Bible Commentaries
Hebrews 5

Verses 7-8

XXV

JESUS IN GETHSEMANE

Harmony, pages 183-186 and Matthew 26:30; Matthew 26:36-48; Mark 14:26-42; Luke 22:39-46; John 18:1; Hebrews 5:7-8.

This section commences on page 183 of the Harmony, introducing us at once to the Gethsemane scene. It is of vital importance that the interpreter of the Bible should know what significance to attach to this scene in the garden. We have four accounts – Matthew, Mark, Luke, and Paul. You will observe that while John touches the other historians on some things, he has nothing to say about this garden scene. His Gospel was written so much later than the others, and the others had so clearly set forth all the necessary facts about the garden of Gethsemane that he does not mention it at all. And when we confine ourselves to the accounts given by Matthew, Mark, Luke, and Paul, we get at results about which I will now speak in their order.

The word, "Gethsemane," means an oil-press. The word, "place," as Matthew calls it – "He came to a place" – means an "enclosed place." In this were olive trees, other trees, and flowers. Just as you cross the brook Kidron, which separates that part of Jerusalem near the Temple from Mount Olivet, and right at the base of Mount Olivet, was this enclosed space. If you were there now you would see about an acre of ground with old olive trees in it, centuries old, but you are not to understand that this enclosure represents the enclosure of the text, or that these very trees were there when Christ spent this night of agony in that garden. We know from history, Josephus among others, that all of the trees of every kind for miles were cut down by the Romans when they were besieging Jerusalem about forty years after Christ’s entrance into the garden of Gethsemane.

Right at the foot of the mountain three roads went over or around Mount Olivet. They centered in that garden, and Jesus was accustomed to stop there. Our record tells us that he was accustomed to stop in that garden, either going to Jerusalem from Bethany; or going to Bethany from Jerusalem; and Judas, we learn, was sure that there Jesus could be found, if he had left the upper room where the Lord’s Supper was celebrated. You will remember that just at the close of the Passover supper, Judas "went immediately out," and gathered the crowd unto whom he wished to betray him. He knew he would find Jesus either where he left him, in that upper chamber, or in that garden on his way back to Bethany, which was his headquarters. So much, then, for the place.

The next item is that when he came to that garden he stopped eight of the apostles at the gate: "You stay here." He took three with him – Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, James and John, and with these three he entered deeper into the garden. Then he stationed the three, and went deeper still into the garden, as far as you can throw a stone – say fifty paces. Those at the gate, and particularly these three, were commanded to watch and pray; to watch, because he wanted to be informed when his betrayer was coming; to pray, lest they should enter into temptation when they saw him openly captured by his enemies. He knew that it would greatly shake them, and that they ought to be praying.

It was very late in the night, and being in the time of the Passover, it was full moon, but they were weary and sleepy. As he said of them, "The flesh is weak; your spirit is ready, but your flesh is weak." These three that entered with him are mentioned on two other special occasions in the Gospels. Peter, James, and John were selected from the twelve apostles to be witnesses of his power when he raised the daughter of Jairus from the dead, as we learn from Mark 5. Peter, James, and John were selected to witness his glory on the Mount of Transfiguration, as we learn from Matthew 17, and now Peter, James, and John are selected to witness his agony in this garden. They became very important witnesses to all of these events.

We notice the next point. He said, as Matthew expresses it, "My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death." Mark says the same thing. This language evidently teaches that Jesus really had a human soul. There is an old heresy to the effect that he had only a human body, and that the Deity inhabited that body. But Jesus was a man in the true sense of the word. He took upon himself our nature, apart from any sin, but yet it was fully human nature, soul and body. Or, if you want to express it in a trichotomous way – body, soul, and spirit. He was fully human. This sorrow proves that he was human in every true sense of the word. "My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death." The agony described here is mental and spiritual. The effect is shown in his body, in that he sweats, as it were, great drops of blood. This is the most thrilling description in literature of the intensity of spiritual suffering under the preparation of the coming evil, and how that suffering evidences itself in the body. The body and the soul are intimately connected. When Belshazzar saw the handwriting on the wall, his knees shook, the terror in his soul was connected with his body. Or, as a man in reading a letter, or receiving a telegram of awful news, becomes so transfixed with pain that he has a tendency to faint. That is the reaction of the inner man on the outer man.

The next thought is – what caused that sorrow even unto death? A young preacher, and a very brilliant one, preached a sermon on this subject in which he took the position that the devil, as a person – a visible, tangible person – that night tried to kill Jesus, as he had first tried to have Jesus killed when he was a baby. So there was a wrestle between Christ and Satan, and that when Jesus prayed, "Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me," he meant, "If it be possible, don’t let the devil kill me before I go to the cross and expiate human sin."

It was a very ingenious thing that young preacher preached, but it was very unscriptural. The sorrow that came over Jesus – the trouble of his soul, of his spirit, was that he was very near the time of dying on the cross, not as a martyr – for a martyr has no such sorrow as that; not as a guilty person in view of pending execution, for he was without sin; but it was a sorrow caused by the thought that in dying he was to die alienated in soul from God; to die as a sinner, though no sinner; to die the death of a felon, and, for the time being, pass under the power of Satan. He knew that when that sacrifice was made the Father would forsake him; that he would have to die the spiritual death, and the spiritual death is absence of the soul from God.

You get at a fine idea of the thought – a very fine idea indeed – when you consider the petition of Major John Andre to George Washington, commander-in-chief of the American armies. He prayed that he might be shot as a soldier, and not hanged as a spy. His agony was not the thought of death, for he was a very brave man, but the thought of a felon’s death. To die by a hangman – that constituted the agony of Major Andre. He did not want to die that death.

The humanity of Jesus, not merely his body, but his soul and spirit, suffered vicariously the spiritual death. His soul shuddered unspeakably at the thought of passing away from God and going under the power of Satan, and to feel the stroke of the punitive sword of the divine law won him. That was his trouble.

Paul’s statement of the case is thus expressed: "Who in the days of his flesh, having offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death, and having been heard for his godly fear, though he was a Son, yet learned obedience by the things which he suffered" (Hebrews 5:7-8).

The next thought is this – that in that agony of approaching separation from his Father, he prays to his Father, that if it be possible, to let this cup pass from him. That means this: "I came to the earth to save men; to do anything that is necessary to their salvation, and the means appointed for their salvation is that I should take the sinner’s place; die the sinner’s death; die under God’s judgment; die under the sword of the divine law." Now when he says, "Father, if it be possible let this cup pass from me," he means this: "If there is any other way to save men, then let this cup pass from me; it is so bitter."

The theology involved in that prayer has a depth that has never yet been sounded. It is the strongest possible proof of the sinner’s destiny; of the enormity of the sinner’s death. It is the strongest proof that I know that the only available way to save men was by substitution.

In other words, the law of God, which is holy, just, and good, must be vindicated. That law says, "The soul that sinneth it shall die." "Man has sinned. If I came to redeem man, and to take the place of man, I must pay man’s debt to the law. I must die the death of the sinner, or God can never be just in justifying man – in forgiving man." The claim of the law must be met, and if you just think a moment, when a man talks about your being saved without the expiation of sin by Jesus Christ upon the cross, remember that Jesus prayed: "If it be possible, i.e., if there be any other way under heaven among men whereby man can be saved, apart from vicarious and substitutionary death in his behalf, then let this cup pass from me." And the cup was not allowed to pass.

Let us suppose that some one takes the position: "I believe in God; I believe in his love and in his mercy, but I reject this idea of Jesus Christ as a Saviour, and whenever I come to stand before the judgment bar of God my petition will be: ’Lord have mercy on me and save me.’ " The answer will be: "If it had been possible for man to have been saved in that way, then the petition of Jesus would have been answered." The omniscience of God could see no other way; the omnipotence of God could work out no other way; the omnipresence of God could get in touch with no other way; the holiness and justice of God could find no other way. And, therefore, Peter, who witnesses this, says, "There is no other name given among men whereby we can be saved, but by the name of Jesus," and the name of Jesus avails only as Jesus died in our behalf. "God made him to be sin, though he knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him." In the Old Testament we have his words, as given, not by these Gospel historians, but by prophetic historians, and one of his words is, "Save me from the sword," not the sword of man, but the sword of divine justice. And the reply that came to that petition was: "Awake, O sword, and smite the shepherd." Another one of his prayers, as given by the prophetic historian, is, "Lord, save me from the lion." The lion is the devil. He is the one who goeth about like a roaring lion. He was not saved from the lion. In other words, he was to be the live goat; the goat laden with the sins of the people; the goat that was to be sent into the wilderness to meet Azazel; he was "set alive before Jehovah to make atonement for him, to send him away to Azazel into the wilderness." So Jesus must meet the prince of evil and there fight out the battle in which Jesus would be bruised in the heel and Satan would be crushed in the head, and in which Jesus’ body would die, but his soul would be triumphant and Satan be cast out.

The devil knew that Christ was near the cross; he knew that if Christ got to the cross and died on the cross, what would be the effect of that death. And what he was trying to effect here (for this was a real temptation of Jesus), was not to bring about the physical death of Jesus, as that young preacher taught, but it was to get Jesus to so shrink back from this suffering that he would not undertake it. That was his point. And Jesus felt all of the agony, so deeply felt it that he prayed, "If it be possible, let this cup pass from me." But he said, "Not my will, but thine be done." It was the will of God that the sufferer for sinners must die for sinners.

It is noticeable in all cases of this kind, that the great internal fight is made before we get to the actual reality. I never undertook a great enterprise that I did not first pass through all of the agony before I started out. I had my battle then, and after I had fought the battle out, I never fought it the second time. And when Jesus fights it out here in Gethsemane, he is as serene and equable from this time on as he ever was in his earlier life, when this dark shadow was yet a long way off. Notice that while the Father does not remove the curse, and could not remove it and save man, that he does send an angel to strengthen Jesus – to hold up his fainting head.

I ask the reader to notice in the next place that these prayers of Jesus were threefold. He prayed, and the hardest of the fight was in the first prayer; he prayed again, a prayer which was not such a terrible prayer as the first one; he prayed the third time, and in the last prayer peace came to him. He had asked these men to watch, and they slept; he had asked them to pray, not for him, but lest they enter into temptation when they saw their Captain taken, and their hopes, as they understood them, blasted, but they slept. And how pathetic were his words to Peter: "Simon, could not you have watched with me one hour? You have been up a good deal and it is now midnight; the flesh is weak, but your Lord is going through a death agony. Could you not hold out just one more hour?" What a great text! He felt the need of human sympathy. But he was alone in Gethsemane, as we will see him later alone on the cross.

I ask the reader to notice also three prayers of Jesus: First, the prayer that he taught his disciples to pray, commencing, "Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed by thy name." Next, the prayer that we discussed in our last chapter, in which he prayed for the disciples. And now this prayer in which he prays for himself. From these prayers we learn what he prayed for, and how he prayed for himself.

I also note in this connection, the three gardens: The garden of Eden, in which the first Adam was tempted and fell; the garden of Gethsemane, in which the Second Adam resisted all of the wiles of the devil, the weakness of the flesh, and the mental despondency that comes from the contemplation of the felon’s death, and, finally, the garden of Paradise, in the last chapter of the Bible – that as Adam in the first garden of Paradise turned it into a desert of sin, Jesus in Gethsemane turned the desert into a garden of flowers; that by the preparation here for that which must be accomplished for man’s redemption, viz., to die on the cross, he made possible our entrance into the garden of Paradise. The last chapter in the Bible says, "Blessed are they that wash their robes, that they may have the right to come to the tree of life, and may enter in by the gates into the city."

Please notice again in what the essence of prayer consists: "Not my will, but thine be done." As it is expressed later: "If we ask anything according to his will," and John got the thought right here, when witnessing that agony; so he afterward wrote, "If ye ask anything according to the will of God, he heareth us." This shows the limit there is upon prayer. I could not pray that God would enable me to steal from a man, or kill a man. I could not rightfully pray for anything in order that I might consume it upon my lusts and passions. James says that is asking amiss; that is asking not according to the will of God. That is the limitation upon all prayer. And Jesus hedged upon that point, "Not my will, but thine be done."

I heard Major Penn one hundred times, standing up before great crowds of people, when he had invited hundreds not to come and take -the mourner’s bench, but to come up as inquirers to investigate; and he would stand up, and pointing his finger at them, say, "Now have you come to this point: the will of the Lord be done? Have you come to the point that you can say, I want that to be undergone because it is the will of God?’ Are you willing for the will of God to prevail in regard to your conversion, whoever should be the instrument? Or, do you say, I will be converted if a certain preacher should come; or, if it be at home; or, if God shall convert me some night when they shout; or, when they do not shout?’ Are you ready for the will of God to be done?"

The next point is – who were coming to capture him? A statement in John in the original Greek says, "These saw the band, and the chief captain." "The band," with the definite article is, in the Greek, "the cohort," which was that special cohort of Roman soldiers quartered in the tower of Antonio, which sat over the Temple; and the chief captain there, in the Greek, chiliarch (chiliarchos), means "chief of the thousand." The Roman legion usually, at this time, consisted of 6,000 men; there would be six chiliarchs, six men each over one thousand; and each chiliarch would have under him ten men, centurions, each over one hundred. The chiliarch was one who occupied an office similar to our colonel – commander of a regiment; and the legion answered somewhat to our brigade, or division, more to a division than to a brigade. When it says, "the chief captain," or chiliarch, was there, it means the most important Roman officer in the city – a man of great dignity and power – and while the legions were not always full, and therefore the band or number commanded by the chiliarch was not always full in number, yet it meant that hundreds of trained Roman soldiers had here come; the colonel of the regiment, and the captains of several companies. That shows that there was a strong realization, that even in the night people might wake up and that an attempt might be made to rescue him. For fear of that very thing the Sanhedrin would not arrest him in the day time. The chiliarch and the cohort came not to arrest, but merely to prevent a tumult of the people when the Temple officers arrested Jesus. It is quite important to note not only the presence of the cohort and the reasons therefore negatively and positively, and the fact that they did not arrest Jesus, nor carry him to Pilate, nor to anybody else, but were present to prevent possible disorder. Then the text also says that the officers of the Sanhedrin, and the partially armed rabbis that attended them, and their followers carrying staves, were there. The soldiers, of course, had their swords. The short sword of the Roman soldier was a very deadly weapon. So that at least, counting the representatives of the Sanhedrin and the rabbis, and that disciplined band of Roman soldiers, who could not have been sent without the consent of Pilate, at night were all apparently coming to arrest a man that never carried a weapon in his life; coming to arrest a man whose constant followers were twelve, or eleven in this case, unarmed men; coming by night to arrest a man who had taught every day openly in their Temple and in their city. Hence his question: "Do you bring out this army here as if you are going to capture a robber or a thief? Why do you come by night when you could have found me any time by day in the very heart of the city?"

And notice the traitor: Though it was full moon, this man brought lanterns and torches. They wanted to identify the Person, and while the lanterns were shining and their torches throwing out a lurid glare, Jesus says, "Whom do you seek?" And as he stepped out and said, "Whom do you seek?" they fell, just as if they were shot. That was a supernatural event. It showed how easily he could have blotted the whole band out of existence. And when they got up he repeated his question, "Whom do you seek?" They answered him, "Jesus of Nazareth." Jesus answers them, "I am he: you have not said you have come seeking these followers of mine. Let them go; do not arrest them."

QUESTIONS
1. Who are the historians of the Gethsemane scene and why, in all probability, was it omitted by John?

2. What is the meaning of the word "Gethsemane," what is the meaning of the word "place" as used by Matthew in his account and how is Gethsemane described as to location, its contents, etc.?

3. What was the access to this garden and what made it easy for Judas to find our Lord here on the night of his betrayal?

4. Upon entering this garden on the night of his betrayal how did our Lord station the disciples, what command did he give them; why watch and why pray?

5. What hour of the night, who were with him and on what occasions were they admitted to special privileges with Jesus?

6. What does the expression, "My soul is exceeding sorrowful, etc.," teach, what heresy mentioned, was Jesus dichotomous or trichotomous, what proof, what was the nature of the agony which Christ suffered, and what is the reaction of the inner man on the outer man? Illustrate.

7. What was the young preacher’s theory as to the sorrow of Christ in. Gethsemane, what was the real cause of the sorrow, how does the case of Major Andre illustrate this? what was the nature of Christ’s death and how does Paul express this Gethsemane suffering?

8. What is the meaning of Christ’s prayer in Gethsemane and of what is it a proof?

9. What is the judgment test of this idea of our salvation, what is the answer from the standpoint of God’s omniscience, omnipotence, omnipresence, holiness, and justice? What was Peter’s testimony? Paul’s? the prophetic historian’s? What Old Testament type of this vicarious work of our Lord?

10. What was the devil’s real temptation of our Lord in Gethsemane"

11. What notable fact about this Gethsemane conflict of our Lord?

12. What relief did the Father send to our Lord in this very intense agony?

13. How is Christ’s need of human sympathy revealed in this scene, what three prayers of Jesus cited and what do they teach?

14. What 3 gardens are mentioned here, what were the points of correspondence and what was the condition of entrance into the garden of Paradise?

15. In what does the essence of prayer consist, what was John’s testimony on this point, what does this show, what was James’s testimony, and what practical illustration of the application of this principle given?

16. Who arrested Jesus, why this great band of Roman soldiers, and in what consists the ridiculousness of their course?

17. Why did Judas carry lanterns and torches, what supernatural event happened at this arrest, what does it show and what request did he make for his disciples?

Verses 11-14

XXIX

EXHORTATIONS AND SPECIAL PASSAGES

All New Testament exhortation is based on antecedent statement of doctrine. In Hebrews the whole letter is a succession of doctrines and exhortations – first a doctrine, then its application. In some respects, then, is it a model in homiletics.

1. It shows the relation between dogma and morals. There can be no morals apart from dogma. To leave out dogma undermines morality.

2. Dogma, as a mere theory, is valueless. Its power lies in its application to practical life, governing thought, emotion, imagination, words, and deeds in all of life’s relations to God home, country, and the universe.

The present-day ministry has deteriorated in the power of exhortation based on vivid conceptions of great and definitive doctrines concerning God, law, sin, salvation, heaven, and hell.

The first exhortation in this letter is an exhortation to earnest attention: "Therefore, we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things that were heard, lest haply we drift away from them. For if the word spoken through angels proved stedfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompense of reward, how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation, which having at the first been spoken through the Lord, was confirmed unto us by them that heard?" (Hebrews 2:1-3). The doctrinal basis of this exhortation is all chapter I, setting forth our Lord’s threefold sonship, by eternal subsistence, by his incarnation, by his resurrection, and his threefold superiority over the universe, over the angels, and over the prophets. The precise tendency against which this exhortation warns is to "drift away" from great truths. Any steady lateral pressure which insidiously swerves a floating object from a given direction, and causes drifting, as a prevalent wind, an ocean current or undertow, rapids in a river leading to a fall, or the suction of a whirlpool. Inherited depravity, the course of this world, the temptations of Satan, the increasing power of evil habits until they become second nature – in a word, the world, the flesh, and the devil constitute the drifting power, or trend away from salvation. The danger of neglecting this exhortation is that we are carried away unwittingly until there is no escape forever. The great majority of life’s irreparable disasters are brought about by "drifting away" through "heedlessness" and "neglect."

The element of the greatness in this salvation is deliverance of the entire man, soul and body, forever, from the guilt, defilement, love, and dominion of sin, into an eternal and most blessed state of reconciliation and companionship with God. The historical argument against any hope of escape if this salvation be neglected is that from Sinai to Christ’s advent every word of the law disposed by angels proved steadfast, and every transgression was justly punished. The historical instances of this penalty of the law and of the prophets are numerous. The applied logic of this history is as follows:

By so much as Christ is greater than angels or prophets; by so much as his revelation is more complete and the light of his gospel brighter; by so much as it is better accredited; by so much as it is final where theirs was transitional and educational – by that much is its penalty surer and severer. The second exhortation (Hebrews 3:8) is against "hardening the heart." There is a relation between "drifting" and "hardening:" "Drifting" precedes and tends toward "hardening," which is a more dangerous state. By "hardening" is meant a blunting of the moral perceptions, a growing callousness to spiritual sensations, tending to the condition of “past feel- ing." According to the context "an evil heart of unbelief" operating through the "deceitfulness of sin" causes hardening. This deceitfulness consists in misconstruing the grace of delay in punishment as immunity altogether, as saith the prophet: "Because sentence against an evil deed is not speedily executed, the heart of the sinner is fully set in him to do evil."

The third exhortation is found in Hebrews 4:11 thus: "Let us labor therefore to enter into the rest." The doctrinal basis of this exhortation is that as God rested from creation, commemorating it by a sabbath day, so Jesus rested after the greater work of redemption, commemorating it by appointing a new day for sabbath-keeping.

The fourth exhortation (Hebrews 4:14) is this: "To hold fast to our confession." The doctrinal basis is the fact that Jesus, our High Priest, has entered into the heavenly holy of holies to make atonement and intercession for us.

The fifth exhortation (Hebrews 4:16) is to come boldly to the throne of grace for mercy and help in every time of need. The doctrinal basis of this exhortation is the fact that our High Priest is touched with a feeling of our infirmities, having been in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.

The occasion for the sixth exhortation is that they were in a state of arrested development, remaining "babes in Christ" when they ought to have been teachers, and so not only unprepared to receive the higher grades of Christian knowledge, but they were unable to discern between good and evil because their spiritual senses had not been exercised; hence they were continually tempted to try to rub out and make a new start from the very beginning (see Hebrews 5:11-14). This reminds us of the three classes into which our Lord divided his flock: (1) Lambs, Greek: arnia, i.e., new converts; (2) Sheep, Greek probata i.e., mature Christians; (3) Little sheep, Greek (best manuscript): "probatia," i.e., Christians stunted in growth (see John 21:15-19). These Hebrews were "little sheep."

The phrase "by reason of use" is illustrated by the senses or faculties, or muscles which increase in power by use, or go into bankruptcy by disuse. Certain Chinese families, training the sense of touch for generations, can tell colors of cloth fabrics in the dark by feeling. It is said also that certain Japanese dentists, by long training of the muscles of thumb and forefinger, extract teeth, using the hand alone as forceps. Again, the prophet, referring to the second nature of long continued evil habits, says "As the Ethiopian cannot change his skin nor a leopard his spots so one accustomed to do evil cannot learn to do well."

This sixth exhortation is to leave the first principles, not attempting the relaying of foundations, but go on to maturity, (Hebrews 6:1). The first principles of Christian oracles are the foundation of repentance and faith, the teaching of baptisms, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead and eternal judgment (Hebrews 6:2).

Repentance and faith are called a foundation because without them one can neither be a Christian nor be saved. Therefore the folly of attempting to relay this foundation, since it is never laid but once, which Paul hypothetically states thus: "For as touching those who were once enlightened and tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Spirit, and tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the age to come, and then fell away, it is impossible to renew them again unto repentance" (Hebrews 6:4-6).

This passage has several interpretations as follows:

1. John Bunyan held that the "enlightening," "tasting," and "partaking" of this passage refer to illumination and conviction by the Holy Spirit which did not eventuate in regeneration. This view the author rejects because the passage also supposes genuine repentance as well as "illumination" and "conviction," else why say it is impossible to renew them again unto repentance? Moreover, he disconnects the force of "being made partakers of the Holy Spirit" and "tasting of the powers of the world to come."

2. Dr. Wilkes, a Methodist preacher, as the author heard him say, held that the passage certainly taught two things: (1) A genuine Christian may lose regeneration; and (2) if he does he can never be converted again.

3. The author holds that "the enlightening," "tasting," and "partaking" are equivalent to regeneration, and that the passage does teach that if regeneration were once lost it could never be regained, because, having exhausted the benefits of Christ’s crucifixion in the direction of regeneration, another regeneration would call for another crucifixion, but Christ, as a sin offering, dies but once; he is offered once for all. So the passage teaches "’Seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh and put him to an open shame." It would be an open shame to Christ if a beneficiary of his salvation should lose it and thus vitiate the certainty of the Father’s promise to him and covenant with him. But that the statement is hypothetic appears from the apostle’s added words: "But, beloved, we are persuaded better things of you, and things that accompany salvation, though we thus speak"; "But we are not of them that shrink back unto perdition; but of them that have faith unto the saving of the soul." The object of the exhortation is so to influence the Christian to move on and not spend a lifetime as the foundation, for in any event this is folly.

To illustrate: Being present, as a visitor, at a Methodist meeting, I was invited to talk to some of the mourners. I approached a man who seemed to be weeping in great distress, and asked what was his trouble. His reply was, substantially: "I have been converted several times, but I always lose it." I assured him he was mistaken on one or the other of two points – either he was never genuinely converted, or he had never lost it – both could not be true. He replied: "I know I was converted, and I know I lost it." Then said I: "Why are you wasting time here; why shedding fruitless tears? If you are right on both points, then you are forever lost. You have exhausted the plan of salvation. Your only chance is for Christ to come and die again and send the Holy Spirit again, of which there is no promise, and even in that case there is no certainty for you unless he and the Holy Spirit should do more efficient work next time. I don’t desire to shake your positive, infallible knowledge that you have been regenerated and that you have lost it, but merely point out that in such case you are forever lost, just as certainly as if you were in hell now. Here, look at Hebrews 6:4-6, and see that I can do you no good, and so will pass on to cases not hopeless." "Don’t leave me," he said, "maybe I am mistaken on one of those points."

"Baptism" here is in the plural and there is a reference here, (1) To baptism in water (Matthew 28:19); (2) to baptism in fire, or eternal punishment (Matthew 3:10-12); (3) to baptism in the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:5); (4) to baptism in suffering (Mark 10:39).

"The teaching of laying on of hands" refers: (1) To conferring of miraculous power by the laying on of hands of the apostles (Acts 8:17; Acts 19:6), which, accrediting of the apostles passed away with the apostles; (2) to the abiding requirement of laying on of hands in the ordination (1) for deacons (Acts 6:6), (2) for evangelists (Acts 13:3; 1 Timothy 4:14); and (3) for other preachers (1 Timothy 5:22).

From a peculiar interpretation of Hebrews 6:1-2 there arose a sect known as the "Six-Principle Baptists" who practiced laying hands on those who were baptized as an essential part of the form of the ordinance.

QUESTIONS

1. What the New Testament method of exhortation?

2. In what respects, then, is it a model in homiletics?

3. Wherein has the present-day ministry deteriorated?

4. What is the first exhortation in this letter, and what is its doctrinal basis?

5. What is the precise tendency against which this exhortation warns?

6. What are the causes of drifting?

7. What, in plain terms, constitute the drifting power, or trend away from salvation?

8. What is the danger of neglecting this exhortation?

9. What is your estimate of the relative proportion of life’s irreparable disasters brought about by "drifting away" through "heedlessness" and "neglect"?

10. What the element of greatness in this salvation?

11. What is the historical argument against any hope of escape if we neglect this salvation?

12. Cite historical instances of this penalty (1) of the law and (2) of the prophets.

13. What is the applied logic of this history?

14. Against what is the exhortation in Hebrews 3:8?

15. What is the relation between "drifting" and "hardening?"

16. What do you understand by "hardening?"

17. What do we find in the context as a cause of "hardening?"

18. In what does deceitfulness consist?

19. What is the exhortation relative to rest, and what its doctrinal basis?

20. What is the exhortation relative to confession, and what its doctrinal basis?

21. What is the exhortation relative to our need, and what the doctrinal basis?

22. What is the occasion of the exhortation relative to perfection?

23. Into what three classes did our Lord divide his flock, and of which class were these Hebrews?

24. Ex-pound the phrase "by reason of use."

25. What, then, is the exhortation relative to perfection?

26. What are the first principles of Christian oracles?

27. Why are repentance and faith called a foundation?

28. What is the folly of trying to relay this foundation, and what the doctrine involved?

29. How does Paul hypothetically state this?

30. What are the several interpretations of this passage?

31. Give an incident of the use of this passage by the author.

32. What is the meaning of "baptisms" used in this passage?

33. What is the meaning of "laying on of hands?"

34. What sect of Baptists arose from a peculiar interpretation of Hebrews 6:1-2, and what their construction of "laying on of hands?"

XXX

EXHORTATIONS AND SPECIAL PASSAGES (CONTINUED)

The seventh exhortation in this book is as follows: "Let us draw near with a true heart in fulness of faith – let us hold fast the confession of our hope that it waver not – let us consider one another to provoke unto love and good works, not forsaking our own assembling together, exhorting one another" (Hebrews 10:22-25). The doctrines that underlie this manifold exhortation are, (1) Christ has rent the veil hiding the holy of holies by his death, and dedicated for us a new and living way. (2) We have a great High Priest over the house of God. (3) The day of his final coming is rapidly approaching (Hebrews 10:19-21).

Here a question arises, Does "having our bodies washed with pure water" (Hebrews 10:22) refer to water baptism, and if so, what the bearing of the teaching? It is not clear that it has such reference. But if it does, it strongly supports the Baptist teaching, to wit: Our souls are cleansed by the application of Christ’s blood by the Holy Spirit in regeneration. Baptism in water only washes the body, and hence can only externally symbolize the internal cleansing. In this way Paul, internally cleansed, could arise and wash away his sins symbolically in baptism (Acts 22:16), or as Peter puts it: "Water, even baptism, after a true likeness doth now save us, not putting away the filth of the flesh [i.e., the carnal nature] but the answer of a good conscience toward God, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ" (1 Peter 3:21). In other words, it is a figurative salvation, and the figure or likeness is that of a resurrection (see Romans 6:4-5). Paul’s reason for the seventh exhortation is expressed in the famous passage (Hebrews 10:26-29), the whole of which is an explanation of the eternal, unpardonable sin against the Holy Spirit, very different from the gradual, unconscious sins of "drifting" and "hardening." Its conditions and characteristics are:

1. There has been great spiritual light and knowledge, thoroughly convincing the judgment of the truth of the gospel, and strongly impressing the mind to accept it.

2. It is a distinct and wilful rejection of the well-known light and monition of the Holy Spirit.

3. It is a culmination of sin against every person of the Trinity. (1) It is a sin against the Father in deliberately trampling under foot the Son of his love. (2) It is a sin against the Son in counting the blood of his expiation an unholy thing. (3) It is the sin against the Holy Spirit in doing despite to his grace who has furnished complete proof to the rejector’s conscience that it is God’s Son who is trampled under foot, and that the blood of his vicarious sacrifice alone can save.

4. Once committed, the soul is there and then forever lost, having never forgiveness in time or eternity, and knows that for him there is no more sacrifice for sin, and expects nothing but judgment and fiery wrath which shall devour the adversaries.

5. Let the reader particularly note that this sin cannot be committed except in an atmosphere, not merely of light and knowledge, but of spiritual light, knowledge and power, and that it is one wilful, malicious act arising from hate – hating the more because of the abundance and power of the light. The eighth exhortation is, "Cast not away your boldness" (Hebrews 10:35). The exhortation is based on appeal to their remembrance of the triumphs of their past experience. They had patiently endured a great conflict of suffering just after their conversion; they had been made a gazing stock both by reproaches and afflictions cast on them and by their sharing in the afflictions of their leaders. This is evident from the history of Paul’s labors among men. There was nothing in their present afflictions severer than those they triumphantly endured in their earlier experience.

The ninth exhortation is, "Therefore, let us also, seeing that we are compassed about by so great a cloud of witnesses, lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising shame, and hath sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider him that hath endured such gainsaying of sinners against himself, that ye wax not weary, fainting in your souls" (Hebrews 12:1-3). The imagery here is that of a foot race, such as these people had often witnessed in the Isthmian Games at Corinth, or in the great amphitheater at Ephesus. "The race set before us" – the great example upon whom the runner must fix his eye – is Jesus, the author (or captain) and perfecter of our faith.

The force of the example of Jesus in Hebrews 12:2 is this:

He is set before us as the one perfect model or standard. A joy was set before him as a recompense of reward that when attained would make him the gladdest man in the universe. For this he voluntarily became the saddest man in the universe. Thus "the Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief" was "anointed with the oil of gladness above his fellows;" "He saw of the travail of his soul and was satisfied." Here we are confronted with this double question: Does the phrase, "author and perfecter of our faith," mean that Jesus first inspires and then completes our individual faith – i.e., what he begins he consummates – or that he is the captain and completer of the faith in the sense that his completed victory is both cause and earnest of our own victory, as in Hebrews 2:10? The latter best accords with the import of the Greek word, archegos, used both here and in Hebrews 2:10, and with the whole context.

The word "witnesses" in Hebrews 12:1 means martyrs whose examples should excite our emulation, and accords with the meaning and usage of the Greek word marturos, which makes them witnesses to the truth and not spectators of what other people may do. Moreover, the biblical evidence is scant, if there be any at all, that departed souls are allowed to sympathetically intervene in the struggle of those left behind. Yet, by rhetorical license, in the exercise of the imagination, a poet, orator or writer may summon the dead to appear before the living for dramatic effect. But we go far when we seek to construct doctrine on rhetorical license. What is the "besetting sin" in Hebrews 12:1? It may not be the same in all cases. It is the sin to which one most easily yields whether pride, lust, covetousness, anger, vanity, or any other.

The tenth exhortation (Hebrews 12:4-13,) is, "Regard not lightly the chastening of the Lord, because (1) chastening is an evidence of sonship. (2) If we have borne arbitrary chastening from earthly parents, much more we will bear disciplinary chastening from our Heavenly Father. (3) While grievous at first, it yieldeth afterward peaceable fruit or righteousness, if rightly received.

Here come up the Creationist theory of the origin of human spirits and the Traducian theory. The Creationist theory is that the spirit of every human being born into the world is a direct creation of God, and only the body is derived from the earthly parent. The Traducian theory is that every child, in his entirety, spirit and body, is derived from his earthly parents, begotten in the likeness not only of bodily features but in spiritual state, otherwise man could not propogate his species, and every child would, in his inner nature, be born holy, not subject to inherited depravity and not needing regeneration until he became an actual transgressor hence needing only proper environment and training to grow up in holiness.

The passage in question is not decisive for either theory. God is the Father of spirits in that originally the spirit of man was not a formation from inert matter, but a special creation (see Genesis 2:7). Thus the whole race, body and spirit, was potentially in the first man, died body and spirit in him when he fell, and after his fall he "begat children in his likeness" body and spirit.

In Hebrews 12:12-13, "hands hanging down," "palsied knees," and "crooked paths" refer to the physical effects of spiritual depression or terror, the inner man acting on the outer. See case of Belshazzar (Daniel 5:6), and recall cases coming under your own observation in which discouragements or despondency of the spirit enfeeble the body. Some men, morally brave, are physically timid. A famous French marshal always trembled at the beginning of battle. On one occasion his officers rallied him on his shaking legs. He answered, "If my legs only knew into what dangers I will take them today, they would shake more than they do."

The eleventh exhortation (Hebrews 12:14 ff) is, "Follow after peace with all men, and the sanctification without which no man shall see the Lord." There are two hazards attending obedience to this exhortation, against which there are special cautions, as follows: (1) The springing up of a root of bitterness to defile many. (2) The spirit of profanity, or the despising of sacred things.

In our own experience or observation, cases arise of a single root of bitterness disturbing the peace of communities and retarding the sanctification of hundreds.

Profanity here means, not so much swearing as it does a spirit of irreverence in speaking of sacred things, and, sometimes interested lost souls are completely sidetracked by the levity and foolish jestings, and the questionable anecdotes of preachers in their hours of relaxation.

The author having often, in his early ministry, witnessed the wounding and shocking of sober-minded Christians and the loss of interest in awakened sinners caused by the foolish jestings in the preacher’s tent concerning sacred things, and sometimes by obscene anecdotes, entered into a solemn covenant with Dr. Riddle, the moderator of the Waco Association, never to tell nor willingly hear a doubtful anecdote. This covenant was made while camping out one night on the prairie in the light of the stars.

The twelfth exhortation and its doctrinal basis are found in Hebrews 12:28-29: "Wherefore, receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us have grace, whereby we may offer service well-pleasing to God with reverence and awe: for our God is a consuming fire.

I will group in classes the exhortation of Hebrews 13 as follows:

1. Love to brethren, strangers, and those in bonds.

2. Honor the sanctity of marriage.

3. Eschew the covetous spirit.

4. Hold in kind remembrance your leaders that have passed away.

5. Bear the reproach of Christ, even if it ostracises from worldly society.

6. Offer spiritual sacrifices of praise, confession, contribution, and prayer.

In closing this exposition there are two things worthy of note: First, The bearing of Hebrews 13:8 on the preceding verse, which means that preachers may come and go, but Jesus is ever the same. Second, The controversy arose over Hebrews 13:10, a controversy as to what is the Christian altar. Was it the cross on which Jesus was crucified? Then how can the altar be greater than the gift on the altar, as Christ taught? Was it Christ’s divinity on which his humanity was sacrificed? This controversy was a refinement of foolishness, because the altar under consideration is not supporting the expiating sin offering of which the priests were never allowed to have a part, but the altar to which non-expiatory offerings were brought, such as meat offerings, thank offerings, tithes etc. Of these the priests and Levites might partake. The meaning is simply this – that Christianity provides in its way for the support of its laborers through the voluntary offerings to Christ’s cause (see 1 Corinthians 9:13-14).

QUESTIONS

1. What is the exhortation in this book relative to faith, hope, and love?

2. What doctrines underlie this manifold exhortation?

3. Does "having our bodies washed with pure water" (Hebrews 10:22) refer to water baptism, and if so, what the bearing of the teaching?

4. How do you interpret Paul’s reason for this exhortation as expressed in Hebrews 10:26-29, which refers to the eternal sin?

5. What is the exhortation relative to boldness, and on what is it predicated?

6. What is the exhortation relative to weights, sins, etc., what its imagery, and what its elements?

7. What is the force of the example of Jesus in Hebrews 12:2?

8. What does the phrase "author and perfector of our faith" mean?

9. What is the meaning and import of "witnesses" in Hebrews 12:1?

10. What is the "besetting sin" in Hebrews 12:1?

11. What is the exhortation relative to chastening, and what its reasons?

12. What are the theories relative to the origin of human spirits, and what the bearing of this passage on the subject?

13. What is the meaning and force of "hand hanging down," "palsied knees," and "crooked paths?"

14. What is the exhortation relative to peace and sanctification?

15. What two hazards attending obedience to this exhortation?

16. Do you know of a case of a single "root of bitterness" disturbing communities and hindering sanctification?

17. What is the meaning of profanity here, and what illustration of the effect of such profanity given?

18. In what did Esau’s profanity consist?

19. What is the meaning of Hebrews 12:17? So, What the exhortation relative to grace, and what its doctrinal basis?

21. Group in classes the exhortations of Hebrews 13.

22. What is the bearing of Hebrews 13:8 on the preceding verse?

23. What controversy arose over Hebrews 13:10?

24. Why was this controversy a refinement of foolishness?