Hebrews 12:4 Commentary - Dr Peter Masters

Navigator

Hebrews 12:4

Comments

When you look at the whole chapter, you realise that this is not just about our personal sin, striving against my sin, seeking with the help of God and the blessing of the Spirit to overcome the sin tendency and to please Christ, to honour the new nature which is in me and to suppress the old nature. It is far more than that; this is a picture of Christ’s whole mission and the mission of his church on earth. ‘Striving against sin’ – the Greek is literally agonising against sin striving most strenuously against sin. It is our calling; this is the purpose of the continuing world. Why was it that God did not end the world the very moment the fall took place when the human race sinned and disobeyed God? The curse came and the punishment fell upon the human race, and sin entered in. Why was it things were not ended then? Well, they could not end then because before the foundation of the world God, who knows all things, had already planned the remedy for human sin. Creation would not be lost; the human race would not be written off and terminated. There would be a plan of redemption; a Redeemer would come, the second person of the Trinity. He would atone for the sins of all who would be saved. He would come and thereby save a people, and the world would be continued; glorified heaven would be joined with earth in the eternal hereafter. God’s original plan would be perpetuated gloriously and Christ would have a people for his own possession. So the human plan would be rescued and restored. That is what is meant by ‘striving against sin’. It is a phrase that not only refers to our personal deportment in the battle, but to the whole campaign, the striving against the force and the power and the consequences of sin in the world. What a battle to be in! It is ongoing, but it has been won already. It is certain that Christ will return; he has accomplished already our redemption. When the role of the elect is made up – all who come to Christ, who he has determined to save – then he will return and the end will come. In the meantime, what we are involved in is striving against sin not only in our own particular lives, but rescuing people out of the morass of sin and bringing them in to the kingdom of redemption and light.

Application

The people to whom this letter is sent have suffered quite considerably, as we noted in chapter 10:33-34. There had perhaps been all kinds of phoney charges brought up before the magistrates and they had been ordered to surrender their goods and possessions. But they are told you have not yet resisted under blood; you have not yet had any martyrs. Today, churches in the UK are not even suffering churches; it is comparatively easy to be a believer. Nobody will confiscate your goods; nobody will take away your employment because you are a believer today. Maybe it will come; maybe it will return. And yet the inspired author says to them, ‘You have not even been called upon to the martyrs yet.’ Surely he would say to us, ‘You have not even been called upon to forfeit your goods and your comforts and your jobs yet. Isn't it so much easier for you to take up the privilege of being entirely for Christ?

Here is our calling: to be involved in this great campaign against the forces of unbelief, to be witnessing, keeping the culture of the world out of our lives and out of the church, repudiating the tempter and his demons, dealing with doubts and trials by faith, putting away false teaching. This is our battle to represent Christ to the very end of life's journey. All else is futile: take a pace back, lift up your eyes. You are called and equipped and commissioned in the greatest campaign and battle in the history of the world.

Questions

Outline

Purpose

Introduction

Hebrews 12:4 Commentary and Bible Study