A believing heart
Read: Hebrews 2:10-3:19 (i.e. incl. the end of ch 2)
Context: Since God’s revelation in Jesus surpasses the revelation given to Moses by angelic mediators (Heb 1 + 2), we must hold up Jesus and not confuse him with or return to Moses for help with sanctification and salvation. Chapter 3 continues that therefore the readers should “consider Jesus” (KJV) and “fix their thoughts on Jesus” (NIV). This exhortation is addressed to “holy brothers” rather than people who do not yet believe in Jesus, indicating that this chapter teaches his followers how to remain believers.
1) According to ch2, how did they become “holy brothers”?
- v17: What made them “brothers”? cf v11
- Hint: Who ‘fathered’ them as believers?
- Who makes them holy? vv10-11; cf Jn 17:19; Col 1:21-22
- Two entire chapters only spoke about what God has done. Has the author stated what you should do to become holy? What has been the only imperative so far and why? Heb 2:1
2) v1: As holy brothers, they share a “heavenly calling”: Why heavenly? cf Gen 22:18-19 [“from heaven”; not merely man-made, cf Jn 1:13]
- Does v1 mean a general calling in the sense of ‘many are called, but few are chosen, Mt 22:14? Or is it about God’s ‘effectual’ calling?
- Optional (to dig deeper): Called to what?
- Gal 1:1 called into the grace of Christ;
- Gal 5:13 called into liberty;
- Col 3:15 called into the peace of God in one body (church);
- 1Thes 2:12 called into his kingdom and glory;
- 1Pet 2:9 called out of darkness into his marvelous light;
- 1Pet 5:10 called into his eternal glory by Christ Jesus,
- 2Pet 1:3 called to glory and virtue (it would not be glorious without virtue)
3) Why is the church (gr. ecclesia) asked to “consider Jesus”: Why they? Are they not the ones already doing this?
- Read Heb 5:11 How were the recipients of this letter tempted? What undermined their faith in Jesus? cf Gal 3:3
- vv3-6: What were they at risk to get wrong about Jesus (and about Moses)?
- What did Jesus and Moses have in common, and how do their offices differ ‘in the house of God’?
- Heb 2:17 and 3:1 call Jesus ‘the apostle and high priest’. Why? [gr. aposolos, apostle (lit. messenger): Mediator on behalf of God]
4) Can you know whether you belong to that “house of God”? How?
- v6: What is required to be counted as a son and ‘holy’ brother of Jesus?
- What does it mean to “…hold on to that same confidence (gr. parrhesia) and hope of which we boast”? cf Col 1:21-23 [NIV translates as “courage”, while in v14 it is “confidence”; literally: out-spokenness, frankness, bluntness, publicity; by implication, assurance, confidence (Strong’s lexicon)].
- How can one obtain such comfort? cf Heb 10:19 (where. parrhesia is translated as “boldness”)
5) v7: “Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says…: What is the therefore there for?
- vv7-11 quote Ps 95:7-11. Do not harden your heart… (like your fathers in the wilderness)”: What did those fathers actually do that they were barred from entering the promised land, v19? [Num 20:1-13; Ex 17:1-7 (Meriba)]
- v19: How does that story illustrate what it actually means to “harden the heart”? How did a hardening of hearts manifest among the recipients of Hebrews?
- If God commands believers (v1!) to not harden their hearts, what will be the result? Do you expect this command to accomplish its purpose in you? Is God using it to soften your heart? Or is v7 an 11th commandment to pay more attention to the 10 commandments of Moses?
6) v16: How many of the Israelites were not hardened in the wilderness? =>
- If none could enter, not even Moses himself, what does that say about how much (or how little) good Moses and the law could accomplish to prevent such unbelief?
- v13: How were they “hardened by sin’s deceitfulness”? cf 2Cor 11:3
- v15: Did they fall from faith because of immorality? Or did they become immoral and rebel because they lacked faith? v19
- What is the warning of ch 3: That we must try harder than those Israelites? Why not? What else is needed? [A better leader than Moses on an entirely new way]
7) Personal and application
- Do you regard yourself as someone with a ‘heavenly calling’? Why or why not?
- Do you find this calling to be a burden, or rather a liberation how to live?
- How does your sense of calling impact your goals and how you pursue them?
- How can you encourage each other (daily) to continue by faith and to “hold firmly till the end the confidence (parrhesia) we had at first”, v14?
Bibletogetherblog 