Albert Barnes Commentary Hebrews 4

CHAPTER IV.

ANALYSIS OF THE CHAPTER.

This chapter comprises two parts. In the first, Hebrews 4:1–13, the apostle pursues and completes the exhortation which he had begun in the previous chapter, drawn from the comparison of the Savior with Moses (see the analysis of chapter 3); and in the second part (Hebrews 4:14–16), he enters on the consideration of the character of Christ as a high priest, which is pursued to the end of the doctrinal part of the epistle.

In the first part (Hebrews 4:1–13), he describes more at length the character of the "rest" to which he had referred in the previous chapter. He shows (Hebrews 4:1) that the promise of a "rest" still remains, and that there is still danger, just as there was formerly, of coming short of it, or of losing it.

He affirms that such was the nature of that promise, that it is applicable to us as well as to those to whom it was first made, and that the promise of rest as really pertains to Christians now as it did to the Hebrews of old (Hebrews 4:2). The reason, he adds (Hebrews 4:2), why they did not enter into that rest was that they did not have faith.

This he had established in the previous chapter (Hebrews 3:18). In Hebrews 4:3-6, he proceeds to demonstrate more at length that there is a "rest" remaining for those who believe. The great object in this part of the chapter is to prove that a "rest" remains for believers now—a rest of a spiritual character, much more desirable than that of the land of Canaan, a rest to which Christians may look forward, and which there may be danger of losing.

Addressing Hebrew Christians, he, of course, appeals to the Old Testament. He refers to several places where the word "rest" occurs and argues that these expressions are of such a character as to allow that a "rest" still remains for Christians. It would have been easy to affirm this as a part of the Christian revelation. However, throughout the epistle, he brings his illustrations from the Old Testament, showing the Hebrew Christians to whom he wrote that there were abundant considerations in the Old Testament itself to constitute an argument why they should adhere inviolably to the Christian religion.

He says, therefore (Hebrews 4:4), that God Himself had spoken of his own rest from His works. When He had finished the work of creation, He instituted a rest characterized by the peace, beauty, and order of the first Sabbath after the work of creation, when all was new, lovely, and pure.

This might be called the rest of God—a beautiful emblem of that which dwells around His throne in heaven. The meaning of this verse (Hebrews 4:4) is that the Bible spoke early of a rest that appertained to God Himself. In Hebrews 4:5, he goes on to say that the prospect of entering into His rest was spoken of as a possible thing. Some were excluded, but there was a place deserved to be called "the rest of God"—My rest—to which all may come.

Of course, that rest must be of a spiritual nature and must be different from that of the promised land. The apostle implies that "rest" was possible to attain. He does not argue this point at length but assumes that God would not create a place of rest in vain; it was made to be enjoyed. Since those to whom it was at first offered were excluded, it must follow that it remained still. And as they were excluded by the want of faith, it would also follow that it was reserved for those who had faith. Therefore, it is offered to Christians now (Hebrews 4:6).

He proceeds to confirm this view with another consideration (Hebrews 4:7–8). David, who lived nearly five hundred years after the Israelites had occupied the land of promise, spoke then of the possibility of entering into such a "rest." He says (Psalms 95:7) that, in his time, the people were called to hear the voice of God. David warned them against the guilt and danger of hardening their hearts, reminded them that this was why the Israelites were excluded from the promised land, and said that the same thing would occur if those in his own time should harden their hearts.

It followed, therefore, that even in David's time there was a hope and promise of "rest." There was something more intended for the true people of God than merely entering the promised land. There must be something in advance of that, something that existed up to David's time—and it must be, therefore, a spiritual rest.

This, the apostle adds (Hebrews 4:8), is conclusive. For if Joshua had given them all the "rest" that was contemplated, then David would not have spoken as he did about the danger of being excluded from it in his time. Therefore (Hebrews 4:9), he comes to the conclusion that a "rest" must still remain for the people of God—a "rest" to which they were invited and which they were in danger of losing by unbelief.

He adds (Hebrews 4:10) that whoever enters into that "rest" ceases from toil, as God did from His when He had finished the work of creation. Since, therefore, such a "rest" exists, and since there is danger of coming short of it, the apostle urges them (Hebrews 4:11) to make every effort to enter into it.

He adds (Hebrews 4:12–13) a consideration to quicken them to earnest effort and anxious care, lest they should be deceived and fail: the fact that God cannot be deceived, that His word penetrates the heart, and that everything is naked and open before Him. There should, therefore, be the most faithful investigation of the heart, lest they fail to receive the grace of God and lose the hoped-for rest.

In the second portion of the chapter (Hebrews 4:14–16), he enters on the consideration of the character of Christ as High Priest and says that since we have such a High Priest as He is, we should be encouraged to come boldly to the throne of grace. We have encouragement to persevere from the fact that we have such a High Priest, and in all our conscious weakness and helplessness we may look to Him for aid.

Let us therefore fear. Let us be apprehensive that we may possibly fail to attain that rest. The kind of fear which is recommended here is that which leads to caution and care. A man who is in danger of losing his life or health should be watchful; a seaman that is in danger of running on a lee-shore should be on his guard. So we who have the offer of heaven, and who are yet in danger of losing it, should take all possible precautions lest we fail to attain it.

Lest a promise being left us. Paul assumes here that there is such a promise. In the subsequent part of the chapter, he goes more into the subject and proves from the Old Testament that such a promise is made to us. It is to be remembered that Paul did not have the New Testament then to appeal to, as we have, which is perfectly clear on the subject; he was obliged to appeal to the Old Testament. This he did, not only because the New Testament was not then written, but because he was reasoning with those who had been Hebrews and who regarded the authority of the Old Testament as decisive. If his reasoning appears somewhat obscure to us, we should put ourselves in his place. We should remember that the converts then did not have the full light that we now possess in the New Testament.

Of entering into his rest. The rest of God—the rest of the world where He dwells. It is called his rest because it is that which He enjoys and which He alone can confer. There can be no doubt that Paul refers here to heaven and means to say that there is a promise left to Christians of being admitted to the enjoyment of that blessed world where God dwells.

Any of you should seem to come short of it. The word "seem" here is used as a form of gentle and mild address, implying the possibility of thus coming short. The word here—dokew—is often used so as to appear to give no essential addition to the sense of a passage, though it is probable that it always imparted a shading to the meaning.

Thus, the phrase esa videatur is often used by Cicero at the end of a period to denote merely that a thing was—though he expressed it as though it merely seemed to be. Such language is often used in argument or conversation as a modest expression, as when we say a thing "seems to be so and so," instead of saying "it is." Paul probably used the phrase here in some such sense—perhaps expressing what we would by this language: "lest it should appear at last that any of you had come short of it." The phrase "come short of it" is probably used with reference to the journey to the promised land, where those who came out of Egypt came short of that land and fell in the wilderness.

They did not reach it. This verse teaches the important truth that although heaven is offered to us, and a "rest" is promised to us if we seek it, there is reason to think that many who had expected to obtain it may fail to reach it. Among those will be the following classes:

1. Those who are professors of religion, but who have never known anything of true piety.
2. Those who are expecting to be saved by their own works and are looking forward to a world of rest on the ground of what their own hands can do.
3. Those who defer attention to the subject from time to time, until it becomes too late. They expect to reach heaven, but they are not ready to give their hearts to God now, and the subject is deferred from one period to another, until death arrests them unprepared.
4. Those who have been awakened to see their guilt and danger, and who have been almost, but not quite, ready to give up their hearts to God. Such were Agrippa, Felix, the young ruler (Mark 10:21); and such are all those who are almost but not quite prepared to give up the world and to devote themselves to the Redeemer. To all these the promise of "rest" is made if they will accept salvation as it is offered in the gospel; all of them cherish a hope that they will be saved, and all of them are destined alike to be disappointed.

With what earnestness, therefore, should we strive that we may not fail to receive the grace of God!

For unto us was the gospel preached as well as unto them. This translation by no means conveys the sense of the original. According to this, it would seem that the Gospel, as we understand it, or the whole plan of salvation, was communicated to them, as well as to us. But this is by no means the idea. The discussion refers only to the promise of rest; and the apostle's assertion is that this good news of a promise of rest is made to us, as truly as it was made to them. "Rest" was promised to them in the land of Canaan—an emblem of the eternal rest of the people of God.

That was unquestioned, and Paul took it for granted. His object now is to show that a promise of "rest" is as truly made to us as it was to them, and that there is the same danger of failing to secure it as there was then. It was important for him to show that such a promise was made to the people of God in his time; and as he was speaking to Hebrews, he of course appealed to the Old Testament.

The literal translation would be, "For we are evangelized—esmen euhggelismenoi—as well as they." The word evangelize means to communicate good news, or glad tidings; and the idea here is that the good news or glad tidings of "rest" is announced to us as truly as it was to them. The apostle proves this in the following verses.

But the word preached. (Margin: Of hearing). The word preach we also use now in a technical sense, denoting a formal proclamation of the gospel by ministers of religion. But this is not the idea here. It means, simply, the word which they heard, and refers particularly to the promise of "rest" which was made to them. That message was communicated to them by Moses.

Did not profit them. They derived no advantage from it. They rejected and despised it and were, therefore, excluded from the promised land. It exerted no influence over their hearts and lives, and they lived and died as though no such promise had been made. Thus, many people live and die now.

The offer of salvation is made to them. They are invited to come and be saved. They are assured that God is willing to save them and that the Redeemer stands with open arms to welcome them to heaven.

They are trained under the gospel, are led early in life to the sanctuary, and are in the habit of attending the preaching of the gospel all their days; yet what they hear still exerts no saving influence on their hearts. At the close of life, all that could be truly said of them is that they have not been profited; it has been no real advantage to them, regarding their final destiny, that they have enjoyed so many privileges.

Not being mixed with faith in them that heard it. (Margin: "Or, because they were not united by faith to"). There are some variant readings on this text, and one of these has led to the version in the margin. Many manuscripts, instead of the common reading—sugkekramenos, where the word mixed would be joined to ho logos ("the word")—have another reading: sugkekramenous. According to this, the word mixed would refer to "them" and would mean that those who heard the word and rejected it were not mixed, or united, with those who believed it.

The former reading makes the best sense and is the best sustained; the idea is that the message which was preached was not received into the heart by faith. They were destitute of faith, and the message did not profit them. The word mixed is supposed by many of the best critics to refer to the process by which food is made nutritive, by being properly mixed with saliva and gastric juice, and thus converted into chyme and chyle, and then changed into blood.

If suitably mixed in this manner, it contributes to the life and health of the bodily frame; if not, it is the means of disease and death. So it is supposed the apostle meant to say of the message which God sends to humanity. If properly received—if mixed or united with faith—it becomes the means of spiritual support and life; if not, it furnishes no aliment to the soul and will be of no advantage.

As food, when properly digested, incorporates itself with the body and gives it support, so those critics suppose it to be with the word of God: that it incorporates itself with the internal and spiritual person, and gives support and life. It may be doubted, however, whether the apostle had any such allusion as this, and whether it is not rather a refinement of the critics than of Paul.

The word used here properly denotes a mixing or mingling together, like water and wine ; a uniting together in proper proportions and order, as of the body (1 Corinthians 12:24); and it may refer here merely to a proper union of faith with the word, so that it might be profitable.

The idea is that merely to hear the message of life with the outward ear will be of no advantage. It must be believed, or it will be of no benefit. The message is sent to humankind at large. God declares His readiness to save all. But this message is of no advantage to multitudes—for such reasons as these:

1. Many do not attend to it at all. They do not even listen respectfully to it. Multitudes do not go near the place where the gospel is proclaimed; and many, when there, and when they seem to attend, have their minds and hearts on other things.

2. Many do not believe it. They have doubts about the whole subject of religion or about the particular doctrines of the gospel; and while they do not believe it, how can they be benefited by it? How can a person be profited by the records of history if they do not believe them? How can one be benefited by the truths of science if one does not believe them? And if a person was assured that by going to a certain place they might close a bargain that would be a great advantage to them, of what use would this information be to them if they did not believe a word of it? So it is with the knowledge of salvation, the facts of the history recorded in the Bible, and the offer of eternal life.

3. People do not allow the message of life to influence their conduct, and of course, it is of no advantage to them. Of what use can it be if they steadily resist all the influence which it would have, and ought to have, on their lives? They live as though it were ascertained that there is no truth in the Bible, no reason for being influenced by the offered hope of eternal life or alarmed by the threatened danger of eternal death.

Resolved to pursue a course of life that is at variance with the commands of God, they cannot be profited by the message of salvation. Having no faith that influences and controls the heart, they are not in the least benefited by the offer of heaven.

When they die, their condition is in no way made better by the fact that they were trained in a pious family, that they were instructed in the Sabbath school, that they had the Bible in their dwellings, and that they sat regularly under a preached gospel.

For any advantage to be derived from all this in the future world, they might as well have never heard the message of life. Nay, it would have been better for them. The only effect of these privileges is to harden them in guilt and to sink them deeper into hell. (See Barnes on 2 Corinthians 2:16).

For we who have believed do enter into rest. That is, it is a certain fact that believers will enter into rest. That promise is made to "believers;" and as we have evidence that we come under the description of believers, it will follow that we have the offer of rest as well as they. The apostle proceeds to prove that this is so; that is, he proceeds to show, from the Old Testament, that there was a promise to "believers" that they would enter into rest. Since there was such a promise, and since there was danger that by unbelief that "rest" might be lost, he proceeds to show them the danger, and to warn them of it.

As he said, etc. . The meaning of this passage is this: God made a promise of rest to those who believe. They to whom the offer was first made failed, and did not enter in. It must follow, therefore, that the offer extended to others, since God designed that some should enter in, or that it should not be provided in vain. To them it was a solemn declaration, that unbelievers should not enter in—and this implied that believers would. As we now, he says, "sustain the character of believers, it follows that to us the promise of rest is now made, and we may partake of it."

If they shall enter, etc. That is, they shall not enter in. . The "rest" here spoken of, as reserved for Christians, must be different from that of the promised land. It is something that pertains to Christians now, and it must, therefore, refer to the "rest" that remains in heaven.

Although the works were finished, etc. This is a difficult expression. What works are referred to? it may be asked. How does this bear on the subject under discussion? How can it be a proof that there remains a "rest" to those who believe now? This was the point to be demonstrated; and this passage was designed clearly to bear on that point.

As it is in our translation, the passage seems to make no sense whatever. Tindal renders it, "And he truly spoke that long after the works were made, since the foundation of the world was laid," which makes much better sense than our translation. Doddridge explains it as meaning, "And this may lead us further to reflect on what is elsewhere said concerning his works as they were finished from the foundation of the world." But it is difficult to see why they should reflect on his works just then, and how this would bear on the case in hand.

Professor Stuart supposes that the word "rest" must be understood here before "works," and translates it, "Shall not enter into my rest—namely, rest from the works which were performed when the world was founded." Professor Robinson (Lexicon) explains it as meaning, "The rest here spoken of, 'MY rest,' could not have been God's resting from his works (Genesis 2:2), for this rest, the Sabbath, had already existed from the creation of the world." Dr. J.P. Wilson (MSS. Notes) renders it, "For we who have believed do enter into rest (or a cessation) indeed (kaitoi) of the works done (among men) from the beginning of the world." Amidst this variety of interpretation, it is difficult to determine the true sense.

But perhaps the main thought may be collected from the following remarks:

1. The Jews, as the people of God, had a rest promised them in the land of Canaan. Of that they failed by their unbelief.

2. The purpose of the apostle was to prove that there was a similar promise made to the people of God long subsequent to that, and to which all his people were invited.

3. That rest was not that of the promised land; it was such as God had himself when he had finished the work of creation. That was peculiarly his rest—the rest of God, without toil or weariness, and after his whole work was finished.

4. His people were invited to the same rest—the rest of God—to partake of his felicity; to enter into that bliss which he enjoyed when he had finished the work of creation. The happiness of the saints was to be like that. It was to be, in their case, also a rest from toil—to be enjoyed at the end of all that they had to do.

To prove that Christians were to attain to such a rest was the purpose which the apostle had in view—showing that it was a general doctrine pertaining to believers in every age, that there was a promise of rest for them. I would, then, regard the middle clause of this verse as a parenthesis, and render the whole, "For we who are believers shall enter into rest—[the rest] indeed which occurred when the works were finished at the foundation of the world—as he said [in one place] as I have sworn in my wrath they shall not enter into my rest." That was the true rest—such rest or repose as God had when he finished the work of creation—such as he has now in heaven.

This gives the highest possible idea of the dignity and desirability of that "rest" to which we look forward—for it is to be such as God enjoys, and is to elevate us more and more to him. What more exalted idea can there be of happiness than to participate in the calmness, the peace, the repose, the freedom from raging passions, from wearisome toil, and from agitating cares, which God enjoys?

Who, torn with conflicting passions here, wearied with toil, and distracted with care, ought not to feel it a privilege to look forward to that rest? Of this rest the Sabbath and the promised land were emblems. They to whom the promise was made did not enter in; but some shall enter in, and the promise therefore pertains to us.

For he spake (Genesis 2:2).

And God did rest. "At the close of the work of creation he rested. The work was done. That was the rest of God. He was happy in the contemplation of his own works, and he instituted that day to be observed as a memorial of his resting from his works, and as a type of the eternal rest which remained for man."

The idea is this—that the notion of rest of some kind runs through all dispensations. It was seen in the finishing of the work of creation, seen in the appointment of the Sabbath, seen in the offer of the promised land, and is seen now in the promise of heaven. All dispensations contemplate rest, and there must be such a prospect before men now.

When it is said that "God did rest," of course it does not mean that he was wearied with his toil, but merely that he ceased from the stupendous work of creation. He no longer put forth creative energy, but calmly contemplated his own works in their beauty and grandeur (Genesis 1:31).

In carrying forward the great affairs of the universe, he has always been actively employed (John 5:17), but he is not employed in the work of creation, properly so called. That is done; and the sublime cessation from that constitutes the "rest of God."

And in this place again (Psalms 95:11).

If they shall enter—that is, they shall not enter. See the notes on Hebrews 3:11.

The object of quoting this here seems to be twofold:

1. To show that even in this Psalm God spoke of his rest, and said that they should not enter into it; and
2. It is connected with Hebrews 4:6 and is designed to show that it was implied that a rest yet remained. "That which deserves to be called the divine rest is spoken of in the Scriptures; and as they did not enter into it, it follows that it must be in reserve for some others, and that the promise must still remain."