how shall *we* escape if we have been negligent of so great salvation, which, having had its commencement in being spoken [of] by the Lord, has been confirmed to us by those who have heard;
This verse sets two messages side by side: one given at Sinai with thunder and fire, one spoken by the Lord Himself. Commentators press two points here: the strange weakness of the sin named ("neglect", not attack), and the greatness of what is neglected.
The warning does not describe an enemy of the message. It describes someone inside the circle of those who have heard it, and who simply stops caring.
In verse 3 the word "neglect" carries the thought of not caring for God's great salvation while they were inside the Christian company, having professed faith. It is not merely neglecting the Gospel when it was preached to them.
That is why the writer says "we". He puts himself alongside his readers, and the danger is one of drift rather than open hostility.
The whole of professing Christendom is drifting away from the truth. Men will preach and listen to anything — on industrial questions, social topics, political questions, anything and everything — so that it is not Christ. "How shall we escape" says the writer, who associates himself with them — how should anyone escape, who neglects this great salvation? Notice here it is neglect, not open hostility.
The readers might have replied that the law came with far more visible splendour than a crucified Man. The answer turns on who that Man was.
The law came in with displays of Divine majesty — lightning and thunder, an earthquake, and Mount Sinai seen on fire. Above all, the people heard the voice of God, and it terrified them. What had now taken place to equal that? A Man had been here, and He had spoken — not in tones of thunder that terrified those around Him, but in a still small voice. And He had been crucified. Yes. But He was a Messenger of the Lord of Hosts, the God of their fathers, who had once spoken amid all those displays of majesty at Sinai. So a Messenger greater than any angel had appeared.
Some read the gospel as a relaxation of God's standards, so that neglecting it costs little. The comparison in this verse says the opposite.
It is far more serious, beyond any comparison, to despise grace brought in by the Head of all glory. No idea is more contrary to truth than that grace makes light of evil — that the gospel is a softened or watered-down law. Man, and man under law, had been proved wholly bad and ruined beyond repair. Only then did God send His Son and lay the entire burden on Him.
Some picture a small salvation — partial, temporary, and dependent on the sinner's own help. This verse calls it great instead.
Note this: it is a great salvation. It is not the limited, partial, poor salvation that some men make it out to be — one that saves only those who help to save themselves, or saves them for a time and then lets them lapse and be lost again. It is a salvation worthy of God Himself, and only that finished, faultless work of Christ on the cross could produce it. We are all great sinners. Our guilt was great, our need was great, and only a great salvation could be of any use to us.
The verse says the message started with the Lord. The wording is exact, because the work the message rests on was still ahead of Him.
Salvation was only beginning to be announced while He was here on earth. The work of atonement had not yet been touched; His death at the end accomplished it, and nothing else could. Yet salvation did begin to be spoken of when the Lord started His public ministry. Luke 4:16 and following is the beautiful witness of this. There He read Isaiah 61:1-2 in the synagogue of Nazareth, and stopped at the acceptable year of the Lord. The day of vengeance will certainly come in its season, but not until He comes again. It is salvation now.
The writer counts himself among those who received the message second-hand. Some have used this "us" as an argument against Paul writing the letter.
That argument looks shallow. Suppose Paul is the writer. He joins himself with the Hebrews he is addressing, outside the field of his own apostolic work, and that fits the task in hand exactly. The first person does not mean that he had heard it. It means that when the message began to be spoken, those who heard confirmed it "to us." In fact he marks himself off from those who heard the Lord.
The verse asks "how", and leaves it unanswered, because there is no answer to give.
Is this great salvation what so many are despising and rejecting? Few will say, in plain words, that they are rejecting it, but many will admit that they are neglecting it. Be sure of this, dear reader: neglect comes to the same thing as rejection in the end. There is no escape from eternal ruin if we keep on neglecting Christ, in whom alone salvation is found.
- Speaker. The law came in with thunder and fire at Sinai. This message came in a still small voice from a Messenger greater than any angel, so it carries the heavier weight.
- Salvation. It is called great because it is worthy of God and rests on the finished work of the cross. It is not a partial rescue for people who help to save themselves.
- Spoken. The Lord only began to speak it, because atonement waited for His death. He announced the acceptable year, not the day of vengeance.
- Confirmed. Those who heard Him passed the message on. The writer counts himself among the receivers, not the eyewitnesses.
- Sin. The danger is not attack but neglect, from inside the circle of those who profess faith. And neglect ends where rejection ends: no escape.
God bearing, besides, witness with [them] to [it], both by signs and wonders, and various acts of power, and distributions of [the] Holy Spirit, according to his will?
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.