39 “Even though all these were attested through their faith, they did not receive the promise.” With this statement the pastor brings to expression a tension that has been an underlying current from the beginning of this history of God’s people before Christ. How can it be that God’s ancient people received his approval but did not receive what he had promised? Verse 2 above is the key to the first half of v. 39; v. 13, to the second.1 If, then, we would understand “even though all these were attested through their faith” (v. 39a), we must look at “by [faith] the people of old were attested” in v. 2. Both “all these” in v. 39 and the “people of old” in v. 2 refer to the faithful of this chapter. Thus, from the beginning of this chapter to the end, the pastor has maintained that these heroes received divine approval (v. 6) “through their” deeds of “faith.”2 God himself attests this fact in Scripture. And yet, “they did not receive the promise” (v. 39b). We turn to v. 13: “these all died although they had not received the promises.”3 Verse 13 made it clear that God had promised to establish a people whom he would bring into his own eternal City by faith. However, “all” of these people, from Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob to the end of this chapter, did not enter that City during their earthly lives.4 Throughout their earthly sojourn they confessed themselves “aliens and transients” on the earth who had not as yet entered their home. They could only see it “from afar.” Those, however, who live after Christ can “draw near” (4:14–16; 10:19–25). In a few verses the pastor will describe them as “having come to” this heavenly City (12:22–24). The pastor makes no statement about what the faithful of old experienced after their deaths. He does affirm that, although they were approved by God, they did not receive the promise of the eternal City. They could not begin to enjoy the privileges of that abode during their earthly sojourn because they could not yet avail themselves of the benefits provided by Christ.5

40 This is exactly what the pastor means when he says that they could not begin to participate in that City “because God has provided something better for us.”6 In Greek “for us” is put second for emphasis, right after “God,” the first word in the sentence. This “something better” can be nothing less than the cleansing from sin and restoration to God that are the present possession of the people of God through the work of Christ—the “better covenant” (7:22; 8:6) and the “better hope through which we draw near to God” (7:19) because Christ’s better sacrifice (cf. 9:22–23) has removed our sin.7 The pastor has already described contemporary believers who have been fitted for access to God through cleansing from sin as being “made perfect” (10:14).8 The faithful of old could not experience this being “made perfect” through cleansing from sin “without us” because Christ had not yet come. The pastor’s implication is that now, since Christ has come, all the faithful experience this cleansing from sin and access to God through Christ.9 Thus, the pastor forges the strongest bond between God’s people before and after Christ: in order to attain the promised eternal city, “we” need their persevering faith; “they” need the benefits that are “ours” through Christ.

As noted above, the perfecting of believers in 10:14 referred to their being cleansed from sin through Christ so that they could draw near to God and thus enter the divine presence. Many interpreters, however, contend that here in 11:40 and in 12:23 the perfecting of believers refers to their final entrance into God’s presence in the eternal City at the climax of their pilgrimage.10 Thus, one can speak of a “cultic” perfection in 10:14 and an “eschatological” perfection in both 11:40 and 12:23.11 However, the meaning of “perfected” in 10:14 is the simplest explanation of both 11:40 and 12:23. When Christ “has perfected” believers by cleansing them from sin, he has made them fit to enter God’s presence.12 It is this the same work of Christ that fits his own for present entrance through Christ (4:14–16; 7:25; 10:19–25), for future entrance at death (12:23), and for ultimate entrance into the presence of a holy God at the Judgment (12:25–29) when Christ returns (12:28–29). The difference between the faithful before Christ and those who live after is that the former did not enjoy this privilege of access to God during their lifetimes. Since Christ has come, however, both the faithful who lived before his coming and those who live after enjoy access to the heavenly City.13 Those who are alive draw near through prayer and worship (4:14–16; 7:25; 10:19–25). Those who lived before Christ and those who have died since he came are among “the spirits of the righteous” who have been “made perfect” through the work of Christ and thus dwell in the heavenly City (12:23) awaiting the return of Christ and the Judgment (12:28–29; 12:25–29).14 In fact, 12:23 could not refer to ultimate entrance into God’s City. It clearly describes the righteous dead before the Judgment, which is recounted in 12:25–29. Both ultimate entrance into the eternal City and Christ’s provision for cleansing from sin were part of the future promise for which the faithful of old waited during their lifetimes. Final entrance into that City remains a future promise. The provision of Christ, however, is the power of God in the present for all the faithful whether they lived before or after his coming. Indirectly the pastor would shame his hearers: “The faithful of old persevered during their lifetimes without the privileges you have in Christ. You, therefore, are without excuse.”

The pastor has used the term “perfected” in order to remind his hearers of the one who has provided this perfection. He has been waiting with anticipation for the climax of this list, when he will turn their eyes to “the Pioneer and Perfecter of” the common “faith” shared by the faithful of all time—“Jesus” (12:1–3).

2. Keep Your Eyes on Jesus, Seated at God’s Right Hand (12:1–3)

1Therefore, because we ourselves have such a great cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us lay aside every hindrance and sin that so easily clings to us, and let us run with endurance the race set before us. 2Let us run looking unto the Pioneer and Perfecter of the faith, Jesus, who for the joy set before him endured a cross, despising the shame, and has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God. 3For consider the One who endured such opposition from sinners against himself, in order that you might not become weary, giving up in your souls.

According to 11:1–40, many, many have persevered in the life of faith. The pastor reintroduces the terms “endure” and “endurance” from 10:36–39 and builds his exhortation to perseverance on the accumulated weight of these examples. Thus, in vv. 1–2 he urges his hearers to respond to the examples he has given by running the race “with endurance” while keeping their eyes on Jesus who “endured.”1 Although this section flows smoothly into the next, v. 3 should be kept with vv. 1–2.2 In v. 3 the pastor continues the hortatory style of vv. 1–2 by drawing further attention to the example of Jesus given in the previous verse. In v. 4 he returns to the indicative of description as he moves from the suffering of Christ to that of his followers.

In these verses the pastor brings to fruition what he first set in motion long ago in 3:1–6. In that passage he clearly established the unity of contemporary believers with those Moses led out of Egypt, and, by implication, with all the people of God who lived before Christ. All are part of the one “household” of God over which Christ is “Son.” This enabled the pastor to urge his hearers to persevere, and thus avoid the fate of the wilderness generation he was about to describe in 3:7–19. This unity of the people of God throughout time is the basis upon which he now urges them to run the race set before them in response to the faithful cloud of witnesses just described in 11:1–40. Furthermore, in 3:1–6 he affirmed that Christ was uniquely “faithful” to God as a Son over his household. However, he drew no lesson from the Son’s faithfulness because he had not yet given it content. The intervening description of Christ’s high priesthood in 4:14–10:18 has made the unique faithfulness of the Son abundantly clear. He fulfilled his faithfulness by living a life of complete obedience unto death in order to procure the salvation of God’s people (5:7–10; 9:11–14; 10:5–10). That faithfulness received absolute divine confirmation through his session at God’s right hand (10:11–14). Now, therefore, the pastor is ready to affirm not only that the Son is “faithful,” but that he is “the Pioneer and Perfecter of the faith, Jesus.”

This phrase has more than a structural resemblance to “the Apostle and High Priest of our confession, Jesus” in 3:1. As Apostle, the Son provided the ultimate revelation of God through his high-priestly work, by which he cleansed God’s people from sin and thus brought them into God’s presence. By so doing he has become the Pioneer and Perfecter who has both initiated and completed the way for the faithful to enter God’s presence. All this he accomplished by becoming the incarnate, now-exalted “Jesus.” Thus, in 12:1–3 the full weight of the pastor’s appeal presses upon his hearers—the apostate people they must shun (3:7–4:13); the full sufficiency of Christ that is theirs to embrace (4:14–10:25); the faithful whom they can claim as their own (11:1–40); and now, once again, Christ who is both fully sufficient to bring them to faith’s goal and the ultimate example of endurance under suffering (12:1–3).

1 The pastor has often urged his hearers to action because of the privileges they “have” in Christ (4:14–15; 6:18–19; 8:1; 10:19). Here he urges them forward because of the legacy they “have” from the witnesses of faith who have gone before. By initiating this sentence with “therefore” and with an emphatic “we ourselves,” he redoubles the force of the causal participle: “therefore, because we ourselves have.”3 The hearers know that they are intimately and inseparably joined to the faithful who have gone before. Nor will the pastor let them forget the magnitude of the testimony he has amassed in his “such a great cloud of witnesses.”4 Even the term “cloud” underscores the unanimity of their testimony.5 Nor can the hearers confine these witnesses to the dead past. They are even now “surrounding us.” The pastor would have his hearers feel that they can reach out and touch these heroes who lived by faith. It is these faithful from the past whose approval is worth courting despite the sneer of the unbelieving world.

The pastor has chosen the term “witnesses” because it enables him to affirm that the heroes of old are both “witnesses” to and of God’s contemporary people.6 The first is in accord with all that he has said in 11:1–40. He affirms that the faithful of old are “witnesses” to contemporary believers of the power and faithfulness of God. The validity of their testimony is assured by divine attestation and approval (11:2, 6, 16, 39). Their lives clearly and forcefully demonstrate the “reality” of God’s future promises and give “evidence” of his real but unseen power to deliver (11:1).7 Their witness assures the hearers that any amount of rejection by the unbelieving world is worth the divine approval. However, in accord with the athletic imagery now resumed from 10:36–39, they are also “witnesses” of God’s contemporary people. It is as if these heroes of old were in the stands watching the pastor’s hearers run this race “by faith.” They are “spectators,” indeed, “fans.” What an honor to have such “fans.” In fact, it is less than fully accurate to say that the pastor “resumes” the athletic imagery of 10:36–39. Instead, he incorporates the entire history of those who have lived “by faith” (11:1–40) into this great contest pursued by the people of God. Their pilgrimage has now become a race of endurance to the finish. As noted above when commenting on 10:36–39, the pastor’s hearers were accustomed to athletic contests and familiar with the metaphorical use of athletic imagery in moral discourse.8 We also noted that use of this metaphor was crucial to the pastor’s purpose. Suffering shame from the sinful world became a matter and source of great honor when it was seen as the endurance of an athlete in pursuit of victory. The pastor has transformed the pilgrimage lived “by faith” (11:1–40) into the race run “with endurance” in order to transform temporal shame into the means of eternal glory. The pastor’s hearers will overcome the shame of the unbelieving world lest they suffer shame before the eyes of these great heroes of faith cheering them on from the sideline.9 The pastor pours his whole heart and soul into this exhortation: “Let us run with endurance the race set before us.”

Of course, unlike a race, all of those who “by faith” endure the opposition of the unbelieving world will win. Every metaphor has limitations. There are many ways, however, in which this metaphor is most useful. Thus, like athletes who would be successful, the hearers must “lay aside every hindrance” or “encumbrance.”10 “Every encumbrance” suggests the removal of excess weight or clothes in preparation for the impending contest.11 Yet the expression is intentionally both general and comprehensive. The pastor wants his hearers to dispense with absolutely anything that will distract them from successfully running the race of faith. Indeed, if the runner refuses to put it aside, any such hindrance, though innocent in itself, becomes part of the “sin that clings so closely” and entangles the feet.12 In order to avoid misunderstanding, the above translation omits the definite article before “sin.” If one uses the article, it sounds as if one is referring to a particular “besetting” sin. However, the Greek article is used to describe sin in general, in totality, everything that is sin.13 “Sin,” as a potential reality, “clings so closely.”14 The pastor, is, however, particularly concerned with the “sin” of acquiescence to the discouragement that comes from unbelieving society’s hostility and/or the pursuit of the advantages the unbelieving world offers to those who conform. Such acts betray a distrust of God’s power and promises that may cause one to abandon the race and thus fall into apostasy.15 On the one hand, the saints of old surround modern believers as fans, urging them on; on the other, the allure of the world’s rewards and the hostility of unbelievers cling to the runners in order to retard their progress and turn them aside from the race.16

Getting rid of hindrances, though necessary, is preparatory to the pastor’s main concern: “Let us run with endurance the race set before us.”17 The hearers would have immediately recognized “the race set before us” as the usual way of describing such a contest.18 The pastor, however, has adopted this phrase for his own purposes: the life lived in obedience “by faith” has been determined and “set before us” by God himself. It has been established by Jesus the “Forerunner” (6:19–20), who alone has opened the way so that we can pursue this race to the end with success. This God-established race is a great privilege because it will take those who endure to the promised goal.19 “Endurance” is the important thing. It is an exhausting race. The pastor’s whole concern introduced in 10:36 is not just that they “run,” but that they run “with endurance” to the end.20 Such endurance is perseverance in a life of obedience through reliance upon God’s promises and power, and this despite stiff opposition.21 The pastor has substantiated this exhortation by offering the faithful of old as examples worthy of imitation and association and as heroes whose approval was worth winning. He fortifies this appeal in vv. 2–3 with his strongest argument: Jesus is both the source and greatest example of endurance.

2 In the opening comments on this section we have already shown how the pastor has been preparing for the introduction of “the Pioneer and Perfecter of the faith, Jesus,” since 3:1–6. There can be no dispute about the importance and centrality of “looking unto” the person so described.22 With this description the pastor joins the need for perseverance in the kind of faith depicted in chapter 11 with the full sufficiency of Christ the High Priest, as described in 4:14–10:18.23 As the “Pioneer and Perfecter of the faith,” Christ has become the fully sufficient Savior (4:14–10:18) who alone enables God’s people to reach the goal of the way of faith (11:1–40). As demonstrated in the comments on 10:19–39 above, perseverance in faith (11:1–12:29) is founded upon the saving work of Christ (4:14–10:18). After examining “the Pioneer and Perfecter of the faith” more fully, we will be in a better position to examine the significance of “looking unto” him.

All that the pastor has said about the full sufficiency of Jesus to atone for sin and bring the faithful into God’s presence is encompassed in the all-inclusive phrase “the Pioneer and Perfecter of the faith.”24 It is important to note how the pastor has emphasized “faith” by the word order of this phrase. A literal rendering would run thus: “the of the faith Pioneer and Perfecter, Jesus.”25 Furthermore, by putting “of the faith” before the nouns “Pioneer” and “Perfecter” the pastor has shown that it qualifies both of them—Christ is both the Pioneer and Perfecter of “the faith.” The pastor does not say “our” faith but “the faith.”26 He is referring to “the faith” just defined and exemplified in chapter 11. By his saving work Jesus is the Pioneer and Perfecter of “the” way of “faith” trod both by the saints of old and by contemporary believers.27 Through him and what he has done the faithful of all time are able to persevere in obedience and reach the God-appointed goal of their pilgrimage.28 The pastor’s explanation of what it means to live “by faith” comes to its conclusion in this description of the one who makes the life of faith possible. Naught remains but to urge his hearers to persevere in living “by faith.”

The intervening explanation of Christ’s high-priestly ministry has enabled the pastor to expand his description of Christ as “the Pioneer of their salvation” (2:10) who would be “perfected” through suffering into “the Pioneer and Perfecter of the faith.”29 This latter phrase explains the fuller significance and intended direction of the former. As Pioneer of his people’s salvation (2:10), Christ opened the way for their ultimate entrance into the presence of God by becoming their all-sufficient High Priest, able to cleanse them from sin.30 This he did through his obedient self-offering, with all of the suffering it entailed. Since, then, he has been made fully competent (“perfected”) as the one able to bring his people into God’s ultimate presence by this suffering, he can be called “the Pioneer and Perfecter of the faith.”31 “Pioneer” and “Perfecter” are reminiscent of the words for “beginning” and “end” respectively.32 He has not only initiated the opening of this way of faith but completed it by providing the only means for those who tread this road to reach journey’s end. The way of faith is not under construction. It is open from beginning to end. Still, to speak of a “way of faith” separate from the Savior is misleading. As the “Pioneer and Perfecter,” he himself is the way by which God’s people both before and after his incarnation enter God’s presence.

We have argued above (p. 70, n. 276; pp. 139–40) that the pastor uses “pioneer” when he is referring to Christ as the one who leads the pilgrim people of God into their ultimate destiny, but that he uses “high priest” when he would urge his hearers to draw near to God in the present for needed grace. The two, however, cannot be divorced from each other. Present entrance into God’s presence is necessary for perseverance until final entrance. The work of Christ that opens the way for approaching God in the present is, as we have seen, the same work necessary for final entrance into the divine presence. “Pioneer and Perfecter of the faith,” then, encompasses all that the Son of God has done as both Pioneer and High Priest. As “Pioneer and Perfecter” of the way “of faith” he is able to do everything necessary to succor the people of God in their daily pilgrimage, and thus to bring them into their ultimate destiny. The pastor has reserved this comprehensive term for 12:1–3, the high point of his appeal, and used it to invoke all that he has said about the full sufficiency of the Son of God as the Savior of his people. By concluding with the name “Jesus” he will not let his hearers forget that this salvation was procured through the incarnation of God’s Son, or that the One sitting at God’s right hand as their representative is the human “Jesus,” in whom the eternal Son and the people of God are one.

Two additional issues must be addressed before leaving this climactic description of the Son of God. First, the “faith” of which he is the “Pioneer and Perfecter” is related to the “salvation” of which he is the “Pioneer” in 2:10 as response is related to provision.33 The “salvation” that he has provided is what makes the response of “faith” effective. It is because of what he has done that those who persevere in living “by faith” will enter the heavenly City. The pastor began by talking about the “Pioneer” of the “salvation” that he went on to describe in the central part of his book. He concludes, most appropriately, by speaking of the “Pioneer and Perfecter” of the “faith” with which he urgently desires his hearers to respond.

Second, it is crucial to recognize that there is both continuity and discontinuity between the “Pioneer and Perfecter of the faith” and those who lived “by faith” in the previous chapter.34 There is continuity because both the incarnate Son of God and the examples of 11:1–40 were obedient, and thus can be described as faithful to God. Both they and he “endured” despite opposition. Yet the pastor who describes Christ as the “Pioneer and Perfecter of the faith” is careful not to describe him as living “by faith.”35 His obedience and faithfulness were perfect. He never had to make a break with the unbelieving world as did the saints of old (Abraham, 11:8; Moses, 11:27; and Rahab, 11:31). Furthermore, he was not seeking entrance to the heavenly City on his own behalf but as the representative of God’s people. Finally, as the one who provides entrance into God’s presence he was a crucial part of the promise upon which they relied. Thus, to live “by faith” is to live in dependence on him.36 He is, then, the premier example of one who endures in faithful obedience despite suffering. He cannot be described, however, as one who lived “by faith.”

In the relative clause that begins with “who for sake of the joy set before him” the pastor summarizes all that the “Pioneer and Perfecter” has done to procure the salvation of his people. Thus, this summary recalls what the pastor has already said about Christ providing atonement for sin and access to God through his humiliation, obedience, suffering, and final exaltation (4:1–10:18; especially 5:5–10; 9:11–15; 10:5–10). However, this time the pastor describes these events with different terms in order to show that by this suffering Christ has also become the source and supreme example of endurance. “Joy,” “endured,” “cross,” and “despising the shame” all contribute to this purpose.37 The procurement of salvation is the fulfillment of his sonship through earthly obedience (Heb 1:1–4). Thus, it is appropriately called the “joy” set before him by God as the goal of that obedience.38 This “joy” that he has procured awaits those who endure at the consummation of their pilgrimage. It far outweighs anything that might attract or distract. Elsewhere the NT never says that Jesus “endured” the cross. Thus, it is clear that the pastor has chosen this term in order to encourage the endurance so needful for his hearers (10:39) in the face of suffering and shame from an unbelieving world. One could hardly mention the “cross” of Christ shorn of association with its redemptive significance.39 However, the pastor uses “cross” in this context because it, like no other term, expresses the extreme shame born by Christ.40 Jesus, however, “despised” this shame. He totally disregarded it and in no way allowed it to divert him from perfect obedience.

Notice how the pastor encases suffering within the arms of victory. He begins with “for the joy set before him” and ends with “at the right hand of the throne of God he has taken his seat.” The pastor is well aware of the power of “shame” to deter his hearers. Thus, he follows Jesus’ “despising shame” immediately with the glory of the exaltation. His hearers can also “despise” the shame of a mocking world because of their hope of glory. The pastor concludes by using the perfect tense, “he has taken his seat” (contrast the aorist in 1:3, 13; 8:1; 10:12), in order to remind his hearers that the Son’s triumph as Savior “at the right hand of the throne of God” is completely and permanently effective.41 The suffering, although necessary, was temporary. The triumph is forever.42 Jesus is powerful as an example only because he has become the Savior who enables his own to sustain the same kind of suffering he endured. We saw how the entire roll call of the faithful was crafted to prepare God’s people for the persecution and opposition described in 11:35b–38. The suffering by which Christ procured the salvation of God’s people is a far greater example than the suffering through which they receive it.

God’s faithful people have always been empowered for endurance by keeping their vision on the present power and future-oriented promises of God (11:1, 3, 6). Both Abraham and Moses were sustained by the vision of God’s future reward (11:13, 26). Moses saw and drew strength from “the Unseen One” (11:27) during his earthly pilgrimage.43 When all who live after Christ imitate these heroes of faith, they are “looking unto,” and thus keeping their eyes upon, “Jesus” (2:9); “the Apostle and High Priest of” their “confession”; “the Pioneer and Perfecter of the faith”; the “High Priest who has sat down at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven.”44 When they keep their gaze on him, they are looking at their future goal in the heavenly City (12:22–24); the one who assures their access thereunto; and the present source of power for perseverance (4:14–16; 10:19–25).45 He is the fulfillment of the promises anticipated by the faithful of old and the present power of God for the faithful of today. The fact that “we have such a High Priest who has sat down at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven” is indeed the “main point” (8:1) of the pastor’s sermon.

3 We saw in v. 2 how the pastor described the saving work of Christ in such a way as to make his suffering an encouraging example and source of help for the beleaguered and threatened recipients of Hebrews. He now makes the importance of Christ’s example explicit: “Consider the one who has endured such opposition of sinners against himself.” It is true that the pastor would have them put their own sufferings in proper perspective by comparing them with Christ’s. There is, however, something much more momentous afoot. He does not tell them to “consider” Christ’s sufferings but to “consider” Christ himself who has suffered. Thus, this verse emphasizes the magnitude of his sufferings and the finality and continuing validity of his triumph in order to magnify him. It is fitting at this point to take some time and consider the magnitude of his sufferings. They are described as “such opposition.”46 “Opposition” is not used in the narrow sense of verbal conflict but in the most comprehensive way to include all the abuse and suffering he endured.47 The word “opposition” also implies that this abuse was directed at Jesus personally by hostile persons. The personal nature of his sufferings is confirmed by “against himself.”48 Furthermore, this opposition was instigated and carried out by “sinful people.”49 They were not only against him, but they were also in rebellion against God.50 To abandon Christ would be to take one’s place with them (10:26–31). The fact that this abuse was personal accords well with its shameful character. His sufferings were great, but he was triumphant. His victory is described by the perfect participle, “the one who has endured.” The pastor is not now concerned with the triumph of resurrection, exaltation, or session at God’s right. He asserts Christ’s fully successful endurance of these sufferings without fail until the end. The perfect tense affirms that he is and continues to be such a person, one who has borne the full brunt of evil opposition with complete success.51 Thus, the pastor would not have his hearers “consider” Christ merely or even primarily to put their own suffering in proportion. They are to “consider” Christ as the one who has been fitted by successful endurance of the worst to sustain them in whatever they face. “Consider” is a culminative aorist imperative.52 They should come to the full realization of who he is. It is because he is one who has overcome that they need not “become weary, giving up in” their “very souls.”

The pastor again invokes the image of the runner when he says “in order that you might not become weary, giving up in your souls.”53 This runner is in danger of giving up the race through extreme fatigue and discouragement.54 A literal rendering of this clause might run as follows: “in order that you might not become weary in your souls giving up.” “Might not become weary” is an ingressive aorist, followed by the present participle, “giving up”—in order that you might not enter a state of weariness that results in giving up. This phrase summarizes the pastor’s concern with lassitude (2:1–4; 5:11–14) that leads to apostasy (6:4–8; 10:26–31; 12:14–17). “In your souls” emphasizes the depth of fatigue and discouragement. The race is not lost in the legs, but in the runner’s inmost being. The phrase “in your souls” is often used with both the verb translated “become weary” and the one translated “giving up.”55 In the Greek sentence it comes between the two. If it is taken with the former, we have the translation, “lest you become weary in your souls, giving up”; if with the latter, “lest you become weary, giving up in your souls.” A smooth English translation requires that we choose one or the other. However, by putting “in your souls” between the two the pastor could allow this phrase to qualify both. Its central location underscores his concern with the resilience of their inmost being. “The One who has endured” is able to sustain them, not primarily by removing the trials but by supplying the inner strength and fortitude they need. The pastor helps his hearers feel what he is saying by likening spiritual fatigue to a deep sense of physical exhaustion in order that they might draw upon the One who has endured. We have translated the participle with which this verse ends as “giving up.” It can also be rendered “being discouraged.” The pastor uses this word here in anticipation of its reoccurrence in Prov 3:11 quoted in v. 5 below: “do not become discouraged by his [God’s] correction.”56

C. THE PRESENT HISTORY OF THE PEOPLE OF GOD UNTIL THE CONSUMMATION (12:4–29)

The narrative of the past faithful (11:1–40), culminating in Jesus (12:1–3), who is both the example par excellence of endurance and the One who enables his people to endure, leads naturally to the present trials and privileges of the faithful. Heb 12:4–13 recounts the present suffering that must be endured by God’s people; Heb 12:18–24, the present privilege they now enjoy through Christ. In the first of these passages the pastor reinforces the call to endurance by affirming that the trials incurred by the faithful are God’s formative discipline marking them as his true children; in the second, he motivates his hearers with a grand picture of the privileges now theirs in Christ, a picture that is also a preview of ultimate blessedness. The pastor introduces this grand picture of privilege with a final example from the life of Esau against squandered privilege (12:14–17). Threat of eternal loss and promise of eternal gain come to a head with the description of the last Judgment in 12:25–29. Approval or disdain before the saints of old is mere prelude to judgment before the One “who is a consuming fire” (12:29). With this description of the Judgment the pastor concludes his history and rests his case for endurance.

The way in which 10:19–12:3 mirrors 3:1–4:16 has been discussed on pp. 65–67 above and in the introductions to the previous two sections—10:19–39 and 11:1–12:3 (pp. 460–63, 514–15). Heb 12:4–29 continues this trend by mirroring 1:1–2:18. The suffering through which God’s faithful sons and daughters receive salvation according to 12:4–13 reflects the suffering by which the Son provided salvation in 2:5–18. The apostasy of 12:14–17 springs from the neglect of 2:1–4. The contrast between Zion and Sinai in 12:18–24 corresponds to the contrast between God’s word spoken through the Son and at Sinai in 1:5–14. Finally, God’s earth-shaking word spoken at the Judgment in 12:25–29 will bring his word spoken in the Son (1:1–4) to its intended consummation. The exposition that follows will, where appropriate, illuminate the significance of these parallels. Below is an expansion of the diagram provided in the previous sections that gives the complete picture of how 10:19–12:29 is the mirror image of 1:1–4:16. See also the extensive discussion and diagrams on pages 60–70 in the Introduction. Yet one must not forget that these two images are not equal. The pastor’s emphasis is on the positive direction toward which he would guide his hearers as described in this last part of the book, 10:19–12:29.

(A¹) God “Will Speak” Once More at the Final Judgment (12:25–29).

(B¹) God’s Firstborn Enter His Presence through the Exalted Jesus (12:18–24).

(C¹) Don’t Sell Your Birthright, as Esau Did (12:14–17).

(D¹) God’s True Sons and Daughters Endure the Discipline of Suffering (12:4–13).

(E¹) Keep Your Eyes on Jesus, Seated at God’s Right Hand (12:1–3).

(F¹) Join the Company of the Faithful of Old (11:1–40).

(G¹) Pursue the Blessing Promised the Faithful (10:32–39).

(H¹) You Are More Accountable Because of This High Priest (10:26–31).

(I¹) Avail Yourself of This Great Priest (10:19–25).

(J) Christ’s All-Sufficient High Priesthood (5:1–10:18).

(I) Embrace This Great High Priest (4:14–16).

(H) You Are Accountable before the Word of God (4:12–13).

(G) Pursue the Blessing Lost by the Faithless Generation (4:1–11).

(F) Avoid the Company of the Faithless Generation (3:7–19).

(E) Consider Jesus, a Son over the House of God (3:1–6).

(D) The Crucial Importance of the Incarnate, Suffering Son (2:5–18).

(C) The Urgency of Attending to God’s Son-Mediated Revelation (2:1–4).

(B) The Incomparable Majesty of the Eternal, Exalted Son (1:5–14).

(A) God Has Spoken through His Son (1:1–4).

1. God’s True Sons and Daughters Endure the Discipline of Suffering (12:4–13)

4You have not yet resisted unto blood in your struggling against sin. 5And have you completely forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons and daughters? “My son, do not belittle the discipline of the Lord, nor lose heart at his reproof. 6For whom the Lord loves he disciplines; and chastises every son or daughter whom he accepts.” 7Endure [these sufferings] as discipline, since God is treating you as sons and daughters. 8For if you are without the discipline of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate children and not sons or daughters. 9Furthermore, we have had our fathers according to the flesh as disciplinarians, and we respected them. How much more rather should we submit completely to the Father of Spirits, and live. 10For on the one hand they disciplined us for a few days as seemed best to them; but he for benefit in order that we might come to share his holiness. 11And all discipline for the time being does not seem to be of joy but of grief; but afterward it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. 12Therefore straighten the drooping hands and the enfeebled knees. 13And make straight paths with your feet, so that what is lame may not turn aside but rather be healed.

In vv. 4–13 the pastor quotes (vv. 5–6), interprets (vv. 7–11), and applies (vv. 12–13) Prov 3:11–12. One can hardly miss the change of topic and focus. In vv. 1–3 the pastor calls on his hearers to “look unto” Christ; in vv. 4–11 he directs their attention to God as their “Father.” In vv. 1–3 he describes the suffering of Christ; in vv. 4–13 he explains the purpose of his hearers’ suffering. In vv. 1–3 he uses the picture of a race; in vv. 4–11 he employs the language of education and of familial instruction. According to Weiss, vv. 1–3 deal with Christology while vv. 4–11 deal with rational explanation drawn from the tradition of Wisdom Literature.1 However, to become fixated on these differences is to miss the unity and progress of the pastor’s thought. To begin with, the transition from the athletic to the familial idiom betokens no great change. It was common for contemporary writers in the Hellenistic world to combine athletic and familial imagery in moral discourse.2 Both the athletic and the young needed training in order to achieve success. Thus, the hearers would have perceived this combination as a natural blending rather than a mixing of metaphors. In fact, the athletic metaphor is perpetuated in vv. 4–11 by such terms as “struggling against” (v. 4) and “trained” (v. 11).3 The exhortation in vv. 12–13 recalls both the race and the boxing match.

Furthermore, there is a clear correspondence between the suffering of God’s “sons and daughters” in vv. 4–11 and the suffering of the Son described in vv. 1–3. In 2:5–18 the pastor affirmed that the Son assumed the humanity of God’s “sons and daughters” (v. 10; cf. v. 14) in order to provide their salvation through suffering.4 In 12:4–11 he declares that through suffering the “sons and daughters” receive this salvation, which the Son has provided. In 2:5–18 the pastor affirmed that “it was fitting” (2:10) for God to “perfect” the Son as the “Pioneer of their salvation” through suffering. In 12:4–11 he explains how appropriate it is for God’s “sons and daughters” to suffer in light of his fatherly character. In the intervening chapters we have learned that the Son became “the Pioneer and Perfecter” of the way “of faith” through his persistent and total obedience to God despite suffering inflicted by those who would turn him aside (5:7–10; 9:11–15; 10:5–10). In 12:4–11 the pastor tells us that God’s “sons and daughters” pursue that way of faith through persistent obedience despite the painful opposition of the world. It was necessary for the Son to suffer such opposition in order that his obedience might be total and complete (5:7–10). Such worldly opposition is now described as God’s “discipline” by which his “sons and daughters” are hardened and confirmed in the way of obedience.5 The cleansing from sin provided by Christ’s obedience is the foundation for their obedience (9:14; 10:5–10, 15–18). The grace received by drawing near through him (4:14–16; 10:19–25) is its necessary daily resource. Thus, it is important to observe from the beginning that this divine “discipline” is not punishment for the sin from which Christ has cleansed them.6 Nor is it merely “training” or “instruction” in a general sense.7 It is God’s use of opposition to fortify his “sons and daughters” in the way of obedience. That which marks the legitimacy of God’s “sons and daughters” is a reflection of what demonstrated the legitimacy of his eternal Son.8

Comparison with Prov 3:11–12 in its original context and with Jewish and Hellenistic sources confirms the above interpretation of divine “discipline.” It is clear that Prov 3:11–12 refers broadly to God’s use of suffering as the “discipline” by which he shapes his children. The filial imagery itself suggests both correction or punishment for wrongdoing and positive instruction for living. Thus, we are not surprised that the writer of Proverbs includes both suffering that is punishment for sin and nonpunitive suffering within the scope of divine “discipline.”9 Furthermore, in light of the waywardness evidenced by God’s people throughout Scripture, we would expect post-OT literature influenced by Hebraic thought to emphasize suffering as God’s “discipline” by which he punishes or corrects sin.10 On the other hand, under the influence of Stoic ideas of moral development it was normal for various Hellenistic writers to describe adversity as God’s non-punitive “discipline” for character formation.11 This difference is largely attributable to the OT belief in the holiness of God and the resulting greater emphasis on human moral impotence, the seriousness of sin, and the magnitude of its consequences. Furthermore, when comparing Hebrews with these other sources, it is important to note that the pastor has focused his interpretation of Prov 3:11–12 on one kind of suffering. He is concerned with suffering incurred out of loyalty to God’s promise fulfilled in Christ.12 Thus, it is no surprise that he is using this passage in regard to nonpunitive suffering.13 Persecution because of devotion to Christ is neither the result of nor punishment for one’s sin.

There is, then, a formal parallel between the way Hebrews describes God’s use of nonpunitive suffering as “discipline” for character building and the writings of the Stoics.14 The language of Hebrews would have had a familiar sound to hearers immersed in contemporary, Stoic-influenced Greco-Roman culture. The careful student of Hebrews, however, must pay close attention to its conceptual distinctiveness so as not to skew the import of the pastor’s message.15 The Stoics refer to all types of adversity as God’s “discipline.” Hebrews is referring primarily to opposition suffered because of loyalty to Christ. For the Stoics such “discipline” produces “self-sufficiency.” For Hebrews it fortifies one’s commitment to and habit of obedience. For the Stoics there is no reward beyond the “self-sufficiency” achieved. For Hebrews the obedience confirmed by “discipline” results in partaking of God’s “holiness.” The writer of Hebrews has clearly used this imagery for his own purposes. Comparison with other sources, then, is instructive as much for the differences it reveals as for the similarities.16

4 The pastor moves smoothly from Jesus’ triumph over suffering (vv. 1–3) to the suffering faced by his hearers (vv. 4–13), and from Jesus’ successful endurance (vv. 1–3) to their need for endurance (vv. 4–13). With “You have not yet resisted unto blood in your struggling against sin” he puts the limited nature of their sufferings in perspective. Clearly, the pastor is reminding his hearers that they have not yet suffered to the extreme.17 Both “resisted” and “struggling” are reminiscent of a boxing match.18 Such contests were often very bloody and sometimes resulted in death.19 The pastor usually prefers the racetrack over the boxing match because the race is well suited to his emphasis on long-term endurance. Furthermore, he would not want to suggest that his hearers respond to their persecutors with the violence of a boxer. Nevertheless, he is not averse to using boxing when he wants to emphasize the strength of the resistance and its ability to inflict severe pain. Indeed, “unto blood” is reminiscent not only of the boxing match but of the Maccabean martyrs as well.20 His hearers have not yet had to undergo the torture the martyrs faced, nor have they died for the faith. Finally, with “resisted unto blood” (cf. 9:14) the pastor invokes a contrast between his hearers’ sufferings and the suffering of Christ. “You have not yet resisted unto blood” as Jesus did on the cross. The shamefulness of the “cross” emphasized in v. 3 has given way to the violence and finality of the death it inflicted. The pastor is preparing his hearers “for what their imitation of Christ’s endurance might ultimately involve.”21 While they have not yet endured bloody violence or death for their faith, they are currently engaged in “struggling against sin.”22 The present participle “struggling against” denotes an ongoing striving. “Sin” is the opponent. “Sin” was yielding to discouragement or anything else that would impede their race in v. 1. “Sin” was embodied in the “sinners” of v. 3.23 “Sin” has become all those people and forces that exert pressure on the faithful to conform.24 Thus, the pastor would use the ultimate example of Jesus’ sufferings to fortify his hearers in the daily struggle against all that would turn them aside, and to prepare them for the isolation and deprivation that the unbelieving world can inflict upon the faithful people of God (11:36–38).25

5–6 With the mild rebuke of v. 4 the pastor attempted to rouse his hearers and silence their complaining by pointing to the lesser amount of suffering thus far allotted them.26 He continues to provoke them by intensifying this tone of rebuke in his introduction to Prov 3:11–12: “And have you completely forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons and daughters?”27 Only when they realize the little (by comparison) they have suffered, and the divinely established privilege they have neglected, will they grasp the full value of God’s consolation. The perfect tense of the verb translated “completely forgotten” is important. One might paraphrase: “Have you truly been living without taking this message from God into account?” By expressing surprise at their oversight, the pastor both alerts them to their need and highlights the great importance he attaches to this passage of Scripture. Nowhere else in the OT is the faithful person so clearly called a “son or daughter” of God. No other passage so cogently expresses the filial character of God’s “discipline.” In fact, this passage may have been the pastor’s authority for referring to God’s people as the “many sons and daughters” whom Christ brings to “glory” in 2:10. He has, however, held this oracle in reserve until now so that he might use it effectively as the “encouragement” they need to brave persecution. In these verses God reminds them of who they are and why they suffer.28

It is Prov 3:11–12 in its character as “exhortation” or word of “consolation” that addresses the people of God as “sons and daughters.”29 What greater encouragement could the beleaguered people of God desire? Although this “exhortation” speaks of God in the third person, he is its true source. After all, he is the one who speaks through all Scripture. The word translated “addresses” is an intimate word suitable for God’s engaging his own in conversation as his children.30 Furthermore, the pastor has confirmed that the source of this message is God by adding “my” to the beginning of Prov 3:11 in the LXX—not just “son,” but “my son.”31 Thus with “my son” God himself “addresses” every “son whom he accepts” (v. 6b).32 We might paraphrase, “Through this exhortation God addresses you as sons and daughters.” God himself assures his people of the filial relationship between them. That is why there was nothing unreasonable about the Son of God owning these same people as his “brothers and sisters” (2:11–12). He confirmed their status as God’s children by taking on their “flesh and blood” in order that he might bring them to their inheritance as the “sons and daughters” of God (2:10–18). Thus, while this filial imagery is drawn from the sphere of human relationships, it is no mere figure of speech for which another could be substituted. The sonship/daughterhood of God’s people has been established by God and confirmed by Christ. This relationship to their Father explains both their present struggle and their ultimate destiny. Well might the pastor be shocked at his hearers’ neglect of this most relevant Scripture. All that he has been saying since chapter 2 assumes this divine declaration of God’s filial relationship with his own.

The first two lines of this quotation need little explanation because they clearly express the pastor’s concern for his hearers: “My son, do not belittle the discipline of the Lord nor lose heart at his reproof.” These two negative exhortations are explained by the positive command at the beginning of v. 7. Do not “belittle” the persecutions as pointless or “lose heart” and be discouraged by their severity. Rather, “endure suffering as [divine] discipline” (v. 7a). God is not using the opposition of the unbelieving world to repay his children for their misconduct or, Stoic-like, for the general improvement of their character. He is using that opposition to confirm them in the obedience appropriate for sons and daughters worthy of his name. The quality of obedience is established by its costliness.

The second half of this quotation, found in v. 6, gives the reason why the pastor’s hearers should not be disheartened by God’s formative discipline manifested in worldly opposition: “For whom the Lord loves, he disciplines; and chastises every son or daughter whom he accepts.” It is instructive to compare Hebrews’ citation of the second half of this verse from the LXX with the translation of this psalm found in most English Bibles: “and chastises every son whom he accepts” (Hebrews); “and as a father every son in whom he delights” (Prov 3:12b NRSV). The italicized words represent a different but equally valid pointing of the Hebrew consonantal text.33 “As a father” would have strengthened the pastor’s emphasis on God’s filial discipline. In the interpretation below the pastor does not cite the word “chastise” lest he suggest that God’s discipline is punishment for sin. It is important, however, to note that “chastises” is the chiastic parallel of “disciplines”: (A) “whom the Lord loves” (B) “he chastises”; (B¹) “and disciplines” (A¹) “every son or daughter whom he accepts.”34 This identification between the Lord’s discipline and chastisement makes it easier to include the intense sufferings faced by the pastor’s hearers under the rubric of divine pedagogy. Severe as it may be, this “discipline” comes from God’s gracious fatherly love and distinguishes the recipient as a true “son or daughter” whom God “accepts” as his own.35

In vv. 7–11 the pastor shows how this psalm is indeed “consolation” for the beleaguered people of God. First, this divine discipline establishes their identity as legitimate “sons and daughters” (vv. 7–8). Second, it will bring eternal profit because of God’s character as “father” (vv. 9–10). Similarity with human sonship supports the first; the superiority of God’s fatherhood, the second. It is God’s character as father that determines the nature of their sonship or daughterhood, the benefits received from his discipline, and the appropriateness of their response. Verse 11 concludes this interpretation by emphasizing the future benefits of present discipline.

7–8 The pastor begins by telling his hearers exactly what he wants them to do: “Endure [these sufferings] as discipline” or “for the sake of discipline.”36 All that follows is explanation of why they should follow this command. We have put “these sufferings” in brackets above to show that this phrase is not in the Greek text. Most translators have felt the addition of some such word or phrase necessary to make the pastor’s meaning clear.37 His expression is intentionally terse: “As discipline endure.” By putting the phrase “as discipline” first in the Greek sentence the pastor drives home the point that their sufferings are to be received as God’s formative “discipline” and appropriately endured for what they are. They should endure this suffering as God’s discipline first of all because by this discipline “God is treating them as sons and daughters.”38 The word translated “sons and daughters” is without an article, emphasizing the filial quality of those described. Instead of being a reason for discouragement, such suffering, when understood as God’s formative discipline, is an essential and most encouraging indication of their filial relationship with him. This assertion is supported by a generalization drawn from human experience: “For what son or daughter is there whom a father does not discipline?” It is of the very essence of sonship to be disciplined by a father. The pastor reinforces his point by stating its opposite in v. 8: “For if you are without the discipline of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate children and not sons or daughters.” “Have become partakers” is perfect tense. All of God’s true children have become partakers of and continue to experience his discipline.39 Thus, the pastor tells his hearers that if they were living without such discipline they would be “illegitimate children,” and emphatically “not sons or daughters” who are entitled to the protection, blessings, and inheritance of the father.40 The pastor does not believe his hearers are illegitimate, so it would have been appropriate for him to have used a condition contrary to fact, which we might have translated, “For if you were without the discipline” experienced by all. However, he has used a condition of fact, “For if you are without the discipline …” in order to hone the keen edge of his warning.41

9 The similarity between human and divine sonship has demonstrated the appropriateness of God’s corrective discipline for his true children. God, however, is far superior to any human father. The character of his fatherhood transforms our filial relationship into something much more than its human counterpart. With “furthermore” the pastor introduces this new phase of his argument.42 Both the response due God as Father and the benefits he gives far transcend what would be appropriate for a merely human father. The pastor uses two of his favorite less-to-greater contrasts (in vv. 9 and 10 respectively) to demonstrate this superiority. The second contrast depends on and develops the first.

The pastor contrasts “our fathers according to the flesh” (v. 9ab) with “the Father of Spirits” (v. 9cd). Verse 9 has four finite verbs, two for each half of the contrast: (1) “We have had fathers according to the flesh as disciplinarians” (v. 9a); (2) “and we respected them” (v. 9b); (3) “how much more rather should we submit completely to the Father of Spirits” (v. 9c); (4) “and live” (v. 9d). The first verbal clause emphasizes the limitation of human fathers (v. 9a). The second and third highlight the main point of comparison/contrast (v. 9bc). The fourth underscores the great benefit of submitting to the heavenly Father’s discipline (v. 9d).

The first clause (v. 9a) is much longer than the second (v. 9b) because the pastor’s main purpose in the first half of this contrast is to underscore the limitations of human fatherhood. “According to the flesh” emphasizes the weakness and mortality of our earthly fathers. “Flesh” carries no inherent authority. Thus, the pastor must add that “we had” them “as disciplinarians”43 to justify the fact that “we respected them.” The brief “we respected them” contrasts with the much longer “how much more rather should we submit completely to the Father of Spirits.” This clause bears the main burden of the pastor’s concern. If we respected our mortal, limited earthly fathers, then we should “submit completely” to one who is nothing less than “the Father of Spirits.” The pastor does not use a hortatory subjunctive, “let us submit completely,” but the more forceful future tense, “we will (must) submit completely.”

The author of Hebrews has deliberately described God as “the Father of the Spirits” in contrast to “our fathers of the flesh.”44 This description accomplishes two seemingly disparate purposes at once. First, it emphasizes the absolutely superior character of God’s fatherhood by echoing the phrase “God of the spirits.” This description of God was used to affirm his transcendent majesty in 1QS 3:25; 2 Macc 3:24–25, and throughout 1 Enoch 37–71.45 On the other hand, Bruce is right when he says that the definite article “the” before “spirits” should be taken as a possessive pronoun—“the Father of our spirits.”46 A reference to God’s universal “fatherhood” would only cloud the pastor’s argument.47 His whole point is that God addresses his own people as their Father.48 He is absolutely superior as a “father,” and he is their Father. He is the ultimate source of life both physical and eternal, and the one who would bring his own into his “glory” (2:10) and eternal “rest” (4:1).49 There can be no question about complete submission to such a Father.50 Submission will enable us to “live” in the “fullest sense” of that term.51 The life lived in enjoyment of God’s blessing envisioned by the writer of Proverbs has become the eternal life God has reserved for his own.52 This “eternal life” is the inheritance of the faithful (10:38), who serve a “living God” (3:12; 9:14; 10:31) and will dwell in his eternal heavenly City (12:22) through the work of a High Priest who “always lives” (7:25) and has made “a new and living way” (10:20) to their eternal destination. Submission to God’s discipline is preparation for the eternal City. Thus the pastor continues to direct his hearers forward to the life that is and that is to come.

10 The pastor urges his hearers to the submission enjoined in v. 9 by contrasting the quality and purpose of the discipline exercised by human fathers (v. 10ab) and the divine Father (v. 10cd).53 The lone finite verb of v. 10, “discipline,” carries this theme. Yet in the Greek text this verb is qualified by four prepositional phrases, two for the first half of the contrast and two for the second: (1) “for a few days” (v. 10a); (2) “as seemed best to them” (v. 10b); (3) “for benefit” (v. 10c); and (4) “in order that we might come to share his holiness” (v. 10d).54 The pastor’s thought follows the pattern of v. 9. The first phrase emphasizes the limitation of human fathers (v. 10a). The second and third highlight the main point of comparison/contrast (v. 9bc). The pastor’s emphasis is now on the fourth, which underscores the great benefit of the heavenly Father’s discipline (v. 9d).

Because of their mortality our human fathers “according to the flesh” could discipline us for only “a few days.” Through the heavenly Father’s discipline, however, “we will live” forever (v. 9d). The pastor’s main point comes to clearest expression in the two contrasting phrases: “as seemed best to them”; “for benefit.” Even if well intentioned, the discipline of earthly fathers is limited by their judgment and prejudices. It is not necessarily in the best interests of those disciplined. God, however, has no such limitation, and his discipline is thus absolutely “for the benefit” of his own.55 “For benefit” leaves the hearers asking, “What is this benefit?” The pastor has already told them that submission to God’s discipline means that they will “live.” He now adds: “that we might come to share his holiness.” The faithful have already “been made holy” through the sacrifice of Christ.56 Their sins have been cleansed (9:14) and God’s laws have been written on their hearts, enabling them to obey (10:15–18). As they draw near through Christ in order to receive the resources he provides (4:14–16; 10:19–25), they are continually being made holy and empowered to persevere in obedience (10:14). The heavenly Father’s discipline hardens them in obedience, thus confirming them in holy living. When they reach their final destination in the presence of God, his obedient sons and daughters will be confirmed in a character like his.57 Yet coming to “share in” God’s “holiness” is more than the moral transformation necessary for fellowship with God. Those so transformed will participate in the very life of God through their intimate fellowship with him.58 Those whom God brings to “glory” (2:10) and causes to enter his “rest” (4:1–11) will “come to share in his holiness.” The “holiness” the faithful now enjoy in Christ is brought into closest relationship with its ultimate reward. We might paraphrase thus: “submit to the discipline of the Father of spirits” (v. 9c) “in order that through Christ you might be confirmed in a God-like character and thus share permanently in God’s own eternal life.” This reality of life with God exceeds the comprehension of both original hearers and modern readers.

11 The pastor concludes his discussion of Prov 3:11–12 by assuring his hearers that the present pain of God’s fatherly discipline is well worth the future gain for which it prepares the children of God. The first half of this verse has the form of a general statement applicable to any area of life: “And all discipline for the time being does not seem to be of joy but of grief.”59 Moralists ancient and modern know that painful discipline is necessary for achievement. In the second clause, beginning with “but afterward,” the pastor describes the benefits received in terms appropriate for the results that come from God’s fatherly discipline—“the peaceful fruit of righteousness.”60 The gnomic or proverbial nature of this verse suggests that we should take “but afterwards” in a general sense rather than as a specific reference to the final Judgment. The pastor confirms this interpretation by describing the benefits of discipline as “the peaceful fruit of righteousness.” This phrase appropriately describes benefits that the children of God begin to receive through God’s discipline in this life. Many commentators think that the adjective translated “peaceful” and the genitive qualifier translated “of righteousness” function in essentially the same way.61 The pastor, however, has very deliberately placed the word “righteousness” at the end of his interpretation of Prov 3:11–12. He introduced this long section on enduring persecution through persevering faith in 10:39 with Hab 2:4: “My righteous one will live by faith.” He began the roll call of the faithful with “righteous” Abel (11:4). Thus it is no surprise that he ends with “the peaceful fruit of righteousness” (italics added throughout). This arrangement of material suggests that “of righteousness” describes the source rather than the nature of this “fruit.” To be “righteous” or to be in right relationship with God is indeed to persevere in obedience by faith despite opposition. It is God’s fatherly discipline that perfects this righteousness and brings its “peaceful fruit” to maturity. Within the biblical context “peaceful” describes well-being and wholeness of relationships with God and with the family of the faithful.62 This “peaceful fruit” only shines brighter amid the gloom of opposition. The euphoria felt by a successful athlete at the end of the race is nothing compared to the “peaceful fruit” matured through perseverance in obedience.63

The athletic metaphor that has been lying under the surface since the “no pain no gain” with which this verse began, becomes evident in the phrase “to those who have been trained” by God’s discipline. The perfect tense of this substantive participle is important. This harvest comes only to those who have gone through the process of being trained and are in the state that results from that training. There is no other way to receive “the peaceful fruit” that comes from “righteousness” and thereby “partake of God’s holiness” at the end of the race.

12–13 With these exhortations the pastor draws out the implications of vv. 1–11.64 Since Jesus both enables and preeminently exemplifies endurance (vv. 1–3), and since persecution is God’s fatherly discipline distinguishing his true children and preparing them for fellowship with him (vv. 4–11), the hearers should take courage (v. 12) and run straight for the goal (v. 13). We have noted how the fatherly discipline of vv. 5–11 is closely related to athletic training (v. 11). Thus, as the pastor began with the race (vv. 1–3) and the boxing match (v. 4), so he concludes with the boxing match (v. 12) and the race (v. 13).65 As above, he uses boxing to describe the need for resistance to hostile opposition, a resistance that is required of those who would finish the race. Thus, the pastor calls on his hearers, who have not “resisted unto blood” (v. 4), to “straighten the drooping hands and the enfeebled knees.”66 In face of stiff opposition from the unbelieving world, the boxer has all but fallen—his hands have dropped and his knees have begun to buckle. The pastor calls on his hearers to straighten up, put up their proverbial dukes, and continue the fight. They must not surrender through discouragement to the tough resistance of a hostile, unbelieving world.

The pastor draws on the rich resources of the OT in his formulation of these exhortations. “Straighten the drooping hands and the enfeebled knees” recalls Isa 35:3–4;67 “make straight paths for your feet” echoes Prov 4:26.68 Both passages acquire a more profound significance through the work of Christ. In Isa 35:3–4 God called for “the drooping hands and enfeebled knees” to become strong because he was coming to deliver his people and take them back over a “holy way” (Isa 35:8) to “Zion” (Isa 35:10). In Hebrews, God has already come in Jesus and opened the “new and living way” (Heb 10:20) to the heavenly Zion (Heb 12:22). Thus God’s people have much greater reason to reject discouragement.

Since Jesus has opened this way to “Zion,” the pastor’s hearers should resist the world in order to “make straight paths with” their “feet” to that heavenly City. In light of the quotation from Prov 3:11–12 above, it is no surprise that the pastor draws these words from the wise man’s instructions to his “son” in Prov 4:26. Yet through the work of Christ the pastor can see further down this path than the sage of old. The wise man was concerned that his “son” not turn aside; the pastor that his hearers persevere until the end. The wise man encouraged his “son” not to swerve from a life of moral rectitude because it was the way to enjoy the good “life” in this present world. The pastor urges his hearers as the “sons and daughters of God” to persevere in unfailing faithfulness in order to reach their goal in the eternal life of the heavenly City. The pastor’s exhortation encompasses all that was in the wise man’s words but puts them in eternal perspective.69

The instrumental “with your feet” is better suited to the context than a dative of indirect object, “for your feet.”70 To make straight paths “for your feet” would be to build a straight road to follow. To make straight paths “with your feet” is to walk in a straight line.71 The road to the heavenly City has already been prepared by Jesus (10:19–25). If his hearers pursue their course straight to the heavenly City, they will by their example confirm this road for any who are “lame.” The neuter singular “lame” makes this a very general expression. It refers to any in the community who are weak.72 If the pastor’s hearers “beat a straight path” to the heavenly City, then those who are weak will not be “turned aside” by their bad example but “healed” and enabled to persevere through the model thus established by their brothers and sisters.73 The pastor’s desire that his hearers show concern for the perseverance of all in their fellowship surfaces again, and will receive further attention in vv. 14–15 below.74

The pastor began this discussion of the present suffering of God’s people by urging his hearers to “run the race set before them” (12:1). He ends by exhorting them to “make straight paths with their feet” (12:13) to the heavenly City. In order to run this race with endurance, they must resist opposition and discouragement by straightening their drooping hands and crumpling knees (12:12). After all, the opposition they have faced does not compare with what Jesus endured (12:3, 4). Furthermore, the suffering they are enduring for their faithfulness is God’s fatherly discipline, demonstrating their filial relation to him and reinforcing their obedience in preparation for life in the heavenly City. The examples of the past (11:1–40) only reinforce the fact that running this race with endurance is to be the consuming concern of God’s people in the present.

2. Don’t Sell Your Birthright, as Esau Did (12:14–17)

14Together pursue peace and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord. 15Pursue these goals by watching out lest anyone fall short of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up cause trouble and through it many be defiled; 16lest there be anyone immoral or godless like Esau, who sold his own birthright for a single meal. 17For you know that even afterward when he was seeking to inherit the blessing he was rejected, for he did not find a place of repentance, although he sought it [the blessing] with tears.

Amid present suffering (12:1–13) the faithful find great joy in the privileges now theirs through Christ (12:18–24). The pastor, who has been addressing their sufferings with encouragement, introduces the description of their privileges in 12:18–24 with the warning of 12:14–17. Since the beginning of this history in 11:1 he has been urging his hearers to join the faithful of old in perseverance until they reach the heavenly City. He now warns them lest they disregard the “great salvation” (2:3) that is theirs in Christ and fall away. This emphasis on warning reaches its climax at the conclusion of the temporal history of God’s people in the Judgment of 12:25–29. While suffering requires encouragement, privileges call for caution lest they be squandered.

This transition from the suffering/encouragement of vv. 1–13 to the privileges/warning of vv. 14–24 is mirrored in the structure of vv. 14–17.1 Verse 14 consists of a second person plural imperative like those in vv. 12–13: “Together pursue peace and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord.” The idea of pursuit echoes the imagery of the racecourse from 12:3, 13. One might argue that pursuing “peace” and “holiness” is the way to strengthen “drooping hands” and “enfeebled knees” (v. 12) and to “make straight paths with your feet” (v. 13).2 On the other hand, the qualifying participle at the beginning of v. 15, “looking out,” introduces three warnings that occupy the rest of this section—“lest anyone” (v. 15a); “lest any root” (v. 15b); “lest anyone” (v. 16).3 Verse 17 explains the seriousness of the third and most somber warning. As we will see, this threefold warning is based on the threat of judgment for covenant violation in Deut 29:15–20, and thus anticipates the following contrast between Sinai (vv. 18–21) and Zion (vv. 22–24).

This crucial warning passage is, however, much more than a transition from 12:1–13 to 12:18–24. It is the climactic counterpart of 2:1–4 that brings the warning begun in that passage to final clarity and intensity in light of the intervening argument. The pastor began in 2:1–4 by cautioning against “drifting” and against “neglect” of God’s provision for salvation in Christ. In the case of Esau that neglect has become outright disregard for the things of God and a positive preference for the things of this world. He is the foil of the faithful described in 11:1–40, both the embodiment of, and worse than, the disobedient wilderness generation of 3:7–19. While that generation was intimidated primarily by the threat of an unbelieving world (3:7–19), Esau was drawn into apostasy by his love for the world. It is especially instructive to compare him with that most courageous hero of old, Moses (11:24–26), and with “the Pioneer and Perfecter of the faith, Jesus” (12:1–3). Moses rejected the “temporary” pleasures and advantages of Egypt because he kept his eyes on the eternal reward; Christ endured the cross “for the sake of” eternal “joy”; but Esau despised the promise of eternal blessing “for the sake of” the earthly pleasure afforded by one meal. Esau shows us that persistent neglect of the things of God leads to a love for the transitory pleasures of this world that is perhaps more culpable than disobedience due to intimidation. The pastor’s use of Esau as the ultimate example of apostasy is as strategic as was his use of Rahab (11:31) as the final example of faith. If she showed the irrelevance of one’s background for faith, he shows that those who reject Christ return not to the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, but to the one who rejected that God.4 Furthermore, in this crucial passage the pastor’s long-standing concern that his hearers show mutual concern for the integrity and perseverance of the whole community reaches full bloom (cf. 3:12–14; 4:1–2; 10:24–25).

14 Nothing could reveal this concern for their common life more than the pastor’s opening exhortation: “Together with all pursue peace and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord.” This exhortation echoes Ps 34:15, and thus it has a familiar and authoritative ring in the hearers’ ears.5 “Holiness” has been given to them through the work of Christ (see the comments on 10:10, 14). They belong to God and have been cleansed from “dead works” (9:14) so that they can enter God’s presence. His laws have been written on their hearts (10:15–18). The result of that holiness is the “peace,” harmony, and wholeness of their common life that comes from living by faith in God’s promises and power (cf. v. 11 above).6 Still, both “peace” and “holiness” must be pursued. The hearers must not take these blessings for granted, but give diligence to preserve and cultivate them lest the harmony of their community be fragmented through rebellion. We might translate this present imperative: “keep on pursuing peace and holiness.”7 According to proper Greek grammar the phrase “with all” qualifies “pursue” and not “peace”—“Together with all pursue peace” instead of “Pursue peace with all.”8 Popular Greek usage would allow this second interpretation, familiar to English readers.9 However, the first is to be preferred not only because the pastor normally uses Greek with elegance and care, but because it fits most appropriately with his concern in the immediate context (cf. vv. 15–16) for the common life of the community. “Together with all [fellow believers] keep pursuing peace.…” The diligent quest to maintain their common harmony is the urgent and joint task of all.10 The pastor puts great emphasis on the word “peace” by placing it first in the Greek sentence: “Peace keep pursuing together with all.…” “The church is the eschatological outpost of heaven and should be a dynamic reflection of that peace which is a mark of God’s rule.”11

The peace of the community must be maintained by diligent pursuit of the God-given, Christ-provided “holiness” that is its source.12 Defilement through rebellion ruptures this wholeness and harmony. Perseverance in this God-given “holiness” is the only way to “see the Lord.”13 Although on earth the faithful of old did not enjoy the access to God now available through Christ, they kept the eyes of faith on the “invisible” God whose presence they would enter at journey’s end. The faithful since Christ enjoy a present access to God, so beautifully described in vv. 22–24 below, but they still, by faith, keep their eyes fixed on “Jesus” at God’s right hand (12:2; cf. 2:9; 8:1) in anticipation of final entrance into the divine presence, when the faithful of all time will “see” God.14 The pastor’s focus here on the ultimate vision of God fits well with his concern for perseverance.

15–16 For ease of reading we have divided the long sentence that runs from v. 14 through v. 16 by adding “Pursue these blessings” at the beginning of v. 15—“Pursue these blessings by watching out.…” The hearers are to “pursue peace and holiness” by “watching out” lest that holiness be violated through the unfaithfulness of any member, and thus that peace be shattered.15 These verses clearly show that the hearers are not called to “pursue” something they do not have, or even to perfect something they have already received. They “pursue” peace and holiness by diligently guarding what they have received through Christ from threat of loss.16 This exhortation for the community to pursue peace and holiness becomes a warning for mutual vigilance.17 Three “lest any” clauses in vv. 15–16 progressively reveal the nature and dire significance of that which threatens the peace and holiness of the community. The first two of these clauses echo warnings drawn from the example of the wilderness generation in 3:7–4:11.18 Esau, who appears in the third clause, is a fitting companion for that disobedient congregation.

The pastor has drawn inspiration for vv. 15–17 from the warning against apostasy found in Deut 29:15–20. Deut 29:17 contains two “lest any” clauses like the three in Heb 12:15–17. The first clause in Hebrews has only a slight resemblance to the first Deuteronomy clause.19 The second, however, is so close to Deut 29:17 LXX that it clearly substantiates the pastor’s dependence upon this passage.20 Deuteronomy contains no third “lest any” clause, but Deut 29:18–20 describes a person who deliberately flaunts the curses of the covenant against disobedience and goes his own way. God refuses to pardon this person, just as Esau finds no place of repentance. The “curses” (Deut 29:19) will fall on him, just as Esau fails to receive the “blessing” in Heb 12:17. Thus, the example of Esau introduced in the third “lest any” clause (found in Heb 12:16) parallels this Deuteronomic description of final condemnation on one who rejects God’s covenant. In Deuteronomy Moses warns God’s people that abandoning the covenant by turning from God to idols is apostasy. The pastor warns his hearers that abandoning the New Covenant by turning away from the work of Christ is the contemporary equivalent of such idolatry.

The two “lest any” clauses in Heb 12:15 reach a climax in the third “lest any” clause in v. 16: failure to appropriate God’s grace leads to a rebellious attitude that results in open apostasy. The first clause, “lest anyone fall short of the grace of God,” gives the cause of apostasy.21 This is the “grace” of God provided by the high-priestly work of Christ, through which God’s people are cleansed from sin, brought into God’s presence, and enabled to live in victory despite opposition (cf. 4:16). This “grace” is nothing less than the “great salvation” of 2:3. Since the race of faith is not run in one’s own strength, “falling short” of this grace is certain failure. One can “fall short” of Christ’s provision from lassitude, from discouragement at the rigors of the race, or through attraction to the rewards of an unbelieving world.22 However, such falling short of God’s provision leads naturally to abandoning God and rejecting his grace. Thus, this phrase makes an appropriate transition from the theme of endurance to that of apostasy. These two are opposites without middle ground. To fail to endure inevitably leads to apostasy.

Nature abhors a vacuum. The absence of grace allows a “bitter root” or “shoot” to spring up in the community of God’s people.23 This poisonous “root” is either a rebellious person or the heart of unbelief and stubborn rebellion (3:12–13) that motivates such a person. Just as a few people turned the wilderness generation away from God, even so one such rebellious person may “cause” great “trouble.” By example and influence he or she may lead “many” aside so that they become “defiled.” In fact, with “the many” the pastor may fear for the defilement of the whole community, as was the case with the wilderness generation.24 Such defilement is the stubborn, disobedient, rebellious abandonment of the cleansing from sin provided by Christ. The person who causes such “trouble” is not far from “crucifying for themselves the Son of God afresh” (6:6). Thus, abandonment of the “holiness” provided by Christ shatters the “peace” of the believing community as well. No wonder the pastor urges his hearers ancient and modern to be on their guard against such a tragedy.

The warning of Deut 29:15–20 reached its climax in the description of one who flaunts God’s covenant. In the same way, this warning in Hebrews climaxes with “lest there be anyone immoral or godless like Esau.” With the double description “immoral” and “godless” Esau becomes the epitome of apostasy, surpassing even the wilderness generation. There is little disagreement over the meaning of “godless.” Godlessness is the opposite of the “holiness” God’s people are to pursue through the life of faith.25 It is living without the “godly fear” (5:7; 11:7; 12:28) of the faithful. The godless person is one who has received the promise of God but lives as if God’s power were not real and his promises of reward were invalid (see Heb 11:6). This is exactly what Esau did when he “sold his own birthright for a single meal” (Gen 25:29–34). His birthright as the “firstborn” was the promise given Abraham of a people and an eternal heavenly City (Heb 11:9–10, 13–16). He surrendered this promise for the merest pittance of this world’s goods—“one” little “meal.” Thus, he treated God’s power as insufficient to meet his need and God’s promise of future blessing as worthless. If the people who lived by faith in chapter 11 were the heroes, Esau is their antithesis. To abandon Christ would be to spurn the one who fulfilled the promise Esau disregarded.

The term “immoral” has generated much discussion. This expression is normally used to describe sexual misconduct. The OT, however, never accuses Esau of sexual immorality. The only related condemnation he receives is the displeasure of his parents for marrying several Hittite wives (Gen 26:34–35). It is true that later tradition often described him as sexually promiscuous, perhaps because of his polygamous relationship with these pagan women.26 Nevertheless, as we have seen in our study of chapter 11, Hebrews rarely draws on such tradition.27 Furthermore, the pastor makes no further comment concerning Esau’s sexuality. This has led some commentators to argue that only the adjective “godless” describes Esau.28 The pastor warns against an “immoral person” and against a “godless person” like Esau. This interpretation, however, is unlikely. It leaves “immoral” hanging without further comment. The two terms “immoral” and “godless” appear elsewhere as a pair, so it would be arbitrary to separate them here without compelling reason.29 Others have suggested that “immoral” is used figuratively for one disloyal to the covenant.30 The OT often uses adultery and sexual unfaithfulness as a figure of speech for covenant disloyalty.31 However, such language is normally used in reference to the nation as a whole rather than as a description of an individual.32 Close attention to the way the pastor describes the sin of Esau provides a solution for this problem. The wilderness generation refused to trust God’s promise and power because they were intimidated by the unbelieving world. Esau, however, abandoned God not out of fear but from desire. He wanted the pleasures of this world. Furthermore, he paid for that pleasure like one who hires a prostitute—one could say he sold himself for that pleasure. And what a little pleasure it was. Moses considered “the reproach of Christ greater than” all the vast “pleasures” and “advantages” of Egypt (11:26). Esau sold his eternal “birthright” for nothing more than “one meal.” Therefore, it is likely that the pastor has used the term “immoral” for Esau because he was controlled by bodily desire and because he “sold” the eternal for a pittance of the temporal.33 The unbelievably small amount for which he bartered the eternal attests the great disdain with which he treated the things of God. Nothing less than both “immoral” and “godless” sufficiently describes this arch-apostate.

17 “For you know” indicates that the hearers were well aware of Esau’s story. Thus, the pastor uses the Genesis account to demonstrate that the fate of this godless person was tragic and irreversible. The story begins with the sale of Esau’s birthright, mentioned in v. 16 above and recorded in Gen 25:29–34. Because of this utterly godless act, he irrevocably forfeited his right “to inherit the blessing” that God had given Abraham and that was latter inherited by Isaac, Jacob, Jacob’s children, Joseph’s sons (Heb 11:20–22), and all the faithful who followed them.34 Gen 27:1–40 records this failure. At the time when the blessing was given, he sought “to inherit” it, but he was “rejected.”

The affirmation, “he found no place of repentance,” is in accord with the pastor’s earlier warnings (cf. 6:4–8; 10:26–31), and is crucial to his desire for the perseverance of his hearers. It is very unlikely that “repentance” should be reduced to “change,” as some have suggested, arguing that Esau was not able to “change” Isaac’s mind once Isaac had blessed Jacob.35 “Place of repentance” is virtually a technical term that refers to the opportunity for repentance in a moral or religious sense.36 Esau could not go back and undo what he had done when he sold his birthright to Jacob.37 The godless and profane way in which he rejected the promise of God that was his birthright foreshadowed the way in which the pastor’s hearers were in danger of definitively and publicly spurning the fulfillment of that promise in Christ. Such rejection of God’s covenant excludes one from the means of salvation and thus the possibility of repentance.

It is important, however, to understand the next phrase, “although he sought it with tears.” In Greek the word “it” is feminine and could refer either to “repentance” or “blessing,” both of which are feminine, but not to the word for “place,” which is masculine.38 It is true that the word for “repentance” is closer.39 Yet if the pastor were referring to repentance, one would expect the pronoun to agree with the masculine “place.”40 Furthermore, as Westcott notes, the word “seek” fits well with “blessing” but poorly with “repentance.”41 Esau did not seek a “place of repentance” with tears.42 He sought the “blessing” with tears.43 “It was his loss, not his profanity, that he mourned.”44 This understanding is in accord with the OT text, according to which Esau tries desperately to retrieve the blessing but says nothing of repenting of his own folly. It is also in accord with the earlier warning passages, which record nothing about an apostate seeking repentance (3:7–19; 6:4–8; 10:26–31). In fact, such people continue to “crucify the Son of God afresh” (6:6). In this Esau was much like the wilderness generation. After their rejection at Kadesh they did not repent—they just tried to go up and occupy the land on their own (Num 14:39–45). There can be no doubt, then, that those whom Hebrews describes as apostate have deliberately spurned and utterly rejected the grace of God, and have thus put themselves outside the benefits of Christ’s sacrifice. They have been “rejected” by God.45 Yet this rejection is reflected in a life of callousness that does not desire repentance or seek to turn from its rebellious ways. Thus, any who are truly concerned for their own salvation have not followed in the steps of Esau.

Thus, the pastor has answered the question posed in his opening exhortation: “How shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation?” (2:3). If one who is a part of God’s people neglects the provision Christ has made and falls short of the grace he provides, it is very easy for a rebellious, unbelieving heart to “spring up.” This type of heart leads to open disobedience, distrust, and disregard for God—like that of Esau—and poses a great danger to the believing community. Those who follow such a course will indeed not “escape” the judgment of God.

3. God’s Firstborn Enter His Presence through the Exalted Jesus (12:18–24)

18For you have not come to something that can be touched and to something that has been burning, to a fire, and to darkness, and to gloom, and to storm, 19and to the sound of a trumpet, and to a voice of words, which those who heard begged that no word be added to them. 20For they were not able to bear what was commanded: “If even an animal touches the mountain, it shall be stoned.” 21And so terrifying was the appearance that Moses said, “I am full of fear and trembling.”

22But you have come to Mount Zion, and to the City of the living God, heavenly Jerusalem, and to myriads of angels, a festal gathering, 23and to the assembly of the firstborn enrolled in heaven, and to a Judge who is God of all, and to spirits of righteous people made perfect, 24and to the Mediator of the New Covenant, Jesus, and to blood of sprinkling that speaks better than Abel.

After each of his previous warnings (6:4–8; 10:26–31), the pastor assured his hearers of his confidence in their continued perseverance (6:9–12; 10:32–39). After the warning in 12:14–17, he hurries to assure them that they, unlike Esau, “have not come” into a state of judgment (12:18–21).1 Through Christ “they have come” into a state of blessing (12:22–24) that anticipates their eternal destiny (12:25–29).

It is important to remember that there are two aspects to the pastor’s contention that God’s revelation on Sinai has been fulfilled in Christ. First, by providing an all-sufficient means of atonement Christ has shown the continuing validity of the old as a foreshadowing of this fulfillment, but done away with the practice of its sacrifices. Second, the judgment pronounced on sin by that first revelation continues valid with even greater intensity in light of this fulfillment in Christ.2 The pastor, who has thoroughly established the first of these two related aspects, is concerned here almost solely with the second—with Sinai as a picture of judgment on those who have rejected Christ. He is not presenting Sinai (12:18–21) and Zion (12:22–24) as a simple contrast between the old and new religious orders, or between the times before and after Christ.3 He is not arguing from a “lesser” Sinai to a “greater” Zion.4 He is not describing Sinai as either the ineffective that foreshadows the effective,5 or as an “earthly” copy of a heavenly reality.6 The pastor is not pitting Judaism against Christianity.7 As modern readers we will miss the pastor’s intention and fail to grasp the effective way in which he has structured his argument if we do not see that he is describing two present possibilities for the professed people of God.8 He is not concerned with old and new, before and after, but with belief and unbelief, with apostasy and faithfulness, with judgment and blessing. Sinai depicts the terrible exclusion of the apostate from the presence of God;9 Zion, the present joy of the faithful in the divine presence. This grand contrast between Sinai and Zion brings to a conclusion the statement in 10:39 with which the pastor introduced this history of the faithful. Since the pastor’s hearers do not belong to the apostates characterized by “drawing back for destruction” (10:39), they do not face the judgment depicted in vv. 18–21. They are, instead, among those who persevere in faithful obedience “for the preservation of the soul” (10:39), and thus “have come” to the Mount pictured in vv. 22–24.

Thus, the pastor’s appeal for his hearers to persevere by appropriating the salvation Christ has provided reaches a climactic synthesis in this passage.10 His previous warnings achieve full intensity in the picture drawn from Sinai (vv. 18–21); his words of encouragement culminate in the description of Zion (vv. 22–24).11 Furthermore, it is Christ as Pioneer, High Priest, and Mediator of the New Covenant who, by his fulfillment of the old order, has provided access to the blessings of Zion for the people of God. By so doing he has also exacerbated the peril of Sinai. Thus, both the pastor’s theological exposition and his exhortation are here forged into one powerful appeal.

Comparison with 1:5–14 confirms this interpretation of 12:18–24. In both passages God’s people are gathered around a mountain to hear the voice of God.12 In both, God’s ultimate revelation in his eternal and now-exalted Son is compared and contrasted with his revelation at Sinai.13 The first passage (1:5–14) laid a foundation for the pastor’s argument; the second (12:18–24) brings it to a conclusion. The first (1:5–14) established the fact that God’s revelation in his Son was superior because of the agent or medium of its disclosure. On the basis of this fact alone the pastor affirms that the judgment pronounced by the Sinai revelation was even more certain to fall on those who rejected its fulfillment in the Son (2:1–4). In the intervening chapters the pastor has described the content and quality of this revelation as the “great salvation” revealed and provided by the Son. Thus, in 12:18–24 he is able to describe with greater accuracy and intensity the nature both of that judgment on the disobedient (12:18–21) and of the privileges this salvation now affords the people of God (12:22–24). He began by affirming the past reality of God’s revelation in the incarnation and exaltation of the Son (1:1–4). He concludes by affirming that God still “speaks” through the eternal, incarnate, and now-exalted Son. Those who reject this “heavenly calling” (3:1) through unbelief and disobedience face the judgment depicted by the Sinai of 12:18–21.

The pastor, then, is describing Sinai as it was and is for those who reject the promise of salvation that Sinai and its related institutions foreshadowed. For them Sinai is devoid of grace. The wilderness generation (3:7–19) did not experience this Sinai when they stood at the foot of the mountain. They experienced this Sinai of exclusion from God’s presence at Kadesh-Barnea when they rejected the promise of God.14 Contemporary believers will experience this Sinai if they reject the fulfillment of God’s promise in his Son.15

These graphic descriptions of present reality anticipate the eternal destiny of the apostate and the faithful. It is, therefore, no surprise that the pastor reinforces his description of these two “mountains” with a description of the final Judgment in 12:25–29. Although he may have drawn on traditional materials for this grand vision of Sinai and Zion, the arrangement and use of these materials is distinctively his own.16

18–19a The phrases “for you have not come” in v. 18 and “but you have come” in v. 22 introduce the contrasting alternatives represented by Sinai (vv. 18–21) and Zion (vv. 22–24). The pastor’s concern that his hearers enter the presence of God (4:16; 7:25; 10:1, 22; 11:6) has come to fruition.17 He uses the perfect tense to show that he is describing two possibilities that even now lie before the people of God, who have been redeemed by Christ but have not yet made final entry into the eternal City.18 The pastor assures his faithful and obedient hearers that in their approach to God through Christ they do not stand before the first of these two alternatives, the place of terrifying judgment described in vv. 18–21.

The pastor’s hearers could not fail to associate the description in vv. 18–21 with God’s self-revelation on Mount Sinai. Much of the graphic language in this passage is drawn directly from the familiar accounts of this event in the Greek OT.19 In fact, the verb translated “have … come” echoes the word used for approaching Sinai in Deut 4:11. The hearers must, however, have been surprised at what the pastor has omitted from the OT’s picture of this event, as well as what he has added to the inspired text. By careful selection, addition, and omission the pastor has presented Sinai as the dreadful place of judgment and of exclusion from God’s presence. He creates this impression, first of all, by omitting any mention of God. Second, he uses neither “mountain” nor “Sinai” in his description.20 The pastor is not so concerned with the specific place but with the awesome quality of this place. Thus, he calls this place “that which can be touched,” a description not found in the OT, in order to affirm the reality of the terrible exclusion from God he is describing. As we will see below, his selection from the descriptions found in Exodus and Deuteronomy reduces this scene to impersonal but very palpable and frightening physical phenomena. The terror of the people and the dread of Moses make it clear that this is fear before the awesome judgment of God upon sin. The pastor would have his hearers feel and sense these awful phenomena and the exclusion from God that they betoken.

The pastor has constructed this description of the place of judgment with his usual care for the effective ordering of words. He begins with a substantive participle (“to something that can be touched”), followed by a participle and a noun (“to what has been burning, fire”), followed by three unqualified nouns (“to darkness, “to gloom,” and “to storm”).21 The whole is brought to a conclusion by two nouns with genitive qualifiers (“to a sound of a trumpet,” “to a voice of words”). The pastor uses no article before any of these descriptions in order to emphasize the terrifying quality of these phenomena and the situation they describe.22 The way in which he has kept each of these brief descriptions separate by putting “and” between them produces a cumulative rhetorical effect as if each were piled on top of its predecessors.23 With the two participles he appeals to his hearers’ sense of touch; with the three unqualified nouns, to their sense of sight; and with the two final qualified nouns, to their sense of hearing. This sevenfold description is designed to overwhelm the pastor’s hearers with the terror of this place of judgment. If possible, he would have them smell the horror of separation from God.24

The second participle, with its attendant noun, provides a smooth transition between the initial participle and the three following unqualified nouns.25 As noted above, the pastor begins with “to something that can be touched” in order to emphasize the palpable reality of this scene of judgment.26 It was appropriate for fire to be the next item due to its prominence at Sinai. For the same reason, it was fitting for the pastor to emphasize fire by using both a participle (“to what has been burning”) and a noun (“fire”). This fire brought pain but no light—this was a place of “darkness,” “gloom,” and “storm.”27 “Gloom” is worse than “darkness,” and “storm,” than them all. Thus the pastor has moved from what can be “touched” through fire and darkness to awful tempest.28

Hebrews has deliberately reserved “to the sound of a trumpet and to a voice of words” until the end.29 The Greek word order reveals the close relationship between this pair of expressions.30 By far the most terrifying thing about Sinai was the voice of God himself, introduced by the awesome blast of a trumpet. Yet the terror of God’s speaking is made all the more overwhelming by the impersonal nature of the description. The pastor does not say that God spoke but that they came “to a voice of words.”31 There is no access to God or fellowship with him at this place of judgment. In contrast to the description of Mount Zion below, those facing judgment “have not come to” persons but to awesome phenomena caused by the condemning presence of God. The pastor has minced no words in presenting his hearers with the condition of those who reject Christ.

19b–20 The response of the people showed how awesome was the terror of this impersonal “voice” that pronounced the judgment of God. Those “who heard” this voice “begged that no word be added to” the words already spoken. Immediately after God spoke the Ten Commandments in Deut 5:24–27 and Exod 20:19, the people requested that Moses intervene for them, and that they not hear the unmediated voice of God again. The term that the pastor has used for “begged” appears in the stronger sense of “refuse” in v. 25 below.32 The intensity of the hearers’ rejection reflects the degree of terror associated with the speech of God. Verse 20 cites the command that no one, “not even an animal,” touch the mountain on pain of death, as reason for the people’s request. This command was given in Exod 19:12–13 before God appeared on Mount Sinai, and reiterated in Exod 19:23–25, right before God spoke the Ten Commandments to the people. Thus, it is closely associated with those commandments. Hebrews refers to this specific instruction or command because it emphasizes the people’s inability to approach God. The way the command is phrased by the pastor, beginning with “if even an animal,” heightens this tension. Not only human beings, but even unwitting animals would suffer the death penalty if they touched the mount of God’s disclosure.33 Death by stoning meant that no one else had to touch the violator and suffer the same consequences. Thus, this verse concludes the previous description by making it clear that those who hear but reject the word of God cannot draw near the divine presence.34

21 The pastor concludes by stating plainly what he has already made his hearers feel, see, and hear—the terror of the disobedient when approaching God: “so terrifying was the appearance.” “The appearance” maintains the impersonal nature of the description and directs the hearers’ minds to the phenomena already described. Then the pastor summons Moses, the very mediator of the Old Covenant, as witness: “I am full of fear.”35 At first sight this quotation appears to contradict Scripture. Were the phenomena on Mount Sinai so fearful that even Moses was helplessly afraid? According to the accounts in Exod 19:16–25; 20:21 (cf. Deut 5:5, 31) Moses went into God’s presence. Then he reassured the people (Exod 20:20). This seeming contradiction is removed when we realize that Moses did not make this declaration of fear (Deut 9:19) until after the people worshiped the golden calf. Hebrews intensifies Moses’ statement by adding “and trembling.” Moses was afraid “because of the wrath and anger of God” against Israel’s sin.36 It was the sin of the people that made the Sinai revelation of a holy God so fearful.37 The mediator’s inadequacy is in accord with the Old Covenant’s impotency to deal with sin.38 The terror of Moses brings the description of this place of God’s judgment to its climax.

22 The pastor’s description of Zion is sevenfold, as was his description of the unnamed mount of judgment.39 The similarity, however, goes no further. That mountain remained unnamed. This mountain is triply designated as “Mount Zion, and the City of the living God, heavenly Jerusalem.” That mountain was replete with natural phenomena, both impersonal and dreadful. This mountain is filled with persons in fellowship with God. That mountain was characterized by fear; this, by joy. The recipients of Hebrews are not rebellious and thus “have not come” to that place of God’s judgment. They “have come to,” stand before, and live in a different reality.40

By using three names to describe this place of blessed fellowship with God, the pastor reassures his hearers that it is a real “place.” One description is incapable of adequately expressing its significance.41 The pastor begins with “Mount Zion” in order to establish the contrast with the implied “Mount Sinai.”42 Furthermore, although Mount Zion stood for the entire city of Jerusalem, it was used to describe the Temple Mount and was uniquely associated with the Most Holy Place and the presence of God.43 Let there be no mistake. The pastor is talking about the place where God’s people dwell with him. By bringing God’s people into the Most Holy Place, Christ has brought them to the true Mount Zion. The next two names for this place are set apart from “Mount Zion” and given due emphasis by the conjunction “even.”44 They are also closely joined to each other by the absence of a conjunction between them. “The City of the living God” confirms the fact that this is the place of God’s presence.45 As a “City” it is the place where the faithful will live as the society of God’s people in fellowship with him.46 This is the eternal “City that has foundations, whose architect and builder is God” (11:9–10). Those who persevere in faith are citizens of this City. Final entrance into this, their true home, is the goal of their earthly pilgrimage (11:13–16). The pastor has reserved the most comprehensive and evocative term until the end—this reality can be described as nothing less than “Jerusalem”—but not the earthly city.47 This is the true “heavenly” Jerusalem foreshadowed by the earthly Jerusalem as the place where God dwells with his own.48

The reality described by these three names has always been the ultimate goal of the faithful (see the comments on 3:1–4:11). Since the exaltation of God’s Son, Jesus, preliminary entrance thereunto has also been their ever-present privilege (4:14–16; 10:19–25). When the pastor has spoken of this reality as the ultimate goal, he has used the language of pilgrimage to the Promised Land. This goal is the “rest” that remains for God’s people (3:7–4:11), the City God has established for them, and their heavenly “home” (11:1–40), into which Christ will lead them as their “Pioneer” (2:10; 12:1–3). When speaking of their present privilege he has called this reality the Most Holy Place (4:14–5:10; 7:1–10:25). Through his high-priestly work Christ has opened a “new and living way” through which they can enter daily into God’s presence in order to find strength for perseverance until the end. It was natural to use the imagery of the Mosaic Tent and priesthood to describe this daily approach to God, since these were the means given in the OT for regular worship. Yet this high-priestly ministry of Christ is also the means through which all of God’s people—past and present—will attain ultimate entrance at Christ’s return (11:39–40; 12:28–29). When looking at the ultimate goal, the pastor has urged his hearers to persevere; when describing their present privilege, he has invited them to “draw near” in order to persevere. Even within the OT itself the imagery of Promised Land, Jerusalem, Zion, Temple, and Most Holy Place began to coalesce as representative of the ultimate hope of the people of God.49 Here in 12:22–24 the pastor uses “Mount Zion, and the City of the living God, heavenly Jerusalem” to unite in one his description of the present preliminary privilege and future ultimate destiny of God’s people.50 His emphasis is on the present privilege—“you have come.” Yet this is also his most comprehensive glimpse of the future that God has for his own.51

Impersonal, foreboding natural phenomena characterize life before Sinai. Life in the City of God is distinguished by joyful fellowship. The next five phrases describe the residents of the heavenly Mount Zion. First, the faithful have come “to myriads of angels, a festal gathering.” Individual angels might be sent to serve (1:14), but multitudes of angels mark the presence of God. Long ago they attended his self-revelation on Sinai (Deut 12:12 LXX; Heb 1:5–14). Their innumerable company perpetually adorns God’s heavenly court.52 Thus, this numberless host marks nothing less than the heavenly dwelling place of God. As is fitting in this heavenly City, these angels in “a festal gathering” are engaged in joyful worship.53 Whether the expression “festal gathering” is descriptive of the angels, or joined to the following word “assembly,” its occurrence here at the beginning of this section characterizes this entire description as a scene of joyful worship, in which the faithful join the angels in the praise of God.54

23 The faithful have also come “to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven.”55 The word “firstborn” is plural, and thus refers not to Christ (1:6) but to all the faithful people of God.56 This is not a further reference to angels, as some have suggested.57 The pastor could hardly call the angels “firstborn” without compromising his use of that term to distinguish Christ from the angels in 1:6.58 Furthermore, it would make no sense to say that the angels were “enrolled in heaven.”59 It is the one faithful people of God spanning both Testaments whose names are enrolled in heaven, indicating the location of their citizenship.60 There is no reason to restrict this assembly to those who lived before Christ.61 Nor does the fact that their names are “enrolled in heaven” limit its membership to those now living on earth.62 Heaven is the “home” of all the faithful and the place of their true citizenship (11:13–16). This is the great “assembly” or “congregation” of Christ’s brothers and sisters before whom he praised God on the occasion of his exaltation (2:12). In their present worship they echo his praise and exalt in his triumph. The hearers join all the faithful, past and present, living and dead, in the presence of God on the heavenly Mount Zion. All God’s sons and daughters (2:10–18) are the “firstborn” who share the inheritance of the Son and Firstborn par excellence (1:6).63 They have refused to follow the example of Esau, who gave up his right to be “firstborn” because he desired the things of this world and despised the promise of God.64 God’s people may be excluded from the local assemblies and associations made up of citizens from the towns in which they live, but they are full members of the “assembly” of the heavenly City.65 The pastor would have them know that through Christ they have come home to their own—to the witnesses that went before them (11:1–40); to the deceased leaders of their fellowship (13:7); and to all the faithful living in the world.66

Furthermore, “you have come,” says the pastor, “to a Judge, God of all.” It is most appropriate that God himself hold the central position in this list. He is the third of five persons or groups of persons described as present in the heavenly Jerusalem. His presence has been obvious from the beginning. He is the center of “the City of the living God.” The innumerable angels are his attendants. The “assembly of the firstborn” has come into his presence to join the angels in worshiping him. He is what makes this place the “heavenly Jerusalem.” Here the faithful will enter his “rest” (4:1–2). However, the pastor’s description is striking—“to a Judge, God of all.” Most English translations soften the force of this expression by rendering it “to God who is Judge of all.” Why this emphasis on God as “Judge” in the midst of this joyous picture of life in his presence? Some have argued that it would be more in accord with the immediate context and with Hebrews’ emphasis on the privilege of approaching God (4:14–16; 10:19–25) to take “Judge” in the positive sense of “Vindicator,” “Redeemer,” or “Deliverer.”67 However, the more natural translation “Judge” best represents the pastor’s intentions for several reasons. First, by reminding his hearers that they have come to the ultimate and sovereign “Judge,” he establishes the proper context for understanding the rest of this description of Mount Zion, especially the work of the Mediator and the benefits of his “blood” in v. 24. This joyful fellowship is not to be taken lightly. God has not relented in his holiness. This wonderful scene of blessing is possible only through the salvation he has provided in his Son. Second, by reminding his hearers that God is still the holy God of Sinai, he binds vv. 22–24 closely to the contrasting picture in vv. 18–21.68 Finally, this understanding is in accord with the way the pastor has interwoven comfort and warning throughout his sermon. It is this combination that best represents the situation of God’s people since the coming of Christ. It also provides the most compelling motivation for the perseverance of the pastor’s hearers, both ancient and modern.

The “spirits of righteous people made perfect” is appropriately located between God the Judge and Christ the Mediator. They have been accepted as “righteous” before God the Judge because they have been “made perfect” through the mediation of Christ.69 “Spirits of … righteous people” is an apocalyptic term for the people of God who have already died and await resurrection.70 While “assembly of the firstborn” included the church militant and triumphant, the “spirits of righteous people made perfect” refers specifically to the faithful people of God who have died.71 Thus, this term encompasses people like the heroes of faith in 11:1–40 who lived before Christ, as well as the faithful who have died since his coming.72 Those heroes were “righteous” (10:38) because they lived by faith, as epitomized by the first in their list, “righteous” Abel (11:4). When properly understood, the fact that the heroes of 11:1–40 could not be “made perfect without us” is no objection to their inclusion with those now “made perfect” (see the comments on 11:39–40).73 They have been “made perfect” in the same way that contemporary believers “have been made perfect.” Both have been cleansed from sin and thus brought into the presence of God through the work of Christ (7:19; 9:9; 10:1, 14).74 In principle, the same cleansing enables the dead to live in God’s presence on Mount Zion and the living to approach the throne of grace in prayer and worship (4:14–16; cf. 10:19–25). Since the exaltation of Christ the saints of old who did not enjoy access to that throne during their earthly lives dwell in the heavenly Jerusalem. The pastor, however, is not distinguishing between those who lived before Christ and those who come after. There is only one people of God. He is separating the faithful who have died from those still alive. All, of course, will enter into the destiny God has for his own in a deeper and final way at Christ’s return (12:25–29; cf. 9:28).75

24 The pastor has held his hearers in suspense by postponing mention of “the Mediator of the New Covenant, Jesus” until the end of this description of Mount Zion. As is his custom, he puts great emphasis on the name “Jesus” by positioning it after the other terms used to describe Christ. This “Mediator,” exalted at God’s right hand, is still the same “Jesus” who lived an obedient human life, offering himself on the cross according to the will of God (10:5–10). God is at the center of this picture of Mount Zion and the recipient of worship from its human and angelic inhabitants. The “Mediator,” however, comes at its climax because he is the one through whom God has made everything described in vv. 22–23 possible. As the “Mediator of the New Covenant” (7:23–25; 9:14–15; 10:15–18), he is able to cleanse the heart from sin, implant God’s law within, and remove every barrier that has separated God’s people from his presence.76 This One, seated at God’s right hand, is indeed the “main point” of the pastor’s sermon (8:1–2) and the One worthy of constant attention by the people of God as they run the race of faith (12:1–3). If life on Mount Zion is the great benefit of the “New Covenant,” those who reject this Mediator will suffer the judgment pronounced under the Old as portrayed in vv. 18–21. The former description of fearful separation from God ended with Moses, the mediator of the Old Covenant (v. 21; cf. 9:15–21), terrified before God’s judgment on sin. This description of Mount Zion climaxes with “Jesus,” the fully effective Mediator of the New, who is able to adequately deal with sin.

The work of this Mediator is summarized in the seventh and final description of that to which the hearers “have come”—“to blood of sprinkling that speaks better than Abel.” “Better than Abel” is probably shorthand for “better than the blood of Abel.”77 Abel’s blood “cried out” (Gen 4:10) for God’s judgment to fall on the sin of guilty Cain.78 The “blood” by which Jesus sealed the New Covenant (9:13–14; 18–21; 10:22) as its Mediator is blood that proclaims a “better” message of cleansing from sin and release from judgment. It invites the faithful into the presence of God. The pastor has already demonstrated that the New Covenant and the sacrifice of Christ are “better” than the Old Covenant and sacrifice because they provide what the Old only prefigured.79 Here, however, he goes a step further. The “blood” of Christ addresses God’s people with a “better” message than the blood of Abel because it provides salvation rather than condemnation. The God of Sinai (2:3; cf. 3:5) now speaks this word of invitation through the blood of Jesus. The present tense reminds the hearers that the God who procured these benefits once for all (through the incarnation of Christ) continually offers them (through the exalted Christ) to his people in their present distress.80 Moses could do naught but tremble with fear at God’s judgment on the sins of the people (v. 21). Jesus offers a complete remedy.

The pastor ends his account of the past and present history of God’s faithful people, as he began, with the mention of righteous Abel (cf. 11:4).81 All that remains is his awesome account of future Judgment in 12:25–29. And yet this grand description of the privileges now enjoyed by the people of God at “Mount Zion” has opened a window on the final blessedness God has for his own. The pastor has given his hearers this glimpse in order to encourage their perseverance by quickening their longing for what God has in store.

4. God Will Speak “Once More” at the Final Judgment (12:25–29)

25See to it that you do not refuse the one who is speaking. For if those people did not escape when they refused the One who warns on earth, how much less shall we escape who turn away from the One who warns from heaven? 26Then his voice shook the earth. But now he has promised, saying, “Once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens.” 27Now the “once more” shows the removal of the things that can be shaken as things that have been made, in order that the things that cannot be shaken might remain. 28Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that is unshakable, let us be thankful. Through which let us serve God appropriately with godly fear and awe. 29For indeed our “God is a consuming fire.”

The pastor continues the theme of ultimate divine revelation with which he began in 1:1–4. God spoke by providing “such a great salvation” (2:3) through the incarnation and exaltation of the eternal Son (1:1–4). He now speaks from heaven offering that salvation to the faithful through the incarnate, but now exalted, Son (12:22–24). Those who refuse this offer will face condemnation when he speaks one last time at the final Judgment (12:25–29). God’s self-disclosure at Sinai furnishes the pattern for each succeeding stage of divine revelation. God’s word revealed in (1:1–4), and now offered from heaven through (12:18–24), the incarnate/exalted Son has both provided the fully sufficient salvation foreshadowed by Sinai and made it available for God’s people in the present. God’s earth-shattering word spoken at the Judgment will provide the ultimate condemnation and blessing anticipated by Sinai (12:25–29). The pastor began by arguing that God’s revelation in “one who is Son” made the judgment of Sinai all the more certain on the disobedient (2:1–4). Since he has now described the full grandeur of the Son and the revelation/salvation he has provided, he can vividly describe the nature of that ultimate loss for those who reject Christ as well as the glory of the ultimate blessing for those who embrace him.

The pastor used one less-to-greater argument in his initial appeal to his readers (2:1–4). In this concluding appeal he uses two such arguments, one in v. 25 and one in vv. 26–27. The first makes the warning inherent in vv. 18–24 quite clear. If the wilderness generation who rejected the word that God spoke “on earth” at Sinai “did not escape” God’s judgment, as depicted in vv. 18–21, how shall “we” who have the privileges of vv. 22–24 and have received God’s invitation through his Son “from heaven” escape. The second (12:26–27) reinforces this appeal by contrasting the ultimate, earth-shattering word of God at the Judgment with his merely earth-shaking word at Sinai. The pastor concludes with an appeal for awe and gratitude at the “Unshakable Kingdom” the faithful will receive at this Judgment. The pastor’s history of God’s faithful people has reached its appropriate conclusion with this announcement of the final Judgment.1

25 “See to it that you do not refuse the one who is speaking” echoes the pastor’s warning against imitating the wilderness generation: “See to it, brothers and sisters, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in turning away from the living God” (3:12).2 The pastor’s main concern throughout this sermon has been that his hearers fully heed the voice of God, which that generation refused to “hear.” The God who spoke on Sinai is the “one who is” now “speaking” to his people through his exalted Son.3 He is offering the salvation provided by Jesus’ “speaking” blood, just mentioned in v. 24. The OT as fulfilled in Christ is the vehicle of this revelation. Thus, the pastor’s own exposition of Christ’s sufficiency conveys this divine invitation to hearers and readers ancient and modern.4 All who receive God’s address stand ever accountable before the word of God (4:12–13).

The less-to-greater argument in v. 25bc updates the pastor’s first such argument given in 2:2–3. A more detailed look at the similarities and differences between the two will be instructive. First, note the similarities. Both contrast the responsibility of those who heard God speak at Sinai with those who have received God’s word in Christ. Both begin by describing the responsibility of the former with a condition of fact,5 followed by a question that implies the proportionately greater responsibility of the latter.6 However, the differences between these passages show how the pastor’s intervening argument has made this final contrast much more forceful. First, 2:2 does not refer directly to the people who stood before Sinai. Heb 12:25b, however, refers directly to those who stood at Sinai as those who “refused him who warns on earth.”7 They began by “begging” God to cease speaking directly to them (v. 19), and then “refused” his word when told to enter God’s promised “rest.”8 As a result of this rebellion, Sinai became for them the foreboding judgment depicted in 12:18–21 above (cf. 3:16–19). Their inability to “escape” this horrible judgment is far more foreboding than the pastor’s initial almost sanitary affirmation that every transgression received a “just recompense” (2:2). Furthermore, the God “who warns on earth” has replaced “the word spoken by angels.”9 This phrase also evokes the frightful phenomena of vv. 18–21, and thus sharpens the warning’s quality of foreboding. The pastor uses the present tense, the one “who warns,” because Sinai has become the embodiment of God’s perpetual warning that rejected grace leads to terrible judgment. By fulfilling everything anticipated in God’s earlier revelation, Christ does not terminate that warning, but makes its consequences all the more certain.

The way in which God speaks through his Son is the second and most significant difference between 12:25 and 2:3–4. Heb 2:3–4 looks to the past. God’s message “began to be spoken” by the incarnate Christ when he was on earth and was confirmed to us “by those who heard him.” In 12:25c, however, God now speaks in the present from heaven through the exalted Son seated at his right hand. The pastor has explained how that Son, who was first attested to “us” by those who heard him, has become the all-sufficient, enthroned Savior. The Son has received this honor through his obedient human life and death, offering himself according to the will of God (10:5–10). It is through this Christ (cf. 8:1–2)—eternal, incarnate, obedient, exalted—that God now speaks “from heaven,” offering salvation to his people in the present. The Sinai revelation that God gave “on earth” could not in itself bring God’s people into his true heavenly presence. Through the work of Christ, however, God’s address “from heaven” is a “heavenly calling” (3:1) that provides the access into his presence described in vv. 22–24 above.10

A third difference between 12:25 and that earlier exhortation reveals the depth of the pastor’s concern for his hearers. “Neglect” of God’s “great salvation” (2:3) has become not just a “refusal” but a definitive “turning away” from this “One [who speaks] from heaven.”11 The pastor minces no words, nor does he cushion his warning by saying “if we turn away.” Instead he is very direct—“we who turn away.”12 He wants his hearers to respond in shock with “no, we are not those who turn away.” As we saw when considering 2:3, this “neglect” was not wholly unintentional. The pastor reveals the awful reality hidden in such “neglect” and the very real consequences to which, if unchecked, it will lead.13

26 This second less-to-greater argument is divided between the “then” of Sinai, the “now” of the promise, and the “once more” of the judgment.14 “Then” and “once more” bear the weight of the argument: “then” refers to the lesser shaking of the earth at Mount Sinai; “once more,” to that much greater shaking at the Judgment. However, anticipation of this judgment is even “now,” through God’s promise, a reality that determines the lives of the faithful.15 The embodiment of God’s judgment on the disobedient in the Sinai of vv. 18–21 has become the anticipation of his final Judgment.

“Whose voice once shook the earth.” The voice of the God who now speaks to us from heaven through his Son “once shook the earth” when he spoke on Mount Sinai. “Voice” recalls the awesomeness of Sinai (see on v. 19 above), where God’s voice was heard though he was not seen nor was there access to his presence. The aorist tense of the verb translated “shook” and the particle “then” both point to the specific time when God not only spoke on Sinai but “shook the earth.” “The earth” confirms this statement as a reference to Sinai and prepares for comparison with the shaking of “the earth” and “the heavens” below. The pastor has chosen a word for “shook” that is different from, though a close synonym for, the word used in the following quotation from Hag 2:6.16 The LXX text of Exod 19:18 does not refer to the quaking of Mount Sinai. However, Ps 67:9 (MT 68:8) uses the same word found in Haggai to describe Sinai’s trembling, and Judg 5:5 employs the word used by the writer of Hebrews. The pastor may have chosen to use this synonym because it was often used in the Greek Bible to describe God’s judgment (2 Kgs 17:20; Ps 47 [MT 48]:6; Lam 1:8). It was also used to describe “the righteous as those who share in the unshakable character of God.”17

God is the one who “has promised” this future Judgment through his words in Hag 2:6, which the pastor quotes as “once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens.” The perfect tense of “has promised” indicates that God’s promise, made in Scripture, remains valid. Indeed, the work of the Son, through whom God now speaks, confirms this divine pledge in anticipation of its fulfillment.18 Thus the imminent fulfillment of this promise of the consummation is determinative for the present existence of God’s people. By calling this prophecy of judgment a “promise” the pastor has brought the art of combining warning and promise to perfection. The coming Judgment is obviously a warning—God’s people need to be ready. And yet it is a promise of final salvation (cf. 9:28) to be anticipated with joy because only at the Judgment will God’s people enter into the fullness of the “Unshakable Kingdom” God has for them.19

Hebrews quotes God’s speech in the first clause of Hag 2:6, which runs in the LXX as follows: “Once more I will shake the heaven, and the earth, and the sea, and the dry land.” According to Haggai, this shaking will be a judgment on the nations, in which the present world order will be overthrown and Jerusalem will be glorified as never before.20 The pastor, however, knows that God’s dwelling place in Jerusalem anticipates the heavenly Jerusalem. Thus, Haggai’s prophecy looks forward to the final overthrow of this world order, when God’s people will enter into the fullness of their final abode in the permanent, heavenly Jerusalem.21 In order to bring out this significance, Hebrews has paraphrased Hag 2:6 by leaving out references to “the sea” and “the dry land”; by putting “the earth” before “the heavens”; and by setting these two in contrast (“not only,” “but also”).22 Haggai intended “the heaven, and the earth, and the sea, and the dry land” to be all-inclusive. Hebrews intends “not only the earth but also the heavens” to be inclusive. Yet the effect of these changes introduced by Hebrews is to put emphasis on “the heavens,” the last word in the verse. At first glance it would appear that by “the heavens” the pastor is referring to the higher part of the created universe, as in 1:10; 4:14; 7:26; 11:12.23 In 1:10–12 he spoke of the Son as both creating and removing the “earth” and the “heavens.” On this interpretation he would be saying little more than what Haggai intended. On the other hand, 11:13–16 has established a different perspective for these chapters. The faithful are strangers “on earth” because they have a “heavenly” home.24 Furthermore, in 12:25 the pastor has just contrasted God’s speaking “on earth” with his speaking “from heaven.” The strong contrast formed by “not only” the earth “but also” heaven suggests that the pastor is maintaining the same perspective here. God’s final Judgment will shake not only the created order but even the heavenly dwelling place of God.25 This contrast between God’s shaking not only the “earth” but also “heaven” is a most forceful way of saying that this judgment is absolutely final.26 This Judgment will occur “once more,” and is thus as unrepeatable as Christ’s sacrifice and session (v. 27).

27 The phrase “once more” is crucial to the pastor’s understanding of God’s promise in Hag 2:6. The hearers already know that the Son who came “once” to remove sin will return for the final “salvation” of his own (9:26–28). The God who has made provision “once for all” for the salvation of his people by speaking through his Son will speak “once more”—in a judgment so final that it will shake heaven and earth and bring God’s own into the full enjoyment of that “salvation.”27 This is the time anticipated by Ps 110:1 (1:3, 13) when the Son’s “enemies” will be “made a stool for” his “feet.” It is the time when “all things” will be “subjected under his feet” (2:8; cf. Ps 8:8). The people of God now live in the “today” (3:7, 13, 15; 4:7) of opportunity between Christ’s session and his return. The pastor has appropriately reserved his description of this climactic event for the end of this “history of the faithful people of God” (10:32–12:29).

Some have argued, on the basis of Platonic dualism, that a future Judgment is not the pastor’s primary interest in this passage.28 He is not truly concerned with the “removal” or “destruction” of the temporal order at that time of ultimate accountability. Instead, the pastor contrasts the “changeability” of the created order (“the things that can be shaken,” “things that have been made”) with the unchanging heavenly world that the faithful enter at death (“things that cannot be shaken”).29 The pastor, however, is neither a Platonist, nor is he indebted to Platonic dualism in this passage.30 Those who hold this position rely heavily on their interpretation of the word we have translated “removal,” to the neglect of both the immediate context and the broader concerns of Hebrews. It is true that this word can mean “change” or “transformation”31 rather than “removal” or “destruction.” It is used for Enoch’s “translation” to heaven in 11:5. Perhaps more to the point, this term is used for the “change” of the priesthood from the order of Aaron to that of Melchizedek in 7:12. Yet, according to 7:18, this “change” is indeed an “abolition.”32 Thus, usage elsewhere provides no genuine support for translating this word as “changeability” rather than “removal.” This interpretation ignores all of the other places given above where the pastor anticipates the return of Christ. It denies the force of “once more” (v. 27) as explained above.33 It overlooks the fact that the pastor has already described the eternal Son as the one who will bring the created order to an end (1:11–12). It does not acknowledge the resurrection of the dead as an important part of the pastor’s future expectation (see the comments on 11:17–19, 35). It fails to recognize the appropriateness of the final Judgment here in 12:25–29 at the climax of the history of God’s faithful (10:32–12:29).

It is probable that the pastor has not used a stronger term because he is not as concerned with the metaphysical demise of the created world as with its end as the context for the life of God’s people.34 He is not hostile toward creation. It will be removed when God shakes it because it consists of “things that have been made” by God. As part of the created order these “things” will be brought to an end when God has achieved his purposes for them (1:11–12). The creation “made” by God is also characterized by what humans make (8:5; 9:24), by human sinfulness, mortality, and weakness. It is the sphere that offers God’s people no permanent home, the sphere in which they face opposition. It is also, however, the sphere in which Christ has achieved human redemption.

“The things that can be shaken” are not related to “the things that cannot be shaken” as “flesh” is related to “spirit.”35 These two realms are different because of their differing relationships to God.36 He has made the first and will bring it to its consummation when he has achieved his purposes through it. It is not, however, his dwelling place. The heavenly City, on the other hand, is the place of his abode and the place of intimate fellowship with him.37 As its “architect and builder” (11:10), he has established it on a permanent, enduring foundation.38 A glance at the quotation from Gen 2:2 in Heb 4:4 will help to make this clear: “God rested on the seventh day from all his works.” The Genesis text continues, “which he made,” using the same word we find in Heb 12:26 for “the things that are made.”39 God “made” the world in six days, but it was by entering his “rest” at the climax of creation on the seventh day that he brought into being the eternal City that is the ultimate “rest” of the people of God. Thus, the Genesis account suggests that this “rest”/City is both beyond creation and creation’s divinely intended goal (see the comments on 1:2–3). The essential difference, then, between what can be shaken and what cannot, lies in their respective relationships to God and his purposes.40

The pastor has given two unanswerable reasons why the people of God should “not refuse him who is speaking” (v. 25a). First, if God’s judgment on those who heard him speak at Sinai was certain, his judgment on those who refuse his gracious word, spoken from heaven through the exalted Son, is much more certain (v. 25bc). Second, as he once caused Sinai to tremble, so he will shake “heaven and earth” at the final Judgment. That Judgment will leave those who have no part in the eternal City without a place to stand (vv. 26–27).

28 The pastor, however, would not let his hearers forget that Haggai’s prophecy of the coming Judgment is for the faithful a promise (v. 26) of final entrance into the things “that cannot be shaken.” Those who persevere in obedience are even now in the process of receiving the “Kingdom that is unshakable,” which they will enter at Christ’s return.41 While God’s people live in awe of this coming Judgment, they do not live in terror, for it will mean the final reception of what God has for them. The “Unshakable Kingdom” is the pastor’s concluding depiction of the reality he has already described as the “rest that remains for the people of God” (4:3); “the City with foundations, whose architect and builder is God” (11:10); the heavenly “home” (11:13–16); “Mount Zion” and the “heavenly Jerusalem” (12:22); and “what cannot be shaken” by the final Judgment (12:27).42 This sermon began with the enthronement of the Son at God’s right hand (1:3). Thus it is fitting for the pastor to conclude by describing what the faithful are in the process of receiving as the “Unshakable Kingdom.”43 The idiom “to receive a kingdom” may mean to assume the rule over a kingdom.44 In this instance, however, it refers to final and complete entrance into the permanent and unshakable rule of God. Things will be right only when God reigns from Zion. It is the reign of God that gives Mount Zion, the heavenly City and Home, its substance and identity. It is nothing less than the divine rule that establishes the ultimate peace, harmony, and holiness of the people of God (cf. 12:14). Only under his permanent rule is the fellowship of the people of God “rest.”45 Thus, the submission of the faithful to the voice of God in the present is intrinsically related to their final state and place of blessedness in the Unshakable Kingdom where God’s rule is all in all.46

The pastor brings his description of all that God has provided for his people through his Son to its climax in this “Unshakable Kingdom.” The following exhortation expresses the ultimate response that he desires from his hearers in light of God’s provision: “therefore, let us have gratitude.”47 In the earlier part of his sermon the pastor whetted their appetites through describing the magnitude of God’s provision. He appealed to fear by warning them that rejection meant ultimate loss. The surest foundation, however, for a life of faithfulness is a profound sense of gratitude toward God for his goodness in offering his people unending fellowship with himself through his Son.48 This gratitude is the means and basis for “serving God pleasingly with godly fear and awe.” The word translated “serve” is also used for “worship.”49 The pastor has explained the work of Christ in priestly terms. Thus, the life of the faithful is a life of worship, a life of approaching God through Christ with the offerings of praise and good works, as chapter 13 will show. The pastor reinforces “godly fear” by adding “awe.” Such “godly fear” is the recognition of the majesty of God, his authority over created human beings, and their ultimate accountability before him at the Judgment.50 During his earthly life Jesus perfectly reflected such “godly fear” through his obedience (5:7–8). Such reverent recognition of God characterized Noah (11:7) and the other heroes of faith in chapter 11. Esau, on the other hand, was “godless” because he refused to recognize God’s majesty and ultimate authority (12:16). This “godly fear” cannot be separated from the “gratitude” that the pastor desires. Only those with such “godly fear” can begin to appreciate the great goodness of God in providing salvation through his Son. On the other hand, grateful recognition of his blessings only heightens the awe and reverence with which God’s people approach him. To live in such “gratitude” and “godly fear” is to live in the kind of obedience that flows from a heart on which God has written his laws (10:15–18). It is to live with full confidence in the reality of God’s power for the present and in the certainty of his promises for the future—promises of both blessing and loss (11:1, 3, 6). Those who live this life truly “serve” God by approaching him with praise and the obedience of good works as described in the following chapter.51

29 In 4:13 the pastor affirmed that all were accountable before God. In 10:31 he declared that it was “a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.” Here in 12:29, this theme of God’s judgment reaches its climax: “For our God is a consuming fire.”52 In vv. 18–21 the pastor used the descriptions of God revealing himself at Sinai in Deut 4:11–12; 5:22–24 to underscore the awesomeness of God’s judgment on the disobedient. He brings that theme to its highest pitch here by changing the “your” of Deut 4:15 to “our”; not “your God is a consuming fire,” but “even our God is a consuming fire.” By using “our” the pastor identifies with his hearers. At the same time, this change makes it clear that “our” God is the same God rejected by those whose judgment is depicted in vv. 18–21.53 Such judgment is even more certain for those who turn away in apostasy from all God has done in Christ.54 This statement is the pastor’s final motivation for serving “God acceptably with godly fear and awe.”55 Yet it also reinforces his call for gratitude. Recognition of such potential judgment only heightens the awareness that God is good in providing not only a way of escape, but a way that his own can enjoy eternal fellowship with him.56 In the following chapter the pastor will give specific instructions on how God’s people are to live this life of gratitude and awe, both in relation to one another and to the unbelieving world.57