Here is where many people reading Hebrews can find themselves in a dilemma. If by “rest” the writer meant “eternal salvation,” then the example of the rebellious Israelites who could not enter the Promised Land becomes gravely problematical.
Hebrews: Excursus Into Exodus, Part 2
Once saved, always saved. The people remained delivered from their bondage and suffering. But God would bring them back to their beginnings, and for the rest of their lives they would have only the hope of the Promised Land for their children
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Hebrews: Excursus Into Exodus, Part 1
This third directive is so important, the remainder of the chapter rests on it. At the very end of the passage, though, the writer made some startling conclusions which we may find unsettling.
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Hebrews: Partners Of Christ
The writer of Hebrews spent the second chapter saying “Because we see the superiority and preeminence of Christ, let us believe right doctrine,” and warned his readers to guard against their faith drifting. In chapter 3, the writer had a second “therefore” followed by five directives for our response to right doctrine. The first two were Follow Jesus as Preeminent Apostle and High Priest Resist the Pull of the Past Now comes the third directive: Help each other remain faithful
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Hebrews: Resist the Pull of the Past
We all grow up with traditions and worldviews that go so deep you and I often do not even realize they are there. We also grow up with ways of processing and coping with what we experience that seem so true and right it goes without being said. These things can be so rooted within our hearts and minds that to consider turning from them and taking up a new way is in itself unsettling and distressing.
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Hebrews: Not For Angels
If Christus Victor was a primary doctrine in the early church, how did penal substitutionary atonement move to prominence in recent centuries?
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Hebrews: Brothers and Sisters
Against the backdrop of God’s ineffable transcendence, God’s omnipotence, omniscience, omnipresence, and absolute sovereignty over the entire universe, the gospel story does not make sense. Yet, it is nonetheless true.
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Hebrews: Perfect Human
Getting our doctrine straight—what we know and believe about God, creation, and humanity—gives us the ability to navigate our stress and enter into God’s rest.
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Hebrews: Components of Belief
Every now and then I read a book that reorients the way I think about pretty much everything. “Love God with All Your Mind” by J.P. Moreland was just such a book. In it, Moreland explained the five basic components of a belief, and as I read I realized this was a core teaching every Christian needs to learn.
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Hebrews: The Drift
Having now established Jesus as God the Son, truly God and truly the Savior of all creation, the writer of Hebrews turned his attention to what he saw as a drifting away from faith in his audience.
