the Week of Proper 22 / Ordinary 27
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Read the Bible
King James Version
Hebrews 12:9
Bible Study Resources
Concordances:
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- DailyParallel Translations
Furthermore, we had earthly fathers to discipline us, and we respected them; shall we not much rather be subject to the Father of spirits, and live?
Furthermore, we had earthly fathers to discipline us, and we respected them. Shall we not much rather be subject to the Father of spirits, and live?
We all had fathers, or men in that role, who corrected us and we showed them respect. Do the same with God.
And again, if the fathers of our flesh gave us punishment and had our respect, how much more will we be under the authority of the Father of spirits, and have life?
Moreover we have had the fathers of our flesh as chasteners, and we reverenced [them]; shall we not much rather be in subjection to the Father of spirits, and live?
Furthermore, we had the fathers of our flesh to chasten us, and we paid them respect. Shall we not much rather be in subjection to the Father of spirits, and live?
Moreover we have had fathers of our flesh who corrected us, and we reverenced them: Shall we not much rather be in subjection to the Father of spirits and live?
Besides this, our earthly fathers used to discipline us and we treated them with respect, and shall we not be still more submissive to the Father of our spirits, and live?
Furthermore, wee haue had fathers of our flesh, which corrected vs, and we gaue them reuerence: shall we not much rather bee in subiection vnto the Father of Spirits, and liue?
Furthermore, indeed we have had fathers of our flesh as correctors, and we respected them . Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits, and we shall live?
Morouer seyenge we haue had fathers off oure flesh which corrected vs, & we gaue them reuerence, shulde we not then moch rather be in subieccion vnto ye father of spirituall giftes, yt we mighte lyue?
when our natural parents corrected us, we gave them reverence: is it not much more reasonable to be in subjection to the father of spirits, in order to have life?
Moreover, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us, and we submitted and respected them [for training us]; shall we not much more willingly submit to the Father of spirits, and live [by learning from His discipline]?
Furthermore, we had the fathers of our flesh to chasten us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live?
Besides this, we have had earthly fathers to discipline us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live?
Moreover seynge we had fathers of oure flesshe which corrected vs and we gave them reverence: shuld we not moche rather be in subieccion vnto the father of spretuall gyftes that we myght live?
Furthermore, we had the fathers of our flesh to chasten us, and we gave them reverence: and shall we not much rather be in subjection to the Father of spirits, and live?
Furthermore, we have had fathers of our flesh who corrected [us], and we gave [them] reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection to the Father of spirits, and live?
Then, indeed, fathers of our flesh we have had, chastising [us], and we were reverencing [them]; shall we not much rather be subject to the Father of the spirits, and live?
We have all had fathers here on earth who disciplined us, and we respected them. So it is even more important that we accept discipline from the Father of our spirits so we will have life.
Besides, we have experienced discipline from our earthly fathers and we respected them; shall we not submit ourselves all the more to the Father of spirits and receive life?
Furthermore, we have all had earthly fathers who disciplined us, and we respected them. Should we not much more submit to the Father of our spirits and live?
Our earthly fathers correct us, and we still respect them. Isn't it even better to be given true life by letting our spiritual Father correct us?
Furthermore, we had physical fathers who disciplined us, and we respected them; how much more should we submit to our spiritual Father and live!
Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live?
Moreouer we haue had the fathers of our bodies which corrected vs, and we gaue them reuerence: should we not much rather be in subiection vnto the father of spirites, that we might liue?
Furthermore if our fathers of the flesh corrected us and we respected them, how much more then should we willingly be under subjection to our Spiritual Father, and live?
Furthermore, we had natural fathers discipline us, and we respected them. Shouldn't we submit even more to the Father of spirits and live?
Furthermore, we had the fathers of our flesh to chasten us, and we paid them respect. Shall we not much rather be in subjection to the Father of spirits, and live?
Furthermore, we had earthly fathers who used to discipline us, and we respected them for it. We should even more submit to the Father of our spirits and live, shouldn't we?Numbers 16:22; 27:16; Job 1:12:10; Ecclesiastes 12:7; Isaiah 42:5; 57:16; Zechariah 12:1;">[xr]
And if (when) the fathers of the flesh have chastised us we have revered them, how much more are we bound to be subject to our spiritual fathers [fn] , that we may live?
And if our fathers of the flesh chastened us, and we revered them, how much more ought we to be submissive to our spiritual fathers, ‡3 and live?
Furthermore, we have had human fathers who corrected us, and we paid them respect. Shall we not much more readily be in subjection to the Father of spirits and live?
Since we respected our earthly fathers who disciplined us, shouldn't we submit even more to the discipline of the Father of our spirits, and live forever?
Remember that our fathers on earth punished us. We had respect for them. How much more should we obey our Father in heaven and live?
Furthermore, we had the fathers of our flesh to chasten us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live?
Moreover, we had human parents to discipline us, and we respected them. Should we not be even more willing to be subject to the Father of spirits and live?
Furthermore, indeed, the fathers of our flesh, we used to have, as administrators of discipline, and we used to pay deference: shall we not, much rather, submit ourselves to the Father of our spirits and, live?
Moreover, we have had fathers of our flesh for instructors, and we reverenced them. Shall we not much more obey the Father of spirits and live?
Furthermore, we have had our earthly fathers who disciplined us, and we respected them. Will we not much rather subject ourselves to the Father of spirits and live?
Furthermore, we haue had fathers of our fleshe, which corrected vs, and we gaue them reuerence: Shall we not then much rather be in subiection vnto the father of spirites, and lyue?
We have all had fathers here on earth who corrected us with discipline. And we respected them. So it is even more important that we accept discipline from the Father of our spirits. If we do this, we will have life.
Furthermore, we had earthly fathers to discipline us, and we respected them; shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits, and live?
In the case of our human fathers, they punished us and we respected them. How much more, then, should we submit to our spiritual Father and live!
And aftirward we hadden fadris of oure fleisch, techeris, and we with reuerence dredden hem. Whethir not myche more we schulen obeische to the fadir of spiritis, and we schulen lyue?
Contextual Overview
Bible Verse Review
from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge
fathers: John 3:6, Acts 2:30, Romans 1:3, Romans 9:3, Romans 9:5
corrected: Hebrews 12:7
we gave: Exodus 20:12, Leviticus 19:3, Deuteronomy 21:18-21, Deuteronomy 27:16, Proverbs 30:17, Ezekiel 22:7, Ephesians 6:1-4
shall we not: Malachi 1:6, James 4:7, James 4:10, 1 Peter 5:6
the Father: Numbers 16:22, Numbers 27:16, Job 12:10, Ecclesiastes 12:7, Isaiah 42:5, Isaiah 57:16, Zechariah 12:1
Reciprocal: Genesis 2:7 - a living Genesis 5:1 - in the likeness Numbers 12:14 - spit 1 Kings 1:31 - did reverence Job 2:10 - shall we receive Isaiah 27:9 - this therefore Isaiah 45:10 - General Jeremiah 5:3 - they have made Jeremiah 38:16 - that made Lamentations 3:33 - afflict Ezekiel 18:4 - all souls Malachi 2:10 - all Matthew 23:9 - call Luke 11:13 - know Luke 11:40 - did Luke 24:39 - for Acts 17:28 - we are Romans 4:1 - as pertaining 2 Corinthians 7:8 - though I made Ephesians 5:33 - reverence
Cross-References
Say, I pray thee, thou art my sister: that it may be well with me for thy sake; and my soul shall live because of thee.
And it came to pass, that, when Abram was come into Egypt, the Egyptians beheld the woman that she was very fair.
And Abram went up out of Egypt, he, and his wife, and all that he had, and Lot with him, into the south.
And he went on his journeys from the south even to Bethel, unto the place where his tent had been at the beginning, between Bethel and Hai;
And Isaac came from the way of the well Lahairoi; for he dwelt in the south country.
When they went from one nation to another, from one kingdom to another people;
Gill's Notes on the Bible
Furthermore, we have had fathers of our flesh,.... Earthly parents; who are so called, because they are the immediate causes and instruments of the generation of their children, and of their fleshly bodies and worldly beings; and to distinguish them from the Father of spirits: and this shows, that they have not the spirit or soul from them, only the flesh or body, and which is frail and corrupt; and therefore goes by this name.
Which corrected us; early, and at proper seasons, in love, and for instruction, and to prevent ruin, and death:
and we gave them reverence; by submitting to their correction, and hearkening to it; by taking shame to themselves, and acknowledging the offence committed; by retaining the same affection for them; and, by a carefulness not to offend for the future.
Shall we not much rather be in subjection to the Father of spirits, and live? that is, to God, who is so called; not because he is the Creator of angels, who are spirits; but because he is the Creator of the souls of men; the soul is the more noble and excellent part of man: it bears a resemblance to God; it is, the life of man, and is immortal; it is exceeding precious, and the redemption of it; this was at first immediately created by God; and he still continues to create souls, which he preserves in their being, and has the power of saving and destroying them. Besides, God may be so called, because he is the author and donor of all spiritual gifts, and particularly of regenerating grace; it is he who renews a right spirit in them, and puts a new spirit into them: now such ought to be in "subjection" to him; not only as creatures to a Creator, and as subjects to their prince: but as children to a father, and particularly to him, as and when correcting; they should bow to his sovereignty, resign to his will, be humble under his mighty hand, be still and quiet, and bear all patiently; the advantage arising from such a subjection is life: "and live"; or "that ye may live"; or "and ye shall live": more comfortably, and more to the glory of God, in communion and fellowship with him here, and in heaven to all eternity.
Barnes' Notes on the Bible
Furthermore - As an additional consideration to induce us to receive chastisement with submission. The argument in this verse is derived from the difference in the spirit and design with which we are corrected by God and by an earthly parent. In God everything is without any intermingling of passion or any improper feeling. In an earthly parent there is often much that is the result of hasty emotion, of an irascible temper, perhaps of the mere love of power. There is much that is inflicted without due reflection, and that produces only pain in the bosom of the parent himself in the recollection. Yet with all this imperfection of parental government, we were patient and unmurmuring. How much more should we submit to one whose paternal discipline is caused by no excited feeling; by no love of power; by no want of reflection, and which never furnishes occasion for regret!
Fathers of our flesh - Earthly fathers; those from whom we have derived our being here. They are contrasted here with God, who is called “the Father of spirits,” not because the father does not sustain the paternal relation to the soul as well as the body, but to designate the nature of the dominion over us. The dominion of God is what pertains to a spiritual kingdom, having more direct reference to the discipline of the soul, and being designed to prepare us for the spiritual world; that of the earthly father pertains primarily to our condition here, and the discipline is designed to subdue our unruly passions, to teach us to restrain our appetites, to inculcate maxims of health and prosperity, and to prevent those things which would impede our happiness in the present world. See, however, many curious instances of the manner in which these phrases were used by the Jewish writers, collected by Wetstein.
We gave them reverence - We submitted to them; honored them; loved them. Painful at the time as correction may have been, yet when we have fully understood the design of it, we have loved them the more. The effect of such discipline, properly administered, is to produce real veneration for a parent - for he who in a timely and appropriate manner restrains his child is the only one who will secure ultimate reverence and respect.
Shall we not much rather be in subjection - Since God’s government is so much more perfect; since he has so much better right to control us; and since his administration is free from all the defects which attend parental discipline on earth, there is a much higher reason for bowing with submission and reverence to him.
The Father of spirits - Thus, in Numbers 16:22, God is called “the God of the spirits of all flesh;” so also Numbers 27:16; compare Job 33:4. The idea seems to be that, as the soul is the most important part of man, this name is given to God by way of eminence, or he is eminently and supremely our Father. It was his to create the immortal part, and to that spirit which is never to die he sustains the relation of Father. The earthly father is parent to the man as mortal; God is the Father of man as immortal. God is himself a spirit. Angels and human souls, therefore, may be represented as especially his offspring. It is the highest designation which could be given to God to say that he is at the head of the universe of mind; not implying that he is not also at the head of the material universe, but designing to bring into view this high characteristic of the Almighty, that all created minds throughout the universe sustain to him the relation of children. To this Great Being we should, therefore, more cheerfully subject ourselves than to an earthly parent.
And live - Meaning that his fatherly chastisements are adapted to secure our spiritual life. He corrects us that he may promote our final happiness, and his inflictions are the means of saving us from eternal death.
Clarke's Notes on the Bible
Verse Hebrews 12:9. We have had fathers of our flesh — The fathers of our flesh, i.e. our natural parents, were correctors; and we reverenced them, notwithstanding their corrections often arose from whim or caprice: but shall we not rather be in subjection to the Father of spirits; to him from whom we have received both body and soul; who is our Creator, Preserver, and Supporter; to whom both we and our parents owe our life and our blessings; and who corrects us only for our profit; that we may live and be partakers of his holiness? The apostle in asking, Shall we not much rather be in subjection to the Father of spirits, and live? alludes to the punishment of the stubborn and rebellious son, Deuteronomy 21:18-21: "If a man have a stubborn and rebellious son, who will not obey the voice of his father, or the voice of his mother, and that, when they have chastened him, will not hearken unto them; then shall his father and mother lay hold on him and bring him to the elders of the city, and they shall say, This our son is stubborn and rebellious; he will not obey our voice: and all the men of the city shall stone him with stones that he DIE." Had he been subject to his earthly parents, he would have lived; because not subject, he dies. If we be subject to our heavenly Father, we shall LIVE, and be partakers of his holiness; if not, we shall DIE, and be treated as bastards and not sons. This is the sum of the apostle's meaning; and the fact and the law to which he alludes.
