how will we escape if we neglect so great a salvation—which at the first having been spoken through the Lord, was confirmed to us by those who heard,
Parallel Translations
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how will we escape if we neglect so great a salvation—which at the first having been spoken through the Lord, was confirmed to us by those who heard,
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how shall we escape yf we despyse so great saluacion which at ye fyrst began to be preached of the lorde him silfe and afterwarde was confermed vnto vs warde by the ye hearde it
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How shall we escape, if we neglect so great saluation, which at the first began to be preached by the Lord, and afterward was confirmed vnto vs by them that heard him,
Cross-references (33)
Passages linked to Hebrews 2:3 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Hebrews 10:28-29 A man who disregards Moses’ law dies without compassion on the word of two or three witnesses. How much worse punishment do you think he will be judged worthy of who has trodden under foot the Son of God, and has counted the blood of the covenant with which he was sanctified an unholy thing, and has insulted the Spirit of grace?
- Hebrews 12:25 See that you don’t refuse him who speaks. For if they didn’t escape when they refused him who warned on the earth, how much more will we not escape who turn away from him who warns from heaven,
- Hebrews 5:9 Having been made perfect, he became to all of those who obey him the author of eternal salvation,
- Acts 4:12 There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven that is given among men, by which we must be saved!”
- Ezekiel 17:15 But he rebelled against him in sending his ambassadors into Egypt, that they might give him horses and many people. Will he prosper? Will he who does such things escape? Will he break the covenant, and still escape?
- Romans 2:3 Do you think this, O man who judges those who practice such things, and do the same, that you will escape the judgment of God?
- 1 Peter 4:17-18 For the time has come for judgment to begin with the household of God. If it begins first with us, what will happen to those who don’t obey the Good News of God? “If it is hard for the righteous to be saved, what will happen to the ungodly and the sinner?”
- Isaiah 12:2 Behold, God is my salvation. I will trust, and will not be afraid; for Yah, Yahweh, is my strength and song; and he has become my salvation.”
- Matthew 23:33 You serpents, you offspring of vipers, how will you escape the judgment of Gehenna?
- Luke 1:2 even as those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and servants of the word delivered them to us,
- John 3:16-18 For God so loved the world, that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God didn’t send his Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world should be saved through him. He who believes in him is not judged. He who doesn’t believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the one and only Son of God.
- Hebrews 1:2 has at the end of these days spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, through whom also he made the worlds.
- Hebrews 4:11 Let’s therefore give diligence to enter into that rest, lest anyone fall after the same example of disobedience.
- Revelation 6:16-17 They told the mountains and the rocks, “Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him who sits on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb, for the great day of his wrath has come; and who is able to stand?”
- Revelation 7:10 They cried with a loud voice, saying, “Salvation be to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!”
- Isaiah 51:5 My righteousness is near. My salvation has gone out, and my arms will judge the peoples. The islands will wait for me, and they will trust my arm.
- Isaiah 62:11 Behold, Yahweh has proclaimed to the end of the earth, “Say to the daughter of Zion, ‘Behold, your salvation comes! Behold, his reward is with him, and his recompense before him!’ ”
- Mark 16:15-20 He said to them, “Go into all the world, and preach the Good News to the whole creation. He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who disbelieves will be condemned. These signs will accompany those who believe: in my name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new languages; they will take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it will in no way hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.” So then the Lord, after he had spoken to them, was received up into heaven, and sat down at the right hand of God. They went out, and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word by the signs that followed. Amen.
- 1 Timothy 1:15 The saying is faithful and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief.
- Hebrews 7:25-26 Therefore he is also able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, seeing that he lives forever to make intercession for them. For such a high priest was fitting for us: holy, guiltless, undefiled, separated from sinners, and made higher than the heavens;
- Mark 1:14 Now after John was taken into custody, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the Good News of God’s Kingdom,
- Luke 24:47-48 and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name to all the nations, beginning at Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things.
- John 15:27 You will also testify, because you have been with me from the beginning.
- Acts 1:22 beginning from the baptism of John, to the day that he was received up from us, of these one must become a witness with us of his resurrection.”
- Titus 2:11 For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men,
- Hebrews 4:1 Let’s fear therefore, lest perhaps anyone of you should seem to have come short of a promise of entering into his rest.
- Isaiah 51:8 For the moth will eat them up like a garment, and the worm will eat them like wool; but my righteousness will be forever, and my salvation to all generations.”
- Ezekiel 17:18 For he has despised the oath by breaking the covenant; and behold, he had given his hand, and yet has done all these things. He won’t escape.
- Matthew 4:17 From that time, Jesus began to preach, and to say, “Repent! For the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand.”
- Acts 10:40-42 God raised him up the third day, and gave him to be revealed, not to all the people, but to witnesses who were chosen before by God, to us, who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead. He commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that this is he who is appointed by God as the Judge of the living and the dead.
- Isaiah 20:6 The inhabitants of this coast land will say in that day, ‘Behold, this is our expectation, where we fled for help to be delivered from the king of Assyria. And we, how will we escape?’ ”
- Luke 24:19 He said to them, “What things?” They said to him, “The things concerning Jesus, the Nazarene, who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people;
- Acts 2:22 “Men of Israel, hear these words! Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved by God to you by mighty works and wonders and signs which God did by him among you, even as you yourselves know,
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (17 sources)
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain 3. If we neglect so great a salvation, etc.…
3. If we neglect so great a salvation, etc. Not only the rejection of the Gospel, but also its neglect, deserves the heaviest punishment, and that on account of the greatness of the grace which it offers; hence he says, so great a salvation. God would indeed leave his gifts valued by us according to their worth. Then the more precious they are, the baser is our ingratitude when we do not value them. In a word, in proportion to the greatness of Christ will be the severity of God’s vengeance on all the despisers of his Gospel.
And observe that the word salvation is transferred here metonymically to the doctrine of salvation; for as the Lord would not have men otherwise saved than by the Gospel, so when that is neglected the whole salvation of God is rejected; for it is God’s power unto salvation to those who believe. (Romans 1:16.) Hence he who seeks salvation in any other way, seeks to attain it by another power than that of God; which is an evidence of extreme madness. But this encomium is not only a commendation of the Gospel, but is also a wonderful support to our faith; for it is a testimony that the word is by no means unprofitable, but that a sure salvation is conveyed by it.
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Which at first began, etc. Here he sets the Son of God, the first herald of the Gospel, in opposition to angels, and also anticipates what was necessary to remove a doubt which might have crept into the minds of many; for they had not been taught by the mouth of Christ himself, whom the greatest part had never seen. If then they regarded only the man by whose ministry they had been led to the faith, they might have made less of what they had learnt from him; hence the Apostle reminded them, that the doctrine which had been delivered them by others, yet proceeded from Christ; for he says that those who had faithfully declared what had been committed to them by Christ, had been his disciples. He therefore uses the word, was confirmed, as though he had said, that it was not a random report, without any author, or from witnesses of doubtful credit, but a report which was confirmed by men of weight and authority.
Moreover, this passage indicates that this epistle was not written by Paul; for he did not usually speak so humbly of himself, as to confess that he was one of the Apostles’ disciples, nor did he thus speak from ambition, but because wicked men under a pretense of this kind attempted to detract from the authority of his doctrine. It then appears evident that it was not Paul who wrote that he had the Gospel by hearing and not by revelation.
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain By the Apostles.
By the Apostles.
If the breach and trangression of the word spoken by Angels was not suffered unpunished, much less shall it be lawful for us to neglect the Gospel which the Lord of Angels preached, and was confirmed by the voice of the Apostles, and with so many signs and wonders from heaven, and especially with so great and mighty working of the holy Ghost.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain 3 How shall we escape, if we neglect so…
3 How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him;
Ver. 3. If we neglect] He saith not, if we reject, renounce, persecute; but if we neglect, let slip, shift off, as the word παραιτησησθε is, Heb 12:25, and as those recusant guests did, Mat 22:1-14. Say we rather with Samuel, "Speak, Lord, for thy servant heareth." And with that Dutch divine, Veniat, veniat verbam Domini, et submitremus illi, sexcenta si nobis essent colla. Let the Lord utter his mind, and he shall have ready obedience, whatever come of it.
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So great salvation] The doctrine of the gospel, that "grace of God that bringeth salvation," Tit 2:11. I am fully persuaded (saith a late learned light of our Church, Dr Preston) that in these days of grace the Lord is much more quick and peremptory in rejecting men; the time is shorter, he will not wait so long as he was wont to do. The ground is, "How shall we escape if we neglect, &c.? which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed," &c. This is somewhat like St Luke’s preface to his Gospel, Luk 1:2. Hence some have thought that he also was the author of this Epistle.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain How shall we escape? This consequent answereth the antecedent…
How shall we escape? This consequent answereth the antecedent in Heb 2:2, but in one part of it, that which concerns the punishment of the transgressors of the law, thus: If the word by angels, much more the word by the Son; and if sins against that were punished, much more sins against this: the Spirit including the sanction of the gospel’s power in the judgment which it pronounceth upon its despisers, which it could not do if it were not established. The interrogative how, introducing the consequent, is vehemently negative; by no means, or there is no possibility of our escaping in the case proposed: compare the close of Isa 20:6. There is no avoiding the righteous punishment which the just God doth threaten gospel sinners with, such as is recorded in Mat 10:15; 11:22,24; 2Th 1:7-9; Heb 10:28,29; none can escape it, neither I nor you, if such transgressors; external offices, or church privileges, will not excuse any one from the just punishment and retribution of God.
If we neglect so great salvation; if being careless, so as to despise and make light of the gospel, or to reject it, Heb 8:9; Mat 22:5. Opposed this is to the sins of commission and omission about the law; any denial of receiving it, or of a progress into the necessary duties it requires, so to neglect them as to end in apostacy. For the gospel law of Christ revealing and promising salvation to believers, opposed here to the law given by angels, will make safe all spiritual good both for time and eternity to the sincere believers and obeyers of it. The gospel is called salvation metonymically, because the subject matter of it is salvation, Eph 1:13, and it hath a causal power and virtue to save, Act 13:26; Rom 1:16; opposed to the law, which was the ministration of death and condemnation, 2Co 3:7,9, being revealed by angels under carnal types and temporal promises, and, by reason of the veil on their hearts, became killing to them. The word by the Son is salvation, because a full and clear discovery to it. This salvation is transcendent, being not a terrene or temporary, but a heavenly, eternal salvation, delivering those who truly obey it from the worst of enemies, the sorest and most lasting punishment, and instating them in eternal happiness and blessedness in heaven. This was great for clearness of light, 2Co 4:4, and diffusive efficacy and success.
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Which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord; an aggravation of the neglect of this salvation from the Lord publishing it. It had its rise and beginning from the Fountain of all truth, and was first by voice and preaching made known to the Hebrews, and such Gentiles as came to hear the promulgation of it, Mat 4:17, at Christ’s solemn entering on his ministry, above three years before his death and resurrection. And it may refer higher; for as it was most clearly, plainly, sweetly, and eminently preached by himself, beyond what was taught by the prophets in the Old Testament, or John; yet he first preached it himself in the beginning to our apostate parents in Paradise, Gen 3:15, and he preached it in all the prophets publishing of it since: yet this priority may be in respect of the ministry which he ordained to follow him, and not of that which went before. It was so preached by the Lord himself, the Mediator, Lord of life and death, Head of angels and all principalities and powers, the great Prophet, swaying all things by the word of his power. The law was preached by angels, the gospel by God the Son himself, Heb 1:2; and so is preferred before the law, in respect of its ministration by the Head, not of its authority.
And was confirmed unto us by them that heard him; settled it was, made firm and authentical, by himself. The Trinity bear witness to it in heaven, confirm it on earth by miracles, signs, and wonders, and mighty deeds, by Christ, Joh 5:36, by his apostles, 2Co 12:12, and by the gifts of the Holy Ghost in great variety distributed to his apostles and publishers of this gospel, which made their ministration of it effectual, Act 2:1-3; compare 1Co 12:9-11; even to the apostles and Hebrews, and to all who believe, it is so confirmed. Nor is Paul less the writer of this Epistle for that he joins himself with them, since he did hear both the Lord and the apostles, and was confirming those of them with whom he had fellowship, and was confirmed by them, Act 9:17,19; Ga 2:9. Christ’s disciples and apostles heard this gospel from him, and did witness it by preaching, writing, and sealing it with their blood, Phi 1:12; 2Pe 1:16,17; which confirmation by their sufferings was instrumental, mediate, and subservient to the miracles and gifts of the Holy Ghost enjoyed of them and wrought by them.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain God also bearing them witness,.... The apostles of Christ;…
God also bearing them witness,.... The apostles of Christ; God testifying to their mission and commission, and the truth of the doctrine they preached:
both with signs and wonders, and with divers miracles; such as taking up serpents without hurt, healing the sick, causing the lame to walk, and raising the dead, and casting out devils, and the like; all which were for the confirmation of the Gospel preached by them: a sign, wonder, or miracle, for these signify the same thing, is a marvellous work done before men, by the power of God, to confirm a divine truth; God is the sole author of miracles; and they were done in the first ages of Christianity, when they were necessary, to give evidence of the truth of it, and to establish men in it; and these were various, as before observed: and gifts of the Holy Ghost; such as besides gifts of healing and working miracles, gifts of foretelling things to come, discerning of spirits, speaking with divers kinds of tongues, and the interpretation of tongues, Co1 12:8 according to his own will; either according to the will of God, who bore testimony by these miracles and gifts; or according to the will of the Holy Spirit, who distributed them to men severally as he pleased, Co1 12:11.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain So great a salvation - A deliverance from so…
So great a salvation - A deliverance from so great wickedness and misery, into so great holiness and happiness. This was first spoken of (before he came it was not known) by Him who is the Lord - of angels as well as men. And was confirmed to us - Of this age, even every article of it. By them that had heard him - And had been themselves also both eye-witnesses and ministers of the word.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 3. How shall we escape] If they who…
Verse 3. How shall we escape] If they who had fewer privileges than we have, to whom God spoke in divers manners by angels and prophets, fell under the displeasure of their Maker, and were often punished with a sore destruction; how shall we escape wrath to the uttermost if we neglect the salvation provided for us, and proclaimed to us by the Son of God? Their offence was high; ours, indescribably higher. The salvation mentioned here is the whole system of Christianity, with all the privileges it confers; properly called a salvation, because, by bringing such an abundance of heavenly light into the world, it saves or delivers men from the kingdom of darkness, ignorance, error, superstition, and idolatry; and provides all the requisite means to free them from the power, guilt, and contamination of sin. This salvation is great when compared with that granted to the Jews:
1. The Jewish dispensation was provided for the Jews alone; the Christian dispensation for all mankind.
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2. The Jewish dispensation was full of significant types and ceremonies; the Christian dispensation is the substance of all those types.
3. The Jewish dispensation referred chiefly to the body and outward state of man-washings and external cleansings of the flesh; the Christian, to the inward state-purifying the heart and soul, and purging the conscience from dead works.
4. The Jewish dispensation promised temporal happiness; the Christian, spiritual.
5. The Jewish dispensation belonged chiefly to time; the Christian, to eternity.
6. The Jewish dispensation had its glory; but that was nothing when compared to the exceeding glory of the Gospel.
7. Moses administered the former; Jesus Christ, the Creator, Governor, and Saviour of the world, the latter.
8. This is a great salvation, infinitely beyond the Jewish; but how great no tongue or pen can describe.
Those who neglect it, αμελησαντες, are not only they who oppose or persecute it, but they who pay no regard to it; who do not meddle with it, do not concern themselves about it, do not lay it to heart, and consequently do not get their hearts changed by it. Now these cannot escape the coming judgments of God; not merely because they oppose his will and commandment, but because they sin against the very cause and means of their deliverance. As there is but one remedy by which their diseased souls can be saved, so by refusing to apply that one remedy they must necessarily perish.
Which at the first began to be spoken] Though John the Baptist went before our Lord to prepare his way, yet he could not be properly said to preach the Gospel; and even Christ's preaching was only a beginning of the great proclamation: it was his own Spirit in the apostles and evangelists, the men who heard him preach, that opened the whole mystery of the kingdom of heaven. And all this testimony had been so confirmed in the land of Judea as to render it indubitable; and consequently there was no excuse for their unbelief, and no prospect of their escape if they should continue to neglect it.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain How shall we escape - How shall we escape…
How shall we escape - How shall we escape the just recompense due to transgressors? What way is there of being saved from punishment, if we suffer the great salvation to be neglected, and do not embrace its offers? The sense is, that there is no other way of salvation, and the neglect of this will be followed by certain destruction. why it will, the apostle proceeds to show, by stating that this plan of salvation was proclaimed first by the Lord himself, and had been confirmed by the most decided and amazing miracles.
If we neglect - It is not merely if we commit great sins. Not, if we are murderers, adulterers, thieves, infidels, atheists, scoffers. It is, if we merely “neglect” this salvation - if we do not embrace it - if we suffer it to pass unimproved. “Neglect” is enough to ruin a man. A man who is in business need not commit forgery or robbery to ruin himself; he has only to “neglect” his business, and his ruin is certain. A man who is lying on a bed of sickness, need not cut his throat to destroy himself; he has only to “neglect” the means of restoration, and he will be ruined. A man floating in a skiff above Niagara, need not move an oar or make an effort to destroy himself; he has only to “neglect” using the oar at the proper time, and he will certainly be carried over the cataract. Most of the calamities of life are caused by simple “neglect.” By neglect of education children grow up in ignorance; by neglect a farm grows up to weeds and briars; by neglect a house goes to decay; by neglect of sowing, a man will have no harvest; by neglect of reaping, the harvest would rot in the fields. No worldly interest can prosper where there is neglect; and why may it not be so in religion? There is nothing in earthly affairs that is valuable that will not be ruined if it is not attended to - and why may it not be so with the concerns of the soul? Let no one infer, therefore, that because he is not a drunkard, or an adulterer, or a murderer, that, therefore, he will be saved. Such an inference would be as irrational as it would be for a man to infer that because he is not a murderer his farm will produce a harvest, or that because he is not an adulterer therefore his merchandise will take care of itself. Salvation would be worth nothing if it cost no effort - and there will be no salvation where no effort is put forth.
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So great salvation - . Salvation from sin and from hell. It is called “great” because:
(1) Its author is great. This is perhaps the main idea in this passage. It “began to be spoken by the Lord;” it had for its author the Son of God, who is so much superior to the angels; whom the angels were required to worship Heb 1:6; who is expressly called God Heb 1:8; who made all things, and who is eternal; Heb 1:10-12. A system of salvation promulgated by him “must” be of infinite importance, and have a claim to the attention of man.
(2) It is “great” because it saves from great sins. It is adapted to deliver from all sins, no matter how aggravated. No one is saved who feels that his sins are small, or that they are of no consequence. Each one sees his sins to be black and aggravated, and each one who enters heaven, will go there feeling and confessing that it is a great salvation which has brought such a sinner there. Besides, this salvation delivers from all sin - no matter how gross and aggravated. The adulterer, the murderer, the blasphemer, may come and be saved, and the salvation which redeems such sinners from eternal ruin is “great.”
(3) It is great because it saves from great dangers. The danger of an eternal hell besets the path of each one. All do not see it; and all will not believe it when told of it. But this danger hovers over the path of every mortal. The danger of an eternal hell! Salvation from everlasting burnings! Deliverance from unending ruin! Surely that salvation must be great which shall save from such a doom! If that salvation is neglected, that danger still hangs over each and every man. The gospel did not create that danger - it came to deliver from it. Whether the gospel be true or false, each man is by nature exposed to eternal death - just as each one is exposed to temporal death whether the doctrine of the immortality of the soul and of the resurrection be true or false. The gospel comes to provide a remedy for dangers and woes - it does not create them; it comes to deliver people from great dangers - not to plunge them into them. “Back of the gospel,” and before it was preached at all, people were in danger of everlasting punishment, and that system which came to proclaim deliverance from such a danger, is great.
(4) The salvation itself is great in heaven. It exalts people to infinite honors, and places on their heads an eternal crown. Heaven with all its glories is offered to us; and such a deliverance, and such an elevation to eternal honors, deserves to be called great. If that is neglected, there is no other salvation; and man must be inevitably destroyed.
(5) It is “great” because it was effected by infinite displays of power, and wisdom, and love. It was procured by the incarnation and humiliation of the Son of God. It was accomplished amidst great sufferings and self-denials. It was attended with great miracles. The tempest was stilled, and the deaf were made to hear, and the blind to see, and the dead were raised, and the sun was darkened, and the rocks were rent. The whole series of wonders connected with the incarnation and death of the Lord Jesus, was such as the world had not seen elsewhere, and such as was suited to hold the race in mute admiration and astonishment. If this be so, then religion is no trifle. It is not a matter of little importance whether we embrace it or not. It is the most momentous of all the concerns that pertain to man; and has a claim on his attention which nothing else can have. Yet the mass of people live in the “neglect” of it. It is not that they are professedly atheists, or deists, or that they are immoral or profane; it is not that they oppose it, and ridicule it, and despise it; it is that they simply “neglect” it. They pass it by. They attend to other things. They are busy with their pleasures, or in their counting-houses, in their workshops, or on their farms; they are engaged in politics, or in bookmaking, and they “neglect” religion now as a thing of small importance - proposing to attend to it hereafter, as if they acted on the principle that everything else was to be attended to before religion.
Which at the first - Greek “Which received the beginning of being spoken.” The meaning is correctly expressed in our translation. Christ “began” to preach the gospel; the apostles followed him. John prepared the way; but the Saviour was properly the first preacher of the gospel.
By the Lord - By the Lord Jesus; see notes on Act 1:24.
And was confirmed unto us ... - They who heard him preach, that is, the apostles, were witnesses of what he said, and certified us of its truth. When the apostle here says “us,” he means the church at large. Christians were assured of the truth of what the Lord Jesus spake by the testimony of the apostles; or the apostles communicated it to those who had not heard him in such a manner as to leave no room for doubt.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain we--who have received the message of salvation so clearly…
we--who have received the message of salvation so clearly delivered to us (compare Heb 12:25).
so great salvation--embodied in Jesus, whose very name means "salvation," including not only deliverance from foes and from death, and the grant of temporal blessings (which the law promised to the obedient), but also grace of the Spirit, forgiveness of sins, and the promise of heaven, glory, and eternal life (Heb 2:10).
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which--"inasmuch as it is a salvation which began," &c.
spoken by the Lord--as the instrument of proclaiming it. Not as the law, spoken by the instrumentality of angels (Heb 2:2). Both law and Gospel came from God; the difference here referred to lay in the instrumentality by which each respectively was promulgated (compare Heb 2:5). Angels recognize Him as "the Lord" (Mat 28:6; Luk 2:11).
confirmed unto us--not by penalties, as the law was confirmed, but by spiritual gifts (Heb 2:4).
by them that heard him--(Compare Luk 1:2). Though Paul had a special and independent revelation of Christ (Gal 1:16-17, Gal 1:19), yet he classes himself with those Jews whom he addresses, "unto us"; for like them in many particulars (for example, the agony in Gethsemane, Heb 5:7), he was dependent for autoptic information on the twelve apostles. So the discourses of Jesus, for example, the Sermon on the Mount, and the first proclamation of the Gospel kingdom by the Lord (Mat 4:17), he could only know by the report of the Twelve: so the saying, "It is more blessed to give than to receive" (Act 20:35). Paul mentions what they had heard, rather than what they had seen, conformably with what he began with, Heb 1:1-2, "spake . . . spoken." Appropriately also in his Epistles to Gentiles, he dwells on his independent call to the apostleship of the Gentiles; in his Epistle to the Hebrews, he appeals to the apostles who had been long with the Lord (compare Act 1:21; Act 10:41): so in his sermon to the Jews in Antioch of Pisidia (Act 13:31); and "he only appeals to the testimony of these apostles in a general way, in order that he may bring the Hebrews to the Lord alone" [BENGEL], not to become partisans of particular apostles, as Peter, the apostle of the circumcision, and James, the bishop of Jerusalem. This verse implies that the Hebrews of the churches of Palestine and Syria (or those of them dispersed in Asia Minor [BENGEL], Pe1 1:1, or in Alexandria) were primarily addressed in this Epistle; for of none so well could it be said, the Gospel was confirmed to them by the immediate hearers of the Lord: the past tense, "was confirmed," implies some little time had elapsed since this testification by eye-witnesses.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 3. How shall we—Both Christians and all who hear…
3. How shall we—Both Christians and all who hear the word spoken.
Escape—Namely, the recompense suited in severity to the new conditions.
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So great salvation—Its greatness being here measured by the greatness of the Mediator who brings it, the clearness by which it is attested, the price (Heb_2:9) which it cost, and the glory to which it brings.
At the first—At the commencement of the new revelation.
Confirmed unto us… heard him—That Paul never heard the living Christ at the first, we have recognised in our note to Act_9:1. So that this statement perfectly accords with Paul’s authorship of the epistle. Lunemann and others, indeed, argue that Paul always claims that he derived his Gospel not from men, but from Christ, and so could not have written these words or this epistle. But, certainly, Paul does not ever claim that he was a personal hearer of the teachings of Jesus, or an eye-witness of his miracles. How he acquired his knowledge of the facts of Christ’s history we have discussed in our note, Act_9:23. It is the doctrinal interpretation of those facts which he claimed to have obtained by revelation. We have shown in our notes on Act_8:1-4, that the Pentecostal Church was dispersed, and succeeded by a later body of believers. The Hebrews, to whom this epistle was written, assuming them to be Jerusalemite and Palestinian Jews, received their knowledge of Christ’s history from living testimony, as did Paul. Compare our notes on Luk_1:1-3. Nevertheless the we and us here do not literally or necessarily include the apostle; but may be simply used from delicacy, as a modest identification of himself with his hearers. The first person plural is used six times in 1-3, where it is clear that Paul does not mean himself. Stuart has abundantly shown this self-identification with his readers to be Paul’s custom, both in this epistle and elsewhere, adducing a mass of instances, as follows: “See Heb_2:1; Heb_2:3; Heb_3:6; Heb_4:1-2; Heb_4:11; Heb_4:13; Heb_4:16; Heb_6:1-3; Heb_6:18-19; Heb_10:22-26; Heb_10:39; Heb_11:40; Heb_12:1; Heb_12:9-10; Heb_12:28; Heb_13:10; Heb_13:13; Heb_13:15. He also uses we or ye indifferently for the persons whom he addresses; for example: Heb_4:1, let us fear… lest any of you, etc.; we, in Heb_12:1-2; ye, in Heb_12:3-8; we, in Heb_12:9-10; ye, in Heb_12:17-18; Heb_12:22; Heb_12:25; we, in Heb_13:14; Heb_13:18, and often in the same way elsewhere, the address being still most manifestly made to the very same persons. He often employs, also, the first person plural to designate merely himself; as for example, in Heb_2:5; Heb_6:9; Heb_6:11; Heb_13:18. This, in like manner, he interchanges with the first person singular; for example, Heb_13:18; compare Heb_13:19; Heb_13:22-23. The same use of the first person plural runs through all the Pauline epistles; for example, we and I for the writer himself, Gal_1:8 : comp. Heb_1:9-14, Gal_2:5; comp. Heb_2:1-4; Heb_2:6-7, and so very often elsewhere. So we and you for the persons addressed, Gal_3:1-29; Gal_4:3-20; Gal_4:26-31, and elsewhere.” The passage, with the entire class of facts, is, therefore, not a disproof, but rather a proof, of the Pauline origin of this epistle; as it shows a full conformity with the apostle’s habit of using the pronouns. See our note on 1Co_15:51.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 3. how shall we escape] The “we” (being expressed…
3. how shall we escape] The “we” (being expressed in the original) is emphatic—we who are sons, not servants. The verb means “how shall we succeed in escaping,” or, “make good our escape”—namely, from similar, but yet more awful punishment (comp. Heb_12:25).
if we neglect] Rather, “after neglecting,” or “when we have neglected.”
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so great salvation] The transcendence (Heb_7:25) of the safety provided is a measure of the guilt involved in ceasing to pay any attention to it (Heb_10:29; Joh_12:48). It came from Christ not from Angels, its sanctions are more eternal, its promises more divine, its whole character more spiritual.
which at the first began to be spoken] Literally, “seeing that it, having at the first been spoken.”
by the Lord] The Gospels shew that Jesus was the first preacher of His own Gospel (Mar_1:14). “The Lord,” standing alone, is very rarely, if ever, used as a title for Christ in St Paul. (1Th_4:15; 2Th_2:2; 2Ti_4:18, are, to say the least, indecisive.)
was confirmed] The “word of this salvation”—the news of this Gospel—was ratified to us (comp. 1Co_1:6), and so it becomes “steadfast.” The verb is derived from the adjective so rendered in Heb_2:2.
by them that heard] We did not indeed receive the Gospel at firsthand, but from those who were its appointed witnesses (Luk_24:47-48; Act_1:8; Act_5:32). This verse, as Luther and Calvin so clearly saw, furnishes a decisive proof that St Paul was not the writer of this Epistle. He always insisted on the primary and direct character of the revelation which he had received as his independent Gospel (Gal_1:1; Gal_1:12; Act_22:10; Act_26:16; 1Co_11:23; 1Co_15:3, &c.). To talk of “accommodation” here is quite beside the mark.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (3) How shall we escape?—In a different context these…
(3) How shall we escape?—In a different context these words might naturally mean, “How shall we, transgressors of the law, escape from the penalty it threatens, if we neglect the one means of deliverance now offered us?” (Comp. Gal_3:13; Gal_4:5.) Here, however, are placed in contrast the command and threatening which came through angels and the salvation “spoken through the Lord”; while the one “word” is thus wholly unlike the other in substance and in form of proclamation, each is a law, in that neglect is visited with penalty. On the intrinsic greatness of the salvation the writer does not dwell; it is implied in the unique dignity and commission of Him through whom it was given.
Which at the first began to be spoken.—Better, which having at the first been spoken through the Lord, was made sure unto us by them that heard. “Through the Lord” (comp. Heb_1:2) was spoken this word of God which brought salvation. In two other passages Jesus receives the name “our Lord” (Heb_7:14; Heb_13:20), but nowhere else in this Epistle (unless perhaps in Heb_12:14) is He spoken of as “the Lord”; the dignity of the title here heightens the contrast. “By them that heard “the word from Him, the writer says, it “was made sure” (not confirmed, as if stronger attestation were the meaning intended) “unto us.” It is evident that the writer here classes himself with those who had not immediately heard the word from Jesus. Such language as this stands in striking contrast with St. Paul’s claim, repeatedly maintained, to have received his doctrine directly from the Lord Himself (Gal_1:12; 1Co_9:1, et al.).
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain Vers. 3, 4. The completeness with which the great…
Vers. 3, 4. The completeness with which the great salvation is made known. The justness of God"s visitation on those who neglect the great salvation lies in this, that the salvation has been so fully and variously proclaimed. Certainly this held in the instance of all to whom this Epistle was addressed; certainly it holds of all who can read the New Testament. With the Testament before us, it is our business, as prudent people, to make ourselves acquainted with the explanations, assurances, exhortations it contains on this matter of salvation.
I THIS SALVATION WAS SPOKEN OF THROUGH THE LORD; i.e. through Jesus. Doubtless the reference here is specially to those solemn and awful intimations he gave to his disciples of the approaching destruction of Jerusalem. But the destruction of Jerusalem was itself only a type of a destruction more dreadful still. The worst thing was, not the destruction of the buildings, but the spiritual ruin of those who dwelt in them. This was the thing to be feared, that believers in Jesus should get infected by the lawless life around them, or should take unbelieving and self-indulgent ways to get away from peril. Therefore the Lord proclaimed salvation to him who would endure to the end. His own resurrection from the dead after men had done their very worst and got untrammeled their fullest opportunities, was itself an assurance of safety to those who fully trusted in him.
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II THE WORD OF THIS SALVATION CONFIRMED BY LISTENERS. We feel there must be a parallelism between the bebaiov of ver. 2 and the ebebaiwyh of ver. 3. The same God who gave authority to his messengers of old, and- put on them a certain kind of honor by showing, in severe treatment of those who rejected them, the Divine origin of their message, also gave authority to certain persons to continue that news of salvation which Jesus had first of all made known. Jesus himself passed these persons through a manifold and. searching discipline to qualify them for their work. He said many things to the common crowd, but of the mysteries of the kingdom he spoke for a while only to a chosen and docile circle; until at last the hour came when these listeners had to spread far and wide the same truths, for a benefit to every one who would attend to them. Jesus, in the greatness of his unique power, began and it is ever the first step which is most difficult; others came and continued his work on his lines, and made some at least of their auditors in every place to feel that what they said rested on a sure foundation of a reality.
III AN EXPLICIT STATEMENT OF HOW THIS CONFIRMATION WAS PRODUCED. Never let us forget that the apostles were peculiarly witness-bearers. (Luk_24:48 Act_1:8) Again and again this is the apostolic claim in the Acts of the Apostles. Therefore it is quite the thing to be expected that God should be introduced, bearing his testimony along with them. Certain things were done, manifestly transcending human power, and manifestly full of a Divine presence and intent to those who regarded them with an honest heart. It is part of the love of God that he seeks all means to strengthen our hearts in keeping hold of the truth as it is in Jesus. Evidence is nothing without a spirit to appreciate it; but God knew that wheresoever the gospel went there would be some appreciating spirits, and to them the truth came by agencies such as bore it forward to an abiding home in their hearts. Evidence, of course, changes as the ages change; but truth is ever the same. The truth as it is in Jesus has not been altered; the need which that truth came to supply remains undiminished; and so we may be sure God is testifying still concerning that truth, the testimony being such that it satisfies the intellect because first of all it feeds and comforts the heart. Y.
HOMILIES BY D. YOUNG Ver. 3. God"s sure judgment on those who neglect the great salvation.
I NOTE THE APPEAL TO HISTORY. In the history of the Hebrew people God had shown the validity and seriousness of his messages. Those to whom the message had come had been disposed to slight it, either because of the improbability of the matter, or the mean appearance of the messenger. And behind both of these considerations it might also be that the message was very unpalatable. But however the message might appear to men, it was God"s message, therefore necessary to be sent. The steadfast word through the angels we must take with a very wide significance, as including the prophets, though angels are specially mentioned because being so reverently regarded by the Hebrews There was an a fortiori argument as applied to the message that came through the Son.
II NOTE THE GREAT TRANSGRESSION AND DISOBEDIENCE WE MAY COMMIT. We may be negligent of the great salvation. Our own personality, with its great powers and with the claims which God has upon it, we may allow to go to wreck and ruin, instead of submitting to the process whereby God would save us, and make us capable of glorifying him in a perfect way. The man who in any physical peril should steadily neglect whatever means of escape were put in his way, if he perished, would be held to have in him the spirit of the suicide. He who takes active steps against his own life is held to be committing a crime against society; but he who neglects his physical welfare is also sinning against society, though society cannot define his offence so as to punish him. But God, we know, can specify offences, as we cannot; and here is one, that when a man has spiritual and eternal salvation laid before him he yet neglects it. And the more we study this state of negligence, the more we shall see how great a sin it involves.
III THE INEVITABLE PUNISHMENT WHICH WILL COME FOR SUCH NEGLECT. How shall we escape it? It is a question parallel to that of Paul in Rom_2:3, "How shalt thou escape the judgment of God?" The question is not of escaping from the danger by some other means than what God has provided. It is as to how we shall get away from God"s doom upon us for deliberately and. persistently neglecting his loving provisions. How often New Testament exhortations make us face the thought of the great judgment-seat! We see what a serious thing in the sight of God simple negligence is. It is in heavenly affairs as in earthly, probably more harm is done by negligence of the good than by actual commission of the evil. Let there be strongest emphasis and deepest penitence in the confession, "We have not done the things we ought to have done.
IV THE EXHORTATION TO ATTENTION. We must give more earnest heed to the things that have been heard. How close this exhortation comes! Things not only spoken but heard. The excuse is not permitted that we have not heard of these things. It is what we have heard, but have failed to treat rightly, to cherish and hold fast which constitutes our peculiar responsibility. Over against actual negligence there is the demand for close, continual attention. The meaning of salvation and the means of salvation are not to be discovered by listless hearts. We are attending too much to the wrong things things that, in comparison with the so great salvation, are but as the fables and endless genealogies, attention to which Paul contemptuously condemned. And those who have to proclaim this salvation would do well to attend to that other counsel of Paul to Timothy, "Give heed to reading, exhortation, teaching," and so all of us need to be readers, learners, and especially submissive to the paraklhsiv of the Holy Ghost. Y.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain How shall we escape, if we neglect
Heb_2:3
How shall we escape, if we neglect
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The sinfulness and the danger of neglecting the gospel
The great salvation of which the apostle testifies is not the salvation which the gospel reveals, but the gospel itself, even the good news of the kingdom, which, by His Son, God in these last days hath spoken unto us (Heb_1:2).
The salvation which is in Christ Jesus may, with the most obvious propriety, be denominated great, if we compare it with the deliverance which was wrought for the house of Israel, when the Lord brought them out of the land of Egypt. The former was a temporal deliverance, the latter is a spiritual salvation, including deliverance from sin and wrath--from everlasting destruction; and not only deliverance from all evil, but also the enjoyment of eternal life. What is it to neglect so great salvation? All things are ready, come unto the marriage, is the intimation which the servants of the King, according to His commandment, gave to those who were bidden to the marriage of His Son. Did they regard this kind, this generous invitation as duty and interest required? No. They made light of it, and went their ways, one to his farm, another to his merchandise. They who neglect so great salvation, make light of the gospel. They do not regard it as the way of eternal life; they do not give to it that cordial reception to which it is entitled. The great salvation is neglected by all who enjoy the means of religious knowledge, and yet remain ignorant of the faith once delivered to the saints; by all who do not with the heart believe unto righteousness, how much knowledge soever they may have attained; by all who continue in the love and practice of sin, who profess to know God, but in works deny Him--who do not give to the salvation of their souls the preference to every other object of pursuit.
I. To NEGLECT SO GREAT SALVATION IS A VERY HEINOUS SIN.
1. The dignity of Him by whom the great salvation has been made known to us, illustrates the wickedness of neglecting it.
2. The wickedness which is included in rejecting the gospel of the blessed God our Saviour, is illustrated by the clear and full revelation which it makes of the way of eternal life. The mystery of salvation by the obedience and the death of the Son of God, which was hid from ages and generations, is clearly revealed, and hath appear, d unto all men. The gospel proclaims tidings so good and so interesting, that, on the acknowledged principles of human nature, it seems at first view reasonable to conclude, that to a very faint discovery of them, all whom they concern must give the most earnest heed. How inexcusable, then, must be they who turn away from Him who now speaketh from heaven, proclaiming in the clearest manner, Peace on earth, and good-will to men!
3. The wickedness of neglecting so great salvation is illustrated by the infallible proofs of its Divine origin by which it is recommended to our acceptance. That the gospel is indeed the Word of the living God is established by the most abundant evidence. Do you require evidence to convince you that the gospel which the apostles preached, is, indeed, the great salvation which, at the first, began to be spoken by the Lord? What you require. ,he text supplies in rich abundance. So, then, after the Lord had spoken unto them, He was received up into heaven, and sat on the right hand of God; and they went forth and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them, and confirming the Word by signs following. That the God who cannot lie will not attest what is false, is a self-evident truth. He cannot be deceived, and He will not, He cannot deceive. If, therefore, the God of heaven bears testimony to the doctrine which the apostles published, it must be the great salvation which, at, the first, began to be spoken by the Lord.
II. THE JUST RECOMPENSE OF REWARD WHICH AWAITS THOSE WHO REJECT THE COUNSEL OF GOD AGAINST THEMSELVES.
1. The righteousness of God renders it necessary that, on them who make light of that mercy which the gospel reveals, judgment shall be executed.
2. The condemnation of those who neglect so great salvation must be dreadful beyond conception.
3. The condemnation of those who neglect so great salvation is most certain. (W. Kidston, D. D.)
The inexcusableness of rejecting the gospel
1. Here is the intrinsic goodness and excellency of the thing itself, which wicked men reject; intimated as a just ground why they should not escape unpunished.
2. This further consideration, that the gospel is n express and positive revelation of the will of God, is a very high aggravation of the sin of neglecting so great a salvation.
3. The dignity and excellency of the Person, by and through whom this great salvation is proposed to us is a further aggravation of the sin of rejecting it.
4. The strength and clearness of the evidence, and the number and greatness of the proofs, made use of to assure us of the truth of the gospel, is the highest aggravation of the guilt of those who neglect or disobey it, and that which of all other things renders them the most absolutely inexcusable. (S. Clark. , D. D.)
The guilt of the unconverted in neglecting the offered salvation
I. THE GREATNESS OF THE SALVATION, which every unconverted person despises. It is a deliverance from the eternal ruin due to our sins; from the dominion of sin and Satan on earth, and from the doom of Satan after death; from present terror and from eternal remorse; from the wrath of an infinite Avenger; from a sorrow, which is near at hand, inevitable, intolerable, eternal; from all that thought shrinks to contemplate, and more than the imagination ever conceived. It is, on the other hand, an admission to blessings as vast. To adoption into the family of God; to all the privileges of His believing people; to be loved by Him, watched over, provided for, cheered, consoled, sustained, and guided to glory. It is an invitation to accept the blessings, given after the greatest provocation--a guilt which is incalculable. It is a salvation offered to those, who by the obduracy of their hearts and the ungodliness of their lives, persevered, d in through long years, have deserved that the Lord should exclude them from His favour for ever. It is a salvation provided for such rebellious transgressors at the cost of the death of Christ.
II. WHAT IS IT TO NEGLECT IT? It might seem that it was impossible to neglect a mercy such as this. The traveller, when he is dying of thirst in the desert, does not reject the gushing spring, which, bubbling at his feet, gives him refreshment and life. The prisoner does not hug his chain, and draw back from the sunshine and liberty offered him, to the damps and darkness of his dungeon. The sick man never scorns health. The poor dejected and homeless wanderer would never refuse proffered wealth. Yet it is not only possible to neglect this salvation, but it is too certain that it is very generally neglected--that while the road to perdition is crowded by multitudes, the road to glory is straight and narrow and few there be that find it. To neglect this great salvation is, evidently, not to obtain the blessings which it proposes; by whatever mode that neglect is manifested, in whatever way those blessings are lost, to lose them s to neglect this great salvation. God has offered them to sinners freely; He has set before you plainly the way in which they may be made yours; tie has offered them only in that one way; and therefore if either another way of obtaining them is preferred, or if they are not sought in this way, then is such a person chargeable with neglecting this great salvation.
III. THE GUILT OF NEGLECTING IT. That guilt is clearly implied in the expression in our text, How shall we escape if we neglect it? How shall we escape?--it evidently implies, that there is in it such a guilt as must provoke the severest punishment.
1. In the first place, you despise these blessings. Heaven, and the pardon of your sins, and the renewal of your hearts, and the indwelling Spirit the love of God, a holy and a blameless life, a glorious crown, an immortality of holiness and happiness--all this you despise, But I have a heavier charge to bring against you.
2. It is evil enough to disregard these mercies, but every unconverted person is also guilty of inconceivable ingratitude towards God. (B. W. Noel, M. A.)
The danger of neglecting Christ and salvation
I. THE GOSPEL SALVATION IS GREAT.
1. The deliverance of Noah from the general destruction brought upon the old world was wonderful; but the deliverance of our souls from the deluge of Gods wrath, by the gospel, is greater. The preservation of Lot from the destruction of Sodom was great; but the salvation we obtain by the gospel, from the vengeance of eternal fire, is greater.
2. The Author of this salvation (Isa_9:6), God manifest in the flesh 1Ti_3:16; Isa_59:16).
3. The means (Rom_8:3; Isa_53:8; Heb_9:22).
4. The salvation itself, or the benefits that accrue to believers through Jesus Christ.
(1) We are saved from the guilt of all our sins (Rom_8:1; Act_13:39).
(2) Believers are saved from the power of sin (Rom_6:6; Rom_6:14).
(3) Believers are saved from the contagion of sin (1Jn_3:9; Eze_36:25; Eze_36:29).
(4) They that are delivered from the body of sin and death, are saved, likewise, from fear; from all fear that hath torment (1Jn_4:18; 1Co_15:55; Isa_12:1).
(5) Believers are saved from the power of the grave (1Co Php_3:21).
(6) The saints shall be saved from hell and all misery (Rev_7:17; Psa_16:11).
II. WHO ARE THEY THAT NEGLECT IT?
1. Those who live in any known sin.
2. Those who trust in their own righteousness (Rom_10:3.)
3. Those who do not seek this salvation more than other objects.
III. THOSE WHO PERSIST IN THE NEGLECT OF THIS SALVATION CANNOT ESCAPE PUNISHMENT.
1. In this life conscience condemns them; therefore are they like the troubled sea (Isa_57:20-21). There is a curse on them, and on whatsoever they do.
2. At judgment justice will seize upon them (Rev_6:15-16; Rom_14:12; Pro_2:22).
3. In hell the vengeance of God will still pursue them (Psa_9:17, Rev_21:8).
Application:
1. How glorious is the gospel-scheme of salvation, how far superior to all those wonderful deliverances which God wrought in old times! Christ is our only refuge (Isa_32:2).
2. It is easy to see how heinous a thing sin is in the sight of God; how infinite and inconceivable the love of God is towards sinners (Joh_3:16; 1Pe_3:18).
3. Consider the great, the glorious salvation, which is offered to you by the gospel. Seek it while it may be found (Isa_55:7; Heb_3:7-8; 2Co_6:2).
4. Remember how it shall happen to all those who forget God (Rom_2:8-9; Psa_50:22). Speedily give up all for Christ (Php_3:8).
5. Though you may have neglected this great salvation to the present moment, God is willing and ready to pardon. Great salvation for great sinners (1Ti_1:15; Joh_6:37).
6. Never rest till you lest in Christ. (J. Hannam.)
The certainty that punishment in eternity awaits the unconverted
I. THE WORD OF GOD EXPRESSLY DECLARES THAT GOD WILL PUNISH SINNERS.
II. THE ATTRIBUTES OF GOD, HIS REVEALED PERFECTIONS, NO LESS CERTAINLY SECURE THE PUNISHMENT OF THE SINNER HEREAFTER.
III. We have another and an independent proof that the impenitent sinner must look for a severe retribution when he comes before the judgment of his Maker, derived from THE PAST JUDGMENTS WHICH HE HAS INFLICTED ON ACCOUNT OF SIN.
1. Often have individuals been made to experience the instant vengeance that God takes upon iniquity. Under the Mosaic law the provisions were exceedingly severe, to mark to that people that God abhors transgression.
2. On many occasions God has manifested His anger against sin, towards multitudes at once.
3. Once agate; contemplate a more awful wreck, and a worse disaster yet. Think of those angelic beings, that once were in the presence of God, loving, holy, happy beyond fear, who seemed in their Makers favourite have a shield that would secure them to eternity. Those angels transgressed the wilt of God. And keeping not their first estate they ,re now visited by no mercy, reserved to an eternity of horror. What God has done, why, sinner I should He not do again? How can you plead an exemption from the curse that has rested upon so many?
IV. But there is another fact, still more awful than all--another argument still more potent than these. If every other proof that God will visit iniquity were lost, if His Word were silent, if we otherwise knew not His attributes, if there were no past judgments to point at, still in THE CROSS OF CHRIST YOU would read a manifestation of the wrath of God against iniquity, which must reduce to hopelessness every considerate person still living in sin, or must reduce to silence at the last day every sinner that will cling to delusive hope. For why did Christ die, Because God will manifest how He hates iniquity; because He must--because holiness, justice, truth, goodness, and mercy require that He must--show that He hates sin. (B. W. Noel, M. A.)
The danger of neglecting the great salvation.
I. THE ONLY WAY OF SALVATION FOR SINNERS IS REVEALED BY THE GOSPEL 2Ti_1:10).
1. They must needs be strangers to the great salvation, who slight the gospel that brings the good tidings of it.
2. If the gospel alone brings the tidings of salvation for lost sinners, how thankful should you be to God for this revelation.
3. If the gospel alone brings you the tidings of salvation for lost sinners--a salvation we all needed to hear of and be interested in--then how worthy is it of all acceptation.
II. WHAT THE SALVATION IS, WHICH THE GOSPEL ALONE REVEALS.
III. WHY THE SALVATION REVEALED BY THE GOSPEL IS CALLED GREAT.
1. It is great salvation, as it is the product of infinite wisdom and unerring counsel.
2. From the dignity of the Person that wrought it out.
3. It is a fruit of a great price, even of the obedience and death of Jesus Christ.
4. It is applied by almighty power, against all the opposition, of Satan, of an evil world, and even of the very soul itself who is made partaker of it.
5. It delivers the soul from everything that is evil.
6. It brings the soul from darkness to light, from death to life, from the power of Satan unto God.
7. It is a fruit of great grace.
IV. SOME UNDER THE GOSPEL NEGLECT THE GREAT SALVATION.
1. Notice how the greatest and most dangerous sin under the gospel is described. Neglect not the only remedy, the true riches. It is an injury to Father, Son, and Spirit. It is a high affront offered to the wisdom of God, and to His goodness and grace in Christ.
2. Notice the misery of those that neglect the great salvation. They are condemned already (Joh_3:18).
3. Who are they, among all the hearers of the gospel, that neglect the great salvation?
(1) Such as satisfy themselves with notions of the gospel, and take no care about the transforming virtue of the Word of God upon their souls (1Th_1:5).
(2) Such as have often heard of the danger of sin, yet live in the love and practice of it.
(3) Such as hear of the necessity of an interest in Jesus Christ, but take no care to win Christ and be found in Him.
(4) Such as know their Masters will, and have no heart to do it.
(5) Such as have but a low esteem of the gospel of Christ, and the ordinances of it.
(6) Such as never inquire what they shall do to be saved, how they may escape the wrath to come.
4. Whence is it that some, who are placed by kind Providence under the gospel and ministry, neglect the great salvation?
(1) From the blindness of their minds, and ignorance of their hearts. They are not sensible of their misery, the guilt, bondage, defilement, and poverty that sin has brought them to.
(2) From the atheism of their hearts.
(3) From their natural aversion to the Word and ways of God.
V. THERE IS NO POSSIBLE WAY FOR THEIR ESCAPING ETERNAL MISERY WHO CONTINUE TO NEGLECT THE GREAT SALVATION.
1. Some impenitent sinners hope to escape the wrath of God, Though they neglect the great salvation.
2. Every one under the gospel should exercise their own judgment, reason, and conscience about their present behaviour, under their present trusts, and seriously think what will be the issue of their present carriage.
3. There is no mercy to be shown to impenitent sinners after this life, if they die in their sins.
4. Neglecting the great salvation is the only damning sin.
(1) It is a high affront to each of the Persons in the Holy Trinity.
(2) It is a slight of the only remedy.
5. The punishment that shall be inflicted, at last, upon impenitent sinners, for their neglect of the great salvation, will be found to be just.
(1) God has given them fair warning by His word.
(2) They will receive nothing at the great day but the just fruit of their rebellion against the Lord Jesus Christ.
(3) They will receive nothing but their own wishes and a retaliation of their own language (Job_21:14).
Uses: 1. Inferences.
(1) Hence we see how wonderfully rich the goodness of God is to poor lost mankind, in providing this great salvation for them.
(2) The goodness of God is further displayed in revealing this great salvation to us by the gospel.
(3) We learn hence the sin and folly, the danger and misery of such as sit under the gospel and yet neglect the great salvation.
(4) Such as neglect the great salvation will be found the greatest losers; a greater loss never was or can be sustained.
(5) Those of you who are partakers of this great salvation, you see where your treasure lies, and there your hearts should be also.
2. Examination: Ask your own souls what entertainment the gospel and its salvation have with you. It has been brought to your door; has it been brought to your heart?
3. Exhortations:
(1) Give yourselves time, closely and seriously, to consider the state and wants of your own souls.
(2) Take care and pains to clear up your interest in the great salvation, by the power of the Word of God upon the heart, and by the esteem of the Word of God upon your souls; by your hatred of sin and love of holiness, and by your hungering and thirsting after God the living God, and hearty concern for the salvation of others.
(3) Attend the ministry of the gospel with your affectionate prayers, that God would reveal His arm therewith, and powerfully apply His great salvation to the souls of your poor relations and neighbours.
(4) If you can make out to yourselves that you are partakers of the great salvation, then
(a) Give God the glory of what He has wrought.
(b) Take care to live agreeably to this great grace.
(c) Commend the Lord Jesus Christ and His salvation to others; endeavour to show them the necessity of it.
(d) Put this great salvation into the balance against all the great afflictions, losses, disappointments, and unkindnesses that you may meet with in the world (2Co_4:17; Rom_8:18). (W. Notcutt.)
The danger of neglect
I. OUR DANGEROUS CONDITION.
1. The inquiry, How shall we escape? implies it: bitten, depraved, dead, lest.
2. We need relief--salvation (Isa_53:6; Eze_37:11).
3. We cannot relieve or save ourselves (Job_36:18-19;Psa_49:7).
4. Christ brings salvation to us (Joh_3:16; Mat_1:21; Luk_9:56; 1Ti_2:6).
II. IT IS A GREAT SALVATION.
1. God in Christ is its Author.
2. Jesus is its Finisher.
3. It is plenteous and full (Psa_130:7).
4. It saves from great sins.
5. It saves from greatest dangers.
6. It is free.
7. It is the only salvation. None other name.
8. It is great in heaven. Infinite honours, eternal crown. Kings and priests.
9. It is everlasting (Isa_45:17).
III. THERE IS DANGER OF LOSING IT. Not great sinfulness alone, but simple neglect will destroy your soul. The man in business has but to neglect it to be ruined. The sick man neglects the means of recovery, and he dies. The man on Niagara neglects at the proper time to use the oar, and he plunges over the cataract. Ah, ruinous neglect! Let no one infer because he is moral and truthful, is not a drunkard, an adulterer, a murderer, or some redhanded, black-hearted criminal, that he is safe. Why, if your own morality and goodness were enough to save you, then Jesus need not have suffered and died. Salvation is n t forced upon us. We must make an effort to secure it. We may neglect to make that effort, and be lost. (B. F.Whittemore.)
Neglect of the great salvation
I. THE IMPORTANT SUBJECT COUCHED IN THE FEW BUT EXPRESSIVE WORDS, SO GREAT SALVATION.
1. Its heavenly origin.
2. The extraordinary means by which it is effected.
3. Its boundless fulness and freeness.
4. Its deliverances from evils
5. Its choice and extensive blessings.
II. THE NEGLECT SUPPOSED, AND VIRTUALLY CHARGED UPON US.
III. THE AWFUL CONSEQUENCES THAT MUST ENSUE TO ALL FOUND GUILTY
OF NEGLECTING SO GREAT SALVATION. (Essex Congregational Remembrancer.)
Do not neglect the great salvation
I. The word of the gospel which is preached to us, is THE WORD OF SALVATION.
1. It reveals and announces salvation. It tells us of Gods method of recovery for lost, guilty, sinful man. The gospel is the only revelation of saving mercy. Reason could never have discovered it. Philosophy never could have descried a scheme like this. Nature could never have given us any just conceptions of this subject. We see much of the goodness of God in the brightness of the sun, and in the descent of the shower; in the flowers which cover the earth; but not one word of salvation; not a syllable which relates to the restoration of man, and his deliverance from the deserved wrath which his apostasy has incurred.
2. Instrumentally it effects salvation. It brings salvation near, both to the understanding and to the heart.
3. It is the ordained means of perfecting and preparing the soul for the enjoyment of consummate bliss.
II. This salvation, announced and revealed and brought near in the gospel, is inconceivably GREAT. The apostle does not attempt to describe its greatness; but he wraps up the whole magnificence of his theme in this expression, so great salvation.
1. Think of the stupendous contrivance in which it originated; and it will be found a great salvation.
2. Look at the methods which have been adopted in order to render this salvation sure. Nothing less than the achievements of the eternal Son.
3. Think of the agency employed in securing the application and saving efficacy of this salvation--the Holy Spirit.
4. Think of the all-sufficient credentials and Divine attestations, by which the gospel is recommended to us; and you will easily perceive that it is, ill my text, most justly described.
5. Consider the richness and amplitude of its provisions.
6. I only refer, finally, to the ultimate end which it proposes to effect on behalf of all who are interested it, its benefits. That end is the resurrection of the body from the dust; the glorification of the entire Church; the subjugation of all evil; an eternity of unimaginable bliss.
III. I am to prove to you that THOSE who NEGLECT IT have not the remotest prospect of escape from the entire and hopeless ruin which such neglect inevitably involves.
1. Everything in the reason of the case forbids the hope of escape. Because God Himself has devised this method of recovery; He has revealed it; He has offered it; He has told us plainly, Neither is there salvation in any other than Christ. They who neglect this salvation, then, most perish, upon every principle of equity, and upon every principle of reason. There is a storm gathering. Divine mercy has provided a shelter. You neglect it; and the thunderbolt strikes you prostrate to the ground.
2. Everything in the character of God forbids the hope of an escape. He is a God of justice; and will never compromise the claims of equity in complaisance to the negligence and unbelief of His creatures.
3. There is, moreover, nothing in the Word of God which affords the slightest ground of expectation that this method of salvation discarded any other will be provided. (Heb_10:26.) Lessons:
1. Admire and adore the riches of Divine grace in having provided such a salvation for lost man.
2. How full of terror is this subject to you who are neglecting this salvation.
3. How happy are they who have reached the final end and ultimate enjoyment of that salvation of which we have been hearing; who have believed to the salvation of the soul. (G. Clayton.)
The superiority of Christianity as seen in its claims
I. THE NATURE OF CHRISTIANITYS CLAMS.
1. Their imperativeness.
2. Their personal character.
II. THE IRRETRIEVABLE CONSEQUENCES OF NEGLECTING THE CLAIMS OF CHRISTIANITY.
1. These consequences are suggested analogically.
2. These consequences are based on the intrinsic excellence of Christianity.
3. The character of the sin on account of which these consequences will be inevitably inflicted.
4. That such a sin as neglect must inevitably be followed by serious consequences is very obvious from the laws of our nature.
(1) That of relation between moral appreciation and moral advantage.
(2) That of free agency.
5. That these consequences will follow this sin is seen from the veracity of God.
Lessons:
1. We learn that there are two sides to salvation.
(1) The Divine side, viz., the providing salvation for a lost world.
(2) The human side, viz., the personal acceptance by faith of the salvation thus divinely provided.
2. We learn that, for all practical purposes, the human side is as important as the Divine.
3. We learn that, infinitely great and glorious as salvation is, there is no manifestation of the goodness of lied more easily sacrificed.
4. We learn the unspeakable importance of giving practical heed to the voice of Gods Spirit as He speaks in His Word.
(1) Because neglect is followed by such sad and irretrievable consequences.
(2) Because of the law of habit.
(a) Birds which build their nests in a belfry become habituated to the loudest and longest clangour.
(b) Those who live ill the vicinity or Niagara and cataracts of the Nile become so habituated to the roar of their waters that they do not mind it at all.
(c) Alas! is not this the explanation of the heedlessness to the gospel of thousands in Christendom--they have become too familiar with its sound.
(3) Because of this life being our probationary sphere.
(a) If we die in a state of unbelief we cannot hope for another opportunity.
(b) As we are liable to die any hour, to neglect salvation is of all follies the greatest. (D. C. Hughes, M. A.)
The sin and danger of neglecting the great salvation of the gospel
Whether we look at the source from which salvation originates, or the objects to whom it is extended; at the depth of misery from which it delivers, or at the height of glory to which it exalts; at the long train of prophecies by which it was introduced, or at the stupendous display of miracles by which it was established, we cannot but be deeply impressed with its magnitude and importance. There is one circumstance, however, which wonderfully augments these impressions, the unparalleled excellence and dignity of the Person by whom this salvation was perfected.
I. The first argument which I shall adduce results from THE VERY NATURE AND CONSTITUTION OF THINGS. They who neglect the great salvation of the gospel must, from the necessary connection between causes and effects, he involved in everlasting destruction. For what is the salvation of the gospel? It is salvation from sin. Should the drowning man neglect to lay bold of the only hand stretched out to save him; should the sick man neglect to follow the only prescription which can administer a cure: what, in all these several instances, must be the inevitable consequence? Death. Neglecting to improve the only opportunity vouchsafed to them of procuring the removal of their guilt, they must sink down for ever under the curse and burden of unpardoned sin.
II. Another argument arises from THE PECULIAR AND AGGRAVATED GUILT OF NEGLECTING SO GREAT SALVATION. The gospel is a remedy which we are constrained by the most powerful obligations to apply: a remedy, the neglect of which argues not only the most daring folly, but the most malignant wickedness, and consequently involves a degree of criminality which exhibits in a still stronger light the impossibility of escaping. To neglect the salvation of the gospel is to violate a positive command of God. It is also to pour contempt on His most glorious perfections. The gospel is the richest display of mercy to fallen man, the consummation of the Divine wisdom and love. (E. Cooper, M. A.)
How shall we escape?
I. SALVATION is the grand thought.
1. Consider salvation in its origin. May it not be termed so great salvation? God is its Author. It was planned in the councils of eternity; it is the fruit of infinite wisdom. Great, we own, is creation; greater far is redemption. God creates by the word of His power; He redeems by the blood of His Son; new-creates by the power of His Spirit.
2. Salvation is so great: when we remember its nature. It saves from great sins. Christ is able to save unto the uttermost.
3. It saves from great dangers.
4. There is salvation from great enemies. But we have given only one side of salvation--deliverance. Positive blessings belong to it. Salvation might be termed so great, if it were only for the blessedness it brings to the heart now; in this life; Christs peace, Christs joy, Christs wondrous love. But man has a destiny reaching away into the great eternity. When we think of man as he is, what be deserves, what he well may fear, guilty, depraved, condemned--as he shall be, when purified, glorified--is not salvation rightly styled so great ?
II. Think now of the word NEGLECT. Easy were it to show that such neglect is a great calamity, and a great crime.
1. This neglect is common. Alas! how many ,how their neglect in their lives--by open sin, by contempt of Gods Word, Gods day, Gods house.
2. It is inexcusable. Vain and flimsy as a spiders web are all excuses. The real reason why men neglect so great salvation is because they love this world more than God; time more than eternity; their sins more than their souls.
3. Neglect is foolish. What should we think of a prisoner who should bug the chains that bind him?
4. Neglect is easy. In one sense, it in hard for sinners to perish. God in mercy sets barriers in the way. In another sense, it is an easy thing. Neglect! The man in business does not need to gamble in order to go bankrupt; all he needs is to neglect his business.
5. When we add it is fatal, this brings us to the third word
III. ESCAPE. How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation? (D. S.Brunton.)
The vital question
I. CONSIDER THE CHARACTER DESCRIBED. The man who, amidst the multitude of other anxieties, sets the invitation to a banquet aside, and altogether neglects it, is just as sure of being found absent as the man who distinctly rejects it. There are many who idle a whole lifetime away in a sort of passive indifference to the gospel, and go down to the grave utter strangers to its Saving power. The man who is not diligent in the prosecution of his worldly business is said to neglect it; and so, in like manner, if you do not esteem the salvation of the soul as the one thing needful, if you do not strive to enter in at the straight gate, and give diligence to make your calling and election sure, then know, of a truth, that you are found among those woo are guilty of neglecting it.
II. CONSIDER THE QUESTION HERE PUT. More evil is done, and more injury sustained, through neglect than from any other cause. Escape is utterly and altogether impossible.
1. From the very nature of the case; for the neglect of salvation is just the rejection of the remedy, and if the remedy be releced, what but ruin can await us?
2. From the history of the Divine denyings. If God brought in the flood upon the world of the ungodly, so that they escaped not, how shall we escape? Say not that God is too merciful to inflict the penalty He has threatened; for was God not merciful then, and yet He did not permit them to escape?
3. From the very means employed for our deliverance. If sin were trivial, if the law were flexible, if God were changeable, Christ would never have suffered, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us unto God.
III. CONSIDER THE GUILT OF NEGLECTING THIS GREAT SALVATION. The mariner who refuses to cast his anchor on the rock deserves to suffer shipwreck. The man who declines to accept the bread that is offered to him deserves to die of famine. God has not provided this great salvation at such a mighty expenditure, and left men to sport and trifle with it at their pleasure. (Thos. Mair, D. D.)
Neglect
I. THE MISERY ARISING FROM NEGLECT.
1. In the lower or material realm, e.g., industrial, sanitary, commercial.
2. In the higher or mental and moral realm, e.g., education, religion.
(1) The signs of neglect. Listlessness and dulness, or profligacy and obduracy.
(2) The temptation to neglect. Example, spirit of procrastination, pressure of other claims.
II. THE GUILT OF NEGLECT.
1. It is spiritual suicide.
2. It is ruinous in its influence on others. You say, No danger, when the peril is terrific.
3. It is practical atheism.
4. It is in gratitude to the Redeemer. (Homlist.)
The only plan
I. GOD HAS MADE ABUNDANT PROVISION FOR THE WELFARE OF THE WORLD. So--the descriptive word of a child when failing to set forth in detail an object beyond its ability.
1. Salvation is Gods highest achievement.
2. Supplies all the wants of mankind.
3. Is all-powerful in its influence.
4. Is destined to be universal in its success.
5. Is everlasting in its duration.
II. GODS ABUNDANT PROVISION FOR THE WELFARE OF THE WORLD MAY BE IGNORED. If We neglect implies
1. The freedom of the human will.
2. The deluding power of sin.
3. The futility of mere knowledge.
4. The evil of contempt.
5. The power of self-righteousness.
6. The actual prevalence of carelessness.
(1) Some are totally indifferent.
(2) Some are idly procrastinating.
(3) Some by hoping for the best.
(4) Some because others do.
III. GODS ABUNDANT PROVISION FOR THE WELFARE OF THE WORLD, IF IGNORED, LEAVES MAN HOPELESS. How shall we escape?
1. Man bears in himself the elements of destruction. Born a sinner. Sin will never destroy itself. Powder train laid.
2. Salvation the only remedy. Ark, Brazen Serpent, Cities of Refuge. No other name. Jesus only.
3. Mans effort to appropriate the appointed means is essentially necessary. Wrecked sailor must enter lifeboat; manslayer flee to city of refuge; patient take prescribed medicine.
4. Non-compliance on mans part will result in endless misery. (B. D. Johns.)
The regret of lost souls
In the palace at Versailles as if by the irony of fate, is a famous statue of Napoleon in exile. His noble brow is lowered in thought, his mouth is compressed, his chin is resting upon his breast, and his grand eye gazes into space as if fixed on some distant scene. There is something inexpressibly sad in that strong, pale face. It is said that the sculptor represented Napoleon at St Helena, just before his death. He is looking back upon the field of Waterloo, and thinking how its fatal issue was the result of three hours delay. Those three short hours seem ever to write on the walls of his memory--The summer is ended, the harvest is past! Years rolled on, but the memory of that neglected opportunity follows the great emperor through his life, and haunts him through midnight hours in his sea-girt home. I have sometimes imagined that I could see on some remote and lonely shore of the Lake Avernus a soul haunted by its memories. The battle of lit e is long past, centuries have rolled away, but memory lives. Some lost soul wanders from the rest, where the waves of that gulf beat hopelessly on the far-off shore. The absent eye that gazes over the starless deep, is looking with longing unutterable to the precious time when those who are now in glory held up the blood-stained cross and pointed to the joys of heaven, then so near, now so tar. And a bitter sigh, and a sob as bitter as despairing love, fills the solitude; but it reaches no ear, touches no sympathy, awakes no echo. Such is the vengeance of neglected opportunity. (R. S. Barrett.)
How shall we escape?
By our wealth? Its currency is condemned at the judgment-seat. By our own good deeds? Those deeds have been weighed in the balance, and found wanting. Then how shall we escape? By concealing ourselves? Gods eye penetrates, with its burning glance, all space. Shall we escape in the crowd? Each individual shall be so insulated, as if there were no other creature besides at the judgment-seat. Then how shall we escape? There is but one way, and that escape is incompatible with neglecting the great salvation. Thus he says the gospel is the great salvation. How shall we escape--not, mark you, if we reject so great salvation, but if we neglect so great salvation? The sceptic rejects Christianity; the nominal believer neglects Christianity. Now, I very much question if it be not a greater insult to God to neglect religion than it is to reject it. I can understand that man who says, I have examined all the evidence, and I have come to the conclusion that the Bible is a fable, that Christianity is a romance; eternity, and death, and judgment the visions of a mere baseless dream. I pity him, I deplore his conclusion, but I can understand it; there is consistency about it. But the man that neglects such a religion, if it be true that God has spoken, if it be true that Christ has died for us, if it be true that we must stand at the judgment-seat, if it be true that by His righteousness alone we are justified, is guilty indeed. Such neglect is in the sight of God and man altogether inexcusable. (J. Cumming, D. D.)
The danger of neglect
During the terrible fire in the Ring Theatre at Vienna, a large crowd striving to reach one of the exits saw a sideway marked Emergency Door, in case of Fire. This was just what they needed. They turned aside from the main passages, and rushed to use this special way. But the bolts could not be drawn, the locks could not be turned, and the hinges were choked with rust; because the door had never been used, it could not now be suddenly put into requisition when urgently needed. A heap of dead soon lay before that gate. So, lips which never pray on earth will be speechless in the great day; the prayer for mercy will die unuttered, and the excuse which has been framed on earth will never be offered, when the King asks, How art thou come in hither all unprepared?
An unanswerable question
Many years ago a Welsh minister, a man of God, beginning his sermon, leaned over the pulpit, and said with a solemn air, Friends, I have a question to ask. I cannot answer it. You cannot answer it. If an angel from heaven were here he could not answer it. If a devil from hell were here he could not answer it. Death-like silence reigned. Every eye was fixed on the speaker. He proceeded, The question is this, How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation?
Folly of neglect
A certain man had a long journey before him, which must needs be made in one day, for it would be impossible for him to journey a mile in that country after nightfall, neither was there any place wherein he could lodge on the road. He knew right well that this journey was appointed him, and that it was his duty to perform it; and, moreover, he told his best friends that he was fully determined to set out thereon: but he thought the matter was easier than they seemed to imagine. In his stable there was a fine stud of strong and swift horses suitable for the road, and a carriage stood ready for his riding. The traveller did not set out in the early morning, for he said that there was time enough. Meanwhile, by a certain custom of the country, two of his best horses were taken for the kings service, and this caused the traveller to look about him; but he soon quieted down, sat down to his dishes and his cups, and cried, Whats the good of haste? While thus engaged, more of his horses were lost, or stolen, or else they strayed, and had he then set out and kept well to his journey, he had scarce the means left to accomplish it. Still he waited with his boon companions till one way or another his horses were gone, and he had nothing left to ride upon but a single wretched jade. Then he made much ado about setting out, and meant to fly along the road at a great rate; only it so happened that while he was resolving the sun went down, and he never reached the place where he would have been rewarded with honour and profit. The explanation of the riddle is easy. A man in his early days, with his best years before him, is so foolish as to put off the concerns of his soul till he is older. Years follow years, and yet he delays--delays even when his last worn, and feeble age is all that remains to him, and death comes before it is welcome. Alas, that men should think to perform the most important business of all at a time when all their powers and faculties are failing! Gods service requires all our abilities in the prime of their strength, and it is wicked as well as foolish to put Him off with our leavings, and endeavour to reach heaven on a worn-out steed at the fagend of the day. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Neglect
A traveller always provided himself with a life-preserver, which he kept in constant readiness for use. On the Mississippi an accident occurred which led him to dream of the advantages of precaution. He dreamed that the vessel was disabled, and rushing upon a lee-shore. The passengers, in different moods, awaited the result. Those who had life preservers were composed; while those who had none rushed to and fro in terror and dismay. Some cursed themselves because they did not buy them before they started; others did not apprehend danger; others had them laid away in their trunks, but found them useless through long neglect; others found themselves cheated with a counterfeit article; others were uselessly trying to escape by resting on the life-preservers of others, which could barely support their owners. The scene is one only too common in life.
When the storms come, and the frail vessel is a wreck, how many have secured the true life-preserver, and wait the result in good confidence?
How many are dismayed because unready? (New Cyclopedia of Illustrations.)
Opportunity must be grasped
Some years ago a large river in America became greatly swollen, and a rapid current was thus produced which was very dangerous to venture on, as a terrible fall was only a few miles distant.
A man who had some valuable timber in the stream got into a boat to rescue it. He was, however, soon drawn into the rushing tide. He had not the slightest power to stop or turn the boat, but rapidly it floated down the stream, hurrying him on to a certain destruction. A friend saw his peril, and mounting a fleet horse started for a bridge a few miles below as the only chance to rescue him. Reaching the bridge before the skiff, which came like an arrow towards the arch, he dropped a rope over the surface of the stream and called to the imperilled man to seize it as his only chance of escape. The trembling hand was extended, and with the firmness of a death-grasp clutched the rope as the boat shot by, and soon he was in the arms of his deliverer. This was the arch of mercy to him, which, if once passed, it would have been certain death.
How shall we escape?
It is an appeal to universal reason, to the consciences of sinners themselves; it is a challenge to all their power and policy, to all their interest and alliances, whether they, or any of them, can find out, or can force out, a way of escape from the vindictive justice and wrath of God. It intimates that the neglecters of this great salvation will be left not only without power, but without plea and excuse at the judgment day. (M. Henry.)
Neglect leads to deterioration
Let a certain number of pigeons, of different colours and varieties, be collected and carried to a desert island.
Let them fly wild in the woods and found a colony there. After the lapse of many years let the collector return to the island, when he will find The pigeons all of one colour--a black and white dun, or a dark slaty hue. All the beautiful colours will have vanished. Why? Because they have been neglected. The variations and improvements had been the result of care, nurture, and domestication: neglect has simply had the effect of letting them drop into their original state. So with plants--a rose--a strawberry; it is a natural law. So with man. By neglect his body will lapse into a savage state; his mind to imbecility; his conscience to lawlessness and vice; his soul to atrophy, ruin, and decay. Let him alone, and all the rest will follow. (Proctors Gems of Thought)
Unconscious of peril
As the inhabitants of a little, narrow street in Paris looked out at their doors one morning, they were astonished to see a young woman pacing backward and forward on the top of a six-story house. Their astonishment was changed into alarm when it was discovered that she was unconscious of her peril, and was walking in her sleep! The young creature seemed to be dreaming of an approaching gala day, and was humming a lively air. Again and again she drew near to the very verge of the parapet, and again and again crossed over to the other side of the roof, always smiling, and unconscious of danger. Suddenly her eye was attracted by a light in the house opposite. She awoke instantly; there was a piercing cry, a heavy fall, and all was over. Alas! that this sad incident should have a counterpart in things spiritual still more appalling. The despisers of Gods mercy, who are now dreaming away the brief remaining portion of their existence, will be aroused suddenly from their guilty slumber by the light which bursts in upon them from the other world, but only to discover the fearful precipice on which they have so long been standing, and when escape from ruin will be impossible. (J. N. Norton, D. D.)
Neglect--not gathering up
Bear in mind the teaching that lies hid in the derivation of the word neglect. It signifies not to gather up. It paints to us the blind man walking through a valley of diamonds, and in his ignorance gathering up none. And when, in their ignorance, men do not avail themselves of the riches of Gods grace, placed within their reach, how can they escape the results of their folly?
Danger of delay
A lady had a very important lawsuit on hand for which she needed the services of an advocate. She was strongly urged to secure the help of a verse eminent and well-known lawyer, but she could not make up her mind to entrust her case to any one. Time passed on, and at last she was compelled to take steps to secure an advocate, and called upon the great lawyer who had been mentioned to her. He listened whilst she expressed her wish to engage his help, but in a few minutes he said with a grave face, Madam, you are too late; had you come to me before, I would gladly have been your advocate, but now I have been called to the bench, and am a judge, and all I can do is to pass judgment upon your case. Now is the day of grace, and the Lord Jesus Christ is our Advocate, ever pleading the merits of His precious blood (1Jn_2:1-2), but the day will come when He will be the Judge of sinners, and must pass sentence upon them (2Ti_4:1).
Neglect
It is the neglected wheel that capsizes the vehicle, and maims for life the passengers. It is the neglected leak that sinks the ship. It is the neglected field that yields briers instead of bread. It is the neglected spark near the magazine whose tremendous explosion sends its hundreds of mangled wretches into eternity. The neglect of an officer to throw up a rocket on a certain night caused the fall of Antwerp, and postponed the deliverance of Holland for twenty or more years. The neglect of a sentinel to give an alarm hindered the fall of Sebastopol, and resulted in the loss of many thousand lives.
So great salvation
Great salvation--an appeal
I. AS SINNERS YOU ARE EXPOSED TO IMMENSE DANGER
1. Ever augmenting.
2. Self-created.
3. For ever unavoidable after death.
II. TO DELIVER YOU FROM. THIS DANGER HEAVEN HAS INTRODUCED A GLORIOUS EXPEDIENT. Great, because of
1. The great facts it involves.
2. The immense influence it exerts upon the universe.
3. The infinite blessings it secures to those who will accept it.
III. THE NEGLECT OF THIS GLORIOUS EXPEDIENT BENDERS SALVATION IMPOSSIBLE.
1. Because it is the only expedient now on earth that can effect your deliverance.
2. Because it is the only expedient that will ever be presented to you by Heaven for the purpose. (Homilist.)
The gospel and its Rejectors
I. THE ABSURDITY OF NEGLECTING THE GOSPEL SALVATION. This appears if we consider
1. Its gratuity.
2. Its greatness.
3. Its endurance.
4. Its relation to us.
5. Its singleness.
II. THE IMPOSSIBILITY FOR GOSPEL REJECTORS TO ESCAPE ETERNAL PUNISHMENT.
1. The inseparable connection between sin and punishment.
2. Gods veracity.
3. Gods almightiness.
4. Gods justice.
5. The nature of Heaven. (Homilist.)
Great salvation
1. It was a great thought in the heart of God.
2. It required a great preparation.
3. It exhibited great condescension.
4. It gives occasion to study a great mystery.
5. It exacted great sufferings.
6. It ensures a revenue of great glory. (H. T. Miller.)
The greatness of salvation
The word salvation occurs in the Bible under a variety of significations. When the children of Israel had just been delivered out of Egypt, and were brought to a stand-still before the Red Sea, Moses said to them--Stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord. Now, in what did that salvation consist? It consisted in this--in a temporary delivering of them out of their trouble, by making a path through the depths of the sea. The Lord delivered them then with a great salvation. Further, you remember that our Lord, on His visit to Zacchaeus, seeing how he was escaping from the bonds of that passion for ill-gotten lucre, exclaims, This day is salvation come unto this house. That was a great salvation--a deliverance from the thraldom of sin, by the introduction of the freedom wherewith Christ makes His people free. And there remains another appropriate use of the term. We are kept by faith unto salvation: to be redeemed and brought into that glorious state, where the white-robed ones stand--that city, in which we shall not only be saved, as we are now, but in a perfect state of salvation. That, also, is meant at times in the Scripture, when the word salvation is employed. Now, it becomes us to inquire which of these three senses are here conveyed by the words of our text. It seems to me that it comprehends all three; that is to say, all that is needed for the first liberation of man from sin; all that is needed of temporal deliverance to keep him from failing, and to enable him to persevere unto the end; and all that is comprehended in the hereafter, and not-to-be-revealed glory that remaineth for the people of God. Each of the three are great salvation, and, combined, they make the so great salvation. How shall we escape, if we neglect this so great salvation? Now, I think there are several things which will plainly prove that this is a great salvation.
I. First of all--as A SCHEME, a plan, to work out a Divine purpose--as a Divine scheme and plan, I maintain it is a great salvation.
1. If I examine the wisdom of the scheme--the plan of the scheme--here I come in contact with a wisdom of no finite being: it is the wisdom of the Divine Being Himself; it is infinite wisdom; the mint-mark has Heavens royal stamp, and the image and superscription are more than Caesars; they are those of the King of kings Himself. Now this wisdom is displayed in a threefold manner.
(1) First, in grappling with a difficulty in which no man can succeed. We can deal with our fellow-creatures bodies; we can deal with their minds; but their souls are encased as in triple steel; and whenever man has begun to touch sin, the only thing he has done has been to burn his own fingers, without putting that firebrand out of the world. Sin is everywhere, and man has never been able to cast it out. It stands, and ever will stand, till a Divine power shall come to cast it out. Now God has found out the way of accomplishing this, and He has devised a scheme which, in His hand, shall make this wide world to be covered with His glory, even as the waters cover the deep. That is one thing in which I detect the wisdom of God; He has accomplished that which has ever defied the wisdom of the wisest, and the might of the mightiest.
(2) Something further is to be noticed--God has done this with a wisdom so great, that He has foreseen all that He has purposed to do, and everything He has done, and has not left undone anything that He has purposed.
(3) Let me observe, again, that the wisdom of this scheme is something so great, that not a single wrong is done to any one. God has rest ,red the false note in the great organ of the universe, without staying its tune, or hindering the harmony of the music of the spheres; and He has done it all with a wisdom so infinite, that we must exclaim. This is indeed a s, great salvation.
2. But now, join that wisdom with love--think of the low, as well as the wisdom, and then you will have further heightened the thought.
II. Now, it is a great salvation, not only because of the scheme, but also because of THE AIM IN VIEW, and the objects which it purposes to perform. Christ came, not merely to save man from sin, and from Satan--not merely to save man from going down to the pit without ransom, though that would ha, e been a great salvation. Christ comes, we say, to destroy sin; but how? By bringing in a righteousness that shall far surpass the righteousness of men. He comes to destroy death; but how? By bringing life and immortality to light. He comes to destroy the works of the devil; and how? By doing the works of Him that sent Him, and the great salvation He brings in, has, for its end and aim, not merely the putting of man into the garden of Eden, where he was before the Fall but to put him in possession of life and immortality itself.
III. We exclaim again, It is a great salvation, from THE MEANS that have been used for the working-out of the scheme, and from the original end and aim proposed. And here I might begin at the beginning, but how can we go back to the countless ages of eternity? and time would certain, fail us, if I were to begin at the creation of the world, for it all has been but the theatre for the working-out of this great salvation. I would come down to the time of the Jews, and would see there all the wonders of the life of Abraham, and of Abrahams descendants. All these things formed part of the working-out of the scheme, for the Jews were like the scaffolding which needed to be erected, that there might be raised, inside of it, a true and living structure, which is to abide for ever. The Jewish race, with its wondrous history, has but served as the pinnacle for the erection and for the display of the cross thereupon. But we must narrow our limits again. Let us now start from Bethlehem; and there, in the stable of a lowly inn, we see a babe; small it is, but yet great ; the Son of Mary, and the Son of the Highest. He whom even the heaven of heavens cannot contain, is there, wrapped in that veil of our inferior clay. As I look upon that deep mystery, and see there that Child of God, I see also and adore the man my fellow--Christ in the flesh--God incarnate. I see there a mighty deed thatstamps this salvation with a greatness of His own. I pass by all the after-wonders of His life, and come to the cloning scene, when He hangs upon the cross. I look at that bleeding man, and I exclaim, How is it?--it is the blood of God--for I find the Scripture saying, The Church of God, which He has purchased with His blood. How it is I cannot tell; but there is a Divine efficacy in the death and blood of Christ.
IV. Fourthly, let us look at these facts taken as a whole, and as LYING AT THE FOUNDATION OF OUR RELIGION. Now reason could never discover a religion; I say that reason does tell us this--it is the best religion the world ever has seen, or can see. There are three things that we must find in every religion to make it great. It must reveal a God, worthy of the highest honour ; it must give benefits to the worshippers ; and it must establish a connection between the two. If it does not reveal a God, it is worthless. If it reveals a God, but He is not worthy of the highest honour, I say it is a weak religion--away with it. Now our religion is this: Glory to God in the highest--glory in the scheme, glory in the working-out, glory in the end proposed. (C.H. Spurgeon.)
The great salvation
I. THE CHARACTER OF THIS SALVATION.
1. It is worthy of the character given to it, if you consider the method of its contrivance.
2. It is a great salvation in the manner of its execution. Amazing love!
3. It is a great salvation in the blessing it secures.
4. In the manner of its bestowment. It regards us as we really are, poor and wretched; and without insulting us in our poverty, it invites us--nay more, it commands us--to come and take of the water of life freely. Were the smallest good required of you in exchange for this blessing, we might then calculate on your neglecting this great salvation, on the plea that you were destitute of what you were required to give for it. But you are invited to receive it without money and without price
5. In the countless multitudes who shall be brought to participate in it.
II. CONSIDER ITS REFERENCE TO US.
1. It demands great attention.
2. It should be embraced with great thankfulness.
3. Its refection will be accompanied with great condemnation.
God could devise no method more safe, more honourable, more glorious for a sinner's salvation, than the method exhibited in the gospel. Grace in its richest character, mercy in its brightest form are here displayed. But the greater the grace, the richer the mercy, and the more free and generous the invitation, the greater will be the guilt of him who rejects it. (Essex Congregational Remembrancer,)
The great salvation
I. SALVATION. Now, suppose that I were on the bank of a river, and were to see some child or some fellow-man struggling in the stream; if I were to use my best endeavour to help that fellow-creature out of the water, and if I were successful in that attempt, it would be a salvation. Or, if I were to find some fellow-man suffering from a dreadful disease for which I had a specific, and I were to come and administer this specific to that man, and he were to recover from that disease, that would be a salvation. I am about to speak to you of a salvation of a different kind--not f a salvation from mere bodily death not of a salvation from bodily disease--but of a salvation from all the ills which soul, and spirit, and body are heirs to--a salvation from everything that blights and blasts our fallen human nature. 1. The salvation upon which I speak is the deliverance from ignorance of the true God. That ignorance, you know, is just like a dense darkness at a time when a man wants light, and in the place where a man wants light, and under circumstances where the shining of light is essential to a man. The man who is saved knows something of God, of our Father in heaven: t e knows enough of God for his present well-being, and for his present well-doing. That is one part of salvation. Now there is another.
2. I do not know how it is, but so it is, as we believe, that every one born into, this world is inclined to do wrong. God made such an arrangement when He created our first parents, that if they had done right, right dispositions would have been communicated. You sometimes see a very amiable mother and a very amiable daughter ; there is a disposition communicated the one from the other. Now, on account of that arrangement, when our first parents went wrong and they had children, the children received from them a wrong disposition--a disposition to do that which is had-that which is evil and it is within us all. Is there anything more common than to hear people say, I shall do as I like; don't meddle with me, I shall do as I please? Now that is the very essence of sin. Any creature who begins to say, I will do as I like, falls immediately. If the brightest and best of the angels from around Gods throne were at this moment to say, I will do as I like, and were to begin to turn to his own way and to carry out the desired devices of his own heart, he would be immediately a fallen angel, and heaven would be no paradise to that being. What is this salvation? It is a salvation from the Ill do as I like principle,--from the Ill do what I please principle. It is deliverance from that. Itis the creation within us of another spirit, and of a new heart in that matter, and the question then is, Saviour, what shall I do? Saviour, how shall I speak? Saviour, how shall I live? Saviour, what shall I work at? Saviour, where shall I abide? Where shall I travel? What will be my occupation? Saviour, in all things what shall I do? That also is part of salvation. Some people, you know, especially some people with a profession of religion, think that their consciences always are right. You see such an one doing something that you think is very bad, something that the Bible condemns. You open the Bible and point to a text, and say to him, There, that passage says you are wrong. But he will probably really, I cannot be very wrong, for I did such and such a thing conscientiously. Now, suppose I were in the position of some of you who have places of business, and that I employed errand-boys to assist me in that business, and I required of a lad that he should always be at the shop at six oclock in the morning; and suppose he had a miserable sort of time-piece that was always two hours behind the time of day. I chide the lad for being two hours behind time, and he brings forth to me his old wretched thing of a watch, and shows me that its hands point to the hour of six, but I tell him that, according to the position of the sun in the skies, it is eight oclock. He argues with me, But my watch says it is six! Then, what I should say to him would he, Unless you are mocking me I require that you get your watch regulated, and take care that on the face of that watch there is always a correct index of the true time. Just so I say to people who do wrong, and justify their wrong-doing by reference to their conscience. Conscience is a thing amongst mankind which is as often wrong as a bad clock or as a bad watch, and consciences need mending--need rectifying. Now, salvation is to put a mans conscience right, so That it answers to the will of God, and to the pleasure of God, and is an index of what is right and of what is wrong. That is another part of salvation. I need not say to you that we are all hurrying onward to the grave, and that after death comes the judgment. Now, we carry with us, unless we are saved the guilt of the first sin we committed when we begin to say I will and I wont, and the guilt of all the sins committed throughout life. If we pass unsaved into the future state, we carry the guilt of all the transgressions with us to the bar of God. Now, you know that God must do one of two things: He must either forgive sin or punish it. He cannot pass it by. Oh, what must be the weight of His arm when it strikes the transgressor to punish! We cannot wonder that in the place of punishment there is weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth.
3. Now, this salvation is deliverance from such punishment. A man who is saved not only knows God, not only obeys God, but is free from all danger of future misery. God has cast his transgressions into the depths of the sea. They are beyond the arm and beyond the sight of any creature. That is salvation. There are fifty other things that might be said about the salvation if we were professing to speak of it fully, but we only intend to give you two or three illustrations of what it is.
Now observe it is great. Why?
1. First, because it comes from a great God; because it comes from that great Gods great heart; because it comes from the great grace of the great heart of that great God. That is why it is great.
2. It is brought down to us from that great Gods great heart and from His great grace by a great and personal Saviour.
3. It is a great salvation because it compasses all our wants, all our woes, all our trials, all our temptations, all the ills to which we are heir.
II. NEGLECT. Suppose we were to-night in an excursion train instead of being here, and suppose a train were just behind us--an express train. And suppose that the man at the last station had forgotten to stop that train, to signal it, or to tell the driver that the excursion train was before him and that he must go gently. Suppose he forgot it--that he was occupied with other matters so entirely as to forget it. What would be the effect of that neglect? Into our train would come dashing the express train. And what would be the consequence? Terrific loss of life. Or say that I am suffering from high fever. My medical attendant sends me medicine which he requires to be taken to me immediately. Say that some person in my house neglects to give me that medicine and I remain being consumed by the fever through the night. That person might nut intend to injure me; it might be very far from his wish; but the neglect does the injury. My fever rages, burns, and consumes, and before morning light, I am upon the very brink of the grave. We see what mischievous consequences may flow from neglect. If a person acre to put a bar of iron across the metals of the line upon which we were travelling, and do it with the purpose of upsetting the train, that would involve the most serious consequences. But we have seen that neglect does it without any bad intention. If a person were to administer poison intentionally, that would destroy life; but we have seen that the neglect in not giving the medicine might be the means of terminating life quite as really and effectually as the administering poison itself. Now I want your attention to this, for the text says, How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation?
III. Any day may bring forth such a change in your circumstances, as that you shall see no way of escape. To-day shows you AWAY OF ESCAPE, a place of repentance. To-day exhibits to you the great salvation: To-morrow may see you in such a position as that no way of escape can ever exist for you, and you may say in the agony of despair, How can I escape, for I have neglected Gods great salvation? (S. Martin, D. D.)
Neglectful of salvation
I. Those persons may certainly be numbered among this class WHO ARE SLUMBERING OVER THEIR IMMORTAL INTERESTS, and who are satisfied to be indifferent to the claims of the gospel, so long as they can be accused of no outrageous offence against it. On every principle of equity, great benefits deserve great and anxious labours and struggles to possess ourselves of them. The man would be accounted guilty of egregious toll,, who, having the opportunity to send forward his goods to their destination on strong and fleet horses, should insist on engaging for the purpose such as were worn out and helpless; but not so foolish as those who are wasting the days of health and vigour in indecision and idleness, and who are expecting to work out their everlasting salvation in the season of sickness and decrepitude.
II. The charge of neglecting this great salvation must also be brought against those WHO ARE MERELY NEUTRALS in the cause of God.
III. All those living in Christian lands may be said to neglect salvation WHO FAIL TO MAKE IT THEIR FIRST AND GREATEST CONCERN.
IV. Those persons are neglecting this great salvation WHO DO NOT USE GODS OWN APPOINTED MEANS FOR SECURING IT. (J. N. Norton, D. D.)
The great salvation by Jesus, Christ
I. WHAT IS MEANT BY THE WORD SPOKEN BY ANGELS ?
1. The law, unquestionably, as contradistinguished from the gospel.
2. When in this connection we speak of law as contradistinguished from gospel, we men that rule of moral conduct, of both heart and life, to which God exacts perfect obedience from all His intelligent creatures.
3. The law has not been abrogated by the introduction of the gospel; nor have its claims been alienated, or its sanctions abolish d.
4. To perceive the force of the apostles argument it is necessary to notice the prominence he gives to the penal character of the law. Eve, y transgression and disobedience received a just recompense of reward.
5. The just recompense of reward is this penalty. A recompense, says Mr. Benson, proportionable to the crime, according to the judgment of God, width is infinitely just and equal, and implies that they who commit sin are worthy of death. Death is the penalty of the law: The soul that sinneth, it shall die.
II. WHAT IS MEANT BY THE EXPRESSION, SO GREAT SALVATION?
1. The whole system of Christianity.
2. The theme of the gospel is salvation by Jesus Christ. It is founded in Him. Other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ. He is the Author and Finisher of our faith;--the Author of eternal salvation to all them that obey Him. Of the whole system of the gospel, he is the Alpha and the Omega. The gospel is a remedial system. It proposes satisfaction to the claims of justice by a propitiatory offering for sin. By this offering we were redeemed, bought back from the bondage of sin and the penal sentence of the law.
3. Eternal life, with all the means and provisions necessary to its attainment, is ascribed to the atonement.
4. To be thus saved, we must come to God through Christ. Whosoever shall call upon the name, &c. We must receive Him by faith: Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, &c. All who slight these requirements, neglect this great salvation.
5. All this, remember, upon which eternal life is offered to sinful man, is through the atonement by Jesus Christ; and is the only remedy God has provided against the penalty of the law.
6. But the text asserts the possibility and danger of failing to receive this gracious gift of God, everlasting life through Jesus Christ our Lord, by neglecting the gospel. Eternal life is suspended upon terms and conditions set forth in the gospel; and, to insure it, intense application to these is necessary, lest anything essential to that end should be permitted to slip, and the soul be left under the power of eternal death. How tremendous the motive to give the more earnest heed! They neglect this great salvation who are indifferent to its terms and provisions, and slight the offer of pardon it makes to the guilty. Their indifference shows that they are not influenced by that sense of the guilt of sin, without which they cannot be fit subjects for pardon, in any way consistent with the purity and integrity of the moral government of God.
III. THE CONCLUSION DEDUCED FROM THE RELATION IN WHICH THE GOSPEL OF THE GRACE OF GOD STANDS TO THE LAW, which is steadfast in its claims of justice strikes us with all the force of moral demonstration.
1. From what has been said, it is evident that everlasting life, as the gift of God through our Lord Jesus Christ, is the only remedy against eternal death, which is the penalty of the law.
2. Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea we establish the law. In the terms of both the law and the gospel, God deals with man as a moral agent. (S. Luckey. D. D.)
The elements of persuasion in the gospel salvation
The apostle does not attempt to tell us just how great salvation is. He probably felt respecting it much as he did in regard to the love of Christ, that it has a breadth and length and depth and height, which passeth knowledge. He could therefore express his views of it no better than by giving utterance to the words--so great salvation. Great it certainly is; so great, that we can conceive of none greater. I wish now to direct attention to some of the elements of impression and persuasion contained in it.
1. The salvation of the gospel commends itself, by the fact that it comes to you as a direct personal concern. You need this salvation, and your immortal all is involved in your acceptance of it in faith and love.
2. The salvation of the gospel embodies great and affecting truths; and this is another element of persuasion which it brings to bear on the mind and heart of man. First of all it unveits the character of God to your view in a new and most affecting light. It calls you to look to Him, not merely in the character of a righteous lawgiver, moral governor, and just judge, but of a kind and merciful father, calling you to His love, and proffering you pardon and everlasting happiness in Christ the Mediator. It holds up to your view the great truth that this Christ, the Son of God, has interposed in your behalf, has been in the world on your account, has by His sufferings and death made atonement for sin, and opened a way whereby God can justify and save you consistently with His holiness, His justice and His truth. And while thus the great salvation reminds you of the everlasting love of God, and of the infinite grace and kindness of the Saviour, it sets before you another truth in the most impressive light--I mean the truth of your own lost and utterly helpless condition as a sinner. In the very fact of offering you mercy it proclaims you condemned, and in seeking to raise you to life and heaven it shows you to be exposed to death and hell. It also presses on your attention another great truth--theft of the helping agency of the Holy Spirit, whose office it is to take of the things of Christ and show them unto men; who visits the heart and the conscience with His tender, awakening influence, and mercifully guides to peace and hope all who listen to His voice and yield to the drawings of His love.
3. It is another element of impression and persuasion in the salvation of the gospel that it is perfectly free and gratuitous. If you were continued in hopeless bondage in a strange land, with no hope of self-deliverance, and one unsolicited, a prince of royal blood, should, at a great expense of treasure and toil, procure your release and send you a document to that effect, the transaction would strike you as one of great kindness, and you could not fail, unless you had a heart of stone, to be deeply affected with a sense of indebtedness to so generous a benefactor. Now it is on tibia wise that the salvation of Christ comes to you. It is an unsolicited favour; it was procured at an infinite price; it offers you deliverance, complete and eternal, from the most terrible form of bondage--the bondage of sin and death--and all as a gratuity.
4. The salvation of the gospel has great power of appeal to the heart and mind of man.
5. Let us notice next the results at which the salvation of the gospel aims. Pardon, peace, joy in believing, reconciliation to God, adoption into His family, &c., in this present life. But who can speak of the results of salvation, as they will be developed in the kingdom of everlasting glory and blessedness? Salvation completed is everlasting happiness; happiness in the presence of God and the Lamb--pure, perfect, all satisfying; an exceeding and eternal weight of glory; fulness of joy and pleasures for evermore in the presence of the infinite Father, in the society of angels, and of just men made perfect.
6. Another element of impression and persuasion in this salvation lies in the fact that the offer of it is made to you only for a short time; and when withdrawn there is no more hope for eternity. (J. Hawes, D. D.)
The greatness of the gospel salvation
I. GOD HAS BY THE GOSPEL MADE SO EFFECTUAL PROVISION FOR OUR HAPPINESS, THAT NOTHING BUT OUR OWN NEGLECT CAN RENDER IT MISERABLE.
1. How great, how glorious a felicity, how adequate to the desires of a reasonable nature, is revealed to our hopes in the gospel.
2. What care and solicitude God has expressed for our attainment of it.
3. Upon how gracious reims of duty it is promised to us.
II. SINCE GOD HAS TAKEN SO GREAT CARE FOR OUR SALVATION, IT IS MOST REASONABLE THAT MEN SHOULD BE CAREFUL TO PERFORM THEIR PART OF THIS WORK, AND NOT NEGLECT IT THEMSELVES.
III. THEY WHO NEGLECT IT, HAVE NO EXCUSE FOR THE CRIME, BUT MUST EXPECT THE SEVEREST RESENTMENTS OF DIVINE JUSTICE. The direction, then, is sufficiently clear, and the duty required by it adjusted to the powers of our nature; neither ignorance, nor inability can be pretended; and what plea can we offer to Divine justice to prevent condemnation? (J. Rogers, D. D.)
Of the means of salvation
A sinner having heard that sin deserves Gods wrath and curse, the question that natively follows is, What way one may escape them? This is answered by the weighty question in the text, How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation? Which we may take up in these two things.
(1) There is no escaping for sinners, if they neglect the great salvation; they perish without remedy.
(2) They that do not neglect it, shall surely escape. Here let us consider
1. The danger sinners are in by their sin.
2. The way how they may escape; namely, by not neglecting, but falling in with the great salvation. The words intimate
(1) That there is a possibility of escaping; sinners are not shut up hopeless under the curse.
(2) The way of escape is not by fleeing from the Judge, and the execution of His sentence: nay, He is omniscient and omnipresent; one cannot outwit Him, or get away from His sight, or out of His reach. Nor is it by resisting, for He is omnipotent, and none can outbrave Him, nor make head against Him. But he may escape by falling in with the means of escape appointed by Himself, and required by Him to be made use of by us. It is neglected by unbelief, impenitency, and not using the means prescribed. On the contrary, then, He requires of us faith and repentance, which are the substance of the gospel (Act_20:21); and He requires of us the use of the means by which the salvation held forth in the gospel is obtained (Pro_8:34); for surely they neglect and slight the gospel, who do not believe, repent, or use the ordinary means of obtaining the salvation.
I. THE NECESSITY OF FAITH IN JESUS CHRIST, in order to escape the wrath and curse of God due for sin.
1. There is no pleasing God without it (Heb_11:6).
2. It is the great duty of the gospel, whereby one is made partaker of the remedy provided, and without which neither your persons nor performances can be accepted.
3. It is that which enters one into the covenant of peace; unites him with Christ and by which he comes to partake of all saving benefits.
4. Salvation and damnation turn upon this very point (Mar_16:16).
II. THE NECESSITY OF REPENTANCE.
1. The Word of God certifies us, that whosoever does not repent shall perish (Luk_13:5). Your souls then, lie at stake.
2. Heavens door is bolted against all impenitent sinners; it is not so wide as to let in a sinner with a burden of unrepented of guilt upon his back Rev_21:27).
3. Repentance is the other duty of the gospel; thereby signifying that without repentance there is no possibility but we must perish under Gods wrath and curse. John Baptist preached repentance, so did Christ Himself, the apostles, &c. How can one think then to escape without it?
4. True faith does always bring along with it true repentance (Zec_12:10).
III. ARE FAITH AND REPENTANCE IN MENS POWER, SINCE GOD REQUIRES THEM OF THEM? They are not. For Gods demands of us are the measure of our duty, but not of our strength, which reaches not to these. For
1. They are the gifts of God, and the operations of His special grace Eph_1:19; Act_5:31).
2. Sinners by nature, and in themselves, can do nothing which is good, and therefore cannot believe nor repent (Joh_15:5).
IV. THE CONNECTION BETWIXT FAITH AND REPENTANCE, AND ESCAPING THE WRATH AND CURSE OF GOD DUE TO US FOR SIN. Those who believe and repent shall certainly escape (Joh_5:24; Eze_18:30; Rom_8:1). In the moment the sinner comes into Christ, he is no more liable to eternal wrath, nor to the curse; for he is not under the law, but under grace: and the utmost he is liable to, is fatherly chastisements (Psa_89:30-33). Thus faith and repentance have the connection of appointed means prescribed by God Himself, which, by His blessing, are rendered subservient to this great end of obtaining salvation.
V. THE NECESSITY OF USING ALL THE OUTWARD MEANS WHEREBY CHRIST COMMUNICATETH TO HIS PEOPLE THE BENEFITS OF REDEMPTION.
1. God has peremptorily required this (Luk_13:24).
2. We hare no ground to expect grace or salvation but in the use of the Pro_8:34).
3. The neglect of the means is a contempt of the thing. If we would be healed, we would lie at the pool. If not, we say we care not for cure. And there is required here, not a careless or merely superficial use of the outward means, but a diligent one; that is an embracing of every opportunity that God in His providence gives us for attending upon them, a careful improvement of them, and a looking earnestly to Him for His blessing upon them. (T. Boston, D. D.)
Gods scheme of salvation as a great harbour
After a wild night, we have gone down to the harbour, over whose arms the angry waves have been dashing with boom of thunder and in clouds of spray. Outside the sea has been tossing and churning; cloudwrack driving hurriedly across the sky; the winds howling like the furies of olden fable. But within those glorious walls, the barks which had put in during the night were riding in safety; the sailors resting, or repairing rents in sail and tackle, whilst the waters were unstirred by the storm raging without. Such a refuge or harbour is a fit emblem of salvation, where tempest-driven souls find shelter and peace.
1. It is great in its sweep.
Sufficient to embrace a ruined world. Room in it for whole navies of souls to ride at anchor. Space enough for every ship of Adams race launched from the shores of time. He is the propitiation for the whole world. Whosoever will. Already it is becoming filled. There a vessel, once maimed by seven devils, a pirate ship, but captured by our Emmanuel, and at her stern the name, Mary of Magdala. And here one dismasted, and almost shattered, rescued from the fury of the Maelstrom at the last hour; on her stern the words, The Dying Thief. And there another, long employed in efforts to sap the very walls of the harbour, and now flying a pennon from the masthead, Chief of Sinners and Least of Saints.
2. It is great in its foundations. The chief requisite in constructing a sea-wall is to get a foundation a which can stand unmoved amid the heaviest seas. The shifting sand must be pierced down to the granite rock. But this harbour has foundations mighty enough to inspire strong consolation in those who have fled to it for refuge (Heb_6:18). The promise, and as if that were n t enough, the oath of God.
3. It was great in its cost. By the tabular bridge on the Menai Straits stands a column, which records the names of those who perished during the construction of that great triumph of engineering skill. Nothing is said of the money spent, only of the lives sacrificed. And so, beside the harbour of our salvation, near to its mouth, so as to be read by every ship entering its enclosure, rises another column, with this as its inscription: Sacred to the memory of the Son of God, who gave His life a sacrifice for the sin of the world.
4. It has been great in its announcement. The announcement of the law was by angels. The announcement of the gospel was by the Son. If the one were august, what must not the other have been? If the one were made sure by the most tremendous sanctions, what should not be said of the other? Proclaimed by the Lord; confirmed by apostles and eye-witnesses; testified to by the Almighty Himself, in signs and wonders, and gifts of the Holy Ghost. How dare we treat it with contumely or neglect?
5. It will be great in its penalties.--The tendency of our age is to minimise Gods righteous judgment on sin. It seems to be prevalently thought that, because out dispensation is on, of love and mercy, therefore there is the less need to dread the results of sin. But the inspired writer here argues in precisely a contrary sense. Just because this age is one of such tender mercy, therefore sins against its King are more deadly, and the penalties heavier. In the old days no transgression, positive, and no disobedience, negative, escaped its just recompense of reward: and in these days there is even less likelihood. (F. B. Meyer, B. J.)
Confirmed unto us
Of confirming the Word
Though Christs own publishing of the gospel were sufficient to make it worthy of all acceptation, yet it is said to be confirmed. That is confirmed which is further proved, or fulfilled, or made more sure and certain. Thus Christ is said to confirm the word of His apostles with signs (Mar_16:20), and God by sending His Son to confirm the promises made to the fathers (Rom_15:8). That also which is kept from failing or from being altered, is said to be confirmed. So God doth confirm His unto the end (1Co_1:8), and establish 1Co_1:21), and we are called upon to be established with grace (Heb_13:3). But that which Christ spake needed not in any such respect to be confirmed. He is a faithful and true witness Rev_3:14). He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life (Joh_14:6), that only true way that leadeth unto life. So there was no fear of any uncertainty, or of any failing in His Word. Christs Word, therefore, was con-fired for these and other like reasons.
1. Because He was not at all times, in all places present with His Church to urge and press His Word upon them. For this end He sent forth in His life time disciples to preach (Luk_9:2; Luk_10:1). And after His ascension He gave apostles and others for the perfecting of the saints (Eph_4:11-12).
2. Because of our weakness, Christ confirmed His Word, to support us, that we might have strong consolations. For this end God confirmed His promise by an oath (Heb_6:17-18).
3. Because of the commendable custom of men, who used to confirm their own words by the consent and testimony of others. Thus St. Paul in the inscriptions of his epistles joins with himself Sosthenes (1Co_1:1), Timothy (2Co_1:1), Silvanus and Timothy (1Th_1:1), Timothy with the bishops and deacons (Php_1:1), all the brethren which were with him (Gal_1:2).
4. Because by Gods law and mans, at the mouth of two or three witnesses every word shall be established (Deu_19:15). Thus Christs Word was confirmed:
(1) In that there were many witnesses of the same truth wherein they all agreed (Luk_24:48; Act_2:32).
(2). In that such as despised Him in His life-time, after His resurrection and ascension were wrought upon (Act_2:37).
(3) In that by reason of the power of the Spirit in them, they who preached the gospel of Christ after Him, were received as an angel of God, even as Christ Jesus (Gal_4:14).
(4) In that many who never heard Christ themselves, believed that Word which Christ had preached, but was made known to them by others (1Pe_1:8). Thus it appears that this confirming of Christs Word added nothing to the authority thereof. The Church may confirm the sacred Scriptures to be the Word of God: yet confirm nothing to their authority. Divine mysteries may be confirmed by human testimonies: yet no authority brought thereby to those mysteries. God being pleased thus to confirm the gospel to us, it ought to be a steadfast word to us, we ought with all steadfastness of faith to receive it, and to continue steadfastly therein, as the Christians of the primitive Church did in the apostles doctrine Act_2:42). (W. Gouge.)
A confirmed testimony
Confirmed is made steadfast (Heb_2:2), as the law was to Israel. The word confirmed does not mean, added their own testimony to the redemptive truth of what they heard and preached. This they no doubt did, and to men the testimony of other men founded on their own experience is very weighty and convincing; and of course we have it, not only in the faith of those around us, but in the unbroken life of the Church up to our time. The-point here, however, is rather the accuracy and trustworthiness with which the salvation has been handed on even unto us, by ear-witnesses of the Lord, combined perhaps with a certain authority which belonged to them as His personal healers, and the accompanying signs attesting their preaching. (A. B. Davidson,LL. D.)
Christ historical
It is of no use to say that Christ as exhibited in the Gospels, is not historical. Who among His disciples or among their proselytes was capable of inventing the sayings ascribed to Jesus, or imagining the lie and character revealed in the Gospels? Certainly not the fishermen of Galilee; as certainly not St. Paul, whose character and idiosyncrasies were of a totally different sort; still less the early Christian writers, in whom nothing is more evident than that the good which was in them was derived, as they always professed that, it was derived, from a higher source. (J. Stewart Mill.)
Value of testimony
Bishop Young says: The conviction produced by testimony is capable of being carried much higher than the conviction produced by experience, and the reason is this, because there may be concurrent testimonies to the truth of one individual fact; whereas there can be no concurrent experiments with regard to an individual experiment. (Smiths Dictionary of the Bible, Art. Resurrection.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
B. W. Johnson 1891 · Public Domain 3. How shall we escape. How then, if this…
3. How shall we escape. How then, if this was true of the law, can we hope to escape if he neglect the message of the Son? So great salvation. Not a temporal, but an eternal salvation, the salvation of the gospel. Begun to be spoken by the Lord. More especially after his death and resurrection when he bade his disciples go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. Was confirmed to us. If Paul was the writer of Hebrews he places himself in the position of the church, for elsewhere he tells us plainly that he received the gospel from the Lord himself. The apostles who had heard and seen the risen Christ first proclaimed his gospel publicly on Pentecost, an event evidently alluded to in this passage.
B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.
C. I. Scofield 1917 · Public Domain (See Scofield "Rom 1:16").
salvation
(See Scofield "Rom 1:16").
The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 2:3 So what makes us think we can escape?…
2:3 So what makes us think we can escape? Here the author presses the full force of the danger of turning away from Christ and his salvation. There is no escape from punishment for those who walk away, and the punishment will be of the greatest severity (cp. 6:4-12; 10:26-31; 12:29; Rom 2:5; 1 Thes 2:16). • Salvation refers to God’s acts on behalf of his people. For example, God saved his people through the exodus from Egypt (Deut 26:5-9). In the New Testament, salvation primarily refers to Christ’s work of rescuing people from the penalty of sin and giving them new life by his sacrificial death on the cross (Heb 5:9-10). This salvation was first announced by the Lord Jesus himself (e.g., Matt 4:17; 9:35; Mark 1:15; Luke 13:1-5). He then delivered (or validated) the message through those who heard him speak (e.g., Mark 6:12; Acts 2:38; 3:19-20).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.