Hebrews 4:14 Komentář

The apostle, having in the foregoing chapter set forth the sin and punishment of the ancient Jews, proceeds in this, I. To declare that our privileges by Christ under the gospel exceed the privileges of the Jewish church under Moses, as a reason why we should make a right improvement of them (Heb 4:1-4). II. He assigns the cause why the ancient Hebrews did not profit by their religious privileges (Heb 4:2). Then, II. Confirms the privileges of those who believe, and the misery of those who continue in unbelief (Heb 4:3-10). IV. Concludes with proper and powerful arguments and motives to faith and obedience.

INTRODUCTION TO HEBREWS 4 From the punishment inflicted on the unbelieving Hebrews, who died in the wilderness, and entered not into the land of rest made mention of in the preceding chapter, the apostle proceeds to caution the present Hebrews of his time, and who professed faith in Christ, lest seeing there was a rest, and a promise of entering into it, they should seem to come short of it, Heb 4:1, and the rather, since they that fell in the wilderness had the Gospel preached to them as well as they; and the reason why it did not profit was, because it was not received by faith, Heb 4:2 as also seeing it is by faith that believers now enter into rest, Heb 4:3 which rest is not the rest of the seventh day, on which God rested; nor, the rest of the land of Canaan, which Joshua led the Israelites into; for if he had entered them into the rest the apostle means, David, so many hundred years after him, would not have made mention of another rest, Heb 4:4 wherefore it follows that there is another rest for the people of God, which he that enters into ceases from his own works, as God did from his, Heb 4:9 and this is the rest that everyone that professes faith in Christ, should be solicitous and diligent to enter into, lest he should fall short of it through unbelief; as the unbelieving Israelites did of their rest, Heb 4:11 and the arguments engaging to such a concern are taken from the properties and perfections of Christ, the essential Word of God; particularly from his omnipotence and his omniscience, Heb 4:12. And seeing he is by nature the Son of God, and by office a great high priest that is entered into heaven for his people, the encouragement is great to hold fast the profession of faith in him they have made, Heb 4:14 and the rather since he is a sympathizing high priest, as he must needs be, since he has been tempted, afflicted, and has suffered every way as his people, and is in all respects like them, excepting that he has no sin, Heb 4:15 and this consideration should engage believers to come to the throne of grace with all boldness, and in expectation of having grace and mercy bestowed on them for the supply of their daily wants, Heb 4:16.

For we have not an high priest,.... That is cruel and unmerciful; the saints have an high priest, but not such an one: which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; such as bodily diseases and wants, persecutions from men, and the temptations of Satan; under all which Christ sympathizes with his people; and which sympathy of his arises from his knowledge and experience of these things, and the share he has had of them, and from that union there is between him and his people: and it is not a bare sympathy, but is attended with his assistance, support, and deliverance; and the consideration of it is of great comfort to the saints: but was in all points tempted like as we are: of the temptations of Christ, and of the saints; see Gill on Heb 2:18. yet without sin; there was no sin in his nature; though he was encompassed about with infirmities, yet not with sinful infirmities, only sinless ones; nor was there any sin in his temptations; though he was solicited to sin by Satan, yet he could find none in him to work upon; nor could he draw him into the commission of any sin.

The greatest possible likeness to the Logos, the hope of being established fully as adopted sons of the Father—this is our goal, a sonship that constantly glorifies the Father through “the great high priest” who deigned to call us “brothers” and “fellow heirs.”

I think that the saints, as they depart from this life, will remain in some place situated on the earth that the divine scripture calls “paradise.” This will be a place of instruction and, so to speak, a lecture room or school for souls, in which they may be taught about all that they had seen on earth. They may also receive some indications of what is to follow in the future, just as … in this life they had obtained certain indications of the future, seen indeed “through a glass darkly” and truly “in part,” which are revealed more clearly and brightly to the saints in their proper times and places. If any are “pure in heart” and of unpolluted mind and well-trained understanding, they will make swifter progress and quickly ascend to the region of the air until they reach the kingdom of the heavens, passing through the series of those “rooms,” if I may so call them, which the Greeks have termed spheres, that is, globes, but which the divine Scripture calls heavens. In each of these they will first observe all that happens there and then learn the reason why it happens; and thus they will proceed in order through each stage, following him who has “passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God,” and who has said, “I desire that they also may be with me where I am.” Further, he alludes to this diversity of places when he says, “In my Father’s house are many rooms.” He himself, however, is everywhere and runs through all things. And we are no longer to think of him as being confined within those narrow limits in which he once lived for our sakes, that is, in that circumscribed condition which was his when he dwelt on earth among humans in a body like ours, so that it was then possible to think of him as being enclosed in some one place.

You will ascertain a right understanding of this Scripture and others if in Christ you are fond of learning and you rise above learning “through a mirror” and “in an enigma,” desiring to rush to him who calls. And you will approach knowing “face to face,” as friends of your Father and teacher in heaven. For friends learn not through enigmas but by what is seen or by wisdom stripped of sounds, speech, symbols and types, attending to the nature of things perceived and the beauty of truth. If you believe that Paul was caught up to the third heaven and was caught up in paradise and heard what cannot be expressed, which no one may utter, you will then know the unexpressed things which were revealed to Paul when he descended from the third heaven. At once you will know more and greater things, after the revealing and descent, if you take up the cross and follow after Jesus, in whom we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens. And you yourselves will pass through the heavens if you do not fail to follow him, rising above not only the earth and the mysteries of earth, but also heaven and its mysteries. For in God there are many greater things treasured up than these visions, which no bodily nature can attain unless it first is set free from all that is corporeal. For I am persuaded that God has stored up and keeps for himself many greater things than these, which the sun and moon and company of stars and even the holy angels know of, which God made by wind and flame of fire. He has done this so that he may reveal them, when all creation is set free from slavery to the enemy and obtains the glorious freedom of the children of God.

For I also, taking my journey, and going forth from the Egypt of this life, came first to the resurrection, which is the true Feast of the Tabernacles, and there having set up my tabernacle, adorned with the fruits of virtue, on the first day of the resurrection, which is the day of judgment, celebrate with Christ the millennium of rest, which is called the seventh day, even the true Sabbath. Then again from thence I, a follower of Jesus, "who hath entered into the heavens"

These things indeed (he would say) are sufficient to instruct us. But we have also "a great High Priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God." Because he added it, for this reason he went on, "For we have not an High Priest who cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities." Therefore he said above, "In that He hath suffered Himself being tempted, He is able to succor them which are tempted." See then how here also he does the same. And what he says is to this effect: He went (he says) the road which we also are going now, or rather even a more rugged one. For He had experience of all human sufferings. He had said above "There is no creature that is not manifest in His sight," intimating His Godhead; then, since he had touched on the flesh, he again discourses more condescendingly, saying (ver. 14), "Having then a great High Priest, that is passed into the heavens": and shows that His care is greater and that He protects them as His own, and would not have them fall away. For Moses indeed (he says) did not enter into the rest, while He Christ did enter in. And it is wonderful how he has nowhere stated the same, lest they might seem to find an excuse; he however implied it, but that he might not appear to bring an accusation against the man, he did not say it openly. For if, when none of these things had been said, they yet brought forward these charges, saying, This man hath spoken against Moses and against the law (see Acts xxi. 21, Acts xxi. 28); much more, if he had said, It is not Palestine but Heaven, would they have said stronger things than these. But he attributes not all to the Priest, but requires also what is to come from us, I mean our profession. For "having," he says, "a great High Priest, who is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession" or "confession". What sort of profession does he mean? That there is a Resurrection, that there is a retribution: that there are good things innumerable; that Christ is God, that the Faith is right. These things let us profess, these things let us hold fast. For that they are true, is manifest from the fact, that the High Priest is within. We have not failed of our hopes, let us confess; although the realities are not present, yet let us confess: if already they were present they were but a lie. So that this also is true, that our good things are deferred. For our High Priest also is Great.

In what has been commented on before, he made the comparison of the different kinds of rest and brought out that the rest promised to us is better than that pledged to Jews: to them he pledged the land of promise, whereas to us heaven. Here on the other hand he now develops the contrast of high priesthood and brings out that the high priesthood according to the order of Melchizedek is far better and greater than the levitical kind. Adopting once again exhortatory mode, he makes the comparison lest he seem to those still embracing the way of life according to the law to be hostile to the law and not rather defending the truth.… The apostolic verses also teach us this: they present him as having passed through the heavens, whereas the divinity of Christ the Lord has an uncircumscribed nature, is present everywhere and is near to everyone. The Lord himself also taught us this, “No one has ascended to heaven except the one who descended from heaven, the Son of man, who is in heaven.” Though being here below and conversing with human beings, he claimed also to be on high. It is therefore necessary for us to realize that some names are appropriate to the divinity, some to the incarnation.

Therefore, let us not be subjected to those tremendous punishments, since we have a great high priest, let us hold fast our profession, that is, let us not abandon the faith which is in Him, but let us firmly hold it within ourselves. What is it, then? Who has passed through the heavens? He is not, he says, like Moses who could not enter the land of promise, nor did he introduce the people, but Christ has also passed through the heavens and sits on the throne of the Father; therefore, He can also introduce us. He calls Himself a priest because He offered Himself as a victim to God the Father. For it is proper for a priest to offer sacrifices for the people.

As if at someone's request to give us counsel so that we would not lose heart and surrender to faintheartedness, he says that what has been said is sufficient for teaching us fear and for making us more steadfast. But besides that, we also have a "High Priest" who can help us, if only we hold fast to the confession; for He is not small or insignificant, but great — He is the Son of God. And He is not like Moses. Moses neither entered into rest himself nor led the people into it; but this One, having passed through the heavens, sits with the Father and is able to give us entrance into the heavens, and has made us heirs of the promised rest. He does not attribute everything to the High Priest, but requires participation from us as well. He is able, but on the condition that we too are worthy. What confession is he speaking of here? That there is a resurrection, there is recompense, and innumerable blessings there, that Christ is God. Let us then hold fast to this confession. Let us not allow it to dry up within us. What we confessed at the beginning of faith, let us hold firmly, and all that is fearful will vanish.

Having exhorted them to hasten to enter into God's rest, and as an inducement citing Christ's greatness according to His divine nature, the Apostle here does the same in regard to His human nature. He does three things: first, he states His dignity; secondly, he shows his piety (v. 15); thirdly, he urges us to have confidence in Him (v. 16). He says, therefore: Thus we have said that we can speak to Him, Who is the living Word, the true judge and the high priest, Since we have a great high priest: 'You are a priest for ever according to the order of Melchizedech' (Ps. 104:4). Nor is He just a high priest, but He is a great one: 'and the Lord showed me Jesus the high priest standing before the angel of the Lord' (Zech 3:1). But He is called great, because He is not a high priest of temporal goods only, but of goods to come: 'but Christ being come a high priest of the good things to come' (Heb. 9:11). Now two things pertained to a great high priest: one was his office, namely, to enter once a year with blood into the Holy of Holies. But this befits Christ in a special way: for the one enters with blood into a figurative Holy of Holies; but Christ through His own blood entered into the heavenly holy of holies. Hence, he says, 'who has passed through the heavens', i.e., He entered by His own power. The second thing is that he should be from a certain tribe, namely, from the stock of Aaron. But this belongs to Christ, Who is of nobler origin; hence, He is called the Son of God: 'This is my beloved Son' (Mt. 3:17); 'You are my son; this day have I begotten you' (Ps. 2:7). Therefore, because we have this high priest, let us hold fast our confession, i.e., let us cling with all our heart, because, as it says in Rom. (10:10): 'With the heart we believe unto justice; but with the mouth, confession is made unto salvation.' But Christ, the greatest high priest, demands this confession: 'Everyone that shall confess me before men, I will also confess before my Father who is in heaven' (Mt. 10:32). But he says, our confession. This can be understood in two ways: in one way, that the confession, as taken here, is a confession of faith. But faith is the source of hope. But Abraham begot Isaac, i.e., faith begot hope, not as a habit but as to its order to the act. For no one can hope or should hope for anything but what he can obtain. But the fact that we can obtain eternal things is due to faith.

As the Christian rest is to be obtained by faith, we should beware of unbelief lest we lose it, as the Hebrews did theirs, Heb 4:1. The reason why they were not brought into the rest promised to them, Heb 4:2. The rest promised to the Hebrews was a type of that promised to Christians, Heb 4:3-10. Into this rest we should earnestly labor to enter, Heb 4:11. A description of the word of God, Heb 4:12, Heb 4:13. Jesus is our sympathetic High Priest, Heb 4:15. Through him we have confidence to come to God, Heb 4:16.

Seeing then that we have a great high priest - It is contended, and very properly, that the particle ουν, which we translate seeing, as if what followed was an immediate inference from what the apostle had been speaking, should be translated now; for the apostle, though he had before mentioned Christ as the High Priest of our profession, Heb 3:1, and as the High Priest who made reconciliation for the sins of the people, Heb 2:17, does not attempt to prove this in any of the preceding chapters, but now enters upon that point, and discusses it at great length to the end of chap. 10. After all, it is possible that this may be a resumption of the discourse from Heb 3:6; the rest of that chapter, and the preceding thirteen verses of this, being considered as a parenthesis. These parts left out, the discourse runs on with perfect connection. It is very likely that the words, here, are spoken to meet an objection of those Jews who wished the Christians of Palestine to apostatize: "You have no tabernacle - no temple - no high priest - no sacrifice for sin. Without these there can be no religion; return therefore to us, who have the perfect temple service appointed - by God." To these he answers: We have a High Priest who is passed into the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God; therefore let us hold fast our profession. See on Heb 3:1 (note), to which this verse seems immediately to refer. Three things the apostle professes to prove in this epistle: - 1. That Christ is greater than the angels. 2. That he is greater than Moses. 3. That he is greater than Aaron, and all high priests. The two former arguments, with their applications and illustrations, he has already despatched; and now he enters on the third. See the preface to this epistle. The apostle states, 1. That we have a high priest. 2. That this high priest is Jesus, the Son of God; not a son or descendant of Aaron, nor coming in that way, but in a more transcendent line. 3. Aaron and his successors could only pass into the holy of holies, and that once a year; but our High Priest has passed into the heavens, of which that was only the type. There is an allusion here to the high priest going into the holy of holies on the great day of atonement. 1. He left the congregation of the people. 2. He passed through the veil into the holy place, and was not seen even by the priests. 3. He entered through the second veil into the holy of holies, where was the symbol of the majesty of God. Jesus, our High Priest, 1. Left the people at large. 2. He left his disciples by ascending up through the visible heavens, the clouds, as a veil, screening him from their sight. 3. Having passed through these veils, he went immediately to be our Intercessor: thus he passed ουρανους, the visible or ethereal heavens, into the presence of the Divine Majesty; through the heavens, διεληλυθοτα τους ουρανους, and the empyreum, or heaven of heavens.

THE PROMISE OF GOD'S REST IS FULLY REALIZED THROUGH CHRIST: LET US STRIVE TO OBTAIN IT BY HIM, OUR SYMPATHIZING HIGH PRIEST. (Heb. 4:1-16) Let us . . . fear--not with slavish terror, but godly "fear and trembling" (Phi 2:12). Since so many have fallen, we have cause to fear (Heb 3:17-19). being left us--still remaining to us after the others have, by neglect, lost it. his rest--God's heavenly rest, of which Canaan is the type. "To-day" still continues, during which there is the danger of failing to reach the rest. "To-day," rightly used, terminates in the rest which, when once obtained, is never lost (Rev 3:12). A foretaste of the rest Is given in the inward rest which the believer's soul has in Christ. should seem to come short of it--Greek, "to have come short of it"; should be found, when the great trial of all shall take place [ALFORD], to have fallen short of attaining the promise. The word "seem" is a mitigating mode of expression, though not lessening the reality. BENGEL and OWEN take it, Lest there should be any semblance or appearance of falling short.

Seeing then--Having, therefore; resuming Heb 2:17. great--as being "the Son of God, higher than the heavens" (Heb 7:26): the archetype and antitype of the legal high priest. passed into the heavens--rather, "passed through the heavens," namely, those which come between us and God, the aerial heaven, and that above the latter containing the heavenly bodies, the sun, moon, &c. These heavens were the veil which our High Priest passed through into the heaven of heavens, the immediate presence of God, just as the Levitical high priest passed through the veil into the Holy of Holies. Neither Moses, nor even Joshua, could bring us into this rest, but Jesus, as our Forerunner, already spiritually, and hereafter in actual presence, body, soul, and spirit, brings His people into the heavenly rest. Jesus--the antitypical Joshua (Heb 4:8). hold fast--the opposite of "let slip" (Heb 2:1); and "fall away" (Heb 6:6). As the genitive follows, the literally, sense is, "Let us take hold of our profession," that is, of the faith and hope which are subjects of our profession and confession. The accusative follows when the sense is "hold fast" [TITTMANN].