For men indeed swear by a greater one, and in every dispute of theirs the oath is final for confirmation. In this way God, being determined to show more abundantly to the heirs of the promise the immutability of his counsel, interposed with an oath, that by two immutable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we may have a strong encouragement, who have fled for refuge to take hold of the hope set before us. This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, a hope both sure and steadfast and entering into that which is within the veil; where as a forerunner Jesus entered for us, having become a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.
Show the surrounding paragraph
Hebrews 6:16-20 sits inside this longer paragraph.
But, beloved, we are persuaded of better things for you, and things that accompany salvation, even though we speak like this. For God is not unrighteous, so as to forget your work and the labor of love which you showed toward his name, in that you served the saints, and still do serve them. We desire that each one of you may show the same diligence to the fullness of hope even to the end, that you won’t be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and perseverance inherited the promises. For when God made a promise to Abraham, since he could swear by no one greater, he swore by himself, saying, “Surely blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply you.” Thus, having patiently endured, he obtained the promise. For men indeed swear by a greater one, and in every dispute of theirs the oath is final for confirmation. In this way God, being determined to show more abundantly to the heirs of the promise the immutability of his counsel, interposed with an oath, that by two immutable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we may have a strong encouragement, who have fled for refuge to take hold of the hope set before us. This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, a hope both sure and steadfast and entering into that which is within the veil; where as a forerunner Jesus entered for us, having become a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.
Parallel Translations
-
For men indeed swear by a greater one, and in every dispute of theirs the oath is final for confirmation.
In this way God, being determined to show more abundantly to the heirs of the promise the immutability of his counsel, interposed with an oath,
that by two immutable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we may have a strong encouragement, who have fled for refuge to take hold of the hope set before us.
This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, a hope both sure and steadfast and entering into that which is within the veil;
where as a forerunner Jesus entered for us, having become a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.
-
Men verely sweare by him that is greater then them selves and an othe to confyrme the thynge ys amonge them an ende of all stryfe.
So god willynge very aboundanly to shewe vnto the heyres of promes the stablenes of his counsayle he added an othe
that by two immutable thinges (in which it was vnpossible that god shuld lye) we myght have parfect consolacion which have fled for to holde fast the hope that is set before vs
which hope we have as an ancre of the soule both sure and stedfast. Which hope also entreth in into tho thynges which are with in the vayle
whither the fore runner is for vs entred in I mean Iesus that is made an hye prest for ever after the order of Melchisedech.
Show all 3 translations
-
For men verely sweare by him that is greater then themselues, and an othe for confirmation is among them an ende of all strife.
So God, willing more aboundantly to shew vnto the heires of promise the stablenes of his counsell, bound himselfe by an othe,
That by two immutable things, wherein it is vnpossible that God should lye, we might haue strong consolation, which haue our refuge to lay holde vpon that hope that is set before vs,
Which hope we haue, as an ancre of the soule, both sure and stedfast, and it entreth into that which is within the vaile,
Whither the forerunner is for vs entred in, euen Iesus that is made an hie Priest for euer after the order of Melchi-sedec.
Examined in Scripture Analysis
Contradictions (1)
Questions where the Bible appears to say two different things, with the passages on each side set together.
Cross-references (126)
- Numbers 23:19 (v18) God is not a man, that he should lie, nor a son of man, that he should repent. Has he said, and will he not do it? Or has he spoken, and…
- Titus 1:2 (v18) in hope of eternal life, which God, who can’t lie, promised before time began;
- 1 Samuel 15:29 (v18) Also the Strength of Israel will not lie nor repent; for he is not a man, that he should repent.”
- 2 Timothy 2:13 (v18) If we are faithless, he remains faithful; for he can’t deny himself.”
- Romans 5:5-10 (v19) and hope doesn’t disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us. For while…
Show all 100 cross-references
- Psalms 43:5 (v19) Why are you in despair, my soul? Why are you disturbed within me? Hope in God! For I shall still praise him: my Savior, my helper, and my…
- Romans 8:28-39 (v19) We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, for those who are called according to his purpose. For whom he…
- Romans 3:4 (v18) May it never be! Yes, let God be found true, but every man a liar. As it is written, “that you might be justified in your words, and might…
- Hebrews 9:7 (v19) but into the second the high priest alone, once in the year, not without blood, which he offers for himself, and for the errors of the…
- Leviticus 16:2 (v19) and Yahweh said to Moses, “Tell Aaron your brother not to come at just any time into the Most Holy Place within the veil, before the mercy…
- Leviticus 16:15 (v19) “Then he shall kill the goat of the sin offering that is for the people, and bring his blood within the veil, and do with his blood as he…
- Psalms 46:1 (v18) God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.
- Psalms 62:5-6 (v19) My soul, wait in silence for God alone, for my expectation is from him. He alone is my rock and my salvation, my fortress. I will not be…
- Matthew 27:51 (v19) Behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from the top to the bottom. The earth quaked and the rocks were split.
- Hebrews 4:14 (v20) Having then a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let’s hold tightly to our confession.
- Hebrews 9:3 (v19) After the second veil was the tabernacle which is called the Holy of Holies,
- Joshua 20:3 (v18) that the man slayer who kills any person accidentally or unintentionally may flee there. They shall be to you for a refuge from the avenger…
- Proverbs 19:21 (v17) There are many plans in a man’s heart, but Yahweh’s counsel will prevail.
- Isaiah 25:3-4 (v19) Therefore a strong people will glorify you. A city of awesome nations will fear you. For you have been a stronghold to the poor, a…
- Colossians 3:1 (v19) If then you were raised together with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated on the right hand of God.
- Hebrews 6:18 (v17) that by two immutable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we may have a strong encouragement, who have fled for refuge to…
- Isaiah 32:1-2 (v18) Behold, a king shall reign in righteousness, and princes shall rule in justice. A man shall be as a hiding place from the wind, and a…
- Isaiah 51:12 (v18) “I, even I, am he who comforts you. Who are you, that you are afraid of man who shall die, and of the son of man who will be made as grass?
- Isaiah 55:11 (v17) so is my word that goes out of my mouth: it will not return to me void, but it will accomplish that which I please, and it will prosper in…
- Hebrews 3:1 (v20) Therefore, holy brothers, partakers of a heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our confession: Jesus,
- 1 John 1:10 (v18) If we say that we haven’t sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.
- Psalms 42:11 (v19) Why are you in despair, my soul? Why are you disturbed within me? Hope in God! For I shall still praise him, the saving help of my…
- Isaiah 14:24 (v17) Yahweh of Armies has sworn, saying, “Surely, as I have thought, so shall it happen; and as I have purposed, so shall it stand:
- 2 Timothy 2:19 (v19) However God’s firm foundation stands, having this seal, “The Lord knows those who are his,” and, “Let every one who names the name of the…
- Hebrews 5:6 (v20) As he says also in another place, “You are a priest forever, after the order of Melchizedek.”
- Hebrews 12:1-2 (v18) Therefore let’s also, seeing we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, lay aside every weight and the sin which so easily…
- Numbers 35:11-15 (v18) then you shall appoint for yourselves cities to be cities of refuge for you, that the man slayer who kills any person unwittingly may flee…
- 1 Kings 2:28 (v18) This news came to Joab; for Joab had followed Adonijah, although he didn’t follow Absalom. Joab fled to Yahweh’s Tent, and held onto the…
- Proverbs 4:13 (v18) Take firm hold of instruction. Don’t let her go. Keep her, for she is your life.
- Isaiah 56:4 (v18) For Yahweh says, “To the eunuchs who keep my Sabbaths, choose the things that please me, and hold fast to my covenant,
- Isaiah 64:7 (v18) There is no one who calls on your name, who stirs himself up to take hold of you; for you have hidden your face from us, and have consumed…
- Zechariah 9:12 (v18) Turn to the stronghold, you prisoners of hope! Even today I declare that I will restore double to you.
- Romans 3:25 (v18) whom God sent to be an atoning sacrifice, through faith in his blood, for a demonstration of his righteousness through the passing over of…
- 2 Corinthians 1:5-7 (v18) For as the sufferings of Christ abound to us, even so our comfort also abounds through Christ. But if we are afflicted, it is for your…
- 1 Timothy 1:1 (v18) Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ according to the commandment of God our Savior and the Lord Jesus Christ our hope;
- Hebrews 3:11 (v18) As I swore in my wrath, ‘They will not enter into my rest.’ ”
- Hebrews 5:10 (v20) named by God a high priest after the order of Melchizedek.
- Hebrews 11:9 (v17) By faith, he lived as an alien in the land of promise, as in a land not his own, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him…
- Psalms 110:4 (vv17–18) Yahweh has sworn, and will not change his mind: “You are a priest forever in the order of Melchizedek.”
- Isaiah 12:2 (v19) 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…
- Jeremiah 17:7-8 (v19) “Blessed is the man who trusts in Yahweh, and whose confidence is in Yahweh. For he will be as a tree planted by the waters, who spreads…
- John 14:2-3 (v20) In my Father’s house are many homes. If it weren’t so, I would have told you. I am going to prepare a place for you. If I go and prepare a…
- Acts 27:29 (v19) Fearing that we would run aground on rocky ground, they let go four anchors from the stern, and wished for daylight.
- Romans 4:16 (v19) For this cause it is of faith, that it may be according to grace, to the end that the promise may be sure to all the offspring, not to that…
- Romans 8:34 (v20) Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, yes rather, who was raised from the dead, who is at the right hand of God, who also makes…
- Romans 15:5 (v18) Now the God of perseverance and of encouragement grant you to be of the same mind with one another according to Christ Jesus,
- 1 Timothy 6:12 (v18) Fight the good fight of faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called, and you confessed the good confession in the sight…
- Hebrews 1:3 (v20) His Son is the radiance of his glory, the very image of his substance, and upholding all things by the word of his power, who, when he had…
- Hebrews 2:10 (v20) For it became him, for whom are all things, and through whom are all things, in bringing many children to glory, to make the author of…
- Hebrews 8:1 (v20) Now in the things which we are saying, the main point is this. We have such a high priest, who sat down on the right hand of the throne of…
- Hebrews 9:12 (v20) nor yet through the blood of goats and calves, but through his own blood, entered in once for all into the Holy Place, having obtained…
- Hebrews 9:24 (v20) For Christ hasn’t entered into holy places made with hands, which are representations of the true, but into heaven itself, now to appear in…
- 1 John 5:10 (v18) He who believes in the Son of God has the testimony in himself. He who doesn’t believe God has made him a liar, because he has not believed…
- Hebrews 11:7 (vv17–18) By faith, Noah, being warned about things not yet seen, moved with godly fear, prepared a ship for the saving of his house, through which…
- Genesis 19:22 (v18) Hurry, escape there, for I can’t do anything until you get there.” Therefore the name of the city was called Zoar.
- Psalms 33:11 (v17) The counsel of Yahweh stands fast forever, the thoughts of his heart to all generations.
- Psalms 146:5-6 (v19) Happy is he who has the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in Yahweh, his God: who made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in…
- Isaiah 27:5 (v18) Or else let him take hold of my strength, that he may make peace with me. Let him make peace with me.”
- Isaiah 28:16 (v19) Therefore the Lord Yahweh says, “Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious cornerstone of a sure…
- Isaiah 66:10-13 (v18) “Rejoice with Jerusalem, and be glad for her, all you who love her. Rejoice for joy with her, all you who mourn over her; that you may…
- Matthew 24:35 (v18) Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.
- Luke 2:25 (v18) Behold, there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon. This man was righteous and devout, looking for the consolation of Israel, and…
- John 10:10 (v17) The thief only comes to steal, kill, and destroy. I came that they may have life, and may have it abundantly.
- Acts 27:40 (v19) Casting off the anchors, they left them in the sea, at the same time untying the rudder ropes. Hoisting up the foresail to the wind, they…
- Ephesians 1:3 (v20) Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ,
- Ephesians 1:20-23 (v20) which he worked in Christ, when he raised him from the dead and made him to sit at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all…
- Colossians 1:23 (v18) if it is so that you continue in the faith, grounded and steadfast, and not moved away from the hope of the Good News which you heard,…
- Colossians 1:27 (v18) to whom God was pleased to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope…
- 1 Thessalonians 1:10 (v18) and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead: Jesus, who delivers us from the wrath to come.
- Hebrews 2:17 (v20) Therefore he was obligated in all things to be made like his brothers, that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in things…
- Hebrews 7:1-21 (v20) For this Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of God Most High, who met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings and blessed him, to…
- Hebrews 12:2 (v20) looking to Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising its shame, and…
- 1 Peter 3:22 (v20) who is at the right hand of God, having gone into heaven, angels and authorities and powers being made subject to him.
- 1 John 2:12 (v20) I write to you, little children, because your sins are forgiven you for his name’s sake.
- Exodus 22:11 (vv16–17) the oath of Yahweh shall be between them both, he has not put his hand on his neighbor’s goods; and its owner shall accept it, and he shall…
- Job 23:13-14 (v17) But he stands alone, and who can oppose him? What his soul desires, even that he does. For he performs that which is appointed for me. Many…
- Psalms 42:5 (v19) Why are you in despair, my soul? Why are you disturbed within me? Hope in God! For I shall still praise him for the saving help of his…
- Psalms 62:8 (v18) Trust in him at all times, you people. Pour out your heart before him. God is a refuge for us.
- Proverbs 3:18 (v18) She is a tree of life to those who lay hold of her. Happy is everyone who retains her.
- Isaiah 55:7 (v17) Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts. Let him return to Yahweh, and he will have mercy on him, to our God,…
- Malachi 3:6 (v17) “For I, Yahweh, don’t change; therefore you, sons of Jacob, are not consumed.
- Matthew 3:7 (v18) But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming for his baptism, he said to them, “You offspring of vipers, who warned you to…
- Romans 11:29 (v17) For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.
- 2 Corinthians 5:18-21 (v18) But all things are of God, who reconciled us to himself through Jesus Christ, and gave to us the ministry of reconciliation; namely, that…
- Galatians 3:29 (v17) If you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring and heirs according to promise.
- Philippians 2:1 (v18) If therefore there is any exhortation in Christ, if any consolation of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any tender mercies and…
- Colossians 1:5 (v18) because of the hope which is laid up for you in the heavens, of which you heard before in the word of the truth of the Good News
- 2 Thessalonians 2:16-17 (v18) Now our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God our Father, who loved us and gave us eternal comfort and good hope through grace, comfort your…
- Hebrews 3:6 (v18) but Christ is faithful as a Son over his house. We are his house, if we hold fast our confidence and the glorying of our hope firm to the…
- Hebrews 4:16 (v19) Let’s therefore draw near with boldness to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and may find grace for help in time of need.
- Hebrews 6:12 (v17) that you won’t be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and perseverance inherited the promises.
- Hebrews 6:16 (v17) For men indeed swear by a greater one, and in every dispute of theirs the oath is final for confirmation.
- Hebrews 7:21 (v18) (for they indeed have been made priests without an oath), but he with an oath by him that says of him, “The Lord swore and will not change…
- Hebrews 10:20-21 (v19) by the way which he dedicated for us, a new and living way, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh, and having a great priest over…
- James 1:17 (v17) Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom can be no variation, nor turning…
100 distinct cross-references across this passage (126 total citations).
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this passage (21 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
Private notes
Saved on this device only — never synced or sent anywhere.
John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain On vv16–19 16. For men, etc. It is an argument from…
16. For men, etc. It is an argument from the less to the greater; if credit is given to man, who is by nature false, when he swears, and for this reason, because he confirms what he says by God’s name, how much more credit is due to God, who is eternal truth, when he swears by himself?
Now he mentions several things to commend this declaration; and first he says that men swear by the greater; by which he means that they who are wanting in due authority borrow it from another. He adds that there is so much reverence in an oath that it suffices for confirmation, and puts an end to all disputes where the testimonies of men and other proofs are wanting. Then is not he a sufficient witness for himself whom all appeal to as a witness? Is he not to obtain credit for what he says, who, by his authority, removes all doubts among others? If God’s name, pronounced by man’s tongue, possesses so much superiority, how much more weight ought it to have, when God himself swears by his own name? Thus much as to the main point.
Read full note →
But here in passing, two things are to be noticed, — that we are to swear by God’s name when necessity requires, and that Christians are allowed to make an oath, because it is a lawful remedy for removing contentions. God in express words bids us to swear by his name; if other names are blended with it, the oath is profaned. For this there are especially three reasons: when there is no way of bringing the truth to light, it is not right, for the sake of verifying it, to have recourse to any but to God, who is himself eternal truth; and then, since he alone knows the heart, his own office is taken from him, when in things hidden, of which men can form no opinion, we appeal to any other judge; and thirdly, because in swearing we not only appeal to him as a witness, but also call upon him as an avenger of perjury in case we speak falsely. It is no wonder, then, that he is so greatly displeased with those who swear by another name, for his own honor is thus disparaged. And that there are different forms often used in Scripture, makes nothing against this truth; for they did not swear by heaven or earth, as though they ascribed any divine power to them, or attributed to them the least portion of divinity, but by this indirect protestation, so to speak, they had a regard to the one true God. There are indeed various kinds of protestations; but the chief one is, when we refer to God as a judge and directly appeal to his judgment-seat; another is, when we name things especially dear to us as our life, or our head, or anything of this kind; and the third is, when we call creatures as witnesses before God. But in all these ways we swear properly by no other than by God. hence they betray their impiety no less than their ignorance, who contend that it is lawful to connect dead saints with God so as to attribute to them the right of punishing.
Further, this passage teaches us, as it has been said, that an oath may be lawfully used by Christians; and this ought to be particularly observed, on account of fanatical men who are disposed to abrogate the practice of solemn swearing which God has prescribed in his Law. For certainly the Apostle speaks here of the custom of swearing as of a holy practice, and approved by God. Moreover, he does not say of it as having been formerly in use, but as of a thing still practiced. Let it then be employed as a help to find out the truth when other proofs are wanting.
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 On vv17, 19, 20 More than was needful, were it not for the…
More than was needful, were it not for the wickedness of men which believe not God, no though he swear.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv16–20 16 For men verily swear by the greater: and…
16 For men verily swear by the greater: and an oath for confirmation is to them an end of all strife.
Ver. 16. Swear by the greater] So do not they that swear by sundry creatures and qualities, God can hardly spare such, Jer 5:7. That passage, "As thy soul liveth," is not an oath, but an asseveration, or obtestation only, conjoined with the oath.
Read full note →
An end of all strife] The end of an oath is to help the truth in necessity, and to clear men’s innocency, Exo 22:11.
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 On vv16–20 For men verily swear by the greater: for here…
For men verily swear by the greater: for here is only narrative, introducing the amplification of the argument drawn from God’s promise and oath, for the quickening those and all believers to make out after the full assurance of hope, the promise and oath of God concerning them as well as Abraham. That since men’s oaths procure credit, and put an end to doubts, strife, and contradiction amongst them; much more should God’s oath put an end to doubts and gainsayings of creatures, and make them to give faith to him: men are not inventors and authors of this ordinance of swearing, but subject to God’s precept requiring this from them, and in this special part of God’s worship instituted by him, they ought to swear justly and according to his will; and swear they must by God only, who knows the intentions and secrets of the heart, and who is absolutely greater than all; the omniscient, omnipresent, omnipotent, and sovereign Lord of all persons, who knows false swearers, and inflicts on them not only temporal but eternal punishments. The swearing by any other, God rebukes, Deu 6:13; Jer 4:2.
And an oath for confirmation is to them an end of all strife: and in this special part of God’s worship, God is called in as a co-witness of the truth of what is sworn, and as a judge and avenger of it, if it be otherwise: and so the oath becomes a confirmation of faith and confidence of men one in another, and of love accompanying the same; so that if strife, doubt, suspicion, or jealousy arise among them about either words or deeds, which are not known to those who doubt, and cannot be cleared by sense or reason, or any other way but by a testimony of some person who knows them, which being insufficient of itself, he calls in God by an oath as co-witness, with whom it is supposed he would not break his interest, nor invocate him against himself, by declaring what is false: on this all strife and contradiction is to be decided among men, and to cease, and so the controversy to be determined.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
William Burkitt 1703 · Public Domain On vv16, 17, 19, 20 These words contain a reason, why God, in gracious…
These words contain a reason, why God, in gracious condescension to man’s infirmity, is pleased to confirm his promise with an oath; it is to determine a controversy, and put an end to a strife depending between God and the falled creatures: And this is the general reason for an oath amongst men, it is to put hounds and limits to the contentions and contradictions of men; to make and end of all strife between them, which otherwise would be perpetuated, and to bring them to a mutual acquiscency; An oath for confirmation is as end of all strife.
Learn hence, 1. That there is, as we are in a state of nature, a strife and difference between God and us.
Read full note →
2. That the promises of the gospel are gracious proposals of the only way and means for the ending of that strife.
3. That the oath of God interposed for the confirmation of these promises, is every way sufficient on God’s part, to put a period to this strife, and to establish a firm peace with us through the blood of Christ. Men verily swear by the greater, and an oath for confirmation is an end of strife.
William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv16–19 Wherein God, willing,.... Or "wherefore", as the Syriac and…
Wherein God, willing,.... Or "wherefore", as the Syriac and Ethiopic versions render it; that is, whereas an oath is used among men to confirm anything that might be doubted; therefore God, in condescension to the weakness of men, made use of one; being very desirous and determined,
more abundantly to show unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel; by which is meant, not the Gospel nor the ordinances of it, though these are sometimes called the counsel of God; but the decree of God, concerning the salvation of his people by Jesus Christ, which is immutable; as appears from the unchangeableness of his nature, the sovereignty of his will, the unsearchableness of his wisdom, the omnipotence of his arm, and the unconditionality of the thing decreed, and from that and the purpose of it being in Christ: and the immutability of this, God was willing to show "more abundantly" than in other purposes, though all God's purposes are unchangeable; or than had been shown to the Old Testament saints; and more than was necessary, had it not been for man's weakness: even to "the heirs of promise"; not any earthly temporal promise, but the promise of grace and glory; the promise of eternal life; the heirs of which are not only Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, or God's elect among the Jews, but all that are Christ's; who are justified by his righteousness, believe in him, and are the children of God; for as many as are such are heirs of eternal glory, and of the promise of it: and that the unchangeableness of God's purpose in saving them by Christ might be manifest to them, and be out of all doubt, he "confirmed it by an oath"; his counsel and purpose; he not only determined in his mind that he would save them, and promised it in his covenant; but he also, to confirm it the more to the persons concerned in it, if possible, annexed his oath to it; or "he interposed or acted the part of a Mediator by an oath"; which some refer to Christ's mediation between God and Abraham, when he swore unto him, as before observed; but rather it expresses the interposition of the oath between God's purpose and promise, and man's weakness: God did as it were bind himself by his oath, or lay himself under obligation, or become a surety, for the fulfilment of his purpose and promise; which shows the super-abounding grace of God, the weakness of man, and what reason the heirs of promise have to believe.
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 On vv16–20 Men generally swear by him who is infinitely greater…
Men generally swear by him who is infinitely greater than themselves, and an oath for confirmation, to confirm what is promised or asserted, usually puts an end to all contradiction. This shows that an oath taken in a religious manner is lawful even under the gospel: otherwise the apostle would never have mentioned it with so much honour, as a proper means to confirm the truth
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv16–20 Verse 16. Men verily swear by the greater] One…
Verse 16. Men verily swear by the greater] One who has greater authority; who can take cognizance of the obligation, and punish the breach of it.
An oath for confirmation] "This observation teaches us," says Dr. Macknight, "that both promissory oaths concerning things lawful and in our power, and oaths for the confirmation of things doubtful, when required by proper authority, and taken religiously, are allowable under the Gospel."
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv16, 18, 20 Heb 6:16-17. For men verily swear by the greater…
Heb 6:16-17. For men verily swear by the greater — By persons greater than themselves, whose vengeance they imprecate if they swear falsely; and particularly by Him who is infinitely greater than themselves; and an oath for confirmation — To confirm what is promised or asserted; is to them an end of all strife — Πασης αντιλογιας περας, usually puts an end to all contradiction. This shows that an oath taken in a religious manner, is lawful, even under the gospel: otherwise the apostle would never have mentioned it with so much honour, as a proper means to confirm the truth. Wherein — In which business of confirming his promise; God, willing more abundantly — Beyond what was absolutely necessary, and out of his superabundant love to and care for us; to show unto the heirs of promise — To Abraham’s spiritual seed, whose faith is counted for righteousness, and who partake of the blessings promised; the immutability of his counsel — Of his purpose, which is accompanied with infinite wisdom; confirmed it — Greek, εμεσιτευσεν, interposed, or came between the making of the promise and its accomplishment. The expression, says Macknight, “literally signifies, he mediatored it with an oath: he made an oath, the mediator, surety, or ratifier of his counsel.” This sense of the word merits attention, because it suggests a fine interpretation of Heb 9:15, where see the note. What amazing condescension was this of God! He, who is greatest of all, acts as if he were a middle person; as if, while he swears, he were less than himself, by whom he swears.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv16–20 For men verily swear by the greater - That…
For men verily swear by the greater - That is, they appeal to God. They never swear by one who is inferior to themselves. The object of the apostle in this declaration is to show that as far as this could be done it had been by God. He could not indeed swear by one greater than himself, but he could make his promise as certain as an oath taken by people was when they solemnly appealed to him. He could appeal to his own existence and veracity, which was at any time the most solemn form of an oath, and thus put the mind to rest in regard to the hope of heaven.
And an oath for confirmation - An oath taken to confirm or establish anything.
Read full note →
Is to them an end of all strife - That is, when two parties are at variance, or have a cause at issue, an oath binds them to adhere to the terms of agreement concluded on, or contracting parties bind themselves by a solemn oath to adhere to the conditions of an agreement, and this puts an end to all strife. They rest satisfied when a solemn oath has been taken, and they feel assured that the agreement will be complied with. Or it may refer to cases where a man was accused of wrong before a court, and where he took a solemn oath that the thing had not been done, and his oath was admitted to be sufficient to put an end to the controversy. The general meaning is clear, that in disputes between man and man, an appeal was made to an oath, and that was allowed to settle it. The connection here is, that as far as the case would admit of, the same thing was done by God. His oath by himself made his promise firm.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures 1864 · Public Domain On v16 Exhortation to Christians to hold fast to the promise…
VI
Exhortation to Christians to hold fast to the promise which has been in such a manner assured to them
Read full note →
Heb_6:16-20
16For men verily [indeed, μέν]5 swear by the greater; and an oath for confirmation is to them an end of all strife [and to them a confirmatory limit to all gainsaying is an oath]. 17Wherein God, willing [wishing] more abundantly to shew unto the heirs of [the] promise the immutability of his counsel [purpose], confirmed it by [interposed with] an oath: 18That by two immutable things, in which it was [is] impossible for God to lie, we might [may] have a strong consolation [incitement], who have fled for refuge 19to lay hold upon the hope set before us: Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which entereth into that [the part] within the vail; 20Whither [literally where, ὅπου] the forerunner is [om. is] for us [on our behalf] entered, even [om. even] Jesus, made [becoming] a high priest for ever after the order of Melchisedek.
[Heb_6:16.—Μέν rendered as often in our Ep. in Eng. ver., verily; but always improperly. It is never a particle of emphasis but of concession, or simply where the two members are equally balanced, of contrast; to be sure, it is true, indeed.—πάσης αὐτοῖς ἀντιλογίας, of all gainsaying to them=of all their gainsaying; here not, strife as between equals or rivals, but contradiction, gainsaying, as of one who questions the assertion, or doubts the promise of another.—Εἰς βεβαίωσιν belongs apparently to πέρας, not to ὃρκος=a limit for confirmation, a limit or end designed for and producing confirmation.—Ὁ ὃρκος, the oath—the article generic, that thing called oath.
Heb_6:17.—Ἐν ᾧ, In which matter=in which state of the case, viz., the confirmatory power of the oath; ᾦ neuter (with Bl., De W., Thol., Ebr., Lün., Del., etc.), not masc, agreeing with ὃρκῳ—βουλόμενος, wishing, θέλων might be more properly rendered willing.—ἐπιδεῖξαι more than simply show (δηλόω, φανερόω) or even point out (δεῖξαι); rather exhibit, make an exhibition of. display; ἐπίδειξις, Greek rhetorical term for display, exhibition. The term thus carries with it an idea of more formality than is implied in the simple show.—ἐμεσίτευσεν, hardly confirmed; rather, came between, to wit, Himself and His promise, interposed.
Heb_6:18.—παράκλησιν, not here consolation (which the context disfavors), but encouragement, incitement, exhortation (so Del., Moll, Ermunterung, Alf., etc.).—κρατῆσαι, to seize upon, to lay hold of, (Eng. ver., De W., Thol., Del., Alf., etc.), or with Moll, hold fast. If we render hold fast, it would seem more natural to connect it with παράκλ. ἔχωμεν (though Moll constructs it with καταφυγόντες). If lay hold of it is more naturally, with most, constructed with καταφυγ. fled for refuge to lay hold. In favor of lay hold is, as mentioned by Alf., the Aor. tense; to hold on to would seem to require the Pres. κρατῖν. On the other hand the construction παράκλ. ἔχωμεν κρατ., may have strong incitement to hold on to, would make a sentiment eminently in harmony with the context. But as καταφυγ. is rather harshly left absolute, and κρατῆσαι, Aor. can hardly be rendered hold fast, I think the rendering of the Eng. ver. preferable to any other, agreeing with Moll in the construction, but not in rendering κρατῆσαι.
Heb_6:19.—Είσερχομένην, ἀσφαλῆν τε καὶ βεβαίαν. I am strongly inclined to regard all these words as agreeing with ἣν, scil., ἐλπίδα, and not with ἄγκυραν. The construction is perfectly easy and natural, and avoids the figure of the anchor entering, etc., which though we may, when it is once admitted, defend and even find beautiful, yet must be conceded to be at first view harsh and unnatural.—Εἰς τὸ ἐσώτερον, into the part within=within.
Heb_6:20.—ὅπου, where, with εἰσῆλθεν, used pregnantly for ὃποι, whither=whither He entered and where He remained.—πρόδρονος, forerunner, placed emphatically at the beginning of the clause, Ἰησοῦς, emphatically at its close—ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν, on behalf of us.—εἰσῆλθεν, entered, historical, not (as Eng. ver.), is entered.—γενόμενος, becoming, when He entered, not being made.—K.].
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
Heb_6:16. For men, indeed, etc.—Statement of the reason why God has employed the swearing of an oath, and that in the form here described. Ἀντιλογία never has the signification of dubitatio, doubt, (Grot., Cram.) though it may have that of judicial controversy (Theophyl., Erasm., Schlicht., etc.). Here, however, the meaning of gainsaying is to be preferred with Bleek, inasmuch as the subject is the credibility of the promises of God.
Heb_6:17. In which matter, etc.—Εν ῷ refers not to the oath (Vulg., Primas.), nor to the transaction between Abraham and God (Bez., etc.), but introduces the deduction drawn from Heb_6:16, and is=in accordance with which relation or circumstance, viz., that the oath is the highest means of confirmation, or, on account of which. Heb_6:18 shows that the “heirs of the promise” cannot be merely the pious of the Old Testament (Calv., Thol., etc.), while neither are we authorized (with Lün.) to restrict the language entirely to Christians. This latter restriction would annihilate the historical basis of the entire passage; while, in fact, the historical illustration forms the starting-point for a more expanded statement. Beza and others erroneously take περισσότερον as = “over and above,” ex abundanti. For the point of the statement is not to affirm that God’s truthful word needs in itself no confirmation by an oath, but that God, in a condescending regard to the relations and usages of men, has given His promise in a more emphatic manner than by the mere assurance.
Heb_6:18. A strong incitement, etc.—The nature of the connection forbids our taking παράκλησις (with Luth. and most others, after the Vulg.) as = consolation. Κρατῆσαι, as Inf. Aor. marks purpose, and is not = lay hold of, seize upon (De W., Thol., etc.), but hold fast. The readers have hope; what they lack is πληροφορία. But this Infin. is not dependent on παράκλησιν ἔχωμεν, under which construction οἱ καταφυγόντες, they that have fled for refuge, denotes the fugitives or secured ones, and is taken absolutely (Œc., Theoph., Grot., Bl., Lün.) as an independent idea, whether εἰς θεόν, be understood or not. The: προκειμένη ἐλπίς, is in that case the hope, lying, as it were, in readiness in the soul. If, on the contrary (with Primas., Erasm., Bez., Grot., De W., Ebr., Del., etc.), we make κρατῆσαι dependent on καταφυγ., then καταφυγεῖν receives the undoubtedly legitimate meaning of profugere, and the προκειμ. ἐλπίς, is the hope, objectively regarded, which belongs to and lies before Christians. If author and readers have already, as Christians, taken their refuge in the holding fast to this hope, they must receive a strong encouragement to this holding on from the sworn promises of God. In harmony also with the objective meaning of ἐλπίς, is the following clause, in which the author by uniting the two images of sea and temple, glides gracefully back to his main theme. The anchor, elsewhere unmentioned in Scripture, appears often in the classics and on ancient coins, as a symbol of hope. The several predicates—particularly the last one, “entering, etc.,”—intimate that the anchor is found not merely in the soul, but at the same time in heaven, and this too, not, as is commonly maintained, by the fact of the soul’s having thrown in thither its anchor of hope, but by the fact that Christ, as our high-priest, has preceded us thither; and the soul, although it as yet sees Him not, withdrawn as He is into the inner sanctuary, and His life hidden in God, yet in faith stands connected with Him, and by this connection attains, on the one hand, like the ship riding at anchor, to rest in this restless world, and on the other, to the possibility and the assurance of being itself drawn thither, where, holding it securely, its anchor already lies. For assuming a blending of the subjective and objective signification of ἐλπίς, there is no adequate reason; nor is προκειμ. ἐλπίς=ἐλπ. τῶν προκειμένων (Bl., De W., Thol.). Only we must guard against taking the objective ἐλπίς, in the sense of the res sperata (the thing hoped for); but take it in the same way in which we speak specifically of Christian faith.—Ὅπου, where, instead of ὀποι, whither, implies the remaining at the attained goal, and ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν, is not to be connected with πρόδρομος (as Heinr., Böhm., Thol., Ebr.), but with εἰσῆλθεν.
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL
1. The strongest assurance of our salvation as purposed by God, and the most powerful incitement to a believing maintenance of our Christian hope, lies partly in the reliableness which belongs to those sure promises which God for our establishment has confirmed by an oath; partly in the fact, that Jesus, as forerunner, has already entered into heaven on our behalf, and there mediates forever for our salvation, embodying in Himself not only the Aaronic but the Melchisedek high-priesthood, and carrying the type of that priesthood to perfection.
2. That which holds of the word of promise made to Abraham and confirmed by the oath of God, holds also of that word of promise in regard to the everlasting high-priesthood of Christ (Psa_110:4) which in like manner was accompanied by an oath, and which to us as Christians is specially important.
3. The admissibleness of the oath of promise, as well as that of asseveration, within the Christian world, is by this passage of Scripture assured beyond doubt, which in fact derives the strength of the exhortation from the two-fold assurance of the promise by God’s word and oath, and regards the latter as the authorized form of mediatorial interposition, which by appealing to God puts an end to gainsaying with regard to the matter in question, and is followed by a consequent βεβαίωσις. “And the case stands thus; that our intention is accredited by the oath, but the oath itself is accredited by God; since so far from God’s being worthy of credit on account of His oath, the oath rather derives its credit from God.” (Philo). The idea that God may make Himself surety for man appears also in Job_17:3; Isa_38:14.
4. The substance of Christian hope is the inheritance of the promise; its goal is union with the exalted Christ; its foundation the word of God; its root is living faith. It forms thus, not merely an indispensable, but powerfully efficacious means for the maintenance of our connection with the unseen world, and for the attainment of the heavenly blessings which are promised to us.
5. “As the Aaronic high-priest, after he had, in the outer court, slain the heifer as a sin-offering for himself and his house, and then slain the goat as a sin-offering for the congregation, entered with the blood of the slaughtered victim into the typical holiest of all, so Jesus, after offering up Himself in sacrifice upon earth, and shedding on earth His own blood, has entered into the Heavenly holiest of all, in order thereby to accomplish, once for all, an expiation on our behalf, and there perpetually to represent us; but at the same time (Heb_10:19-21), in order to break the path, and to open the way, for us, who are eternally to be where He is. That He thus, in His entrance on our behalf, is at the same time our precursor, this it is which distinguishes Him from the legal high-priests of a community that was absolutely excluded from the inner sanctuary. And not only this: He is not merely high-priest, but also king; and He is a high-priest not merely for a season, but forever.” (Del.).
6. “What a firm anchoring-ground for hope is God’s eternal heaven, by which our Jesus is encompassed. Since after having suffered for us, He has also, on our behalf, been so highly exalted. We see Him not, since the place of God to which He has gone is hidden from our carnal eyes, and in so far, there is still a veil between us and Him. But the anchor of our hope, unrestrained by this limitation, reaches into those silent deeps of the spirit world into which He has withdrawn from our senses, and amidst the wild waves of life keeps our souls firm and tranquil.” (Del.).
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL
The unchangeableness of the purpose of God: a. to what that purpose refers itself; b. by what its unchangeableness is assured; c. to what this assurance should incite us.—Nature, object and justification of the Christian oath.—The maintenance of our Christian hope: 1. as it is rendered difficult; a. by unsteadiness of faith; b. by the condition of the world; c. by the veil before the future; 2. as it is made easy; a. by the word of promise; b. by the oath of God; c. by the entrance of Jesus into heaven.—The advantage of Jesus’ entrance into the heavenly sanctuary; a. to Him; b. to us.
Starke:—Believers can, with steadfast faith, be certain of eternal life.—The purposes of God are in part without condition, and are thus surely executed; but those which belong to the economy of salvation are under a certain condition established and bound to this economy.—The first attribute of faith, is, in the feeling of our deficiency in every good, and of our extreme need, to look around after Jesus, in order to seek from Him help and counsel. Its next attribute, is to lay hold of the blessedness that has been obtained through Christ, and to hold fast with manly strength and power to the blessedness once obtained, and on account of no threat or danger, come they as they may, timidly, to cast it away.—God deals with us as with a father’s spirit, since while He knows our weakness, to wit, that as with the aged Moses, both our arms speedily sink down, and become faint and weary, so He sustains with these two strong pillars, His unchangeable truth, and His priceless oath.—Word, faith and hope must stand together; the word lays the foundation; Faith builds thereon; and Hope expectantly stretches herself forth from time into eternity.
Rieger:—By keeping in view the oath of God in regard to His gracious promise, we are incited to follow on in faith and patience.—The Christian hope is a sure anchor, with which we cannot receive harm, and a firm one, as consisting entirely of God’s counsel at once firm and confirmed by an oath.
Heubner:—The hope of the Christian has a limitless reach. It reaches outwardly into eternity, inwardly into the sanctuary of God.—The surety of our hope is Christ. His entrance into the sanctuary is the pledge of our own future entrance into it.
Ahlfeld:—The ascension of Christ is the final pledge of our entrance into glory. 1. There is a hidden kingdom of glory. 2. Into this our hope casts its anchor. 3. Christ’s entrance therein renders this hope a certainty.
Footnotes:
[5]Heb_6:16.—Μέν is wanting; in Sin. A. B. D*. 47, 53, [and is expunged by Lach., Bl., Lün.; but retained by Tisch., Del., Alf., but of course before they had the testimony of Sin. It seems on the whole not unnatural, and yet as the following clause is not added with a contrasted θεὸς δέ, but rather as if filling out the thought, (ἐν ᾦ), I should prefer to follow the authorities that omit it.—K.].
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures (Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical), ed. John Peter Lange, English translation edited by Philip Schaff (1864–1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv16–20 for confirmation--not to be joined, as English Version, to…
for confirmation--not to be joined, as English Version, to "an oath"; but to "an end" [ALFORD]. I prefer, "The oath is to them, in respect to confirmation (of one's solemn promise or covenant; as here, God's), an end of all contradiction (so the Greek is translated, Heb 12:3), or "gainsaying." This passage shows: (1) an oath is sanctioned even in the Christian dispensation as lawful; (2) that the limits to its use are, that it only be employed where it can put an end to contradiction in disputes, and for confirmation of a solemn promise.
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 On vv16–20 16. An oath—Greek, the oath; that is, the (institution…
16. An oath—Greek, the oath; that is, the (institution of the) oath. The oath is a divine institution, the colloquial abuse of which is forbidden by Christ as profanity. So far is this from abolishing the true oath, which is an end of all strife, the Lord’s purpose was to forbid its colloquial desecration in order to secure its solemn sanctity. So Philo says, “By an oath doubtful things are decided, infirm things are confirmed, and the untrusted receive trust.” The ancient proverb is, “The man is the surety of the oath, not the oath of the man.” So Philo says, “Men, when mistrusted, have recourse to the oath to gain credence for themselves; but God, when simply speaking, is worthy of belief, so that his word is no way different from an oath.” And a sublime passage in the Talmud (quoted by Delitzsch) says, “Moses spoke before the Holy One: (blessed be He:) Lord of the world, hadst thou sworn to them by heaven and earth, I should have thought that as heaven and earth pass away, so, also, thine oath would pass away; but thou hast sworn to them by Thy great Name. It is so, then, that as Thy great Name liveth and endureth forever, Thine oath endureth forever also.”
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 On vv16–20 16. men verily swear by the greater] Gen_21:23; Gen_24:3;…
16. men verily swear by the greater] Gen_21:23; Gen_24:3; Gen_26:30-31. The passage is important as shewing the lawfulness of Christian oaths (see our Article xxxix).
strife] Rather, “for an oath is to them an end of all gainsaying” (or “controversy” as to facts) “with a view to confirmation.” It is meant that when men swear in confirmation of a disputed point their word is believed. There is an exactly similar passage in Philo, De sacr. Abel. et Cain (Opp. i. 181).
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 On vv16–20 (16) And an oath for confirmation.—Rather, and of every…
(16) And an oath for confirmation.—Rather, and of every dispute in their case the oath is an end (is final) to settle the matter.
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 On vv16, 17, 19 Vers. 16-20. For men swear by the greater: and…
Vers. 16-20. For men swear by the greater: and of every dispute of theirs (literally, to them), the oath is final (literally, an end) for confirmation (eiv bebaiwsin being connected with perav , not, as in the A.V, with orkov). Here begins the explanation of the meaning and purpose of the Divine oath, already cursorily touched on in ver. 13. God thus, for full assurance, condescends to the form of confirmation most binding among men when they promise to each other. They appeal to one greater than themselves to intervene between them. He, having no one greater than himself to appeal to, appeals (so to speak) to his own immutability, and thus may be said to intervene with an oath (emesiteusen orkw ever. 17), the verb being neuter, with the sense of "mediate" or "intervene," not, as in A.V, "confirmed it". The reason is not that the Divine promise is not in itself enough, but that God, willing to show more abundantly to the heirs of the promise the immutability of his counsel, is pleased to grant them this additional confirmation; that by two immutable things (first the promise, in itself sufficient; and secondly the oath, for more abundant assurance), in which it is impossible for God to lie, we may have a strong consolation (paraklhhsin , bearing elsewhere this sense, and also that of exhortation, as in Heb_12:5 Heb_13:22; which latter sense is understood here by most commentators as uniting best the drift of the passage with the general notion of encouragement) who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us. The course of thought has now passed again from Abraham to Christians, the transition having been prepared for by the general expression, toiv klhronomoiv thv epaggeliav in ver. 17. Indeed, the oath to him was an assurance to us also, we being the final inheritors of the promised blessing. Then finally, in the two concluding verses, the subject to be treated in Hebrews 7. is again beautifully led up to by a natural sequence of thought: Which (so. hope) we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and entering into that which is within the veil; whither as a Forerunner Jesus entered for us, become a High Priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek. Our hope (elpiv), regarded in ver. 18 objectively, assumes here a subjective sense: it is our anchor east upwards beyond the heavens through which our Forerunner has passed, (cf. Heb_4:14, dieleluyota touv) and, in virtue of the promise and the oath, fixed there secure and firm. "That which is within the veil" katapetasmatov , the word invariably denoting the veil in the temple, is the heavenly holy of holies, of which the earthly was symbolical, as is fully set forth in Hebrews 8. This first mention of the veil is an instance of the manner in which, throughout this Epistle, ideas to be afterwards expanded are often intimated by way of preparation beforehand. Instructive in this chapter is the view presented of Divine purpose in relation to human will. The Divine purpose may have been evinced by supplies of grace so abundant as to remove all doubt of the possibility of success; yet through the human will there may be failure: the very Divine oath may have ensured fulfillment of the promise; yet, as to Abraham, so to individual Christians, faith and patience are the conditions of fulfillment. It is evident that the Divine purpose and the Divine promise are all along referred to, not to dishearten any for fear that they may not be included in them, not to encourage remissness in any on the ground of certainty of attainment, not so as to suggest any idea of arbitrary selection irrespective of desert, but simply to incite to perseverance on the ground of assurance of success, if the human conditions are fulfilled. And this is the practical application of the doctrine of predestination found also elsewhere in St. Paul"s Epistles. (cf. Rom_8:28-39) Predestination and free-will may be to human reason theoretically irreconcilable, though reason, as well as theology, may compel us to acknowledge both. The problem may properly be left unsolved, as among the many deep things of God. But it is of importance to observe how the doctrine of-predestination is practically applied in Scripture as bearing upon human conduct.
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 On vv16–17 An oath … the end of all strife
Heb_6:16
An oath … the end of all strife
Read full note →
The lawfulness and obligation of oaths
I.
FOR THE NATURE OF AN OATH, AND THE KINDS OF IT. An oath is an invocation of God, or an appeal to Him as a witness of the truth of what we say. So that an oath is a sacred thing, as being an act of religion and an invocation of the name of God; and this, whether the name of God be expressly mentioned in it or not. There are two sorts of oaths, assertory and promissory. An assertory oath is when a man affirms or denies, upon oath, a matter of fact, past or present: when he swears that a thing was, or is so, or not so. A promissory oath is a promise confirmed by an oath, which always respects something that is future; and if the promise be made directly and immediately to God, then it is called a vow; if to men, an oath.
II. THE GREAT USE AND EVEN NECESSITY OF OATHS, IN MANY CASES, WHICH IS SO GREAT, THAT HUMAN SOCIETY CAN VERY HARDLY, IF AT ALL, SUBSIST LONG WITHOUT THEM. Government would many times be very insecure, and for the faithful discharge of offices of great trust, in which the welfare of the public is nearly concerned, it is not possible to find any security equal to that of an oath; because the obligation of that reacheth to the most hidden practices of men, and takes hold of them, in many cases, where the penalty of no h ,man law can have any awe or force upon them; and especially it is the best means of ending controversies. And where mens estates or lives are concerned, no evidence, but what is assured by an oath, will be thought sufficient to decide the matter, s,, as to give full and general satisfaction to mankind.
III. THE LAWFULNESS OF OATHS, WHERE THEY ARE NECESSARY.
1. I shall prove the lawfulness of oaths from the authority of this text, and the reasons plainly contained, or strongly implied in it.
Because the apostle doth not only speak of the use of oaths among men, without any manner of reproof, but as a commendable custom, and in many cases necessary for the confirmation of doubtful matters, and in order to the final decision of controversies and differences among men.
2. The insufficiency if the grounds of the contrary opinion, whether from reason or from Scripture.
(1) From reason. They say the necessity of an oath is occasioned by the want of fidelity among men; and that every man ought to demean himself with that integrity as may give credit to his word; and then oaths will be needless. This pretence will be fully answered, if we consider these two things.
(a) That in matters of great importance, no other obligation besides that of an oath hath been thought sufficient amongst the best and wisest of men, to assert their fidelity to one another.
(b) This reason, which is alleged against oaths among men, is much stronger against Gods confirming His promises to us by an oath. For He, who is truth itself, is surely of all other most to be credited upon
His bare word, and His oath needless to give confirmation to it; and yet He condescends to add His oath to His word and therefore that reason is evidently of no force.
(2) From Scripture. Our Saviour seems altogether to forbid swearing in any case (Mat_5:33-34).
(a) That several circumstances of these words of our Saviour do manifestly show that they ought to be interpreted in a limited sense, as only forbidding swearing in common conversation; needless and heedless oaths, and in general all voluntary swearing, unless upon some weighty cause, in which the glory of God and the wood of the souls of men is concerned. For that in such cases a voluntary oath may be lawful, I am induced to believe from the example of St. Paul, who useth it more than once upon such occasions.
(b) It is very considerable to the explaining of this prohibition, that there are like general expressions in other Jewish authors concerning this very matter, which yet must of necessity be thus limited:--Maimonides, from the ancient, rabbles, gives this rule, that it is best not to swear at all: and Philo useth almost the same words. And Rabbi Jonathan comes very near our Saviours expression when he says, The just man will not swear at all; not so much as by the common names of God, nor by His attributes, nor by His works, as by heaven, or the angels, or by the law. Now it is lint imaginable that these learned Jews should condemn oaths in all cases, when the law of Moses did in many cases expressly require them. And therefore they are to be understood of voluntary oaths in ordinary conversation.
(c) This prohibition of our Saviours cannot be understood to forbid all oaths, without a plain contradiction to the unboubted practice of the primitive Christians and of the apostles, and even of our Lord Himself. Origen and Tertullian tell us that the Christians refused to swear by the emperors genius; not because it was an oath, but because they thought it to be idolatrous. But the same Tertullian says that the Christians were willing to swear by the health and safety of the emperor. Athanasius being accused to Constantius, purged himself by oath, and desired that his accuser might be, put to his oath, by calling the truth to witness: by which form, says he, we Christians are wont to swear. But, which is more than this, St. Paul, upon weighty occasions, does several times in his epistle call God to witness for the truth of what he says;
153 which is the very formality of an oath (Rom_1:9; 2Co_1:18; 2Co_1:23; Gal_1:20; Php_1:8; 2Th_2:5). These are all unquestionable oaths; which we cannot imagine St. Paul would have used had they been directly contrary to our Saviours law. And whereas some defend this upon account of his extraordinary inspiration, I cannot possibly see how this mends the matter. For certainly it is very inconvenient to say that they who were to teach the precepts of Christ to others, did themselves break them by inspiration. But I go yet farther, and shall urge an example beyond all exception. Our Saviour Himself (who surely would not be the first example of breaking His own laws) did not refuse to answer upon oath, being called thereto at His trial. So we find Mat_26:60.
IV. THE SACRED OBLIGATION OF AN OATH: BECAUSE IT IS A SOLEMN APPEAL TO GOD AS A WITNESS OF THE TRUTH OF WHAT WE SAY: to God, I say, from whose piercing and all-seeing eye, from whose perfect knowledge, nothing is or can be hid; so that there is not a thought in our heart but He sees it, nor a word in our tongue, but He discerns the truth or falsehood of it. Whenever we swear, we appeal to His knowledge and refer ourselves to His just judgment, who is the powerful patron and protector of right, and the almighty judge and avenger of all falsehood and unrighteousness. So that it is not possible for men to lay a more sacred and solemn obligation upon their consciences than by the religion of an oath. (Abp. Tillotson.)
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 On vv16–20 16. For men verily swear by the greater. When…
16. For men verily swear by the greater. When men make a solemn oath in order to settle a fact or covenant beyond controversy they usually swear in the name of God. God, however, could swear by no one greater than himself.
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.
Alexander MacLaren 1905 · Public Domain On v19
Hebrews
THE ANCHOR OF THE SOUL
Read full note →
Heb 6:19
THERE is something very remarkable in the prominence given by Christianity to hope as an element in the perfect character. The New Testament is, one may say, full of exhortations to ‘hope perfectly.’ It is regarded as one of the three virtues which sum up all Christian goodness. Nay! In one place the Apostle Paul lays upon it the whole weight of our salvation, for he says ‘we are saved by hope.’
Now this great prominence given to the exercise of this faculty seems to correspond with the will of God as expressed in our nature, for man is a creature obstinate in his hope. But it seems to be strangely at variance with the value of hope as attested by experience; for who does not know that most hopes are false; and that whether they be disappointed or fulfilled, they betray.
The world is full of complaints of the fallacies of hope. Poets and moralists are sure of a response when they touch that chord; and it sometimes seems to us as if elaborate provision were made in our nature for deluding us into activity and tempting us along toll-some paths, to gather a handful of mist at the end, and then to say in our bitterness, ‘All is vanity and vexation of spirit.’
But yet ‘God never sends mouths but He sends meat to feed them’; and if there be in a man a faculty so obstinate and strong as this, there must be somewhere a reality which it can grasp; and, grasping, can be freed from all its miseries and mistakes.
So my text tells us where that is, and tells us further how ennobling and steady an ally of all great and blessed things hope is in a man, when it is rightly fixed on the right objects. The metaphor of my text is unique in Scripture, though it be common in other places. Only here do we find the familiar thought that hope is ‘the anchor of the soul.’ I take that metaphor as the guiding thought in my words now; and ask you to consider the anchor; the anchorage, or holding-ground; the cable; and the steadfastness of the ship so anchored in all storms.
I. Consider, then, first, the force of this metaphor of the anchor.
Now it seems to me that the very figure requires us to suppose that hope here means, not the emotion but the object on which it is fixed. The same interpretation is necessarily suggested by the context; for the previous verse speaks about ‘a hope set before us,’ and about our ‘laying hold upon it.’ So that here, at all events, the hope is something external to ourselves which is proposed to us, and which we can grasp.
An anchor is outside the ship; and that which steadies us cannot be a part of ourselves, must be something external to us, on which our fluttering and mutable emotions can repose and be still.
Nor is it at all unusual, either in Scripture or in common speech, that we should employ the name of the emotion to express the object which the emotion grasps. For instance, people say to one another, ‘my love,’ ‘my comfort,’ and we talk about God as ‘our fear’ and ‘our dread,’ and Scripture speaks of Christ as our hope; in all which phrases the person who excites the emotion is described by the name of the emotion.
And so, I take it, is the ease here. The hope which we possess, and which, outside of us, we being fastened to it, makes us steadfast and secure, is, at bottom, Jesus Christ Himself. This hope, says my text, ‘has entered within the veil.’ Well l read on. ‘Whither the Forerunner is for us entered.’ When He passed within the veil our hope passed within it, and went with Him. For He is not only the foundation, but He is the substance of our hope. He is the thing hoped for, and in the deepest interpretation, all our future is the personal Christ; and every blessed anticipation that can fill a human heart with gladness is summed up in this, ‘that I may be found in Him,’ and made partaker of that Saviour whom to possess is fruition and eternal life. He is the anchor of the soul, sure and steadfast, and entering within the veil Notice further the characteristics ascribed to this anchor and hope. ‘Sure and steadfast.’ These two words express diverse qualities of the hope. A sure anchor is one which does not drag. It is not too light for the ship that rides by it. It has found s firm ground, its flukes are all right, and it belch. It does not deceive. The ship’s crew may trust to it. An anchor which is steadfast, or, as the original word might be rendered, ‘firm,’ is one that will not break, but is strong in its own substance, made of good tough iron, so that there is no fear of the shank snapping, whatever strain may be put upon it. We may then say, generally, that this object of the Christian hope is free from all the weaknesses. and imperfections which cleave and cling to other objects. Take just a sentence or two in illustration of that.
Our earthly hopes, what are they? Only She products of our own imaginations, or the reflection of our wishes projected on the dim screen of the future, with no more substance in them than the shadows from a magic- lantern thrown on to the sheet. Or even if they be the reasonable result of calculation, they still have- no existence. But there, says my text, is a hope which is a real thing, and has a present existence. It has ‘entered into that within the veil,’ as the literal anchor is dropped through the depths of the sea and lost to sight, so by an incongruous and yet forcible blending of metaphor the text tells us this anchor is carried aloft, into the azure depths, and there lost to sight, is fastened as it were to the very throne of God. All the universe being the temple, and a thin veil being stretched between us in the outer court and that Holy of Holies, the Christ, who is our hope, has passed with.. in the veil, and is verily there, separated from us and yet close by. A veil is but a thin partition. We can hear the voices on the other side of a woollen curtain, we can catch the gleams of light through it, A touch will draw it aside. So we float in the midst of that solemn unseen present which is to us the future; and all the brightest and grandest objects of the Christian man’s anticipation have a present existence and are real; just on the other side of that thin curtain that parts us from them. A touch, and it rattles on its rings and we stand in the blaze of the fruition This hope is not an imagination, not the projection of wishes upon the dim curtain of the future, not the child of calculation, but a present reality within arm’s length of us all.
Then, again, earthly hopes are less than certainties. This one is a certainty, We may make the future as sure as the past. Hope may be as veracious as memory. It is not so with our ordinary anticipations; we all feel that when we say we hope we are admitting an element of dread as well as of hope into our anticipations. And so, however hope may smile there is always a touch of terror in her sweet eyes. As one of our great poets has described her, she carries a jewelled cup of richest wine, but coiled at the bottom of it a sleeping serpent. Possibilities that it may be otherwise are an integral part of all the uncertain hopes of earth, make it a torture often, and always dim its lustre and its gladness.
But certitude is a characteristic of the Christian hope. It is ‘sure,’ as my text has it, and we can say, not, ‘I trust it may,’ but, ‘I know it will.’ Is it not something to be able to look forward into the dim unknown, and to feel that whilst much there is mercifully hidden, far more and that the best in the future is manifest as history, and certain as the fixed past. To the Christian resting upon Christ it is no presumption, but the simplest duty to feel ‘tomorrow,’ and the to-morrow after that, and all the to-morrows, including the unsetting day of eternity ‘shall be as yesterday, and much more abundant.’
Then again, earthly hopes, whether disappointed or fulfilled, betray, or rather, I might say, are disappointed even whilst they are fulfilled. We paint the future as if it contained but the one thing on which for the time being we have set our hopes. And we do not remember that when we reach the accomplishment of the expectation, life will have a great many other things in it than the fulfilled expectation, and all the old commonplaces, and annoyances, and imperfections will still be there. So ever, the thing chased is more than the thing won. Like some bit of sea-weed, as long as it lies there in the ocean moving its filmy fronds to the wave, it expands and is lovely. Grasp it, and draw it out, and it is a bit of ugly slime in your hand. So possession never realises the dream of hope.
But here, the half hath not been told us. ‘Eye hath not seen it,.., neither hath entered into the heart of man,’ in his loftiest anticipations, the transcendent realisation of the things that God hath prepared for them that love Him.
II. And now turn to the other points in this text.
Look at the anchorage, or holding-ground, that is to say, the reasons or the grounds on which these great objects become objects of hope to us.
Why is it that I may without presumption, and that I must, unless I would fall beneath my obligations, expect to be for ever like Jesus Christ? Why, here is the anchorage. ‘God willing more abundantly to show unto the heirs of promise the immutability of His counsel, confirmed it by an oath, that by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have strong consolation.’ Or, to put it into other words, God’s solemn utterance of His will guaranteed to us by God’s putting all the majesty of His own being into pawn for the fulfilment of His promise is the ground on which we rest. There is the anchorage. Nothing can touch that. If we cleave to Jesus Christ we have anchored ourselves in the fastnesses of the divine nature. We have struck the roots of our hopes deep into the very being of God; and all that is majestic, all that is omnipotent, all that is tender, all that is immutable in Him goes to confirm to my poor heart the astounding expectation that whatsoever Christ is I shall become, and that wheresoever Christ is there will also His servant be. Oh! how this rock- foundation on which we may build makes all the other foundations upon which men rest their ruinable hopes seem wretched and transitory. Cursed be the man - and he is cursed, that is, wretched and miserable in the act - ‘Cursed be the man that maketh flesh his arm, and whose hope is in man. Blessed be the man whose hope is in the Lord his God, and whose trust the Lord is.’ This anchorage is safe in all weathers, and none that ever sheltered there have been driven on the iron-bound leeward rocks.
III. Again, still keeping the metaphor of the text, notice the cable.
The anchor is of no use unless it be fastened by a strong hawser or chain. All the faithfulness of the divine nature, and all the grandeur of the promises which Christ gives and is, are naught to us unless we attach ourselves to them by setting our hopes there. I have been speaking to you about the vanity, the disappointing misery of earthly hope. Those show that the obstinate faculty which, in spite of them all, persists is as plainly meant to be attached to Jesus Christ as the great iron chain that you see lying on the deck is obviously intended to be the anchor-chain. You are able to anticipate the future, and God has given you the ability in order that it may grapple you to your Lord and Master, by whom alone you will be lords of the future, and it be filled with peace. To do that, to attach yourselves thus to Jesus Christ by a persistent and triumphant hope is not an easy thing.
It means, first of all, detachment. You must get away from these lower and earthly anticipations of the paltry and immediate future on this side the grave, which fill so much of your onward gaze, if your eye is to see clearly that nobler future further ahead which is its legitimate and its only object. The habit of Christian hope needs diligent cultivation and strenuous effort. I think that there are few things that Christian men and women need to he exhorted to more earnestly than this that they should not waste upon the mean anticipations of to-morrow that wonderful faculty by which they may knit themselves to the most glorious and blessed realities in the remotest future. The wings of hope were given, not that we might flutter near the earth, but that we might rise to God. The clear eye that looks before was given us not that we should limit our vision to the near, But that we might send it forward to the most distant horizon. Do not let yourselves be so absorbed by anticipations of what you are going to do and where you are going to be tomorrow that you have no leisure to think of what you are going to do and where you are going to be through the eternities. We run our eyes along the low levels of earth, and we too seldom lift them to the great white summits that ring round the little plain on which our day is passed. Christian men and women, you are saved by hope. Live in the continual contemplation of that blessed future, and Him who makes it; and, according to the old exhortation sursum corda, ‘up with your hearts’ and your hopes, and fasten them to the anchor of your souls which hath entered within the veil.
IV. And now, lastly, a word as to the steadfastness of the ship that rides in any storm by thin anchor.
Hope is not usually a masculine faculty, nor one that on the whole is the ally of the stronger and nobler virtues. It does no doubt impel to action, and he that has ceased to hope has ceased to strive; but also, and quite as often, its effect is to disturb and flutter rather than to steady, to make impatient, to unfit for persistent application and toilsome service, to set the blood dancing through the veins, so that the hand can scarcely be kept steady. But this ‘Christian hope, if we rightly take the measure of it, and understand it, is an ally of all great, steadfast, calm, patient virtue.
For one thing it will put all the present in its true subordination. Just as when a man’s eye is fixed upon the reddening dawn of the morning sky, all the trees and objects between him and it are toned down into one uniform blackness, so when we have that great light shining beyond the earthly horizon all the colours of the objects between us and it will be less garish, and they will dwindle into comparative insignificance. It is not so hard to bear sorrow when the light of a great hope makes the endurance but for a little moment, and the exceeding and eternal weight of glory more conspicuous than it. It is not so hard to do duty when a great hope makes action for the time sublime, and makes difficulties dwindle and hardships sweet. It is not so hard to resist temptations when temptations have had their dazzling light dimmed by the greater brightness of the hope revealed. He that has anchored himself to Christ may be calm in sorrow and triumphant over temptation. Whatsoever winds may blow he may ride safe there, and however frowning may be the iron-bound rocks a cable’s length off, if he has cast out his anchor at the stern he may quietly wait for the day in the assurance that no shipwreck is possible for him. Your hope will be the ally of all, dignity, patience, victory, will steady the soul and make it participant, in some measure, of its own steadfastness and security.
And just as sailors sometimes send the anchor ahead that they may have a fixed point towards which to warp themselves, so, if our anchor is that Christ who has passed into the heavens, He will draw us, in due time, whither He Himself has gone. A calm steady hope fixed upon the enthroned Christ, our fore-runner, and the pattern of what we shall he if we trust Him, will make us steadfast and victorious in all our sorrows, Burdens, changes, and temptations. Without it life is indeed as ‘futile then as frail,’ and our only ‘hope of answer’ to its torturing problems, or of ‘redress’ of its manifold pains is ‘Behind the veil, behind the veil.’ Such a hope knits us to the true stay of our souls, and is a cord not easily Broken. As for men’s hopes fixed on earth, they are fragile and filmy as the spiders’ webs, which, in early autumn mornings, twinkle dewy in every copse, and are gone by midday.
My brother! you have this great faculty; what do you do with it, and where do you fix it? You have a personal concern in that future, whether you think about it and like it or not. What is your hope for that future, and what is the ground of your hope? Let me beseech you, fasten the little vessel of your life to that great anchor, Christ, who has died, and who lives for you. And then, though the thread between you and Him be but slender and fragile, it will not be a dead cable, but a living nerve, along which His own steadfast life will pour, making you steadfast like Himself, and at last fulfilling and transcending your highest hopes in eternal fruition of His own blessedness.
Alexander MacLaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture (1904–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv16, 19 to the heirs of the promise
to the heirs of the promise
The people to whom God has made promises are spoken of as if they were to inherit property and wealth from a family member. AT: "to those who would receive what he promised" (See: Metaphor)
Read full note →
the unchangeable quality of his purpose
"that his purpose would never change" or "that he would always do what he said he would do"
by two unchangeable things
This means God's promise and God's oath. Neither of these can ever change.
with which it is impossible for God to lie
This double negative can mean that God will tell the truth about this situation. AT: "about which God always tells the truth" (See: Double Negatives)
we, who have fled for refuge
Believers, who trust in God for him to protect them, are spoken of as if they were running to a safe place. AT: "we, who have trusted him" (See: Metaphor)
will have a strong encouragement to hold firmly to the hope set before us
Trust in God is spoken of as if encouragement were an object that could be presented to a person and that person could hold on to it. AT: "will continue to trust in God just has he encouraged us to do" (See: Metaphor)
set before us
This can be stated in active form. AT: "that God has placed before us" (See: Active or Passive)
translationWords
oath
confirm
heir
courage
confidence
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv16, 17, 19 6:16 It is a general principle in human relationships…
6:16 It is a general principle in human relationships that when people take an oath, the oath is binding. If in human contexts oaths give assurance that something is true, an oath from God ought to inspire much greater confidence (6:17-19). • someone greater than themselves: Cp. 6:13.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.