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.
Leslie M. GrantNotice 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.
William KellyHe 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.
George DavisonThe 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.
William KellyGod 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.
C. StanleyWhere 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.
Hamilton SmithSo 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.