Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary Hebrews 3:12

"Take heed, brethren, lest haply there shall be in any one of you an evil heart of unbelief, in falling away from the living God:" — Hebrews 3:12 (ASV)

The writer has a tender concern for every one of his readers. He exhorts them to beware lest any of them fall away. The “sinful, unbelieving heart” stands in marked contrast to the faithfulness ascribed to both Jesus and Moses (v.2). The author stresses the heinousness of this sin by speaking of it as turning away from or rebelling against “the living God” (cf. 9:14; 10:31; 12:22). The rebellion he warns against consists of departing from a living, dynamic person, not from some dead doctrine. Jews might retort that they served the same God as the Christians, so that they would not be departing from God if they went back to Judaism. But to reject God’s highest revelation (Jesus Christ) is to depart from God, no matter how many preliminary revelations are retained. A true faith is impossible with such a rejection.