that ye be not sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience have been inheritors of the promises.
The readers of this letter had grown dull. This verse tells them what to do about it. The cure is not fresh knowledge but imitation — copying people who already walked the road of faith and patience to its end.
The same word appears earlier in the letter. There it describes readers who had grown slow to take truth in:
The word seems to imply a more habitual slothfulness. It occurs only twice in the New Testament. The Hebrew believers were "dull of hearing" when they ought by diligence to have been teachers (Heb. 5:11), and are urged not to be slothful, but imitators of those who inherit the promises (Heb. 6:12).
So the problem is not one bad day. One commentator weighs what mattered about their condition:
It was their present, and not their original, state which stood in their way. How they had got into it is not explained, nor was that needed. Their state was the important thing, and it is described with complete clearness. "You have become dull of hearing." Progress in divine teaching had certainly not marked them, nor had they, it seems, wanted it.
Hope and energy rise and fall together:
Why are men dull and heavy in the service of God? Truly because their hopes are so. Hopeless and lifeless go together. No wonder the work goes hard when men have no hope of being well paid for their labour... Nothing is better to clear the soul of sloth and listlessness in the service of God than hope well strengthened. It is the very medicine the apostles prescribe for this disease. They write: "We desire each one of you to show the same earnestness to have the full assurance of hope until the end, so that you may not be sluggish."
Hope can also be crowded out:
Feeding on earthly hopes destroys the divine hope God gives, just as trusting other things is completely at odds with living faith... Otherwise we become sluggish or dull where we ought to be earnest and wide awake.
The verse pairs the two, but they do different work:
Abraham shows faith in Genesis 15, and yet he fails in patience in Genesis 16. This is the force and beauty of the apostle's word in Hebrews 6: "imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises." God makes a promise. Faith believes it. Hope looks ahead to it. Patience waits quietly for it.
The examples come from both halves of the Bible:
Others had avoided slothfulness and had kept faith and endurance. These include New Testament believers, such as the leaders mentioned in chapter 13:7, and the grand examples of faith in the Old Testament seen in chapter 11. Such faith is worth our wholehearted following. The promises were given only to faith, and faith alone will inherit them.
We copy their principle, not their portion. What lies ahead of us is larger than what lay ahead of them:
But that does not say our prospects are limited to what these promises cover. The hopes of those in the past age, whose followers we have become, never entered within the veil... but we become imitators of their faith, and by its power they overcame every obstacle that rose up to block their progress toward the goal.
Abraham shows how long the waiting can run:
Abraham not only got the promise in Genesis 15, but went on in patience until it was confirmed by an oath in Genesis 22. We are called not only to faith, but to the patience of faith.
The exhortation lands on ordinary habits:
Is there not a great lack of diligence among believers in the things of God? We are diligent enough in the things of this world, but the things of the Lord too often get only the spare moments of our lives. Are we diligent in the study of the Word? Are we diligent in prayer?... Small wonder we make so little progress in our souls. We find time for the daily news and the light reading of this world, yet no time to glean in the rich pastures of God's holy Word.
- Sluggish. The word marks a settled dullness. It is the same condition as being "dull of hearing" — a state the readers drifted into, not one they began with.
- Hope. Sloth is a hope problem before it is an effort problem. Hopeless and lifeless go together, and earthly hopes kill the divine one.
- Faith. The promises were given only to faith, and faith alone will inherit them. So faith, not achievement, is what we copy.
- Patience. Faith believes the promise. Hope looks ahead to it. Patience waits quietly for it. Abraham showed faith in Genesis 15 and failed in patience in Genesis 16.
- Inheritance. Abraham went on until God confirmed the promise with an oath. Waiting is not wasted. We are called not just to faith, but to the patience of faith.
For God, having promised to Abraham, since he had no greater to swear by, swore by himself,
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
saying, Surely blessing I will bless thee, and multiplying I will multiply thee;
This verse quotes God's promise to Abraham. The words come from Mount Moriah, where Abraham laid Isaac on the altar and received him back. Older translations read "blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply you." The writer to the Hebrews sets that sworn promise before tired believers as their surest ground.
The words come from one scene in Abraham's life. Something happened there that had never happened before.
There is a lesson here in Abraham's steadfast endurance, and in God's gracious way with him on Mount Moriah. Isaac came off the altar, and a ram that God provided was offered up in his place. Once that day the angel of the Lord called out of heaven to Abraham, telling him to spare his son. Then the angel's voice came a second time. This time God not only spoke, but bound Himself by an oath to fulfil what He would say. Never before had Scripture said that God swore.
God's word was already true without an oath. He swore for our sake, not for His own.
He had to have patience. He saw little fulfilment on earth of what God had promised. Faith finds its true strength and support nowhere but in God Himself. Here God gave all that anyone could want — not His word only, but His oath. What a precious and wonderful stooping to human weakness! God will give us as much security as we demand from one another. While faith must be faith, and therefore only in God, yet how tender He is! How well we may trust Him!
God had no higher name to appeal to, so He staked Himself. One writer sets this oath beside another oath in the same letter.
This quotation comes from Genesis 22:15-18. It is clearly meant to contrast with Hebrews 4:3: "As I swore in my wrath, 'They shall not enter my rest.'" In that case the oath of God raises a solemn question about those who in unbelief have doubted God's faithfulness. But here in chapter 6, God's own oath assures Abraham of His unconditional blessing, because Abraham believed God. How strong that oath is! God swore by Himself. The entire glory of God is therefore bound up in this great oath. Wonderful, unchangeable, absolute certainty! And if the promise was long in coming, the waiting time only proved the reality of the faith that believed God.
The verse quotes only part of what the angel said that day. One writer asks why it stops at "multiply you."
Did our writer stop at "multiply you" to draw attention to this one promise apart from the rest? Abraham did see this one promise begin to come true. He saw the twin children, Esau and Jacob, born when Isaac was sixty years old. Then he could say that the multiplying had begun. Yet he had to wait patiently for many a year even for that... So he obtained the promise — the promise, notice, not promises. He obtained it after years of patient endurance. And that is written for our instruction. God's people often have to wait, and wait patiently.
Abraham owned nothing yet. God had just asked him to give up his son.
He had to give up Isaac, the child of promise, to death, and receive him back, as a figure, in resurrection. In view of that obedience of faith, God declares with an oath. He could swear by none greater. Men always call a greater one to witness, but God swears by His own great self. He will bless this man of faith, who owns nothing at present, and He will fulfil every word He has promised. It is as though God had said: as long as He is God, this promise stands. He would have to stop existing before the faith that counted on Him could be disappointed.
God spoke the oath to one man. It was never meant to stop there.
God did not give this twofold solemn guarantee for Abraham's sake only, or for those who came right after him. He wanted to show the heirs of the promise more fully how unchanging His purpose is. So He stepped in with an oath. It lifts the eyes of all who believe away from present and visible things, to the hope that rests on His word confirmed by His oath. What loving condescension towards those who march through enemy territory!
- Oath given. At Moriah God bound Himself by an oath for the first time. Abraham had just given up Isaac and received him back as a figure of resurrection.
- Oath by Himself. God had no greater name to swear by. So His whole glory now stands behind the blessing He promised Abraham.
- Oath as kindness. The oath adds nothing to God's word. It is God stooping to our weakness, giving us the same security we demand from each other.
- Oath waited on. Abraham saw only the start of the multiplying, and only after long patience. God's people often have to wait.
- Oath inherited. The word and the oath were not for Abraham alone. They are handed to every heir of the promise who walks through enemy ground.
and thus, having had long patience, he got the promise.
Hebrews 6:15 closes a short portrait of Abraham, set before readers tempted to give up. It raises a real question. If Abraham "obtained the promise," why does the same letter later say these men died without receiving it?
The waiting in this verse spans two moments in Abraham's life, years apart. One writer contrasts the comfort Abraham had at the first with the stronger comfort he had at the second.
Then he brings out Abraham as one who did not slacken his hand to the end. Abraham not only got the promise in Genesis 15, but went on in patience until God confirmed it by an oath in Genesis 22. We are called not only to faith, but to the patience of faith. May you not have a consolation and yet not a strong consolation? We see it in Abraham. He had a consolation in Genesis 15 and a strong consolation in Genesis 22.
The heart will do almost anything except wait. Abraham himself proves it.
The poor heart naturally prefers anything to the attitude of waiting. It will turn to any expedient — any scheme — any resource, rather than be kept in that posture. It is one thing to believe a promise at first, and quite another thing to wait quietly for it to be fulfilled... Abraham shows faith in Genesis 15, and yet he fails in patience in Genesis 16. This is the force and beauty of the apostle's word in Hebrews 6: "imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises." God makes a promise, faith believes it; hope anticipates it; patience waits quietly for it.
The patient endurance the verse credits to him came after that failure, in a long stretch of silence.
The story of Hagar and Ishmael has shown that under pressure he failed in patience... Now we read, "When Abram was ninety-nine years old the LORD appeared to Abram." For thirteen years he patiently endured. During these years there is no record of any communications to Abraham. God waits until all hope is over of obtaining the blessing by the efforts of the flesh.
So how could Abraham "obtain" what he never fully received? One writer points to what Abraham lived long enough to see.
Now in some measure Abraham did see this promise being fulfilled. When he saw the twin children, Esau and Jacob, Isaac being then sixty years old, he could say that the multiplying had begun... Their birth was the pledge of all that was to follow. So he obtained the promise — the promise, let us note, not promises. He obtained that after years of patient endurance. And that is written for our instruction. God's people often have to wait, and to wait patiently.
Commentators differ. Another reads the gain as inward, not visible.
The sixth chapter means that God's perfect discipline gave them the spiritual good of the promise in their souls. But they did not get the substance itself. Only the coming of Christ could bring that.
God backed His promise with an oath. Then He let Abraham wait.
What a strong oath from the mouth of God! It assures Abraham of His unconditional blessing, because Abraham believed God. God swore by Himself. The entire glory of God is therefore involved in this great oath. Wonderful, unchangeable, absolute certainty! Even if the promise was long delayed, that waiting time would only prove his faith in God was real: he "patiently waited."
God's guarantee to Abraham was never meant to stop with Abraham.
God did not give this twofold solemn guarantee for Abraham's sake only, or for those who came right after him. He wanted to show the heirs of the promise even more clearly that His purpose never changes. So He stepped in with an oath, to lift the eyes of all who believe from present and seen things to that hope which rests on His word confirmed by His oath. What loving condescension to those who march through an enemy's land!
- Promise — God spoke to Abraham in Genesis 15; the oath that sealed it did not come until Genesis 22. The gap between them is the whole subject of this verse.
- Patience — Faith believes a promise; patience waits quietly for it. Abraham had faith long before he had patience, and failed in the second before he learned it.
- Proving — The delay was not empty time. It showed his faith was real. It ran on until the flesh had nothing left to try.
- Portion — Commentators differ on what he obtained. Some say the first signs of the multiplying he lived to see. Others say the spiritual good of the promise held in his soul. Neither is the full substance, which waited for Christ.
- Purpose — God gave that oath with later readers in view. Abraham's long wait is your encouragement too.
For men indeed swear by a greater, and with them the oath is a term to all dispute, as making matters sure.
Hebrews 6:16 points to a habit everyone knows: the oath that ends an argument. The writer uses this custom to explain a puzzle — God's bare word is already perfect, yet He added an oath to His promise to Abraham.
An oath calls God in as witness. Once a person swears, the argument is over.
A solemn declaration with an appeal to God that what is said is true. The apostle said that among men an oath for confirmation is the "end of all strife" or dispute.
People can question a man's plain word. His sworn word closes the case. God chose to put that same weight behind His promise.
People give far more weight to an oath than to a man's mere word. So grace on God's part stoops to make this solemn oath, to give us unshaken assurance of His blessing. In fact His word is just as certain as His oath. But the very fact that He swore shows His tender compassion toward man, because He wants us to be fully sure. How marvellously gracious He is!
This verse treats the oath in court as good, not evil. One writer draws out what that means for the courtroom today.
But we must carefully remember that our Lord in no way forbids an oath before the magistrate or judge. This is not evil but good, being of divine authority. For men swear by a greater, and the oath puts an end to all dispute by making matters sure. To refuse it is to deny God's authority in those who represent Him in earthly things. Scripture calls such men by His name, translated "judges," as in Ex. 21:6, Ex. 22:8-9, 28.
Courts still put witnesses on oath, and the reason says something about us.
Why are men put on oath in the law courts of the land? Because they are capable of lying. The psalmist said in his haste that "all men are liars" (Ps. 116:11), and men have not changed. In happy contrast we are told that it is "impossible for God to lie."
One case breaks the rule of verse 16. There is no one above God.
When God made His promise to Abraham, He could swear by no greater, so He swore by Himself. The entire glory of God is therefore involved in this great oath. Wonderful, unchangeable, absolute certainty!
If God's word alone is enough, why the oath? The answer lies in the state of the person receiving it — not in any deficiency in God.
God had already given good ground of assurance to Abraham, who led the way. He had added His oath to His promise: a wonderful confirmation for the tried, even though they were far from being opposers. When the conscience is in earnest, we feel our own weakness, and the way of Christ seems difficult, dangerous and off-putting. So the gracious wisdom of God gave His oath in addition to His promise, as we may read in Gen. 22:17-18.
The verses that follow turn this everyday custom into a guarantee for everyone who has run to Christ.
It was not for Abraham's sake only that God gave this twofold guarantee, His Word and His oath. God acted on certain principles towards the fathers of old. He applies those same principles to the children of faith now, so that "we might have a strong encouragement." … He gives strong encouragement to everyone who has fled to Christ for refuge from judgment. They can take hold of the hope set before them, instead of turning back because of the difficulties on the way.
And that encouragement asks very little faith of us.
This same strong consolation is designed for us in connection with the very smallest measure of living faith in the Word of God. It is not a question of great attainments in knowledge, experience or devotedness … The very feeblest spark of God-given faith secures eternal life, strong consolation and everlasting glory, because "it is impossible for God to lie."
- Custom — An oath calls God in as witness and ends a dispute. It carries far more weight than a bare word.
- Exception — God had no greater to swear by, so He swore by Himself. His whole glory now stands behind the promise.
- Reason — The oath adds nothing to God's truthfulness. It is tender compassion meeting a tried conscience that feels its own weakness.
- Reach — The double guarantee was never for Abraham alone. God applies it to everyone who has fled to Christ for refuge.
- Result — It is impossible for God to lie. So even the faintest real faith rests on His word and His oath, and need not turn back.
Wherein God, willing to shew more abundantly to the heirs of the promise the unchangeableness of his purpose, intervened by an oath,
God gave Abraham a promise, and then He swore an oath on top of it — and this verse tells us why He did it. God's word never needed propping up; the heirs of the promise needed convincing.
God's word was already certain, so His oath added nothing to it. What the oath added was reassurance for the people who inherit the promise.
Notice first that His counsel cannot change: change is absolutely impossible. The oath adds nothing to the Word; it only confirms it. But it shows the abundant goodness of God's heart. He is willing to give the heirs of the promise every encouraging assurance.
God gave this oath in Genesis 22, after Abraham had been willing to give up his son Isaac and had received him back. The extra assurance came to a man who had just been through the hardest test of his life.
He had added His oath to His promise: a blessed confirmation for those under trial, even though they were far from contradicting Him... When the conscience is in earnest, we feel our own weakness, and the way of Christ looks hard, dangerous, and unattractive. So the gracious wisdom of God gave His oath as well as His promise, as we may read in Genesis 22:17-18. It was a precious encouragement to a man who at that very moment received his son back, as if raised from the dead.
Where the ESV says "purpose," older translations read "counsel." The word does not mean advice. It means settled intention. The first readers of this letter had left Judaism for Christ, and others pressed them hard to go back. They needed to hear that God's intention toward them could not be revised.
The word "counsel" really means purpose. Who would know better than God how much these hearts needed strengthening? They had turned from Judaism and accepted Jesus as their Lord... So God led the apostle to tell them that He had an unchangeable purpose, and that He had bound Himself with an oath to carry it out. That purpose had their eternal blessing in view.
The verse does not say God swore the oath for Abraham alone. He swore it for "the heirs of the promise" — everyone who believes.
God did not give this twofold solemn guarantee for Abraham's sake only, or for those who came right after him... So He stepped in with an oath. He wanted to lift the eyes of all who believe away from present, visible things to that hope which rests on His word, confirmed by His oath. What love, that He stoops to those who march through enemy country!
The two unchangeable things are God's word and God's oath. Both come from one side only. That is the whole point. A promise rests on one party keeping it. An agreement between two parties fails if either party fails.
Where the principle is promise, the blessing depends on only one... Now in this matter of our eternal salvation, God wants us to have absolute certainty, sure and steadfast. So He gave us two things in which it was impossible for Him to lie — His promise and His oath... As with Abraham, God confirmed the promise of Genesis 12 when Abraham received Isaac back from death as a picture, in chapter 22. So the promise is fulfilled to us in the actual death and resurrection of Jesus. What certainty! What strong encouragement!
The image here comes from Israel's cities of refuge. Someone who killed a person by accident could run to one of these cities and be safe there. That is the picture behind fleeing to Christ for refuge.
So there are two unchangeable things: His Word and His oath. In both of them it was impossible for God to lie. Through them He gives strong encouragement to all who have fled to Christ for refuge from judgment. They can take hold of the hope set before them, instead of turning back because the way is hard. The picture is the city of refuge, where a person who had killed someone could flee.
- Purpose. God's purpose is settled. The verse says it cannot change at all.
- Promise. God gave that purpose to Abraham as a promise. A promise rests on one party alone, which makes it safer than any two-sided agreement.
- Oath. God added His oath after Abraham was willing to give up Isaac. The oath added nothing to His word. It showed His goodness: He stoops to reassure people who feel their own weakness.
- Heirs. The two unchangeable things were not for Abraham only. They lift the eyes of every believer off what is seen and on to the promised hope.
- Refuge. The result is strong encouragement for those who have fled to Christ, as people once fled to the city of refuge. That is a reason not to turn back when the road is hard.
that by two unchangeable things, in which [it was] impossible that God should lie, we might have a strong encouragement, who have fled for refuge to lay hold on the hope set before us,
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
which we have as anchor of the soul, both secure and firm, and entering into that within the veil,
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
where Jesus is entered as forerunner for us, become for ever a high priest according to the order of Melchisedec.
Hope in this letter is not a feeling. It is an anchor that reaches into heaven itself, and it holds because a Person has already gone in. The verse gives Him two titles there: Forerunner, and high priest forever. Both raise one question. What does His arrival secure for those still on the way?
The title comes from an everyday scene, and Christ turns that scene around.
The word is used as a picture of Christ, who has gone in behind the veil as the forerunner of His people. It points to men of high rank in the East, who have runners go ahead of them to clear the way and to announce who is coming. With Christ it is the other way round: the Lord has run ahead of His servants. But the word must mean that there are others following after Him.
The first readers knew a high priest who entered the innermost room of the tabernacle once a year, alone, behind the curtain. A high priest who goes in as a forerunner was new to them.
Here we learn that He is our Forerunner, a title used nowhere else... Aaron went into the innermost sanctuary once a year. He went in for a people. He stood for them before God, but they themselves could never set foot inside that curtained-off room. The sanctuary our High Priest has entered, though, will one day ring with the footsteps of a countless crowd — His heavenly saints, redeemed by His precious blood... For if He is the Forerunner, His people will surely follow Him. What did Judaism have to offer compared with this?
The words "on our behalf" say He did not go in for Himself alone. One writer finds a new role here, added to His work as High Priest.
The Lord Jesus is here brought out in a new character. We see Him in heaven, not only for us as our High Priest, but to secure a place for us with Himself. ...Jesus is now in heaven in the glory of a Forerunner — a High Priest — the One who has purged our sins.
The letter does not leave the reader with words alone. It also points to a Person, and to what He does for us on the way.
The Forerunner implies that there are others coming after. So we have not only the Word of God, but Jesus, a living Person in glory. He is the everlasting witness of the glory we are going to, and the guarantee that we will be there. Until we reach the rest of heaven, Christ is our great High Priest to keep us going on the way... Here we have the Word of God as the firm foundation of our faith, and the living Christ as the anchor of our soul. He is the One who links us with heaven and holds the soul calm through all the storms of life.
Melchizedek was a king and priest in Abraham's day. Naming him marks out a priesthood unlike Aaron's, though the way Christ serves now still follows Aaron's pattern.
As Priest after the order of Melchizedek He is the great Sustainer of everything for God. Clearly He is exercising that priesthood at present after the pattern of Aaron, yet He is not of Aaron's order. Aaron's was a priesthood that changed hands, tied to a material and visible order of things. Christ is unchangeable and eternal, outside man's family lines and reckoning of time. That is why Melchizedek, the mysterious king-priest of Abraham's day, has become the picture of His order.
Some have asked whether Christ entered heaven during the time between His death and His resurrection. The wording of this verse decides the question.
Other scriptures speak of His entering, not in that in-between state, but when He had become high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. Compare Hebrews 6:20 in particular... But the word here is that "by means of His own blood He entered once for all into the holy places, thus securing an eternal redemption." This is simple, plain and decisive.
- Runner. "Forerunner" comes from the men who ran ahead of a great man to clear the road. Here the great One has run first. The title only works if others are coming behind.
- Room. Aaron went behind the veil alone, for a people who could never set foot there. The sanctuary Christ entered will one day echo with the footsteps of a countless crowd.
- Reason. He entered on our behalf — not only to serve as High Priest, but to secure a place for His own with Himself.
- Rope. Two things hold our hope. The Word of God is the foundation. A living Person in glory is the anchor that steadies the soul in every storm.
- Rank. His priesthood is of Melchizedek's order: unchangeable and eternal, outside human family lines. His place never changes hands, and He holds it forever.