200 AN EXPOSITION OF THE [CHAP. IV.
Ver. 1, 2.—Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left of entering into his rest, any of you should seem at any time to come short [to fail]. For unto us was the gospel preached, even as unto them [we were evangelized even as they|; but the word of hearing did not profit them, being not mixed with faith in them that heard.
These two verses, as they may and do contain an improvement of the example and inferences made from it, as expressed in the pre- ceding chapter, so withal and principally the apostle gives the He- brews a further demonstration that what he had insisted on was of near concernment unto them, and that their condition was therein represented. For they might be apt to say, ‘ What have we to do with the people in the wilderness, with the promise of entering into Canaan, or with what the psalmist from thence exhorted our fathers unto of old, who were still held under the same dispensation?’ But saith the apostle, ‘These things belong unto you in an especial man- ner; for besides that you may in the example proposed see evidently what you are to look for and expect from God, if you fall into the same sin which he therein expresseth his severity against, so the things treated of in the psalm are a prophetical direction designed for your especial use in your present condition,’
The way in particular which the apostle insists on to press these things upon them is,—1. By exhorting them to that duty and those considerations which are the just consequents of the things by him proposed unto them; 2. By manifesting that their concernment in those things did afford him a just foundation of his exhortation. The exhortation is contained in the first verse, and the confirmation of it in the second.
Ver. 1.—And there is, verse 1,—1. The frame of spirit expressed which the apostle exhorts the Hebrews unto, on the consideration of what he had minded them of, and of their interest therein,— “Let us therefore fear.” 2. A supposition on which the exhortation to this duty and frame is founded,—“ A promise being left of enter- ing into rest.” 3. The evil to be prevented by attendance unto the duty proposed,—“ Lest any of you should seem to come short of it.” Whether this be an evil of sin or of punishment shall be afterwards inquired into.
Ver. 2.—There ensues in the second verse a confirmation of what is in the first proposed, and that,—1 On the account of a parity in
TRANSLATIONS.—Karaa. txrayy. The promise being contemned.—Erasmus, Luther, Calvin, Gerhard. That no one appear to remain behind the promise which is still left.—Cramer, Ernesti. That no one show himself as too late, seeing that a promise is still with us.—Bleek, Olshausen, Stuart. est while there is a promuse to be fulfilled, any of you imagine that he has come too late. —Sehdttgen, Baumgarten, Schulz, Wahl, Bretschneider, Ebrard.—Ep.
VER. 1, 2.| EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS. 201
condition between us and those from whom the example is taken, — Unto us was the gospel preached, even as unto them.” 2. On the account of the evil success of them in that condition, with the reason thereof,—“ But the word preached did not profit them, be- cause it was not mixed with faith in them that heard.”
Our way being thus prepared, we may open the words in par- ticular as they lie in the context.
Dobndawev otv. Oty, “therefore.”” An illative, manifesting the de- duction of the present exhortation from the preceding discourse and example. We have now several times observed that the apostle is constant unto this method, namely, of educing new exhortations immediately out of arguments doctrinally proposed and confirmed. This makes his discourse nervous, and his exhortation efficacious; shutting up the minds of them with whom he deals, leaving them no place unto evasion or tergiversation. And herein, unto the weight and authority of his words, he adds the reasonableness of his inferences, and from both concludes the neces- sity of the duty which he proposeth.
Dobndauev,—“ Let us fear.” The noun gé€o¢, and the verb poCéowan, are used in the New Testament to express all sorts of “fears” and “fearing;” such are natural, civil, sinful, and religious fear. They are therefore of a larger extent, and more various use, than any one radical word in the Old Testament.
The fear here intended is religious, relating to God, his worship, and our obedience. And this is fourfold:—First, Of terror. Secondly, Of difidence. Thirdly, Of reverence. Fourthly, Of care, solicitousness, and watchfulness. And concerning these, I shall first show what they are, or wherein they consist, and then inquire which of them it is that is here intended :—
First, There is a fear of dread and terror; and this respecteth either, 1. God; or, 2. Other things, wherein we may be concerned in his worship:—
1. Of God. And this is either expressive of, (1.) The object, the thing feared, or God himself; or, (2.) The subject, or person fearing, the frame of heart in him that feareth:—
(1.) Fear respects the object of fear, that which we do fear: “Knowing therefore riv 9éCov rod Kupiov,” 2 Cor. v. 11,—“the fear of the Lord,’ or the “terror,” as we render it; that is, how great, dreadful, holy, and terrible he is. Hence Jacob calls God, PO¥! 108, Gen. xxxi. 42, 53,—the “Fear of Isaac,” or him whom Isaac served, worshipped, feared. And 175, when it respects the subject, de- notes that kind of fear which hath greatness, dread, and terror for an object; whereas they express a reverential fear by "8. This fear the apostle hath respect unto, Heb. xii. 28, 29: “Let us serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear; for our God isa