See therefore that that which is spoken in the prophets do not come upon [you],
Paul has just announced forgiveness through Christ and justification for everyone who believes. Now he says "Beware" to those same people, and the danger he names is not scandal or moral failure but the refusal to believe what God has done.
The warning is not an afterthought. It belongs to the message, because people can despise the very work of God that He offers them. Paul reaches back to an older failure to make the point.
In Habakkuk's day God had raised up the Chaldeans to carry out this work of judgment through government. Yet God's people were in such a low state that they would not believe God's testimony about His own work. They refused to see God's hand behind their enemies, whom He was using to discipline them. The apostle quotes this passage when he preaches the gospel at Antioch. There he announced the grace of God that proclaims forgiveness through Christ, and that all who believe are justified from all things. Then at once he quotes the prophet Habakkuk to warn them against despising the work of grace through unbelief, as their ancestors had despised the work of government through unbelief.
One writer names the prophets behind Paul's warning, and says why the same scorn is worse now than it was then.
The words cited are mainly Habakkuk 1:5, with Isaiah 29:14 and Proverbs 1:24-31 perhaps also in view. Unbelief is the same evil scorn of God's word, whether long ago or in days to come. It is never worse than now, when grace begs people, just as they are, to be reconciled to God. And whatever work is still to be done in the future, none of it can ever match what God has already done — the ground on which the gospel goes out to every creature.
Notice what Paul does not warn about. He says nothing about their morals, their giving, or their law-keeping. One danger alone concerns him.
The apostle's fear was that they would despise this work of God. He was not afraid that they would be irreligious. He did not fear that they would break the law even more. He was not concerned for the moment about their morality or their care for others. He warns them against one thing only: the possibility that they would not believe the work of God... This was the danger for them, and it is ever the danger for all men. Man prefers his own work to the work of God.
In the prophecy God speaks of the work as His own. That settles what a hearer must do, and where to look for proof.
"I WORK." This is the whole point. It is God's work that is preached. Turn from your own work, whether you think it good or bad, and believe God's work. As I have said, you see that work in a risen Saviour at God's right hand.
If people could not believe, a warning like this would be cruel. Paul gives it anyway, and that says something about everyone who hears the message.
He proclaims a present, a personal, a perfect salvation to every creature under heaven, and he states it without any limit or condition. Everyone who heard him was responsible there and then to believe. Everyone who reads him now is just as responsible. Suppose someone had dared to tell the preacher that his hearers were not responsible — that they were powerless and could not believe, and that calling on them to believe only deceived them. What would his reply have been? The solemn appeal that closes his address is itself a full and overwhelming reply.
Despising God has an end point. One writer names it, and brings it right up to the present.
When people go so far as to despise God and His blessing, they perish, as Acts 13:41 says. In our day and in our land, crowds are slipping into that great sin with regard to the Gospel, and they stand on the brink of destruction.
Scripture also shows a pattern in how God answers such mockery.
It does seem in Scripture that when unbelief rises to the height of mockery, the testimony stops.
- God's work. Paul's warning rests on what God says: the work is His own. So turn from your own work, good or bad, and believe His.
- Grace first. Paul announces forgiveness and justification, and only then says "beware" — to people he has just offered everything.
- One sin. Paul feared neither their irreligion nor their law-breaking. He feared only that they would despise what God had done.
- Every hearer. Paul proclaims salvation to every creature, so each person who hears — then and now — is responsible there and then to believe.
- Two ends. Those who despise God's blessing perish; those who believe are justified from all things.
Behold, ye despisers, and wonder and perish; for *I* work a work in your days, a work which ye will in no wise believe if one declare it to you.
Paul has just announced forgiveness of sins and justification for everyone who believes. He then ends his sermon at Antioch with a warning from Habakkuk — so what is this work that people refuse to believe, and why does good news close with a threat?
The words Paul quotes were first spoken about an invasion. He takes that old refusal to believe and holds it up as a mirror.
In Habakkuk's day God had raised up the Chaldeans for this work of governmental judgment. Yet we are told that God's people had sunk so low that they would not believe God's testimony to His own work. They refused to see the hand of God behind their enemies, whom He was using to discipline them. We know that the apostle quotes this passage when he preaches the gospel at Antioch. There he announced the grace of God that proclaims forgiveness through Christ, and that all who believe are justified from all things. Then at once he quotes the prophet Habakkuk to warn them against despising the work of grace through unbelief, as their forefathers had despised the work of government through unbelief.
Paul does not quote Habakkuk word for word. He follows the Greek translation, which carries two words the Hebrew does not have.
We said he was quoting the Greek version. It is not word for word the same, but it agrees in sense. And it has what is not in the Hebrew — "you despisers," and also "and perish."
Where older translations read "despisers," the ESV has "scoffers." Paul also leaves something out. Habakkuk had said "Look among the nations," and Paul cuts the phrase.
This might have seemed unclear, and the Jew could have brushed it aside. He would say, "That is exactly our conviction. We all know the nations are in a dangerous state. But why overlook the favour shown to the people of God?" So the application drops the direct reference to the nations. It makes everything pointed and personal to the people themselves... No one can justly plead the inherited place given to the Jew to keep them from the consequences of slighting and blaspheming God and His grace.
The verse puts the emphasis on who is acting.
"I WORK." This is the whole point. It is God's work that we preach. Turn from your own work — whether you rate that work as good or bad — and believe God's work. We see it, as I have said, in a risen Saviour at His right hand.
One writer measures this work against everything else God has done or will do.
Whatever work is still to come, none can ever match what God has already done. That work is the ground on which we preach the gospel to every creature. The Chaldeans were about to carry out judgment, and that was enough to stop any soul who listened to Habakkuk's warning... But what is any providential work of God, or any future harvest of judgment, next to what our Lord Jesus went through in His rejection and atoning work?
The warning only makes sense if the hearers could do something about it. One writer presses that point.
Never forget what the apostle does when he stands up as an ambassador of Christ, the herald of salvation. He proclaims in the most absolute and unqualified way a present, personal, perfect salvation to every creature under heaven. Everyone who heard him was responsible there and then to believe. And everyone who reads him now is just as responsible. Suppose someone had dared to tell the preacher that his hearers were not responsible — that they were powerless and could not believe, and that calling on them to believe was only deceiving them. What would his reply have been?
The verse ties despising to perishing. One writer finds the same tie in Esau.
Esau lived wholly for this world and shut God out of his thoughts. He had not only done this, but had also despised what was of God. Now when people go so far as to despise God and His blessing, they perish, as Acts 13:41 says. In our day and in our land, crowds are slipping into that great sin about the gospel. They stand on the edge of destruction.
- Work of judgment. Habakkuk's hearers would not believe God was behind the Chaldean invasion. Unbelief was already an old habit.
- Work of grace. Paul lifts the same words and aims them at a greater work: forgiveness and justification through Christ. The people offered it turned it down.
- Your work vs. His. At the centre stands God's "I am doing a work": give up your own record and believe what God has done in a risen Saviour.
- No exemption. Paul drops "among the nations" and speaks straight to the scoffers, so privilege is no shelter. The warning lands on the hearer, not on outsiders.
- Despise, then perish. The two verbs go together, and the warning itself proves the hearer is responsible to believe now.