Hebrews 2:1-4 … The danger of neglecting so great a salvation and drifting away
“Therefore we must give the more earnest heed to the things we have heard, lest we drift away.
For if the word spoken through angels proved steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just reward, how shall we escape IF we neglect so great a salvation, which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed to us by those who heard Him, God also bearing witness both with signs and wonders, with various miracles, and gifts of the Holy Spirit, according to His own will?”
Hebrews 3:6--4:11 … A whole lot of dangers (I count 7)
“… Christ is a Son over His own house, whose house we are, IF we hold fast the confidence
and the rejoicing of the hope firm to the end … Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God … lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. For we have become partakers of Christ, IF we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end, while it is said: “Today, if you will hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.” For who, having heard, rebelled? Indeed, was it not all who came out of Egypt, led by Moses? Now with whom was He angry forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose corpses fell in the wilderness? And to whom did He swear that they would not enter His rest, but to those who did not obey? So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief. Therefore, since a promise remains of entering His rest, let us fear lest any of you seem to have come short of it. … Since therefore it remains that some must enter it, and those to whom it was first preached did not enter because of disobedience … Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone fall according to the same example of disobedience.”
• Please note that disobedience is equated with unbelief, i.e. true belief demands obedience.
Hebrews 6:4-8 … The danger of falling away after having been partakers of the Holy Spirit
“For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted the heavenly gift, and have become partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, IF they fall away, to renew them again to repentance, since they crucify again for themselves the Son of God, and put Him to an open shame. For the earth which drinks in the rain that often comes upon it, and bears herbs useful for those by whom it is cultivated, receives blessing from God; but IF it bears thorns and briers, it is rejected and near to being cursed, whose end is to be burned.”
Hebrews 10:26-39 … The danger of sinning & drawing back to perdition after receiving truth
“For IF we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and fiery indignation which will devour the adversaries. Anyone who has rejected Moses’ law dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. Of how much worse punishment, do you suppose, will he be thought worthy who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, counted the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified a common thing, and insulted the Spirit of grace? For we know Him who said, ‘Vengeance is Mine, I will repay’, says the Lord. And again, ‘The Lord will judge His people.’ It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. … Therefore do not cast away your confidence, which has great reward. For you have need of endurance, so that after you have done the will of God, you may receive the promise: ‘For yet a little while, and He who is coming will come and will not tarry. Now the just shall live by faith; but IF anyone draws back, My soul has no pleasure in him.’ But we are not of those who draw back to perdition, but of those who believe to the saving of the soul.”
• In this last sentence, please note Paul’s usual tactful method of softening his blows with encouragement, edification, exhortation (and in this case, he is also being hopeful).
Hebrews 12:25-29 … The danger of refusing God who has spoken from heaven
“See that you do not refuse Him who speaks. For if they did not escape who refused Him who spoke on earth, much more shall we not escape, IF we turn away from Him who speaks from heaven, whose voice then shook the earth; but now He has promised, saying, ‘Yet once more I shake not only the earth, but also heaven.” Now this, ‘Yet once more’, indicates the removal of those things that are being shaken, as of things that are made, that the things which cannot be shaken may remain. Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us have grace, by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear. For our God is a consuming fire.”
“Therefore we must give the more earnest heed to the things we have heard, lest we drift away.
For if the word spoken through angels proved steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just reward, how shall we escape IF we neglect so great a salvation, which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed to us by those who heard Him, God also bearing witness both with signs and wonders, with various miracles, and gifts of the Holy Spirit, according to His own will?”
Hebrews 3:6--4:11 … A whole lot of dangers (I count 7)
“… Christ is a Son over His own house, whose house we are, IF we hold fast the confidence
and the rejoicing of the hope firm to the end … Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God … lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. For we have become partakers of Christ, IF we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end, while it is said: “Today, if you will hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.” For who, having heard, rebelled? Indeed, was it not all who came out of Egypt, led by Moses? Now with whom was He angry forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose corpses fell in the wilderness? And to whom did He swear that they would not enter His rest, but to those who did not obey? So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief. Therefore, since a promise remains of entering His rest, let us fear lest any of you seem to have come short of it. … Since therefore it remains that some must enter it, and those to whom it was first preached did not enter because of disobedience … Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone fall according to the same example of disobedience.”
• Please note that disobedience is equated with unbelief, i.e. true belief demands obedience.
Hebrews 6:4-8 … The danger of falling away after having been partakers of the Holy Spirit
“For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted the heavenly gift, and have become partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, IF they fall away, to renew them again to repentance, since they crucify again for themselves the Son of God, and put Him to an open shame. For the earth which drinks in the rain that often comes upon it, and bears herbs useful for those by whom it is cultivated, receives blessing from God; but IF it bears thorns and briers, it is rejected and near to being cursed, whose end is to be burned.”
Hebrews 10:26-39 … The danger of sinning & drawing back to perdition after receiving truth
“For IF we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and fiery indignation which will devour the adversaries. Anyone who has rejected Moses’ law dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. Of how much worse punishment, do you suppose, will he be thought worthy who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, counted the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified a common thing, and insulted the Spirit of grace? For we know Him who said, ‘Vengeance is Mine, I will repay’, says the Lord. And again, ‘The Lord will judge His people.’ It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. … Therefore do not cast away your confidence, which has great reward. For you have need of endurance, so that after you have done the will of God, you may receive the promise: ‘For yet a little while, and He who is coming will come and will not tarry. Now the just shall live by faith; but IF anyone draws back, My soul has no pleasure in him.’ But we are not of those who draw back to perdition, but of those who believe to the saving of the soul.”
• In this last sentence, please note Paul’s usual tactful method of softening his blows with encouragement, edification, exhortation (and in this case, he is also being hopeful).
Hebrews 12:25-29 … The danger of refusing God who has spoken from heaven
“See that you do not refuse Him who speaks. For if they did not escape who refused Him who spoke on earth, much more shall we not escape, IF we turn away from Him who speaks from heaven, whose voice then shook the earth; but now He has promised, saying, ‘Yet once more I shake not only the earth, but also heaven.” Now this, ‘Yet once more’, indicates the removal of those things that are being shaken, as of things that are made, that the things which cannot be shaken may remain. Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us have grace, by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear. For our God is a consuming fire.”
