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Selected Verse: Hebrews 4:1 - King James
| Verse |
Translation |
Text |
| Heb 4:1 |
King James |
Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it. |
Summary Of Commentaries Associated With The Selected Verse
| A Commentary, Critical, Practical, and Explanatory on the Old and New Testaments, by Robert Jamieson, A.R. Fausset and David Brown [1882] |
THE PROMISE OF GOD'S REST IS FULLY REALIZED THROUGH CHRIST: LET US STRIVE TO OBTAIN IT BY HIM, OUR SYMPATHIZING HIGH PRIEST. (Heb. 4:1-16)
Let us . . . fear--not with slavish terror, but godly "fear and trembling" (Phi 2:12). Since so many have fallen, we have cause to fear (Heb 3:17-19).
being left us--still remaining to us after the others have, by neglect, lost it.
his rest--God's heavenly rest, of which Canaan is the type. "To-day" still continues, during which there is the danger of failing to reach the rest. "To-day," rightly used, terminates in the rest which, when once obtained, is never lost (Rev 3:12). A foretaste of the rest Is given in the inward rest which the believer's soul has in Christ.
should seem to come short of it--Greek, "to have come short of it"; should be found, when the great trial of all shall take place [ALFORD], to have fallen short of attaining the promise. The word "seem" is a mitigating mode of expression, though not lessening the reality. BENGEL and OWEN take it, Lest there should be any semblance or appearance of falling short. |
| Notes on the Bible, by Albert Barnes, [1834] |
Let us therefore fear - Let us be apprehensive that we may possibly fall of that rest. The kind of "fear" which is recommended here is what 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 yet are in danger of losing it, should take all possible precautions lest we fail of 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 there is such a promise made to us. It is to be remembered that Paul had not the New Testament then to appeal to, as we have, which is perfectly clear on the subject, but that 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 to us appears somewhat obscure, we should put ourselves in his place, and should remember that the converts then had not the full light which we have now 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 what 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 - δοκέω dokeō - 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 gave a shading to the meaning. Thus, the phrase "esse 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 in conversation as a "modest" expression, as when we say a thing "seems" to be so and so, instead of saying "it is." In some such sense Paul probably used the phrase here - perhaps as 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 they 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, though heaven is offered to us, and that a "rest" is promised to us if we seek it, yet that there is reason to think that many may fail of reaching it who had expected to obtain 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 Mar 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 of 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 of the grace of God! |
| Vincent's Word Studies, by Marvin R. Vincent [1886] |
Being left (καταλειπομένης)
Still remaining: not being neglected. It is not a reason for fearing that is given, but a circumstance connected with the thing to be avoided. As there is now left a promise, let us fear. Being left announces the thought which is afterward emphasized, and on which the whole treatment of the subject turns - that God's original promise of rest remains unchanged, and still holds good. Such being the case, he who doubts the promise itself, or thinks that it is too late for him to enjoy its fulfillment, runs a risk.
Should seem to come short (δοκῇ ὑστερηκέναι)
According to this rendering, the meaning is that one must avoid the appearance of having failed to enter into the rest; the perfect tense (ὑστερηκέναι) placing the reader at the parousia, when judgment will be pronounced. This is forced, tame, and irrelevant to the previous discussion. Rend. lest any one of you think he has come too late for it. This accords with the previous admonitions against unbelief. For one to think that he has come too late to inherit the promise is to disbelieve an immutable promise of God. Hence the writer may well say, "Since this promise remains, let us fear to distrust it." Ὑστερεῖν is to be behind; to come late; to come short; hence, to suffer need, as Phi 4:12; of material deficiency, Luk 15:14; Joh 2:3; of moral and spiritual shortcoming, Rom 3:23; Co1 8:8; Heb 12:15. |
| Adam Clarke Commentary on the Whole Bible - Published 1810-1826 |
Let us therefore fear - Seeing the Israelites lost the rest of Canaan, through obstinacy and unbelief, let us be afraid lest we come short of the heavenly rest, through the same cause.
Should seem to come short of it - Lest any of us should actually come short of it; i.e. miss it. See the note on the verb δοκειν, to seem, Luk 8:18 (note). What the apostle had said before, relative to the rest, might be considered as an allegory; here he explains and applies that allegory, showing that Canaan was a type of the grand privileges of the Gospel of Christ, and of the glorious eternity to which they lead.
Come short - The verb ὑστερειν is applied here metaphorically; it is an allusion, of which there are many in this epistle, to the races in the Grecian games: he that came short was he who was any distance, no matter how small, behind the winner. Will it avail any of us how near we get to heaven, if the door be shut before we arrive? How dreadful the thought, to have only missed being eternally saved! To run well, and yet to permit the devil, the world, or the flesh, to hinder in the few last steps! Reader, watch and be sober. |
12 Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God: and I will write upon him my new name.
17 But with whom was he grieved forty years? was it not with them that had sinned, whose carcases fell in the wilderness?
18 And to whom sware he that they should not enter into his rest, but to them that believed not?
19 So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief.
12 Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.
21 Then Jesus beholding him loved him, and said unto him, One thing thou lackest: go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, take up the cross, and follow me.
15 Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled;
8 But meat commendeth us not to God: for neither, if we eat, are we the better; neither, if we eat not, are we the worse.
23 For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;
3 And when they wanted wine, the mother of Jesus saith unto him, They have no wine.
14 And when he had spent all, there arose a mighty famine in that land; and he began to be in want.
12 I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need.
18 Take heed therefore how ye hear: for whosoever hath, to him shall be given; and whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken even that which he seemeth to have.