Hebrews 10:32-39
Hebrews 10:32 But recall the former days when, after you were enlightened, you endured a hard struggle with sufferings,
Hebrews 10:33 sometimes being publicly exposed to reproach and affliction, and sometimes being partners with those so treated.
Hebrews 10:34 For you had compassion on those in prison, and you joyfully accepted the plundering of your property, since you knew that you yourselves had a better possession and an abiding one.
Hebrews 10:35 Therefore do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward.
Hebrews 10:36 For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised.
Hebrews 10:37 For, “Yet a little while, and the coming one will come and will not delay;
Hebrews 10:38 but my righteous one shall live by faith, and if he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him.”
Hebrews 10:39 For But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve their souls.
For our passage this morning, we find a portion of Scripture that provides tension for the reader as he reads through it.
At least it did for me. Let me try to explain.
As we enter this passage we find the author reminding the Hebrew believers of their commitment to the Messiah, and the suffering they originally entered into and endured for a time.
Then the key verse which addresses our subject matter of conditional security in this series.
Hebrews 10:35 Therefore do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward.
It appears the apostle is counselling the believers to hang on, to not apostatize, to not throw away their confidence (the boldness of the faith). The apostle uses this term of confidence a number of times in this epistle, exhorting these believers to endure.
Hebrews 3:6 …..And we are his house, if indeed we hold fast our confidence and our boasting in our hope.
Hebrews 4:16 Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
Hebrews 10:19 Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus,
The apostle then proceeds to describe their need to endure, and of the righteous man’s walk is that of faith. To add to the argument of this post, we have the apostle stating the possibility of the righteous man shrinking back, causing no pleasure in the Lord.
Hebrews 10:38 but my righteous one shall live by faith, and if he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him.”
Yet, at the end of the passage, we have a tension added to the message. Obviously the apostle speaks of all believers when he speaks – “we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed”.
Hebrews 10:39 But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve their souls.
Surely the apostle speaks of the danger of the Hebrew believers letting go of their confidence, and then, in order to encourage them, (dulling the concern he just expressed), tells them that they are not those who shrink back.
Wait – what is going on? Is this apostle speaking out of both sides of his mouth?
The tension disappears if we consider the apostle referring to himself and his close companions as “we who do not shrink back”. Could the apostle be speaking this last verse as a proof of stability in the Christian life, of a certain standard that the Hebrews may be ignoring, or worse yet, abandoning? Might verse 39 be given as a witness of victory to those who are shrinking back.
I will leave my readers to consider their approach to this difficult chapter. We have dwelt in it for many posts, and there are many interpretations available. My hope is that your time in our study may have helped (or challenged) you in your walk with the Holy One.
May the Lord be honored in all our seeking of Him.
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