Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary Hebrews 11:40

"God having provided some better thing concerning us, that apart from us they should not be made perfect." — Hebrews 11:40 (ASV)

God’s plan provided for “something better for us.” The precise nature of the blessing is left undefined. The important thing is not exactly what it is but that God has not imparted it prematurely. “Us” means “us Christians”; we who are Christ’s have our place in God’s plan. And that plan provides that the heroes of the faith throughout the ages should not “be made perfect” (GK 5457) apart from Christians. Salvation is social; it concerns the whole people of God. We can experience it only as part of the whole people of God. As long as the believers in OT times were without those who are in Christ, it was impossible for them to experience the fullness of salvation. Furthermore, it is what Christ has done that opens the way into the very presence of God for them as well as for us. Only the work of Christ brings those of OT times and those of the new and living way alike into the presence of God.