8. The introduction of 6 Aéyos, or “the Word,” here, is with respect unto a commination or an admonition ; for the design of it is to beget a reverence or fear in the minds of men about their de- portment in the profession of the gospel, because of the consequents of disobedience in punishment and revenge. Now the Lord Christ is particularly termed the “ Word of God” with respect unto the judgments that he exerciseth with regard unto his church and his gospel, Rey. xix. 13. That administration, therefore, being here re- spected, gives occasion unto a peculiar ascription of that name unto him, the “ Word of God,” who will destroy all the opposers and for- sakers of the gospel.
4. It cannot be denied, nor is it by any, but that it is the person of the Son, or of the Father, that is intended, verse 13. Indeed it is directly of the Son, as we shall manifest from the close of the words; but all confess God to be intended. Nor can these expres- sions, of “all things manifest in his sight,” and being “ opened and naked unto his eyes,” be applied unto any other, or intend any other but God; and that it is the Son who is especially intended the close
356 AN EXPOSITION OF THE [CHAP. Iv.
of the verse doth evince, pis ov juiv 6 Aéyos. He speaks of “ him with whom we have to do.’ Some take zpi¢ oy here for zep/ ob, “concerning whom ;” 74u7 6 Aéyos, “nostra oratio est,” “ our discourse is:’ which must needs denote the Son, concerning whom in this whole epistle he treats with the Hebrews. Ours, “ with whom we have to do;” that is, in this matter,—who hath a concernment in us and our steadfastness or declension in profession. And this also properly and immediately designs the person of the Son. The pre- cise sense of the words is, “cut a nobis reddenda ratio est,”—“ to whom we must give an account,” both here and hereafter. So Chry- sostom and the Syriac translation expressly. Principally this re- spects the last day’s account, called our Adyos, or “ratiocinium:” Heb. xii. 17, “They watch for your souls, a¢ Advyov dwodsdicovres,”—“ as those that must give an account.” Luke xvi. 2, ’Aqédog riv A6yov,— “ Give an account of thy stewardship.” Rom. xiv. 12, “ Every one of us Adyey ddice,”—“ shall give an account of himself unto God.” 1 Pet. iv. 5, Of d&rodacouer Aéyov,—“ Who shall give an account unto him who is ready to judge the quick and the dead.” And this ac- count is certainly to be given up immediately to Jesus Christ, Acts xvil. 31, Rom. xiv. 9, 10. Nor is it any way obstructive to the em- bracing of this sense, that 6 Aéyo¢ should be taken so diversely in the beginning of the 12th and end of the 13th verse, during the conti- nuation of the same discourse. For such an antanaclasis is not only very frequent but very elegant: ‘O Adyog rod cod, wpds dv mudi 6 Adyos. See Matt. viii. 22, 2 Cor. v. 21, Johni. 11. It is therefore the per- son of Christ which is undeniably intended in the 13th verse, even he to whom we must give an account of our profession, of our faith and obedience. And the relative, wrod, in the first clause of that verse, in “his sight,” can refer to nothing properly but 6 Adyog or “ Word of God,” verse 12. And its dependence is clear thereon: “Is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart; neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight.’ So a reason is as- signed in the beginning of the 13th verse of what was affirmed in the close of the 12th: he is “ a discerner of the thoughts of the heart,” because “ all things are manifest unto him.”
5. The attributes here ascribed to the word, verse 12, do all of them properly belong unto the person of Christ, and cannot firstly and directly be ascribed to the gospel. This shall be manifested in the ensuing explication of the words:—
(1.) It is said to be Cav, “ vivus,” “ vivens,’—“living;” which, as was observed, we have translated ambiguously, “ quick.” Zay is ap- plied to God himself, as expressing a property of his nature, Matt. xvi. 16, 1 Tim. iv. 10, Heb. iii, 12. And it is also peculiarly ascribed unto Christ the mediator, Rev. i 18. And he is 6 @é», “the living one.” And two things are intended in it:—[1.] That he who is so
VER. 12, 13.] EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS. 357
“hath life in himself.” [2.] That he is the “ Lord of life” unto others. Both which are emphatically spoken of the Son. [1.] He “ hath life in himself,” John v. 26; and, [2.] He is the “Prince of life,” Acts iii, 15, or the author of it. He hath the disposal of the life of all, whereunto all our concernments temporal and eternal do belong. See Johni. 4, And it is evident how suitable unto the purpose of the apostle the mention hereof at this time is. He minds the Hebrews that he with whom they have to do in this matter is “the living one.” As in like manner he had before exhorted them to “take heed of departing from the living God,” and afterwards warns them how “ fearful a thing it is to fall into the hands of the living God,” chap. x. 31; so here, to dissuade them from the one and to awe them with the other, he minds them that “the Word of God,” with whom in an especial manner they have to do, is “living.” What is contained in this consideration hath been declared on chap. iii. 13. Now this cannot properly be ascribed unto the word of the gospel. It is, indeed, the instrumental means of quickening the souls of men with spiritual life, or it is the instrument that the Lord Christ maketh use of to that purpose; but in itself it is not absolutely “liv- ing,” —it hath not life in itself, nor in its power. But Christ hath so; for “in him is life, and the life is the light of men,” John i. 4, And this one property of him with whom we have to do contains the two great motives unto obedience; namely, that on the one side he is able to support us in it, and reward us eternally for it; on the other, that he is able to avenge all disobedience. The one will not be unrewarded, nor the other unrevenged; for he is “ the living one” with whom in these things we have to do.