Therefore, holy brethren, partakers of a heavenly calling, consider Jesus, the Apostle and High Priest of our confession; He was faithful to Him who appointed Him, as Moses also was in all His house. For He has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses, by just so much as the builder of the house has more honor than the house. For every house is built by someone, but the builder of all things is God. Now Moses was faithful in all His house as a servant, for a testimony of those things which were to be spoken later; but Christ was faithful as a Son over His house—whose house we are, if we hold fast our confidence and the boast of our hope firm until the end.
holy brethren - (found only here in the NT) - believing Israel, identified elsewhere as the little flock (Lk 12:32)
"Believing Israel would be those who were baptized by John (Matthew 3:11) and were subsequently baptized with the Holy Ghost (Matthew 3:11, John 1:33). These are the people of Ezekiel 36:24-32; these are the people at Pentecost who must endure to the end (Matthew 24:13, Acts 3:19-21)." (T D McLean)
Apostle - Jesus is the Apostle, meaning "the one sent from God to represent God to man" (Jn 5:24)
High Priest - Jesus is also the High Priest, meaning "the one who represents man to God."
v 3 - Christ is better than Moses because Christ is the builder of God's house whereas Moses was but a servant in the house.
"In verse 3, Messiah is seen as the Builder of the house of Israel. In this verse, the writer guards that fact against any possible misunderstanding on the part of his readers. Messiah is the Builder of the house of Israel, but not by an independent will or agency of His own. He as the Son built the house, but it was as one with God who built all things, that He built the house of Israel. The special foundership of Messiah does not exclude the general foundership of God." (Kenneth S Wuest)
v 5-6 - Christ as a Son and the one over the house is therefore superior to Moses, the servant and the one in the house.
if we hold fast our confidence and the boast of our hope firm until the end - Again, the question must be who is the "we." Of course the "we" is the Hebrew readers. Now must these Hebrew readers be separated by those who truly believe and those who are only feigning belief? My guess at this point in this study is no — thinking back to Ananias and Sapphira as an example. Since Ananias and Sapphira sinned against the Holy Spirit, does that mean they never truly believed in the first place? Again, my guess is no, but I'm certainly in the minority to take this position. Here are three different author's point of views, some of which I agree with more than others:
"This verse must be understood in the light of its historical background and context. The purpose of the writing of the Epistle to the Hebrews was to meet a certain condition in the first century. It was to reach Jews who had outwardly left the temple sacrifices, had identified themselves with the visible Christian Church, had made a profession of Messiah as High Priest, and who were at the time suffering persecution from apostate Judaism in an effort to force them to renounce their professed faith in Messiah and return to the First Testament sacrifices. Now — if under the pressure of this persecution they should hold fast their confidence and rejoicing of their hope in Messiah to the end of their lives, that would show that they were saved, and if not, that would indicate that they had never been saved. This verse therefore cannot be made to refer in a secondary application to the present day, since the conditions in the first century which the verse was written to meet, do not obtain today." (Kenneth S Wuest)
"As God patiently pleaded with Israel at the first by miracles and signs and wonders, so at the end (vs. 6 and 14) He again, and also with miracle (2:4), pleaded for a like period, i.e., from Pentecost to the Judgment. During both periods the nation hardened its heart; the rejecters all perished, and the miracles ceased. 'They' (vs. 11), Greek: 'These very persons'. They did not continue steadfast unto the end. (Compare John 8:31) and lost the 'rest' (v. 18), just as their unbelieving forefathers lost the land." (G Williams)
Israel is never said to be complete in Christ as are we (Colossians 2:10); and so Israel awaits God's grace being brought to it at the return of Christ to this Earth (Acts 3:19-21, Romans 11:26-28, 1 Peter 1:13). While we are in heavenly places (Ephesians 1:30, Israel will get its prayer answered and the kingdom will come with God's will done on Earth (Matthew 6:10-13). As long as Israel's grace and Israel's kingdom remain in the future, the individual Hebrew's position remains conditional (Matthew 24:13), as our text states." (T D McLean)
holy brethren - (found only here in the NT) - believing Israel, identified elsewhere as the little flock (Lk 12:32)
"Believing Israel would be those who were baptized by John (Matthew 3:11) and were subsequently baptized with the Holy Ghost (Matthew 3:11, John 1:33). These are the people of Ezekiel 36:24-32; these are the people at Pentecost who must endure to the end (Matthew 24:13, Acts 3:19-21)." (T D McLean)
Apostle - Jesus is the Apostle, meaning "the one sent from God to represent God to man" (Jn 5:24)
High Priest - Jesus is also the High Priest, meaning "the one who represents man to God."
v 3 - Christ is better than Moses because Christ is the builder of God's house whereas Moses was but a servant in the house.
"In verse 3, Messiah is seen as the Builder of the house of Israel. In this verse, the writer guards that fact against any possible misunderstanding on the part of his readers. Messiah is the Builder of the house of Israel, but not by an independent will or agency of His own. He as the Son built the house, but it was as one with God who built all things, that He built the house of Israel. The special foundership of Messiah does not exclude the general foundership of God." (Kenneth S Wuest)
v 5-6 - Christ as a Son and the one over the house is therefore superior to Moses, the servant and the one in the house.
if we hold fast our confidence and the boast of our hope firm until the end - Again, the question must be who is the "we." Of course the "we" is the Hebrew readers. Now must these Hebrew readers be separated by those who truly believe and those who are only feigning belief? My guess at this point in this study is no — thinking back to Ananias and Sapphira as an example. Since Ananias and Sapphira sinned against the Holy Spirit, does that mean they never truly believed in the first place? Again, my guess is no, but I'm certainly in the minority to take this position. Here are three different author's point of views, some of which I agree with more than others:
"This verse must be understood in the light of its historical background and context. The purpose of the writing of the Epistle to the Hebrews was to meet a certain condition in the first century. It was to reach Jews who had outwardly left the temple sacrifices, had identified themselves with the visible Christian Church, had made a profession of Messiah as High Priest, and who were at the time suffering persecution from apostate Judaism in an effort to force them to renounce their professed faith in Messiah and return to the First Testament sacrifices. Now — if under the pressure of this persecution they should hold fast their confidence and rejoicing of their hope in Messiah to the end of their lives, that would show that they were saved, and if not, that would indicate that they had never been saved. This verse therefore cannot be made to refer in a secondary application to the present day, since the conditions in the first century which the verse was written to meet, do not obtain today." (Kenneth S Wuest)
"As God patiently pleaded with Israel at the first by miracles and signs and wonders, so at the end (vs. 6 and 14) He again, and also with miracle (2:4), pleaded for a like period, i.e., from Pentecost to the Judgment. During both periods the nation hardened its heart; the rejecters all perished, and the miracles ceased. 'They' (vs. 11), Greek: 'These very persons'. They did not continue steadfast unto the end. (Compare John 8:31) and lost the 'rest' (v. 18), just as their unbelieving forefathers lost the land." (G Williams)
Israel is never said to be complete in Christ as are we (Colossians 2:10); and so Israel awaits God's grace being brought to it at the return of Christ to this Earth (Acts 3:19-21, Romans 11:26-28, 1 Peter 1:13). While we are in heavenly places (Ephesians 1:30, Israel will get its prayer answered and the kingdom will come with God's will done on Earth (Matthew 6:10-13). As long as Israel's grace and Israel's kingdom remain in the future, the individual Hebrew's position remains conditional (Matthew 24:13), as our text states." (T D McLean)
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