A Paraphrase on the New Testament, Hebrews · Chapter 3
CHAP. III.
WHerefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, conſider the apoſtle and high prieſt of our profeſſion, Chriſt Jeſus, 2. Who was faithful to him that appointed him, as alſo Moſes was faithful in all his houſe.
1. Wherefore you who are holy Brethren, by Faith and Dedication given up to Chriſt, and in him made partakers of that Calling from Heaven, which maketh you Heirs of Heaven, ſtudy and conſider Jeſus Chriſt, the great Apoſtle, ſent of God to be the prime Preacher of the Goſpel, and the High Prieſt, and chief Guide and Mediator to Godward, of our Religion and Profeſſion; who faithfully did all that belonged to his undertaken Office (in ſacrificing himſelf for our ſins, and fulfilling all Righteouſneſs, and conquering Satan and Death, and aſcending to intercede for us in Glory, and ſending down the Holy Ghoſt, and making and ſealing the Law of Faith) even as Moſes in his time was faithful, though with diſparity of Honour and Work; Chriſt in his own Houſe by a more perfect Adminiſtration, and Moſes but as a Steward.
3. For this man was counted worthy of more glory than Moſes, in as much as he who hath builded the houſe, hath more honour than the houſe.
3. For Chriſt is as much more honourable than Moſes, as the Maker and Maſter is than the Houſe; for Moſes was but a Member of the Family, but Chriſt the Maker and Maſter of it.
4. For every houſe is builded by ſome man: but he that built all things is God.
4. All Families or Houſes are founded by ſome man, but he that built the Church, is the ſame that built or made all things; and that is God.
5. And Moſes verily was faithful in all his houſe as a ſervant, for a teſtimony of thoſe things which were to be ſpoken after. 6. But Chriſt, as a ſon over his own houſe,
5, 6. And Moſes, as a Servant, was faithful for the Delivery and Confirmation of ſo much of God's Word as was to be ſpoken to the Jews by him: but Chriſt, as the Son and Heir, and Maſter of the Houſe, as his own.
6. Whoſe houſe are we, if we hold faſt the confidence, and the rejoycing of the hope firm unto the end.
6. This Houſe is the Church, of which we are parts, ſo be it we hold faſt the confident Profeſſion of our faith, and the joy and glorying in our hopes of the promiſed Bleſſedneſs, firm to the end.
7. Wherefore, as the holy Ghoſt ſaith, To day if ye will hear his voice, 8. Harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderneſs: 9. When your fathers tempted me, proved me, and ſaw my works forty years. 10. Wherefore I was grieved with that generation, and ſaid, They do always err in their hearts, and they have not known my ways. 11. So I ſware in my wrath, They ſhall not enter into my reſt.
7, 8, 9, 10, 11. But ſeeing he will take none to dwell with him in Glory, but thoſe that perſevere, hear and conſider what the Holy Ghoſt ſaid to and of the Iſraelites; To day, &c. Neglect not his preſent Call, and your preſent Day, to the hardening of your hearts, as your Fathers did in the Wilderneſs; by which God's Juſtice was engaged againſt them, as a People whoſe hearts were habituated to evil, and have not the obedient knowledge of his Ways, and Works, and Will: So that he ſware in his juſt diſpleaſure, that that Generation ſhould not enter into the promiſed Land.
12. Take heed, brethren, leſt there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God.
12. Take warning by theſe Iſraelites, and ſee that there be not in any of you an evil, unſound heart, that is prepared by ſecret Unbelief, to depart in Tryal from the Living God.
13. But exhort one another daily, while it is called, To day, leſt any of you be hardned through the deceitfulneſs of ſin.
13. To this end, one means appointed by God for your perſeverance is, ſpeedily and daily to exhort and ſtir up one another; the Paſtors in the Church and Aſſemblies, and all in their Places and Converſe: And the rather, becauſe Sin of which you are in danger, is a deceitful thing, and they that revolt are made believe that it is but a receiving of the Truth, or a neceſſary Self-ſaving, and no forſaking of Chriſt, or Truth, or Godlineſs.
N. Qu. But what if Rulers forbid us to meet daily for ſuch Exhortation? Anſw. God commandeth you to do it in the manner and time that the End requireth, and no man can diſpenſe with his Law. The Chriſtians, for three hundred years, aſſembled, when forbidden.
Qu. But what if Chriſtian Rulers forbid it? Anſ. Chriſtians have more Obligation than Heathens to do good, but no more Authority to do evil, or null God's Laws.
Qu. But what if Violence or Priſons reſtrain us? Anſ. God requireth not Impoſſibilities.
14. For we are made partakers of Chriſt, if we hold the beginning of our confidence ſtedfaſt unto the end.
14. We are i…itially made partakers of Chriſt as our Saviour: but if we will attain Salvation by him, we muſt hold the ſubſiſting faith (or the confidence) in which we have begun (or which is our Principle) firm to the end: (For Perſeverance is made a Condition of the Promiſe of Salvation)
15. Whilſt it is ſaid, To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation. 16. For ſome, when they had heard, did provoke: howbeit not all that came out of Egypt by Moſes.
15, 16. The words tell us, that ſome that heard, after Deliverance from Egypt, provoked God; but it was not all.
17. But with whom was he grieved forty years? was it not with them that had ſinned, whoſe carcaſes fell in the wilderneſs?
17. With whom was God ſo diſpleaſed, as Grief here ſignifieth? Nothing diſpleaſeth him but ſin. It was with backſliding, diſobedient, unthankful murmurers, that would not reſt in the Will, and Word, and Providence of God, but muſt have their own carnal will fulfilled, and ſo God in Juſtice killed them in the Wilderneſs, after ſo many Miracles had led them many years towards the promiſed Land. Take heed leſt you follow them in the like ſin, to greater puniſhment, for abuſing greater mercies.
18, 19. And to whom ſware he that they ſhould not enter into his reſt, but to them that believed not? So we ſee that they could not enter in, becauſe of unbelief.
18, 19. It was the ſinning Unbelievers that he ſware ſhould not enter: and it was becauſe of their Unbelief, that they could not enter. Take heed therefore, leſt ye fall by Unbelief in Tryal: for there is more required to our compleat Salvation, than to our firſt part in Chriſt.