An Exposition of the Epistle to the Hebrews by Dr. John Brown of Edinburgh. Chapter 2. Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip. The paragraph is plainly parenthetical. It is introduced in the midst of the discussion of the superiority of Jesus Christ to the angels, which is resumed at the fifth verse. It is obviously an inference from what has been already stated. Therefore, is equivalent to, since Jesus Christ is as much better than the angels, as he is received by inheritance a more excellent name than they. Since he is both essentially and officially and conceivably superior to these heavenly messengers, his message has paramount claims on our attention, belief, and obedience. We ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard. The things which we have heard is plainly an elliptical expression for the things we have heard of Him who is the Son, equivalent to the things spoken by the Lord, the principles of the Christian religion, the profession of our faith. Now, says the Apostle, we ought to give earnest heed to those things. We ought to give them more earnest heed. He uses the pronoun of the first, person, rather than of the second, we, instead of you, to show those to whom he was writing that the obligation he pressed on them was felt and acknowledged by himself. To give heed is to apply the mind to a particular subject, to attend to it, to consider it. It is here opposed to neglecting the great salvation. No person can read the scriptures without observing the stress that is laid on consideration. The criminality and hazards which are represented is connected with inconsideration. Nor is this at all wonderful when we reflect that the Gospel is a moral remedy for our moral disease. It is by being believed that it becomes efficacious. It cannot be believed unless it is understood. It cannot be understood unless it is attended to. Truth must be kept before the mind in order to its producing its appropriate effect. And how can it be kept before the mind but by our giving heed to it? On subjects of this kind, it is not enough to rest on general precepts. Many persons are so unaccustomed to mental discipline that when called on to take heed to, to consider a subject, they do not know very well how to set about it. It is therefore of importance to be somewhat more particular in our directions, to show men how they are to take heed to the things which are spoken. The revelation made by Jesus Christ consists of doctrines and precepts in order to take heed to one of the doctrines of Christ. For example, the doctrine of the atonement. The first thing is to endeavor to obtain distinct ideas of this doctrine, as stated by Christ, to apprehend clearly the meaning of the declarations and the Christian revelation on this subject. We cannot properly give heed to anything till we have distinctly ascertained what it is. This is a radical part of the duty of consideration. And if we go wrong here, we are giving heed not to the things which we have heard of Christ, but it may be to the things which we have heard of men only, or to the unauthorized suggestions of our own mind. Distinct apprehensions of the meaning of Christian truth are plainly, then, of primary importance. Having ascertained a meaning of a doctrine, we should take heed to its evidence. Satisfying ourselves is to the divine origin of the statement which contains it. This is obviously necessary, as that claim on our faith depends on this, and as it is only as believed that the doctrine will be effectual for the purposes it is intended to serve. having ascertained a meaning and evidence of a doctrine, we ought to give heed to its importance, view it in its various relations to the perfections of the divine character, the principles of the divine government. the constitution and circumstances, the duties and interests of mankind. And then, as the duties enjoined in the Christian revelation, to give heed to them is first to attend to the terms in which the injunction is given, that we may clearly understand what is required of us, and then to attend to the motives which urge us to comply with the requisition, especially those which rise out of the character of God, in our relation to Him, as in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, such is the duty recommended by the Apostle in such a manner in which we ought to discharge it. But we ought not only to give heed to the things which we have heard of the Lord, but we ought to give the more earnest heed. Dequalifying words, more earnest, convey one of two ideas closely connected. That Jesus Christ has a stronger claim on our attention than any angel. or to find messenger, or that the consideration of the essential and official glories of Jesus Christ, which are altogether unrivaled, should lead us to give a greater degree of attention to the statements He makes than we would have been disposed to yield in other circumstances. The general idea is that the personal and mediatorial excellences of Christ suggest strong additional motives to a diligent study of the revelation He has made. We ought, it is reasonable and right, seeing he is so much better than the angels that we give the closest attention our minds are capable of to a revelation coming from so high a source and through so dignified a medium. The apostle adds, less at any time we let them slip. The meaning of these English words is plain enough, less at any time we forget them. so as not to be influenced by them, or lest at any time we be induced to give them up, to apostatize. The original term is the figurative one, and a figure is a different one from that expressed in the translation. The figure in the translation is that of a person letting go his hold of something. The figure in the original is borrowed from water. The words may be rendered either lest we should run out, like a leaky vessel, or lest we flow by, as a vessel borne by the violence of the stream or tide past a harbour into which it was purposed of the mariner to steer her, the Ussula language admits of either mode of interpretation. In the first case, the meaning is substantially the same as in our translation. If we do not take heed to the things which we have heard, they will gradually, as it were, vanish out of our minds, as water out of a leaky vessel, and their purpose will be entirely lost, so far as it refers to us. In the second case, a meaning is equivalent to lest we come short of the rest of God. A promise in reference to entering into which has been given us by a turning back. and to perdition. I am disposed to prefer this mode of interpretation, both because it gives greater energy to the Apostle's exhortation, and because this is the idea which he immediately proceeds to expand and illustrate. Differful consequences have not taken heed to the things which have been spoken of the Lord. There is something very instructive in this figurative representation. The Christian is embarked in this little vessel on a stream of life. and he is bound to the new Jerusalem. The winds of temptation, the tides of corrupt custom, and a powerful undercurrent of depraved inclination all present such obstacles on the way of his reaching the desired haven that he is in great apparent hazard of being carried past the celestial city and a making shipwreck on the shores of the land of destruction. He is in reality quite safe. He safely depends on the power and faithfulness of his Lord and King, whose will all the elements obey. But that power and faithfulness are manifested according to fixed laws, and this is one of them, that the Christian Mariner constantly attend, give earnest heed to the instructions he has received. Christians are kept by the mighty power of God, but it is through faith They are saved by the gospel which is preached to them, but they must keep it in memory. They shall never fall, but it is in doing thee things. They shall be made partakers of Christ, but they may hold fast the beginning of their confidence steadfast to the end. If any man who seem to others, or seem to himself a believer, does not give heed to the things which are spoken, If the truth and its meaning, its evidence and its importance is not kept before his mind, he will most assuredly come short of the celestial blessedness. He will be floated past a harbor of rest, and destruction in its most fearful form will ultimately overtake him. The idea of the absolute certainty and the inconceivable severity of the punishment of the neglector of the Christian revelation who does not give earnest heed, arising out of the dignity of the person who is the author of that revelation, is very strikingly brought out in the following verses by contrasting the Christian revelation with the Old Testament, and especially the Mosaic revelation. Verse 2 For if the word spoken by angels was steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompense of reward, how shall we escape, if we neglect the great salvation, which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed to us by them that heard him, God also bearing a witness both with signs and wonders, and with diverse miracles and gifts of the Holy Ghost according to his own will. By the words spoken by angels, some understand whatever revelation God made through the medium of angels under the former economy. Others suppose that there is a peculiar reference to the Mosaic Law which was ordained by angels, as Paul phrases it, or as Stephen expresses it, given by the disposition of angels. This last mode of interpretation corresponds best with the context and whole design of the Epistle. In this case, there is a beautiful contrast between the word, the letter that kills, the ministration of condemnation and death, and the salvation, the revelation of mercy, the ministration of justification and life, and between the signs and wonders by which both these divine dispensations were confirmed. The only difficulty seems to arise out of the express declaration by the sacred historian that Jehovah spake all the words of the law. But the difficulty is more apparent than real. What lies at the foundation of the apostle's whole argument is God spake both the law and the gospel, both of one and the other, of divine origin. It is not the origin but the medium of the two revelations which he contrasts. He made known his will by the ministry of angels and the giving of the law. He makes known his will by the ministry of his son and the revelation of mercy. It seems probable from these words that the audible voice in which a revelation from outside the eye was made was produced by angelic agency. In using the word angels, the sacred writer obviously refers to its meaning, messengers, and a force of the contrast is that the word spoken by messengers was steadfast. How much more the word spoken by the Lord of these messengers. That word, a revelation spoken, made known by the instrumentality of angels, was steadfast. It was confirmed and ratified. The divine dispensations were regulated according to it. And every transgression and disobedience received a just recompense of reward. The two words here are nearly synonymous. Transgression points out the violation of the law under the figure of stepping over the bounds prescribed by the law, or doing what it forbids. Disobedience expresses that violation of the law which consists in a refusal to listen to its requisitions so as to obey them. Every violation of that law received a just recompense of reward, was punished according to its demerit, The sanction of the law ran thus. The soul that sins, it shall die. Curse is everyone who continues not in all things written in the book of the law to do them. All sins were not indeed actually punished with death under the law, but the offering of expiatory sacrifice went on, the principles that they deserved death. Some very good interpreters suppose that there is a reference here only to those more flagrant violations of the Mosaic Law, for which there was no expiatory sacrifice. But we rather think the inspired writer's idea is, under the law, transgressions received an adequate punishment. The same general principle holds under all dispensations. An adequate punishment of the neglecters of the gospel must be severe punishment and adequate punishment of the violators of the law. Let us turn our attention to the other elements of the Apostle's argument. The great salvation spoken by the Lord was confirmed by those who heard Him and testified to by God by a number of signs and wonders and gifts of the Holy Ghost according to His will. Salvation signifies deliverance from danger and suffering generally, and is usually in the New Testament employed as the general name for that deliverance from the dangers and miseries which rise out of a state of guilt and depravity, which has been effected through the mediation of Jesus Christ for all who believe. In the passage before us, the word has usually been explained by the best interpreters as a designation of the gospel revelation. The grounds on which they go in, thus interpreting the term, are the following. There is an antithesis between the words spoken by angels and the salvation spoken by the Lord. You may contrast the deliverance by Moses with the deliverance by Christ. and a revelation by angels with a revelation by Christ. But there is no proper contrast between a word or revelation and a deliverance. This salvation is said to be spoken, confirmed, testified to, all which modes of expression seem better to agree with the idea of a statement about salvation than with that of salvation or deliverance itself. besides a remark that it is not uncommon to give to a statement or document the name of its subject. Thus, a piece of paper or parchment containing an authenticated statement of the king's having pardoned a criminal is termed his pardon, and a further remark that there is a peculiar propriety in giving the name salvation to the gospel, not merely because it is substantially an account of the deliverance through Christ, a statement of what it consists in, how it was effected, and how the individual sinner may be interested in its blessing, but also as it is the grand means which the Holy Spirit employs for putting men in possession of these blessings. It is through means of the gospel, understood and believed, that men are justified and sanctified and comforted, that they are saved from ignorance and delusion and guilt, depravity and misery, that they are made wise and good and happy. These statements are replete with important truth, but they do not convince me that salvation is here a designation of the gospel. In some passages of the New Testament, there can be no doubt that the term salvation signifies the Savior, but I have not discovered one where it certainly signifies the gospel. The appellation great or so great is obviously one more applicable to the Christian salvation than to the gospel revelation. I have no doubt that the apostle here uses the word salvation in its ordinary signification, and if we look carefully at the passage we will find the antithesis sufficiently preserved, and a perfect propriety in the use of the terms confirmed and testified to. It is a salvation as spoken of or revealed by the Lord. In other words, the revelation of the salvation which he contrasts with the words spoken by angels. And it is this revelation which was confirmed by them who heard the Lord and testified to by such a variety of divine wonders. The peculiar phraseology of this passage is greatly illustrated by a passage in the epistle to Titus. For the grace of God to bring salvation has appeared to all men. Titus 2.11 The grace of God has here usually been interpreted of the gospel, but it has its ordinary signification. the free favor of God, which free favor extending salvation to men of every kindred and character has been manifested. And this manifestation of the free favor of God, which is the gospel, teaches men. The salvation here, then, is the deliverance of man through the mediation of Jesus Christ. This salvation is spoken of by the apostle is unspeakably great, not merely a great salvation, nor even the great salvation, but so great salvation, an expression peculiarly fitted to express this high estimate of its importance. And who that knows anything about that deliverance can wonder at the apostle using such language. What are the evils from which he saves us? the displeasure of God with all of its fearful consequences in time and eternity. And who knows the power of his anger? We must measure the extent of infinite power. We must fathom the depths of infinite wisdom before we can resolve the fearful question. We can only say, according to your fear, So is your wrath. The most frightful conceptions come infinitely short of the more dreadful reality. A depravity of nature ever increasing, and miseries varied according to our varied capacities of suffering, limited in their intensity only by our powers of endurance. which an almighty enemy can enlarge indefinitely and protracted throughout the whole eternity of our being. These are the evils from which this salvation delivers. And what are their blessings to which it raises? A full, a free and everlasting remission of all our sins. the enjoyment of the paternal favor of the infinitely powerful and wise and benign Jehovah, the transformation of our moral natures, a tranquil conscience, a good hope while here and in due time, perfect purity and perfect happiness forever, and the internal enjoyment of God. And how were these evils averted from us? How were these blessings obtained for us? by the incarnation, obedience, suffering, and death of the Only Begotten of God as a sin offering in our room. And how are we individually interested in this salvation? Through the operation of the Holy Spirit in which He manifests a power not inferior to that by which the Savior was raised. from the dead, or the world, was created. Surely such a deliverance well merits the appellation a great salvation. This salvation began to be spoken by the Lord. In other words, it was first plainly revealed by the Lord. We know that this salvation was the leading subject of all former revelations, but these were comparatively obscure and indistinct, of which salvation the prophets have inquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you, searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ, which was in them, did signify when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ and the glory that should follow. And whom was it revealed? That not to themselves, but unto us, they did minister the things which are now reported to you by them that have preached the gospel to you with the Holy Ghost and down from heaven, which things the angels desire to look into. 1 Peter 1 10-12 Do I need to recall to your mind the words of our Lord Jesus respecting this so great salvation? I trust you remember and will not forget them. As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. The appellation here given to Jesus Christ, the Lord, is emphatic. It is contrasted with the messengers, the angels. The Mosaic revelation was spoken by messengers, but the revelation of the great salvation is made by the Lord, the Lord of angels and of men. the Lord of all, King of kings, and Lord of lords. What the Lord spoke concerning this great salvation was confirmed, said the inspired writer, to us by them who heard him. Some interpreters conceive that in the use of the pronoun of the first person here, they have evidence that Paul was not the author of the epistle, as he obtained his knowledge of the Christian salvation as he states to the Galatians, not from men. by the revelation of Jesus Christ. I do not think there is much in this. He is speaking of himself in common with those to whom he was writing, few or none of whom probably had heard the gospel from the lips of the Lord himself. And though Paul did not obtain his knowledge of the gospel from the other apostles, he might justly say it was confirmed to him by those who heard the Savior. The idea intended to be conveyed by these words is, though we did not hear the Lord speak of the great salvation, we know both that He did speak about it. and what he said about it. From ear-witnesses we have the most satisfactory evidence, the attestation of credible witnesses and abundance that these things were spoken by the Lord. The number of these witnesses was more than sufficient to confirm any truth. They were all united in their testimony. They were plain, undesigning men, incapable of forming and executing any deep-laid, complicated plan. Their veracity and integrity were unimpeachable. They had no worldly interest to serve by their testimony, but quite the reverse. They exposed themselves to, and many of them endured, sufferings and even death, rather than conceal or clog their testimony. No shadow of counter-evidence was ever brought forward by their opponents, though it is plain that they would eagerly have invalidated their testimony had it been in their power. Nor is this all. We have not only their testimony, we have the testimony of God to the truth of their declaration. For God is also born witness both by signs and wonders, and by diverse miracles and gifts of the Holy Ghost according to His own will. There is here obviously a reference to the miracles performed by the apostles and the other primitive teachers of Christianity. The Acts of the Apostles are the best illustration of this passage. It is not very easy to point out the precise meaning of the different terms here employed. It has been supposed, with much probability, that signs and wonders referred to such miraculous operations were common to the Law and the Gospel. These are the terms usually employed in the Old Testament respecting the Mosaic miracles. They're the terms used by Stephen when referring to these miracles in Acts 7 verse 36. They likely refer here to the more terrific and awful displays of the divine power, such as a supernatural earthquake in darkness, similar to the wonders of Sinai, and the sudden death of Ananias and Sapphira. and the blindness of Elemis, similar to the fate of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram. These then are the apostles' premises. There has been a revelation made by the Lord respecting an inestimably important subject, and we have the fullest evidence that such a revelation has been made. The first revelation was ratified, and every transgression and disobedience received an adequate and appropriate punishment. His conclusion is, it is still more evident that the second revelation must surely stand steadfast also. and that he who neglects or despises it must receive adequate and appropriate punishment. And if he does so, his punishment must be far severe than that of the neglector or despiser of the first revelation. That conclusion is not formally drawn, but it is expressed with far more emphasis in that most striking interrogation. How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation? The language is elliptical. The full expression is how, if we neglect so great salvation, shall we escape a just recompense of reward? And it is plain that the question is equivalent to a very strong negative. It is impossible that we should escape. And neglect the great salvation spoken to us, as materially the same thing, is not to take heed to the things heard of the Lord. It is to remain inattentive, ignorant, and unbelieving. It seems here to refer particularly to persons who have made a profession of Christianity, making shipwreck of the faith. silently abandoning or openly renouncing their profession. It is impossible for such persons to escape. That it is so must be plain, for the great salvation is the only salvation, and taking heed to what the Lord has spoken is the only way in which we can enjoy it. To neglect the Great Salvation is a peculiarly aggravated sin, and therefore, under the administration of a just and holy God, must expose peculiarly severe punishment. The declarations of Scripture on the impossibility of the neglecters of the Great Salvation escaping are most explicit. The Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven in flaming fire, taking vengeance on them that know not God. and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his power. He that despised Moses' law died without mercy under two or three witnesses. Of how much sore punishment suppose you? shall he be thought worthy who has trodden underfoot the Son of God, and has counted the blood of the covenant in which he was sanctified an unholy thing, and has done despite to the Spirit of grace. For we know him that has said, Vengeance belongs to me, I will recompense, saith the Lord, and again the Lord shall judge his people. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.