The Word Made Fresh
1Therefore, since we are surrounded by this great cloud of witnesses, let’s put aside everything that hinders us and the sin that clings to us so that we can run the race that is set before us 2while looking to Jesus, the pioneer and perfector of our faith, who endured the cross in order to gain the reward set before him. He ignored the shame of crucifixion, and now is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.
3Keep the one who endured such hostility from sinners in mind so that you might not become weary or lose heart. 4You have struggled against sin, but have not yet suffered the shedding of your blood. 5Don’t forget the words that were addressed to you as if you were children – “My son, don’t take the Lord’s discipline lightly, or lose heart when he punishes you, 6because the Lord disciplines those whom he loves and reprimands everyone he accepts.”
7Endure your trials, for they can correct you. God is treating you as children – aren’t children disciplined by their parents? 8If you haven’t been disciplined as children, then you are not his children; you are illegitimate. 9Plus, we all had human parents to correct us, and we respected them. Shouldn’t we be even more respectful of the Father of our spirits and live? 10Our parents corrected us as they thought best for a short time, but God corrects us for our own good so that we might share his holiness. 11Of course, discipline is not pleasant – it always feels painful at the time. But later, to those who have undergone the training of discipline, it results in the peaceful fruits of righteousness.
12So, raise your tired hands and straighten your feeble knees. 13Choose level paths to walk so that instead of being crippled, you’ll be made well.
14Seek peace with everyone. Seek that holiness without which you cannot see the Lord. 15Make sure none of you fail to receive God’s grace so that no bitterness might rise and cause the troubles through which many are tainted. 16Make sure none of you become like Esau, who was immoral and godless and sold his birthright for a single meal. 17Remember that later he wanted to have the inheritance, but was rejected because he couldn’t find a way to change his father’s mind even though he tearfully begged for his father’s blessing.
18You haven’t come to a mountain that can be touched, because it is afire and it is dark and gloomy and stormy, 19with a trumpet blast and a voice whose words make everyone who hears it beg that not another word be spoken to them, 20because they couldn’t bear the command that if even an animal touches the mountain it must be stoned to death. 21The sight was so frightening that even Moses trembled with fear. 22But you have come to Mt. Zion, to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem where there are countless angels gathered for a festival. 23And you have come to the celebration of the firstborn children who are enrolled in heaven, and to God who judges all, and to the souls of the righteous who have been made perfect, 24and to Jesus who oversees a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than Abel’s blood.
25Make sure not to refuse the one who is speaking; if they couldn’t escape when they refused the one who warned them on earth, we certainly won’t escape if we reject the one who warns us from heaven. 26Back then his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, “Yet once more I will shake not just the earth, but heaven as well.” 27When he said, “Yet once more,” he meant that created things will be removed so that only what can’t be shaken will remain.
28Therefore, since we are going to receive a kingdom that can’t be shaken, let’s be thankful and offer acceptable worship to God, with awe and reverence, because our God is a consuming fire.
Commentary
1-2: The author encourages his readers to keep the faith as did the saints of old. He tells them to “run the race that is set before us,” a very Pauline-like phrase (compare 1 Corinthians 9:24), but the phrase “cloud of witnesses” is unique to Hebrews, as is the designation of Christ as the “pioneer and perfecter of our faith.”
3-11: Although there have been persecutions, he assures them they have not yet suffered nearly as much as Christ suffered on their behalf. They should consider their hardships as the Lord’s discipline, and, quoting Proverbs 3:11-12, tells them to keep in mind that the Lord disciplines those he loves. He launches into a praise of discipline, comparing the Lord’s discipline to that of earthly parents. It seems painful while you’re going through it, he says, but you’ll be all the better for it.
12-13: These verses contain a rather curious saying. Perhaps we can paraphrase it thus: Stand up straight and walk with a steady gait. So, you made a few mistakes, but don’t let it get you down. You may be sore, but you’ll get well.
14-17: Some practical advice follows: pursue peace, pursue holiness, help others to experience God’s grace, and don’t let bitterness fester. And, by all means hang onto your faith; once you let it go it’s hard to get it back.
18-24: Now he provides a contrast between the old covenant and the new. The old covenant of the law emphasized the terror of being confronted by God. He describes the Hebrew people gathered at the foot of Mt. Sinai which glowed with fire (Deuteronomy 4:11). The people, even their animals, could not touch the mountain upon pain of death (Exodus 19:12-13). God is all mystery and terror. The new covenant, however, emphasizes the communion the faithful will have with God in a new Mt. Zion, a new Jerusalem. He pictures the faithful being greeted by the angels and by the faithful who have gone before. He sees them before God the judge and the “souls of the righteous who have been made perfect” (there was an early belief that a certain number of the saints would attain a position of holiness that would allow them to gather around God — see Revelation 14:1-5 for a fuller description) and, finally, Jesus himself, the one who established this new covenant. The blood of Jesus is explained as a kind of counter to the blood spilled by Abel at the hands of his angry brother, Cain (Genesis 4:8).
25-29: The new world of the new covenant is an eternal world that cannot be shaken or destroyed. The old world of the old covenant, however, will be shaken (the quote is from Haggai 2:6-7) and will not remain.
Takeaway
When you are made to suffer for something your faith compelled you to do, don’t despair. All the faithful will be rewarded in the kingdom to come.