Christ. Moses preceded Aaron in the economy of the Old Testament; and Christ appeared as the Leader of God’ s people, be­fore he entered on the duties of his priesthood. And hence while our author blends together in some measure the discussion of these two functions of Christ’ s mediatorial office, he devotes the next section mainly to the consideration of his apostleship and such other matters as depend essentially on it. The following are the main points which he makes in the discussion and development of this part of his subject: I. He shows the great superiority of Christ over Moses, as the Apostle of God. (Hebrews 3:1-6.)1. In making this comparison between Christ and Moses, our author shows no disposition to disparage the latter in any way. He concedes that Moses was faithful to God in all his house (Hebrews 3:2). . .2. But then he argues that according to the Divine arrange­ment, Christ is as much superior to Moses as he who builds a house is superior to the house itself (verse 3). This argument may be briefly stated as follows: God built all things, including, of course, both the Jewish house and the Christian house. But Christ is God, one with the Father. (Hebrews 1:8.) And hence it follows, that Christ is as much superior to the Jewish or Old Testament house of God, including Moses himself and every other member of the 3. Theocracy, as he who builds a house is superior to it (Hebrews 3:4-5). 4. Furthermore, Moses was but a servant in the symbolical house of God; but Christ as a Son presides over the real house of God; which is to the symbolical house of the Old Testament econ­omy, as the substance is to the shadow (Hebrews 3:6). II. From this subject, the transition to the pilgrimage of the Is­raelites under Moses and ours under Christ, is easy and natural (verses 7-19).

1. According to Moses (Numbers 2:32-33), about six hundred thousand (603,550) Israelites, besides the Levites and the women and children, left Egypt with the fairest and most encouraging prospects of entering Canaan.
2. But, nevertheless, very few of them ever reached the Prom­ised Land. They provoked God in the wilderness, till he finally swore in his wrath that they should never enter into his rest. (Numbers 14:22-30.)
3. From this chapter of sacred history, the Apostle therefore solemnly warns his Hebrew brethren, and through them also all the followers of Christ, of their many dangers, and of the necessity of their giving all diligence in order to make their calling and elec­tion sure during their earthly pilgrimage (Hebrews 3:12-18).
4. It is true that our advantages and privileges are now, in many respects, greatly superior to those of the ancient Israelites. But human nature is still the same; our greatest enemies are still the same; the deceitfulness of sin is the same; many of our trials and temptations are the same; and hence what was “ written afore­time was written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope.” It becomes all Chris­tians, therefore, to exhort and admonish one another daily Hebrews 3:13). I. From the pilgrimage of the Jews under Moses and ours under Christ, the Apostle is next led to consider the rest which re­mains for the people of God. (Hebrews 4:1-10.)
5. The idea of rest was a very pleasant and consoling thought to the Israelites. They had long been accustomed to reflect on the many pleasures and advantages of a sanctified rest. (1.) From the regular observance of the weekly Sabbath. (2.) From the habit of sanctifying many other days to the Lord; as, for example, the first day of every month; the first and last day of the feast of Unleavened Bread, etc. (3.) From celebrating the Sabbatical Year and the Year of Jubilee. (4.) From the ease and repose which they enjoyed in Canaan, compared with the many toils and trials which their fathers had endured in the wilderness. From all of which it is manifest, that in an argument designed for the encouragement of the Hebrew brethren, it was particularly necessary to dwell on this element of the Christian religion, and to show that there is a rest remaining for the people of God, that far transcends in importance any earthly rest that was ever enjoyed by the seed of Abraham accord­ing to the flesh.
6. But just here the Apostle seems to have anticipated an objec­tion which might peradventure be urged by the judaizing party. That most of the Old Testament references to the heavenly rest were made through types and shadows there can be no doubt. And with some it might, therefore, be a question, whether in such portions of Scripture there is really anything more intended or implied than the mere temporal rest to which the ancient Prophets primarily referred.
7. To this question he makes the following reply: (1.) He refers to Psalms 95:7, from which he proves that God in his wrath had sworn to the Israelites under Moses, that they should not enter into his rest. And hence he argues that this could not be the Sabbatical rest, because it was instituted in the begin­ning when God finished the work of creation (Genesis 2:2), and had been enjoyed by the Israelites throughout all their journeyings (Exodus 16:22-31). And hence it follows that there must be another rest for the people of God: a rest into which the rebellious Israel­ites under Moses never entered (verses 3-6). (2.) But lest it might be supposed that the promise of God guaranteeing rest to his people, was fulfilled in its fullest and ulti­mate sense when the Israelites under Joshua entered Canaan, the Apostle refers again to the ninety-fifth Psalm, and proves from it that even in the time of David, after the children of Israel had pos­sessed the land of Canaan for nearly five hundred years— even then there was danger that the living generation would, like their fa­thers, be excluded from the promised rest. From all of which, it clearly follows that there is still a rest remaining for the people of God. For as our author says, if Joshua had given the people rest in the land of Canaan, then most assuredly God would not after­ward have spoken of another rest by the mouth of his servant David (verses 7-9).

II. The section closes with a renewed exhortation to labor ear­nestly to enter into the rest of God, especially in view of the heart-searching character of his word by which we are all to be judged at the last day (verses 11-13)

1. Here we may often deceive one another; and sometimes we may even deceive ourselves; but nothing can escape the eye of God and the all-permeating power of his word.
2. And hence the necessity of the most careful and constant self-examination, lest, like the Israelites, we too fall short of the promised rest. Under this section, we have therefore the four following para­graphs :I. Hebrews 3:1-6. Christ superior to Moses. II. Hebrews 3:7-19. Exhortations and warnings drawn from the exam­ple of the Israelites under Moses. III. Hebrews 4:1-10. Concerning the rest which remains for the people of God. IV. Hebrews 4:11-13. Renewed exhortation to strive earnestly to enter into God’ s rest, in view especially of the all-penetrating and heart­searching character of God’ s word. CHRIST TO MOSES Hebrews 3:1-6 Hebrews 3:1 —Wherefore,—We have here a very beautiful illustration of the easy and natural manner in which our author passes from one sub­ject to another. The word “ wherefore” (hothen) is illative, and shows the very close and intimate connection of what follows in this verse, with what has been said of Christ in the two preceding chapters; and especially in the last paragraph of the second chap­ter. But what is here introduced as a consequence from premises considered, is made also a ground of transition to another subject.

Hebrews 3:1 —holy brethren,— These were the Hebrew Christians. They are addressed here by the Apostle, not as Jews, nor as brethren of Christ, but as his own brethren in Christ. And they are called holy brethren, not because they were all in possession of that holi­ness of heart which the Gospel requires, but because they had all professed to believe in Christ, to put on Christ (Galatians 3:27), and to be separated from the world as the peculiar people of God. In this sense, the Corinthian brethren are all called saints (agioi, 1 Corinthians 1:2); though we are assured by Paul in both his letters to the Corinthian Church, that some of them were very impure men. See references, and notes on Hebrews 2:11.

Hebrews 3:1 —partakers of the heavenly calling,— The word rendered calling (kleesis), means properly a call, a summons, an invitation; and hence by metonymy it means also the state or condition into which anyone is called. In 1 Corinthians 7:17-20, for example, Paul says to the Corinthian brethren, “ As the Lord hath called every one, so let him walk; and so I ordain in all the churches. Is any man called being circumcised? let him not be uncircumcised. Is any called in uncircumcision? let him not be circumcised. Circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing, but the keeping of the commandments of God. Let every man abide in the same calling wherein he was called.” In this passage, the word calling evi­dently refers to the social rank and secular condition of each indi­vidual when he was called of God to partake of the “ heavenly call­ing” ; some were Jews and some were Gentiles, some were slaves and some were freemen.

The “ heavenly calling,” according to Paul, is not designed to nullify and set aside arbitrarily and uncon­ditionally all such distinctions. The Jew, though converted to Christ, might nevertheless consistently remain in circumcision; and the Gentile, in uncircumcision. In this metonymical sense the word calling is used in our text to denote, not merely God’ s gra­cious invitation to sinners, but also and more particularly the bene­fits of this invitation; having special reference to the present state and condition of those who, in obedience to God’ s call, have put on Christ as he is offered to us in the Gospel. It is the high and holy calling of God in Christ Jesus (Philippians 3:14), to which our author here refers. And this is denominated a heavenly calling because it comes from Heaven, leads to Heaven, and fills with heavenly joys the hearts of all who are made partakers of it.

Hebrews 3:1 —consider the apostle and high priest— Meditate carefully and profoundly (katanoeesate) on the nature and character of Jesus, the Apostle and High Priest of our confession. Our author makes here an earnest appeal to his Hebrew brethren to consider well all that he had said, and all that he was about to say, concerning Christ; to think of his Divinity, his humanity, his sufferings, his death, his burial, his resurrection, his ascension, his glorification, his universal dominion, his love, his sympathies, and every other attribute and perfection of his character. And this he does for the purpose of confirming and strengthening their faith, increasing their love, and guarding them against the sin of apostasy.

The word apostle (apostelos) means one who is sent: a messen­ger of any kind. In this sense it is here applied to Christ, as the one sent by God for the redemption of mankind. “ The Father sent the Son to be the Savior of the world.” (1 John 4:14.) Christ is then the Apostle of God under the New Economy as Moses was his Apostle under the Old Economy. True, indeed, Moses is nowhere called the Apostle of God in the Holy Scrip­tures; but words equivalent to these occur frequently in the Old Testament. In Exodus 3:10, for example, God says to Moses, “ Come, now, therefore, and I will send thee unto Pharaoh, that thou may- est bring forth my people the children of Israel out of Egypt.” And in the twelfth verse of the same chapter he says, “ And this shall be a token unto thee, that I have sent thee.” See also Exodus 3:13-15 Exodus 4:28 Exodus 5:22 Exodus 7:16, etc. It is evident, therefore, that our author here applies this term to Christ as the Apostle, or Messen­ger, of the New Covenant (Mai. 3: 1), for the purpose of compar­ing him in this capacity with Moses the renowned and honored Apostle of the Old Covenant. They were both sent by God; and were therefore the Apostles of God.

But the ministry of Christ, as Paul now proceeds to show, was far superior to that of Moses. In the fourth, sixth, and eighth sections of the Epistle, the priesthood of Christ is compared with that of Aaron, and shown to be supe­rior to it in every respect.

Hebrews 3:1 —of our profession,—The Greek word here rendered profession (homologia) means (1) an agreement or compact; and (2) an ad­mission, acknowledgment, or confession. It is God’ s prerogative to speak (legein), and it is man’ s duty and privilege to acknowl­edge homologein) the justice and propriety of what he says. Thus God spoke the words of the Old Covenant from Mount Sinai (Exodus 20-23), and the people then acknowledged his words, and consented to observe and do all that he had commanded (Exodus 24 :3)

In like manner God has made known to us all the terms and stipulations of the New Covenant; and to these he requires us to give a hearty and unreserved assent and acknowledgment. But as Christ is himself the central truth, the Alpha and the Omega, of the New Covenant, it follows of course that all things pertaining to it are briefly summed up in the confession that “ Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God.” (Matthew 16:16.) “ On this rock,” says Christ, “ I will build my Church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.” (Matthew 16:17.) This soon became publicly known as “ The Confession” of the primitive Christians; and hence it is that the Greek article is always prefixed to the noun which is used to express it. In Paul’ s first Epistle to Timothy, for exam­ple, he says to him, “ Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eter­nal life to which thou wast called, and didst confess the good con­fession (teen kaleen homologian) before many witnesses.” (1 Timothy 6:12.) And in the next verse he says, “ I charge thee in the sight of God who quickeneth all things, and before Jesus Christ who before Pontius Pilate testified the good confession, that thou keep this commandment without spot and without reproach until the appear­ing of our Lord Jesus Christ.” See also Hebrews 4:14 Hebrews 10:23; 2 Corinthians 9:13. In all these passages the Greek article is used before the noun (homologia), as in 1 Timothy 6:12, to denote that the con­fession made by Christ and Timothy was the common and well- known confession that was then required of all, as a condition of church-membership. For as Paul says to the Roman brethren, “ with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation” (Romans 10:10). And Christ says, “ Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess before my Father who is in Heaven.” (Matthew 10:32.)

When the confession is made publicly in the presence of wit­nesses, it may also be called, as in our text, a profession (profes- sio); which means simply a public avowal of one’ s belief and senti­ments. But the word confession or acknowledgment better ex­presses the meaning of the Apostle, and is also more in harmony with Greek usage.

Hebrews 3:2 —Who was faithful to him that appointed him,— More liter­ally, as being faithful to him that made him. The present participie being (onta) indicates that fidelity to God is an abiding and perpetual characteristic of Christ in his whole sphere of labor. He came to do the will of him that sent him. (John 4:34.) This he did while he tabernacled with us here on Earth; and this he is now doing in the discharge of the higher functions of his mediatorial reign. In his hands, the government of God and the interests of mankind are alike perfectly secure. Sooner will Heaven and Earth pass away, than even one jot or one tittle of the Divine law fail in his hands.

He that appointed or made (to poieesanti) him, is, of course, God the Father. The reference here is not, as some think, to Christ’ s being eternally begotten of the Father (Bleek, Liine- mann); nor is it, as others allege, to his incarnation (Athanasius, Ambrose); but it is simply to his being officially appointed by the Father (De Wette, Delijzsch, etc.) ; to his being made the Apostle and High Priest of ou£ confession. “ It is the Lord,” says Samuel, “ that advanced Moses and Aaron, and brought your fathers up out of the land of Egypt.” (1 Samuel 12:6.) Here the Hebrew word rendered advanced means, literally, made, and it is so rendered in the Septuagint. (ho poieesan ton Mouseen kai ton Aaron.) It is, however, quite manifest that Samuel refers here, not to the crea­tion of Moses and Aaron as men, but to their official appointment as the Apostle and High Priest of the Old Covenant. See Mark 3:14. And so also the word (poieo) is used in our text. God has made Jesus both the Apostle and High Priest of our confes­sion ; and in the discharge of all the duties appertaining to these sacred functions, he (Jesus) has always been faithful.

Hebrews 3:2 —as also Moses was faithful in all his house.— That Moses was faithful in the discharge of all the duties of his office, God has him­self borne witness. “ If,” says he in his admonition to Aaron and Miriam, “ there be a prophet among you, I the Lord will make my­self known to him in a vision, and I will speak unto him in a dream. My servant Moses is not so, who is faithful in all my house. With him I will speak mouth to mouth, even apparently, and not in dark speeches; and the similitude of the Lord shall he behold.” (Numbers 12:6-8.)

This much, then, is evident, that Moses was faithful to him that appointed him, in the discharge of all his official duties. But what is the meaning of the word house (oikos) in this connection? and to whom does the pronoun his (autou) refer?

A house is a dwelling-place; and the word is manifestly used here to designate the Church of the Israelites, as God’ s ancient dwelling place. This is obvious (1) from the context. We learn from the sixth verse of this chapter, that the house over which Christ now presides and in which he officiates, is the Christian Church; which, as Paul says in his Epistle to the Ephesians (Ephesians 2:20-22), is a holy temple, fitly framed together, and designed as a habitation or dwelling-place of God through the Spirit. See also 1 Corinthians 3:16-17 1 Corinthians 6:19; 2 Corinthians 6:16; 1 Timothy 3:15; 1 Peter 2:5, etc.

The same thing is made evident also from the consideration of sundry other parallel passages, in which God is represented as ac­tually dwelling among the ancient Israelites. In Exodus 25:8, for ex­ample, God says to Moses, “ Let them [the Israelites] make me a Sanctuary that I may dwell among them.” And in Exodus 29:45, he says, “ I will dwell among the children of Israel, and I will be their God.” See also Leviticus 26:12; 1 Kings 6:11-13, etc. There can be no doubt, therefore, that the house in which Moses was faithful as the steward of God, was the house of Israel; the same as the Church of God in the wilderness. (Acts 7:38.)

Let us, then, next inquire for the proper antecedent of the pro­noun his \

Hebrews 3:1

Hebrews 3:1. Let the reader keep constantly in mind the leading thought in this book, namely, the superiority of the system of Christ over that of Moses. Holy brethren. Not that worshipers under Moses were not holy, for they were required to be so (Levit-icus 11:44, 45). But they did not become brethren by their holiness; they were born into that relationship regardless of their knowledge of God. (See 1 Samuel 3:7.) To be brethren of Christ requires a life of righteousness (Matthew 12:50), hence Paul calls these people by the term italicized. Heavenly calling is used mainly as a mark of superiority for the service under Christ over the old one.

The word apostle means one who is sent on a mission with authority to speak and act. Jesus was sent from Heaven to earth to carry out a mission of salvation. After shedding His blood in a supreme sacrifice, Jesus was qualified to reenter the court of eternal glory, there to act as the High Priest for the Christians on the merits of His shed blood, even as the high priests in the Mosaic system entered the second court of the tabernacle and temple with the blood of animals.

Hebrews 3:2

Hebrews 3:2. Who was faithful . . . as also Moses. All of the good points about Moses were equalled and some of them were excelled by Christ. They were equal as to being faithful over their own houses or religious institutions.

Hebrews 3:3

Hebrews 3:3. This man means Christ, and a point in which he excelled Moses is stated, namely, that He was the builder of his own house (the church). The house over which Moses presided was the Jewish nation of which he was not the originator.

Hebrews 3:4

Hebrews 3:4. The word man is not in the original and some is an indefinite pronoun. The idea is that as a rule, each house has its own particular builder whose activities are limited to the one house. On the other hand, God is the Master builder whose architectural powers include everything in the universe.

Hebrews 3:5

Hebrews 3:5. Moses did not build the house (Jewish nation), but he was given the honor of being a servant over it. Since he was a faithful servant, his behaviour and teaching became a testimony or background for the things which were to be spoken afterward, meaning the ordinances under Christ. (See Romans 15:4.)

Hebrews 3:6

Hebrews 3:6. Christ was even more than a faithful servant; he was a son, and was given the honor of presiding over His own house (the church), which his Father gave to him. Whose house are we refers to Paul and all others who are faithful. The faithfulness consists in maintaining our confidence or trust in Christ, which causes us to rejoice in the hope that such a divine house contains. It is necessary that our conduct in these matters be continued unto the end (of life).

Hebrews 3:7

Hebrews 3:7. Paul now makes a quotation from Psalms 95:7-11, but strengthens it with the declaration that it is the Holy Ghost (or Spirit) that says it. That means that David was inspired to make the statement. Hear his voice means to hear God who speaks to us through his Son (chapter 1:1).

Hebrews 3:8

Hebrews 3:8. Harden not your hearts is a warning not to set their minds against the teaching of Christ. As in the provocation refers to the disobedi-ence of ancient Israel by which they provoked God into punishing them. Paul specifies the circumstance to which he refers by mention of the days they were going through the wilderness.

Hebrews 3:9

Hebrews 3:9. The apostle gives further explanation of his preceding warning by the words of this verse. Your fathers means the first heads of the Jewish nation. Tempted and proved occurred when the disobedience of the Israelites put the patience of God to a test. Such conduct on their part was without cause, for they had abundance of evidence that He was able to care for them under all conditions, and also that He would punish them for their rebellion. All of this was manifested to them during the forty years in the wilderness.

Hebrews 3:10

Hebrews 3:10. To be grieved means God was “wroth or displeased with” them according to Thayer’s lexicon. That generation has reference to the heads of the nation who were leaders in the rebellious actions. Their misconduct was due to a heart or mind filled with error. As a result of such an attitude toward God, they failed to become acquainted with His ways or the ways the Lord wished the people to follow.

Hebrews 3:11

Hebrews 3:11. God swore or made a solemn decision against the disobedient people. This was caused by His wrath or grief as mentioned in verse 10. The decision was that they should not be permitted to enter into my rest. This rest refers to their settlement in the promised land, which the Lord had designed should come to his people after the weariness of the wandering. God calls it his rest because he designed it to be an antitype of the rest on the seventh day from His works of creation.

Hebrews 3:12

Hebrews 3:12. Take heed is the same warning made in verse 8, for these Christians not to make the same mistake their Jewish forefathers made in the wilderness. Unbelief is shown to cause man to have an evil heart. Such a heart will cause a man to depart from the living God. This is the same warning Paul gave in his epistle to the church at Corinth (1 Corinthians 10:1-11). We should profit by the mistakes of others and thus avoid a like falling from the favor of the Lord. The record of these things is placed in the Old Testament for our benefit (Romans 15:4).

Hebrews 3:13

Hebrews 3:13. To exhort means to insist on doing what we know to be our duty. These brethen knew it was their duty to listen to the teaching given by Christ, for they just had the instruction in this epistle. They were told to do the exhorting daily which would require frequent contact with each other. Such an intimacy was expected of the people of Christ, and it was even predicted that it would be so. In Malachi 3:16 we may read, “Then they that feared the Lord spake often to each other.” While it is called to day is equivalent to saying, “While the days are going by.” This teaching of Paul is not very favorable to the notion of half-hearted disciples who insist that Christians have no need to assemble except on Lord’s Day to “partake of the communion.” Hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. The Lord knew that frequent contact with each other was necessary to prevent disciples being deceived by sin.

Hebrews 3:14

Hebrews 3:14. This verse is virtually the same as verse 6. To be a partaker of Christ is to have part in the good things He has in store for his faithful disciples.

Hebrews 3:15

Hebrews 3:15. While it is said signifies that the admonition will not always be given, hence while it is to day is the time to heed the admonition given by the apostle. Hebrews 3:16 Hebrews 3:16. Again the apostle wishes his readers to profit by the mistakes of their forefathers. For some indicates that Paul has reference to a certain part of the Jewish people in the wilderness. We may often hear some such a remark as the following: “Of the vast congreation that left Egypt only two ever reached the promised land.” This will be said in spite of the positive statement that the failure to go through did not happen to all that came out of Egypt by Moses. This kind of statement would indicate a greater number of exceptions than only two.

Hebrews 3:17

Hebrews 3:17. This verse explains that the forgoing sad fate pertained only to the sinners—those able to be responsible for their actions. Those were the ones only whose carcases fell in the wilderness. The identity of the class that fell is made still more definite in Numbers 14:22-31. By considering these several verses it may be seen that only the men of war are considered when just two were to be permitted to enter the land of promise. We have no definite information as to how many women and children made the entire journey from Egypt to Canaan.

Hebrews 3:18

Hebrews 3:18. The ones who were to be unable to enter the land of promise are again mentioned under the general description of them that believed not.

Hebrews 3:19

Hebrews 3:19. All of the shortcomings the Israelites committed in the wilderness are charged up against unbelief. This is significant and teaches the fundamental truth that whenever professed disciples fail to do their duty, it may be laid to their lack of faith.