Hebrews3
New International Version
1Therefore, holy brothers and sisters, who share in the heavenly calling, fix your thoughts on Jesus, whom we acknowledge as our apostle and high priest.
2He was faithful to the one who appointed him, just as Moses was faithful in all God’s house.
3Jesus has been found worthy of greater honor than Moses, just as the builder of a house has greater honor than the house itself.
4For every house is built by someone, but God is the builder of everything.
5“Moses was faithful as a servant in all God’s house,” bearing witness to what would be spoken by God in the future.
6But Christ is faithful as the Son over God’s house. And we are his house, if indeed we hold firmly to our confidence and the hope in which we glory.
7So, as the Holy Spirit says: “Today, if you hear his voice,
8do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion, during the time of testing in the wilderness,
9where your ancestors tested and tried me, though for forty years they saw what I did.
10That is why I was angry with that generation; I said, ‘Their hearts are always going astray, and they have not known my ways.’
11So I declared on oath in my anger, ‘They shall never enter my rest.’ ”
12See to it, brothers and sisters, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God.
13But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called “Today,” so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness.
14We have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original conviction firmly to the very end.
15As has just been said: “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion.”
16Who were they who heard and rebelled? Were they not all those Moses led out of Egypt?
17And with whom was he angry for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies perished in the wilderness?
18And to whom did God swear that they would never enter his rest if not to those who disobeyed?
19So we see that they were not able to enter, because of their unbelief.
Study Guide
Public-domain commentary and original-language notes for Hebrews 3.
Chapter Summary
In this chapter: The superior worth and dignity of Christ above Moses is shown. (1–6). The Hebrews are warned of the sin and danger of unbelief. (7–13). And of necessity of faith in Christ, and of stedfastly following him. (14–19).
vv1-6
Christ is to be considered as the Apostle of our profession, the Messenger sent by God to men, the great Revealer of that faith which we profess to hold, and of that hope which we profess to have. As Christ, the Messiah, anointed for the office both of Apostle and High Priest. As Jesus, our Saviour, our Healer, the great Physician of souls. Consider him thus. Consider what he is in himself, what he is to us, and what he will be to us hereafter and for ever. Close and serious thoughts of Christ bring us to know more of him. The Jews had a high opinion of the faithfulness of Moses, yet his faithfulness was but a type of Christ's. Christ was the Master of this house, of his church, his people, as well as their Maker. Moses was a faithful servant; Christ, as the eternal Son of God, is rightful Owner and Sovereign Ruler of the Church. There must not only be setting out well in the ways of Christ, but stedfastness and perseverance therein to the end. Every meditation on his person and his salvation, will suggest more wisdom, new motives to love, confidence, and obedience.
vv7-13
Days of temptation are often days of provocation. But to provoke God, when he is letting us see that we entirely depend and live upon him, is a provocation indeed. The hardening of the heart is the spring of all other sins. The sins of others, especially of our relations, should be warnings to us. All sin, especially sin committed by God's professing, privileged people, not only provokes God, but it grieves him. God is loth to destroy any in, or for their sin; he waits long to be gracious to them. But sin, long persisted in, will make God's wrath discover itself in destroying the impenitent; there is no resting under the wrath of God. “Take heed:” all who would get safe to heaven must look about them; if once we allow ourselves to distrust God, we may soon desert him. Let those that think they stand, take heed lest they fall. Since to-morrow is not ours, we must make the best improvement of this day. And there are none, even the strongest of the flock, who do not need help of other Christians. Neither are there any so low and despised, but the care of their standing in the faith, and of their safety, belongs to all. Sin has so many ways and colours, that we need more eyes than ours own. Sin appears fair, but is vile; it appears pleasant, but is destructive; it promises much, but performs nothing. The deceitfulness of sin hardens the soul; one sin allowed makes way for another; and every act of sin confirms the habit. Let every one beware of sin.
vv14-19
The saints' privilege is, they are made partakers of Christ, that is, of the Spirit, the nature, graces, righteousness, and life of Christ; they are interested in all Christ is, in all he has done, or will do. The same spirit with which Christians set out in the ways of God, they should maintain unto the end. Perseverance in faith is the best evidence of the sincerity of our faith. Hearing the word often is a means of salvation, yet, if not hearkened to, it will expose more to the Divine wrath. The happiness of being partakers of Christ and his complete salvation, and the fear of God's wrath and eternal misery, should stir us up to persevere in the life of obedient faith. Let us beware of trusting to outward privileges or professions, and pray to be numbered with the true believers who enter heaven, when all others fail because of unbelief. As our obedience follows according to the power of our faith, so our sins and want of care are according to the prevailing of unbelief in us.
Key Words
ὅθεν (hóthen): from which place or source or cause (adverb or conjunction)
ἅγιος (hágios): sacred (physically, pure, morally blameless or religious, ceremonially, consecrated)
ἀδελφός (adelphós): a brother (literally or figuratively) near or remote (much like G1 (Α))
μέτοχος (métochos): participant, i.e. (as noun) a sharer; by implication, an associate
ἐπουράνιος (epouránios): above the sky
κλῆσις (klēsis): an invitation (figuratively)
κατανοέω (katanoéō): to observe fully
Ἰησοῦς (Iēsoûs): Jesus (i.e. Jehoshua), the name of our Lord and two (three) other Israelites
ἀπόστολος (apóstolos): a delegate; specially, an ambassador of the Gospel; officially a commissioner of Christ ("apostle") (with miraculous powers)
καί (kaí): and, also, even, so then, too, etc.; often used in connection (or composition) with other particles or small words
Cross References
Hebrews 3Direct Old Testament quotation regarding Israel's hardening in the wilderness and the promise of rest.
Supported by Matthew Henry, Matthew Poole, JFB
The foundational Old Testament praise of Moses' faithfulness in all God's house.
Supported by Matthew Poole, JFB
Moses' prophecy that God would raise up a Prophet like unto him.
Supported by Matthew Poole, JFB
Prophesies the Branch who shall build the temple of the Lord and bear the glory.
Supported by Matthew Poole
Contrasts the law given through the servant Moses with grace and truth through Jesus Christ.
Supported by Matthew Poole, JFB
The author's own exposition of the term 'Today' from Psalm 95 in the next chapter.
Supported by Matthew Poole, JFB
Historical account of Israel tempting God ten times and seeing His miracles in the wilderness.
Supported by Matthew Poole
Paul's parallel warning using the wilderness generation as examples of unbelief and falling.
Supported by Matthew Henry, Matthew Poole
Christ as the sent one (Apostle) from the Father, delegating His own apostles.
Supported by Matthew Poole, JFB
Introduces Christ as the faithful and merciful High Priest, setting up this chapter's comparison.
Supported by Matthew Poole, JFB
Defines the 'house of God' as the church of the living God, supporting verse 6.
Supported by Matthew Poole
Believers built up as spiritual stones into a house, with Christ as Chief Corner Stone.
Supported by Matthew Henry
Exhorts believers to labor to enter that rest, lest they fall by the same unbelief.
Supported by Matthew Henry, Matthew Poole, JFB
Parallels the command to exhort and stir up one another daily to prevent hardening.
Supported by Matthew Henry
The fulfillment of God's oath that the wilderness generation would die in the desert.
Supported by Matthew Poole
Explains that the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith.
Supported by Matthew Henry, Matthew Poole