Hebrews 4:14 Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession.

Let us “hold fast our confession”.

It is a common refrain within the book of Hebrews, for the author uses the phrase “holding fast” and “confession” in two other passages within the book.

Hebrews 4:14 Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession.

Hebrews 10:23 Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful.

That terminology may seem a bit archaic for us moderns, so I would like to break the phrase down for our consideration.

To “hold fast” is synonymous to retaining, or to keeping carefully. The transliteration of the Greek word is kratéō (G2904 in the Strong’s Dictionary).

Thayer’s dictionary adds the idea of it referring to becoming masterful of or to be powerful. The idea in using this term is to communicate that there is a battle, a resistance to maintaining this confession. It is not a neutral condition, for if it was, we would not be exhorted so often to persist, maintain, and persevere.

Is it not understood that our confession will be resisted against, our confession will find opposition, even a deadening. A “force” will seek to pull it from us, whether it be the world, the devil or our very own selves.

Ourselves? Why would we fight against our our confession? Is there not an assumption commonly taught that our confession, once publicly spoken, is a continual and everlasting, never changing truth?

But I am getting ahead of myself.

Let’s consider what the author is speaking of when he refers to a confession. The Greek term is homologia, and means “to say together” or to agree to the same thing with someone. It had legal connotations in the ancient world, and the context of this passages speaks of believers agreeing with God about who the Messiah is. Throughout the book of Hebrews, the author elevates Jesus above all. He is the Christ, the Messiah, God Almighty in human form.

The statement “Jesus is the Christ” is eternal. There is no challenge to this truth for there is no force capable of changing the declaration of God in the resurrection of Jesus from the grave. He is the living One. Yet that is not a confession. A confession takes two parties to agree to. God has made the statement “Jesus is the Christ” by raising Him from the grave.

But as the apostle writes to the Hebrews, he is writing to a group of believers who are under the gun, struggling with the world’s influence on them, with the devil’s temptation to return to mere religion, reducing the Lord Jesus to simply a good teacher, or a moral man that loved His enemies. He is writing to a people, not about an absolute truth statement, that is that Jesus is the Christ, but their confession of that truth in their own lives.

We know – or should I say, I know – that when an easier route to take is offered, when resistance may be reduced in the fight, the temptation is very real. If I do not keep my eyes on the crucified One, my confession will become historical. Something I entered into in the past. A confession that may not be current.

A historical confession, great as it may be, is no match for a living and vibrant confession on a day by day basis.

That is the message of this text. Yesterday’s confession was good yesterday. How is your confession today?

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